Volume 1, Chapter 11
The goatherds turn out to be very hospitable and are happy to have guests. Before sitting down on their sheepskins to eat, they provide Don Quijote with a superior seat -- an overturned feeding trough -- to honor him.
Seeing Sancho standing, as cup bearer, Don Quijote takes it into his head to honor Sancho by having him sit next to him and share his plate and cup as an equal. Sancho, who wants no part of this, thanks him but says he'd rather eat separately and be free to sneeze or cough or do other things that require privacy and asks Don Quijote to instead choose an honor that Sancho would enjoy. But he insists and forces Sancho to sit next to him, explaining that God will exalt him for humbling himself (by sitting next to a mere squire).
Topic Tracking: Grandiosity 9
Although, the goatherds can make no sense out of this nonsense, nor Don Quijote's monologue on the charms of the Golden age that followed, they did find their strange visitor fascinating just the same. One of the goatherds, hearing Don Quijote complain to Sancho that his ear was hurting, prepares and applies an herb poultice to it that he promises will heal it and it does.
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