ROZINANTE 



HE was never very handsome. Ill-shaped, long- 

 haired, short-maned, big-hoofed, knock- 

 kneed, sway-backed, broad-eared, watery-eyed, 

 slow-paced, awkward— he would hardly have 

 found a buyer at any price, if put up at auction. 

 But in the eyes of his master, Don Quixote, he 

 was the handsomest and the wisest steed that had 

 ever lived. 



" Talk as you will about Alexander's Bucepha- 

 lus, or about the Cid's Babieca," said he, " they 

 were but poor jades compared with my gallant 

 charger. Only see, if you will, what a soft coat 

 he has, what a splendid head, what a Roman nose, 

 and what sound teeth, always ready for action. 

 And then he is the gentlest, knowingest beast that 

 ever bore brave knight into the tournament or 

 the battlefield." 



He had been only a common farm horse, used 

 for carrying burdens and drawing the plow, and 

 as such he had never had any name of his own. 



171 



