Chapter XXII
Don Quixote and Sancho leave for Montesinos’s Cave with
Basilio’s cousin, an author who writes parodies of great classical
works, as a guide. When the three arrive at Montesinos’s Cave, Sancho
and the guide lower Don Quixote into the cave by a rope. They wait
for a half hour and then pull him up, only to find him asleep.
Chapter XXIII
Don Quixote tells Sancho and Basilio’s cousin that when
he went into the cave he found a small nook and fell asleep there.
When he woke up he was in a beautiful field. An old man approached
him, saying that he was Montesinos under a terrible enchantment.
Montesinos confirmed that he cut out the heart of Durandarte, his cousin,
when Durandarte died. He took the heart to Belerma, Durandarte’s
wife, at Durandarte’s request. But, he says, Merlin has now put
all of them under a spell so that they cannot leave the cave. Durandarte
lies on the ground but occasionally sighs and speaks as if he were
alive. According to Montesinos, Merlin prophesied Don Quixote’s
coming and foresaw that Don Quixote would lift their enchantments.
Don Quixote says he was in the cave for three days and
three nights and saw Dulcinea in her enchanted form there. Sancho,
who knows the truth about Dulcinea’s enchantment, thinks Don Quixote
is crazy. Don Quixote says he understands that Sancho only speaks
out against him because he loves him. Don Quixote says that Sancho
will soon realize that the story is true though it may appear fantastical
to him now.
Chapter XXIV
Cervantes says that the translator found a note from Cide
Hamete Benengeli in the margin of the manuscript, warning that he
believed that Don Quixote’s story was not true and that, in fact,
Don Quixote himself renounced it as false on his deathbed.
Basilio’s cousin is thrilled by all the adventures in
the cave and promises to use them in his books. Back on the road
he, Don Quixote, and Sancho meet a man with a load of weapons who
promises to tell them his story if they meet him at the inn where
he is staying. They then meet a youth on his way to war, and Don
Quixote commends the boy’s bravery.
Chapter XXV
At the inn, Don Quixote meets the man with the weapons.
The man tells him a story of two magistrates who lost a donkey on
a mountain near his village. To recover the ass, the magistrates
went around the mountain braying like asses themselves, and though
they did not catch the donkey, they were very impressed with their
own ability to imitate asses. Neighboring villages heard about their
frivolous antics, and now each time a member of the man’s village
passes a member of another village, the other villager brays at
him. As a result, the two villages are going to war.
