"Be it as it may," replied Dorothea, "what happened in my story was that Don Fernando, taking an image that stood in the chamber, placed it as a witness of our betrothal, and with the most binding words and extravagant oaths gave me his promise to become my husband; though before he had made an end of pledging himself I bade him consider well what he was doing, and think of the anger his father would feel at seeing him married to a peasant girl and one of his vassals; I told him not to let my beauty, such as it was, blind him, for that was not enough to furnish an excuse for his transgression; and if in the love he bore me he wished to do me any kindness, it would be to leave my lot to follow its course at the level my condition required; for marriages so unequal never brought happiness, nor did they continue long to afford the enjoyment they began with.
-Sea lo que fuere -respondió Dorotea-, «lo que en mi cuento pasa fue que, tomando don Fernando una imagen que en aquel aposento estaba, la puso por testigo de nuestro desposorio. Con palabras eficacísimas y juramentos estraordinarios, me dio la palabra de ser mi marido, puesto que, antes que acabase de decirlas, le dije que mirase bien lo que hacía y que considerase el enojo que su padre había de recebir de verle casado con una villana vasalla suya; que no le cegase mi hermosura, tal cual era, pues no era bastante para hallar en ella disculpa de su yerro, y que si algún bien me quería hacer, por el amor que me tenía, fuese dejar correr mi suerte a lo igual de lo que mi calidad podía, porque nunca los tan desiguales casamientos se gozan ni duran mucho en aquel gusto con que se comienzan.