he might not have done had not the innkeeper at that moment come out.
This innkeeper was very fat and good-natured, and anxious not to
offend anybody, but even he could hardly help laughing when he saw Don
Quixote. However, he very civilly asked the Knight to dismount and
offered him everything that the inn could provide.

Don Quixote being by this time both tired and hungry, with some
difficulty got off his horse and handed it to the innkeeper (to whom
he spoke as governor of the castle), asking him to take the greatest
care of "Rozinante," for in the whole world there was no better steed.

When the landlord returned from the stable, he found Don Quixote in a
room, where, with the help of the two young women, he was trying to
get rid of his armor. His back and breastplates had been taken off,
but by no means could his helmet be removed without cutting the green
ribbons with which he had tied it on, and this the Knight would not
allow.

There was nothing for it, therefore, but to keep his helmet on all
night, and to eat and drink in it, which was more than he could do
without help. However, one of the young women fed him, and the
innkeeper having made a kind of funnel, through it poured the wine
into his mouth, and Don Quixote ate his supper in great peace of mind.

There was but one thing that still vexed him. He had not yet been
knighted.

On this subject he thought long and deeply, and at last he asked the
innkeeper to come with him to the stable. Having shut the door, Don
Quixote threw himself at the landlord's feet, saying, "I will never