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Selections from Don Quixote: A Dual-Language Book
Selections from Don Quixote: A Dual-Language Book
Selections from Don Quixote: A Dual-Language Book
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Selections from Don Quixote: A Dual-Language Book

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One of the great masterpieces of world literature, Don Quixote de la Mancha is a picaresque romance that has amused and delighted generations of readers. This dual-language edition, featuring selections from the famed novel, brings vigorously to life the satiric adventures of the idealistic would-be knight and his faithful servant Sancho Panza.
Presented in the original Spanish, with excellent new literal English translations on facing pages, the passages have been carefully selected to capture the wonderful flavor and romance of the complete work. Readers will delight in scenes describing the comical manner in which Don Quixote was knighted, his valiant battle with the windmills (mistakenly perceived by the errant knight as giants), the misfortunes suffered by the undaunted knight and his squire at an inn, Sancho's report of his meeting with the lovely Dulcinea, the fight with the wineskins, and much more.
Stanley Appelbaum, translator of this volume, has also provided an informative Introduction and ample footnotes, making this edition not only an enjoyable reading experience, but a valuable learning and teaching aid for students and teachers of Spanish literature. 
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 18, 2012
ISBN9780486117676
Selections from Don Quixote: A Dual-Language Book
Author

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547, in Alcala de Henares, Spain. At twenty-three he enlisted in the Spanish militia and in 1571 fought against the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, where a gunshot wound permanently crippled his left hand. He spent four more years at sea and then another five as a slave after being captured by Barbary pirates. Ransomed by his family, he returned to Madrid but his disability hampered him; it was in debtor's prison that he began to write Don Quixote. Cervantes wrote many other works, including poems and plays, but he remains best known as the author of Don Quixote. He died on April 23, 1616.

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    Selections from Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

    Mancha

    PARTE PRIMERA

    Capítulo primero

    Que trata de la condición y ejercicio del famoso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha

    En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor. Una olla de algo más vaca que carnero, salpicón las más noches, duelos y quebrantos los sábados, lantejas los viernes, algún palomino de añadidura los domingos, consumían las tres partes de su hacienda. El resto della concluían sayo de velarte, calzas de velludo para las fiestas, con sus pantuflos de lo mesmo, y los días de entresemana se honraba con su vellorí de lo más fino. Tenía en su casa una ama que pasaba de los cuarenta, y una sobrina que no llegaba a los veinte, y un mozo de campo y plaza, que así ensillaba el rocín como tomaba la podadera. Frisaba la edad de nuestro hidalgo con los cincuenta años; era de complexión recia, seco de carnes, enjuto de rostro, gran madrugador y amigo de la caza. Quieren decir que tenía el sobrenombre de Quijada, o Quesada, que en esto hay alguna diferencia en los autores que deste caso escriben; aunque por conjeturas verosímiles se deja entender que se llamaba Quejana. Pero esto importa poco a nuestro cuento; basta que en la narración dél no se salga un punto de la verdad.

    Es, pues, de saber, que este sobredicho hidalgo, los ratos que estaba ocioso —que eran los más del año—, se daba a leer libros de

    PART ONE

    Chapter I

    Which Concerns the Nature and Habits of the Famous Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

    In a village of La Mancha, whose name I don’t want to remember, there lived not long ago one of those gentlemen who possess a lance in its rack, an old-fashioned shield, an emaciated workhorse, and a hunting hound for coursing game. A stew containing somewhat more beef than mutton,¹ a salmagundi most nights, fried eggs and bacon² on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, a squab as an extra treat on Sundays, used up three-fourths of his income. The rest of it was finished off by a doublet of fine dark cloth, and velvet breeches for holidays with slippers of the same material; while on weekdays he did himself proud with an outfit of the best medium-quality brown cloth that could be found. In his home he had a housekeeper past forty and a niece not yet twenty, as well as a manservant³ for both domestic and field work, who both saddled his horse and wielded the pruning hook. Our gentleman was getting on for fifty; he was of a robust constitution, with a skinny body and a lean face; he was a very early riser, and quite fond of hunting. They say his family name was Quijada, or Quesada,⁴ for there is some disagreement about this in the authors who write about the matter, though by likely conjectures it may be understood that his name was Quejana. But this is of little importance to our story; it will suffice that, in the telling of it, we do not depart in the least from the truth.

    Well, then, it should be known that, in his idle moments—which was most of the time—the aforesaid gentleman used to read books of

    ¹ Beef being cheaper.

