Don Quixote wants to descend into The Cave of Wondrous Wonders. I dunno, Sancho says, Looks dangerous. Are you a coward, Don Quixote asks, Don't you want to know about the splendors that may be found below the earth? Ok, Sancho says, and ties a rope to Dapple, his donkey, and wraps it around his master's waist, and he and Dapple slowly lower the knight into the cave. It is a cave—or more like a hole, and there are layers of different-colored earth, and rocks and boulders sticking out of the walls. There is a dank smell, and darkness, and looking down from his swinging perch, Don Quixote descends into dark. Then splunk, he hits the bottom, and Don Quixote is standing in a layer of mud up to his ankles that seems to have solid earth beneath it. He looks around, holding his candle-lit lamp against the walls, then tugs three times on his rope. Sancho, about to fall asleep, gets the signal, and he and his donkey pull our hero up and out of the cave. Don Quixote emerges as if he had been born a second time. What was it like, asks Sancho. Oh, Don Quixote says, it was just as splendorous as the sages of old have told us, there were jewels sticking out of the walls, diamonds and rubies, and a whole world with towers of castles in the distance, and knights, and ladies in beautiful gowns, and fine horses, and ... OK, says Sancho, that's it, lower me down, I have to see this, maybe grab a few diamonds. You are not prepared, spiritually or mentally, for such an undertaking, replies Don Quixote. Please, please, I have to go down into the cave and see the Wondrous Wonders for myself. OK, Don Quixote relents, and he and Dapple lower Sancho down. Sancho sees dirt and rocks, inhales the dank smell, and lands in the thin layer of mud, gives the rope three yanks, and up he comes. What did you see, Don Quixote asks Sancho. Sancho, wide-eyed and out of breath, says, it was just as splendorous as he sages of old have told us, there were jewels sticking out of the walls, diamonds and rubies, and a whole world with towers of castles in the distance, and knights, and ladies in beautiful gowns, and fine horses, and—and both men ride off, having seen what few men have seen and return to tell about. But they are both silent, and like true sages of old, never speak of the Cave of Wondrous Wonders again.