“I can well believe it,” said Sancho; “but I wish your worship would tell me what is the reason that the Spaniards, when they are about to give battle, in calling on that Saint James the Moorslayer, say ‘Santiago and close Spain!’ 899 Is Spain, then, open, so that it is needful to close it; or what is the meaning of this form?”

“Thou art very simple, Sancho,” said Don Quixote; 900 “God, look you, gave that great knight of the Red Cross to Spain as her patron saint and protector, especially in those hard struggles the Spaniards had with the Moors; and therefore they invoke and call upon him as their defender in all their battles; and in these he has been many a time seen beating down, trampling under foot, destroying and slaughtering the Hagarene 901 squadrons in the sight of all; of which fact I could give thee many examples recorded in truthful Spanish histories.”