Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote 23 – Saavedra · Verses Across
Literature · Humor
Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote 23Epitaph
18
Literature · Humor
Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote 23
Epitaph
SaavedraEnglish
Here lies an evil-errant knight,
Well bruised in many a fray,
Whose courser, Rozinante hight,
Long bore him many a way.
Close by his loving master's side
Lies booby Sancho Panza,
A trusty squire of courage tried,
And true as ever man saw.
Tiquitoc, Academician of Argamasilla, on the sepulture of Dulcinea del Toboso.
Dulcinea, fat and fleshy, lies
Beneath this frozen stone;
But, since to frightful death a prize,
Reduced to skin and bone.
Of goodly parentage she came,
And had the lady in her;
She was the great Don Quixote's flame,
But only death could win her.
These were all the verses that could be read: the rest, the characters being worm-eaten, were consigned to one of the Academicians, to find out their meaning by conjectures. We are informed he has done it, after many lucubrations and much pains, and that he designs to publish them, giving us hopes of Don Quixote's third sally.
"Forsi altro cantara con miglior plectro."
The noble mind may be clouded by adversity, but cannot be wholly concealed; for true merit shines by a light of its own, and, glimmering through the rents and crannies of indigence, is perceived, respected, and honored by the generous and the great.
