“I,” said Don Quixote, “have some little smattering of Italian, and I plume myself on singing some of Ariosto’s stanzas; but tell me, señor⁠—I do not say this to test your ability, but merely out of curiosity⁠—have you ever met with the word pignatta in your book?”

“Yes, often,” said the author.

“And how do you render that in Spanish?”

“How should I render it,” returned the author, “but by olla ?”