midday
The sage Cide Hamete Benengeli relates that as soon as Don Quixote took leave of his hosts and all who had been present at the burial of Chrysostom , he and his squire passed into the same wood which they had seen the shepherdess Marcela enter , and after having wandered for more than two hours in all directions in search of her without finding her , they came to a halt in a glade covered with tender grass , beside which ran a pleasant cool stream that invited and compelled them to pass there the hours of the noontide heat , which by this time was beginning to come on oppressively . Don Quixote and Sancho dismounted , and turning Rocinante and the ass loose to feed on the grass that was there in abundance , they ransacked the alforjas , and without any ceremony very peacefully and sociably master and man made their repast on what they found in them . Sancho had not thought it worth while to hobble Rocinante , feeling sure , from what he knew of his staidness and freedom from incontinence , that all the mares in the Cordova pastures would not lead him into an impropriety . Chance , however , and the devil , who is not always asleep , so ordained it that feeding in this valley there was a drove of Galician ponies belonging to certain Yanguesan carriers , whose way it is to take their midday rest with their teams in places and spots where grass and water abound ; and that where Don Quixote chanced to be suited the Yanguesans ' purpose very well . It so happened , then , that Rocinante took a fancy to disport himself with their ladyships the ponies , and abandoning his usual gait and demeanour as he scented them , he , without asking leave of his master , got up a briskish little trot and hastened to make known his wishes to them ; they , however , it seemed , preferred their pasture to him , and received him with their heels and teeth to such effect that they soon broke his girths and left him naked without a saddle to cover him ; but what must have been worse to him was that the carriers , seeing the violence he was offering to their mares , came running up armed with stakes , and so belaboured him that they brought him sorely battered to the ground . By this time Don Quixote and Sancho , who had witnessed the drubbing of Rocinante , came up panting , and said Don Quixote to Sancho : `` So far as I can see , friend Sancho , these are not knights but base folk of low birth : I mention it because thou canst lawfully aid me in taking due vengeance for the insult offered to Rocinante before our eyes . '' `` What the devil vengeance can we take , '' answered Sancho , `` if they are more than twenty , and we no more than two , or , indeed , perhaps not more than one and a half ? ''