Sancho's Letter and the Distressed Duenna — Don Quixote

The majordomo who played Merlin prepares another joke as the duchess asks Sancho whether he has begun his lash penance; he says he gave himself five overnight with his hand, and she calls that slaps, not lashes, promising a scourge suited to his cotton flesh.

Sancho produces his letter to Teresa, dictated in governor style though he cannot write: whipped to ride like a gentleman, office bought by whipping, Teresa to go in a coach not on all-fours, Dulcinea's disenchantment at three thousand three hundred lashes less five, and covetous hunger for the new governor's profits. The duchess faults his covetousness and lash logic but keeps the letter for the duke, who delights at dinner.

A doleful fife and drum interrupt the garden meal. Trifaldin of the White Beard enters in black with a beard of prodigious whiteness, announcing the Countess Trifaldi, the Distressed Duenna, who has come on foot and without breaking her fast from the kingdom of Kandy seeking Don Quixote. The duke grants her entry; Quixote answers that afflicted damsels do not seek jurists or stay-at-home knights but knights-errant, and vows to relieve her by arm and bold heart.