The festivities that accompany the marriage will be extraordinary and un-heard of, because they’ll take place in a meadow near the town of the bride, whom they call, because of her traits, QUITERIA THE BEAUTIFUL, and him they call CAMACHO THE RICH. She’s eighteen years old and the bridegroom is twenty two, and they’re a well-matched couple, although some meddlesome people, who know everyone’s genealogy by heart, say that the beautiful Quiteria’s surpasses Camacho’s. But this isn’t important, since «wealth can solder many cracks».

They ushered don Quixote into a room where Sancho took his armor off, leaving him in his Walloon pants and chamois doublet, all stained with the rust of armor. The collar was of the unadorned flat kind, like students wear, without starch or lace; his leggings were date-colored, and his shoes were waxed. His worthy sword hung from a sealskin strap, for it’s held that he’d suffered from a kidney infection for many years. He also put a cape of good grey material on. First of all, he washed his head and face with five—or maybe six (because there’s a difference of opinion about the number)—buckets of water, and even with that, the water was still the color of whey, thanks to the gluttony of Sancho and the purchase of his black cottage cheese that made his master so white.