The night spent in this unaccommodating inn climaxes their misfortunes. A lusty mule carrier who sleeps in a nearby chamber wakefully awaits the visit of the deformed servant of the innkeeper, Maritornes. Too sore to sleep, Don Quixote has imagined that the daughter of the powerful lord who owns this castle has fallen in love with him and has arranged a tryst. Maritornes is punctual but must pass by the knight's couch on her way to the mule carrier. Don Quixote grabs her, whispering that despite her loveliness, charm, and generous heart, his affections belong to his beloved mistress, Dulcinea. The muleteer, enraged, grabs a cudgel and smacks Don Quixote first on the jaw, then tramples him with his great feet. The bed falls in with such a noise that the innkeeper awakens. Blaming Maritornes, he rushes upstairs to punish her. The servant hides next to the sleeping Sancho, who is terrified to find a lump in his bed. He flails around as if in a nightmare, and Maritornes begins to hit him in return. With the aid of the innkeeper's light, the mule carrier now beats Sancho, while the landlord attacks Maritornes. Then, when the lamp goes out, a police officer, lodging at the inn, charges into the fray. He grabs the senseless Don Quixote and discovering no response shouts "Murder!" At this, everyone quietly desists, and each slinks back into his own bed.
When the police officer returns with a light, he finds Don Quixote conscious, but bruised. The knight insults him, mistaking him for the cause of all the trouble, and the officer gets so angry that he hits him over the head with the lamp. To relieve his pains, the Don orders the ingredients for his special balm and swallows the preparation. After violent nausea, he feels quite restored, and Sancho then drinks what is left in the pot. He, on the other hand, suffers such dreadful reactions that he is weaker and more miserable than ever when the attack is over. His master is ready to leave, however, and saddles their beasts, giving the innkeeper a gracious speech of thanks for his hospitality. "Where is my payment?" asks the landlord, but the distracted knight cannot understand that he is anything but a guest at whichever castle he stops at. He marches off, leaving Sancho to continue arguing with the innkeeper. At this point, some stout jolly fellows in the courtyard seize this opportunity for a jest. They lay Sancho in a blanket and toss him high in the air many times before allowing him at last to rejoin his master outside the gate.