    ² This is the most common interpretation of the mysterious duelos y quebrantos (sorrows and afflictions), which may rather have been a dish comprised of whatever cheap ingredients were available.

    ³ Never mentioned again in the entire novel.

    Quijada: jawbone. Quesada: cheese pie.

    caballerías con tanta afición y gusto, que olvidó casi de todo punto el ejercicio de la caza, y aun la administración de su hacienda; y llegó a tanto su curiosidad y desatino en esto, que vendió muchas hanegas de tierra de sembradura para comprar libros de caballerías en que leer, y así, llevó a su casa todos cuantos pudo haber dellos; y de todos, ningunos le parecían tan bien como los que compuso el famoso Feliciano de Silva, porque la claridad de su prosa y aquellas entricadas razones suyas le parecían de perlas, y más cuando llegaba a leer aquellos requiebros y cartas de desafíos, donde en muchas partes hallaba escrito: La razón de la sinrazón que a mi razón se hace, de tal manera mi razón enflaquece, que con razón me quejo de la vuestra fermosura. Y también cuando leía: . . . los altos cielos que de vuestra divinidad divinamente con las estrellas os fortifican, y os hacen merecedora del merecimiento que merece la vuestra grandeza.

    Con estas razones perdía el pobre caballero el juicio, y desvelábase por entenderlas y desentrañarles el sentido, que no se lo sacara ni las entendiera el mesmo Aristóteles, si resucitara para sólo ello. No estaba muy bien con las heridas que don Belianís daba y recebía, porque se imaginaba que, por grandes maestros que le hubiesen curado, no dejaría de tener el rostro y todo el cuerpo lleno de cicatrices y señales. Pero, con todo, alababa en su autor aquel acabar su libro con la promesa de aquella inacabable aventura, y muchas veces le vino deseo de tomar la pluma y dalle fin al pie de la letra, como allí se promete; y sin duda alguna lo hiciera, y aun saliera con ello, si otros mayores y continuos pensamientos no se lo estorbaran. Tuvo muchas veces competencia con el cura de su lugar —que era hombre docto, graduado en Sigüenza—, sobre cuál había sido mejor caballero: Palmerín de Ingalaterra o Amadís de Gaula; mas maese Nicolás, barbero del mesmo pueblo, decía que ninguno llegaba al Caballero del Febo, y que si alguno se le podía comparar era don Galaor, hermano de Amadís de Gaula, porque tenía muy acomodada condición para todo; que no era caballero melindroso ni tan llorón como su hermano, y que en lo de la valentía no le iba en zaga.

    En resolución, él se enfrascó tanto en su letura, que se le pasaban las noches leyendo de claro en claro, y los días de turbio en

    chivalry with such interest and pleasure that he nearly forgot entirely his pursuit of hunting, and even the management of his estate; and his foolish infatuation with these things led him to sell off many acres of arable land in order to purchase books of chivalry to read. So, he brought home as many of them as he could find. Among them all, he thought none were so good as those written by Feliciano de Silva,⁵ because the clarity of his prose and those complicated phrases of his seemed as precious as pearls to him, especially when he happened to read those gallant compliments and those letters containing challenges, in which he frequently found passages like: The reason for the unreasonable injury being done to my reason so weakens my reason that with reason I complain about your beauty. And likewise when he read: The lofty heavens that divinely with the stars fortify you with your divinity, and make you deserving of the desert your greatness deserves.

    Reading such phrases, the poor knight was gradually losing his mind, staying up nights to understand them and root out their meaning, which even Aristotle couldn’t have found; nor would he have understood them, had he been brought back to life for that sole purpose. The gentleman was unhappy about the wounds that Don Belianís inflicted and received, because he imagined that, no matter how skillful the doctors were who tended him, his face and whole body would have to be full of scars and marks. And yet, despite all this, he praised the author for ending his book with the promise of that never-ending adventure; and he often felt the urge to take up his pen and write an ending to it literally, just as the text promised. No doubt he would have done so, and would have accomplished it, too, had he not been impeded by other, greater thoughts that were always in his mind. He had frequent arguments with the parish priest of his village, who was a learned man and a graduate of the University of Sigüenza,⁶ over which one had been a better knight, Palmerín of England or Amadís of Gaul. But Master Nicolás, the barber of the same locality, said that nobody equaled the Knight of Phoebus, and that, if anyone could be compared with him, it was Don Galaor, brother of Amadís of Gaul, because his character was very adaptable to any occasion; he wasn’t a finicky, affected knight, or a crybaby like his brother, and he didn’t lag behind him when it came to valor.

