Summary Chapter 57

Sancho returns home in gay spirits. His wife asks why he is so merry. Sancho tells her he will resume his duties as Don Quixote’s squire, and he hopes to receive his rewards. He is sad to leave her and wishes he could earn his wealth at home, but that is not the case.

He orders her to give Dapple extra food and to check the harness and packsaddle. His wife reminds him that if he finds his wealth to not forget his family. Sancho promises to marry their daughter into high society. His sensible wife tells him it is better to marry her to her equal. She wouldn’t do well in high society and would reveal her coarse origins. Sancho says that the girl would just have to learn and practice on how to become a lady. Besides, what does it matter if she is coarse if she has the title?

Teresa warns him about trying to be better than he is. If a duke married their daughter, he’d treat her like dirt. She wants Sancho to leave her with the match-making. She hopes to wed her daughter to a boy who is their equal and seems to like their daughter.

Sancho warns that to not enjoy good fortune causes it to pass you by. He’ll make his daughter a countess. His wife tells him it will be the ruin of their daughter. She doesn’t want people to believe that she or her daughter are giving themselves airs. She tells him to go and leave them be. They will not become more than what they are. Sancho tells her that if they are raised to good fortune, nobody will remember what they were. They’ll be respected, and only the envious will say bad things about them.

She asks him that if he becomes a governor, to send for their son so he can learn the trade. Sancho says he’ll send her money so the boy can buy clothes to look the part.