“Gently, Señor Don Quixote of La Mancha,” said the duke; “where my lady Doña Dulcinea del Toboso is, it is not right that other beauties should be praised.”
Sancho, by this time released from his entanglement, was standing by, and before his master could answer he said, “There is no denying, and it must be maintained, that my lady Dulcinea del Toboso is very beautiful; but the hare jumps up where one least expects it; and I have heard say that what we call nature is like a potter that makes vessels of clay, and he who makes one fair vessel can as well make two, or three, or a hundred; I say so because, by my faith, my lady the duchess is in no way behind my mistress the lady Dulcinea del Toboso.”
Don Quixote turned to the duchess and said, “Your highness may conceive that never had knight-errant in this world a more talkative or a droller squire than I have, and he will prove the truth of what I say, if your highness is pleased to accept of my services for a few days.”
To which the duchess made answer, “that worthy Sancho is droll I consider a very good thing, because it is a sign that he is shrewd; for drollery and sprightliness, Señor Don Quixote, as you very well know, do not take up their abode with dull wits; and as good Sancho is droll and sprightly I here set him down as shrewd.”
“And talkative,” added Don Quixote.
“So much the better,” said the duke, “for many droll things cannot be said in few words; but not to lose time in talking, come, great Knight of the Rueful Countenance—”
“Of the Lions, your highness must say,” said Sancho, “for there is no Rueful Countenance nor any such character now.”