    In short, he became so absorbed in his books that he spent his nights reading from daylight to daylight, and his days from dark to dark. And

    ⁵ Ca. 1492-ca. 1558; he churned out numerous poorly written imitations of the better, earlier books of chivalry.

    ⁶ Considered an inferior school at the time.

    turbio; y así, del poco dormir y del mucho leer se le secó el celebro, de manera que vino a perder el juicio. Llenósele la fantasía de todo aquello que leía en los libros, así de encantamentos como de pendencias, batallas, desafíos, heridas, requiebros, amores, tormentas y disparates imposibles; y asentósele de tal modo en la imaginación que era verdad toda aquella máquina de aquellas sonadas soñadas invenciones que leía, que para él no había otra historia más cierta en el mundo. Decía él que el Cid Ruy Díaz había sido muy buen caballero, pero que no tenía que ver con el Caballero de la Ardiente Espada, que de sólo un revés había partido por medio dos fieros y descomunales gigantes. Mejor estaba con Bernardo del Carpio, porque en Roncesvalles había muerto a Roldán el encantado, valiéndose de la industria de Hércules, cuando ahogó a Anteo, el hijo de la Tierra, entre los brazos. Decía mucho bien del gigante Morgante porque, con ser de aquella generación gigantea, que todos son soberbios y descomedidos, él sólo era afable y bien criado. Pero, sobre todos, estaba bien con Reinaldos de Montalbán, y más cuando le veía salir de su castillo y robar cuantos topaba, y cuando en allende robó aquel ídolo de Mahoma que era todo de oro, según dice su historia. Diera él por dar una mano de coces al traidor de Galalón, al ama que tenía y aun a su sobrina de añadidura.

    En efeto, rematado ya su juicio, vino a dar en el más estraño pensamiento que jamás dio loco en el mundo, y fue que le pareció convenible y necesario, así para el aumento de su honra como para el servicio de su república, hacerse caballero andante, y irse por todo el mundo con sus armas y caballo a buscar las aventuras y a ejercitarse en todo aquello que él había leído que los caballeros andantes se ejercitaban, deshaciendo todo género de agravio, y poniéndose en ocasiones y peligros donde, acabándolos, cobrase eterno nombre y fama. Imaginábase el pobre ya coronado por el valor de su brazo, por lo menos, del imperio de Trapisonda; y así, con estos tan agradables pensamientos, llevado del estraño gusto que en ellos sentía, se dio priesa a poner en efeto lo que deseaba. Y lo primero que hizo fue limpiar unas armas que habían sido de sus bisabuelos, que, tomadas de orín y llenas de moho, luengos siglos había que estaban

    so, from an insufficiency of sleep and an excess of reading, his brain dried out, and he finally lost his mind. His imagination was filled with everything he read in his books, not only enchantments but also fights, battles, challenges, wounds, gallant compliments, love affairs, storms, and impossible nonsense; and he became so convinced that all that apparatus of talked-up and dreamed-up fiction he read was the truth, that for him there was no other history in the world that was so accurate. He used to say that Ruy Díaz, the Cid,⁷ had been a very good knight, but couldn’t compare with the Knight of the Burning Sword, who with a single backhand stroke had cut in half two fierce, immense giants. He was more favorably inclined toward Bernardo del Carpio, because at Roncesvalles he had killed Roland (who was protected by spells) by means of the same ruse Hercules used when he throttled Antaeus, the son of the Earth, between his arms. He had much good to say about the giant Morgante because, even though he was of that race of giants who were all arrogant and insolent, he alone was affable and courteous. But above all he was fond of Renaut of Montauban, especially when he saw him sallying forth from his castle to rob everyone he came across, and when, in foreign parts, he stole that idol of Mahomet which was all of gold, as his story relates. To be able to give a round of kicks to the traitor Ganelon, he would have given up his housekeeper, and his niece into the bargain.⁸

    As a matter of fact, once his mind was ruined, he lit upon the strangest idea any madman ever had: it seemed fitting and necessary to him, both for the furtherance of his own honor and for the good of his country, to become a knight-errant and roam the entire world with his armor and steed in quest of adventures and the practice of all those deeds performed by the knights-errant he had read about: righting all sorts of wrongs and exposing himself to perilous situations and feats, the accomplishing of which would win him eternal glory and fame. The poor fellow already pictured himself crowned as emperor of Trebizond,⁹ at the very least, through the strength of his arm; and so, with such agreeable thoughts as these, impelled by the strange pleasure he took in them, he hastened to put his desires into effect. The first thing he did was to clean some armor which had belonged to his great-grandfathers and which, all rusty and covered with mold,

    ⁷ The greatest Spanish folk hero (died 1099).

