'All that is not unsatisfactory to me,' said Don Quixote. 'Go on; thou didst reach her; and what was that queen of beauty doing? Surely thou didst find her stringing pearls, or embroidering some device in gold thread for this her enslaved knight.
' 'I did not,' said Sancho, 'but I found her winnowing two bushels of wheat in the yard of her house. ' 'Then depend upon it,' said Don Quixote, 'the grains of that wheat were pearls when touched by her hands; and didst thou look, friend? was it white wheat or brown?
' 'It was neither, but red,' said Sancho. 'Then I promise thee,' said Don Quixote, 'that, winnowed by her hands, beyond a doubt the bread it made was of the whitest; but go on; when thou gavest her my letter, did she kiss it? Did she place it on her head?
Did she perform any ceremony befitting it, or what did she do?
' 'When I went to give it to her,' replied Sancho, 'she was hard at it swaying from side to side with a lot of wheat she had in the sieve, and she said to me, ‘Lay the letter, friend, on the top of that sack, for I cannot read it until I have done sifting all this.
' 'Discreet lady! ' said Don Quixote; 'that was in order to read it at her leisure and enjoy it; proceed, Sancho; while she was engaged in her occupation what converse did she hold with thee? What did she ask about me, and what answer didst thou give?
Make haste; tell me all, and let not an atom be left behind in the ink-bottle. ' 'She asked me nothing,' said Sancho; 'but I told her how your worship was left doing penance in her service, naked from the waist up, in