Don Quixote’s Third Sally

Don Quixote’s Third Sally begins not with a combat but with a negotiation: Sancho Panza asks for dependable wages before he again takes the road as Don Quixote’s squire. Their disagreement gives way to a renewed pledge of service, while Samson Carrasco’s intervention helps turn a proposed expedition into a departure arranged for three days later. The leave-taking is practical and affectionate, but not uncomplicated: the household mourns as if Don Quixote were already dead, and Carrasco’s apparent support conceals a purpose he has discussed with the curate and the barber.

The wage dispute and its resolution

Sancho makes his case through the uncertainty of life. Death, he argues, may come at any time, so a promised reward—especially one that might arrive late, prove inadequate, or never appear—is a poor substitute for knowing what his service will earn. He wants a fixed monthly payment drawn from Don Quixote’s estate. The request does not mean that he has abandoned hope of the island promised to him: should he receive it, he says, its assessed revenue could be deducted from his wages in due proportion. His proposal joins the grand expectation of governorship to the smaller security of regular income.

Don Quixote agrees that Sancho’s reflections are true but initially says he cannot see where they lead. Once Sancho states the practical request, his master answers with a brief play on proportion and promotion rather than settling every detail of the proposed arrangement. The exchange places the squire’s material calculation beside his master’s extravagant promise: Sancho is still willing to imagine an island, but he wants the terms of present service made less uncertain.

The negotiation threatens to become a departure from service when Don Quixote supposes that Sancho may not accompany him. Carrasco has offered to serve as squire, and Don Quixote points to this offer as proof that replacements are available. Yet he declines the offer in substance, saying he will not damage Carrasco’s standing as a learned man merely to satisfy his own inclination. The possibility of another squire makes Sancho’s choice consequential: his place beside Don Quixote is not simply assumed.

A renewed bond, and Carrasco’s part

Sancho answers with visible emotion and renews his allegiance. He explains that his bargaining was meant to please his wife, while also insisting that he will be a man in his own household. He invokes the Panzas’ local reputation and Don Quixote’s past generosity, and promises faithful service. The shift is from household negotiation back to companionship: Sancho does not withdraw his concerns, but chooses to go.

His speech also produces a comic misunderstanding. Sancho refers to a will and codicil that could not be provoked, substituting the wrong word for revoked. Carrasco, who has read the first part of his master’s history, had not expected Sancho’s talk to be so droll; hearing the mistake persuades him that the earlier account was accurate. He judges master and man a pair of extraordinary simpletons. The narrator thus lets Sancho’s verbal confusion confirm the history for a listener inside the story, while the same mistake helps turn the serious question of wages into comedy.

Carrasco is more than a witness to the reconciliation. Don Quixote calls him their oracle, and the departure is arranged with his advice and approval. The account also discloses that Carrasco’s intention in encouraging another sally is part of a design discussed beforehand with the curate and the barber, whose later purpose the history promises to relate. His support therefore carries two meanings: on the surface he assists the expedition; beneath it, he is acting within a plan concerning Don Quixote’s travels.

Preparation and leave-taking

The party allows three days to prepare. Don Quixote insists on obtaining a closed helmet, and Carrasco offers one belonging to a friend. It is heavily marked by rust and mildew rather than bright like burnished steel, a concrete, imperfect piece of equipment for a journey imagined in the language of chivalry. The household’s response is less practical: Don Quixote’s niece and housekeeper curse Carrasco, tear at their hair, claw their faces, and lament as hired mourners once did, as though his departure were his death.

During the interval, Sancho pacifies his wife, while Don Quixote makes peace with his niece and housekeeper. The leave-taking is kept from the village: at nightfall the two men depart unseen by anyone except Carrasco, who accompanies them for half a league. Sancho rides Dapple, with provisions in his alforjas and money Don Quixote has given him for emergencies; Don Quixote rides Rocinante. The details give the departure both its familiar comic contrast and its material scale: a promised island lies ahead in Sancho’s imagination, but the immediate provisions are food and cash for the road.

The road to El Toboso

Before returning to the village, Carrasco embraces Don Quixote and asks to hear whether their fortunes prove good or bad, so that he may share either his joy or his sorrow as friendship requires. Don Quixote promises to keep him informed. That exchange closes the preparation sequence with a public language of friendship, even as the narrator has disclosed Carrasco’s private design.

The pair then take the road toward El Toboso. This departure establishes the Third Sally’s immediate direction, not the outcome of the journey: the next chapter is announced as an account of what befalls Don Quixote on his way to see his lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. The sally begins, accordingly, with practical concerns, household resistance, a concealed scheme, and a renewed master-and-squire bond, all carried out of the village under cover of night.