    ⁸ In the Chanson de Roland, Ganelon betrays Charlemagne’s nephew Roland at the battle of Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees. Bernardo del Carpio is a legendary Spanish addition to the story, who kills Roland after lifting his feet off the ground, as Hercules did with the giant Antaeus. The others mentioned here are well-known fictional characters.

    ⁹ A kingdom on the Black Sea.

    puestas y olvidadas en un rincón. Limpiólas y aderezólas lo mejor que pudo; pero vio que tenían una gran falta, y era que no tenían celada de encaje, sino morrión simple; mas a esto suplió su industria, porque de cartones hizo un modo de media celada, que, encajada con el morrión, hacían una apariencia de celada entera. Es verdad que para probar si era fuerte y podía estar al riesgo de una cuchillada, sacó su espada y le dio dos golpes, y con el primero y en un punto deshizo lo que había hecho en una semana; y no dejó de parecerle mal la facilidad con que la había hecho pedazos, y, por asegurarse deste peligro, la tornó a hacer de nuevo, poniéndole unas barras de hierro por de dentro, de tal manera que él quedó satisfecho de su fortaleza, y sin querer hacer nueva experiencia della, la diputó y tuvo por celada finísima de encaje.

    Fue luego a ver su rocín, y aunque tenía más cuartos que un real y más tachas que el caballo de Gonela, que tantum pellis et ossa fuit, le pareció que ni el Bucéfalo de Alejandro ni Babieca el del Cid con él se igualaban. Cuatro días se le pasaron en imaginar qué nombre le pondría; porque —según se decía él a sí mesmo— no era razón que caballo de caballero tan famoso, y tan bueno él por sí, estuviese sin nombre conocido; y ansí, procuraba acomodársele de manera que declarase quién había sido antes que fuese de caballero andante, y lo que era entonces; pues estaba muy puesto en razón que, mudando su señor estado, mudase él también el nombre, y le cobrase famoso y de estruendo, como convenía a la nueva orden y al nuevo ejercicio que ya profesaba; y así, después de muchos nombres que formó, borró y quitó, añadió, deshizo y tornó a hacer en su memoria e imaginación, al fin le vino a llamar Rocinante, nombre, a su parecer, alto, sonoro y significativo de lo que había sido cuando fue rocín, antes de lo que ahora era, que era antes y primero de todos los rocines del mundo.

    Puesto nombre, y tan a su gusto, a su caballo, quiso ponérsele a sí mismo, y en este pensamiento duró otros ocho días, y al cabo se vino a llamar don Quijote; de donde, como queda dicho, tomaron ocasión los autores desta tan verdadera historia que, sin duda, se debía de llamar Quijada, y no Quesada, como otros quisieron decir. Pero, acordándose que el valeroso Amadís no sólo se había contentado con llamarse Amadís a secas, sino que añadió el nombre de

    had been put away and forgotten in a corner for ages. He did his best to clean and repair it, but he saw that it had a great shortcoming: there was no segment to attach the helmet to the neckpiece, but merely a headpiece. But his wit made up the lack: he made a sort of half-segment out of cardboard, which, when joined to the headpiece, gave the appearance of an entire helmet. It’s true that when, to test its strength and its ability to ward off a sword blow, he drew his sword and struck it twice, the first blow immediately undid his labors of a full week. He couldn’t avoid worrying about the ease with which he had demolished it; and, to protect himself against that danger, he made a new one, inserting some iron rods inside, so that he was satisfied with its strength and, without trying another test on it, he considered it and looked upon it as an excellent helmet connected to the neckpiece.

    Then he went to see his workhorse, and although there were as many nicks in his hooves as there are nickels in a dollar,¹⁰ and he had as many flaws as Gonnella’s¹¹ horse, being nothing but skin and bones, in his master’s eyes neither Alexander the Great’s Bucephalus nor the Cid’s Babieca came up to him. The gentleman spent four days thinking up a name for him, because, as he told himself, it wasn’t proper for the horse of such a famous knight, a horse so good in his own right, to be without a well-known name. And so he tried to find a fitting one that would declare what he had been before belonging to a knight-errant and what he now was; for it was settled in his mind that, since the horse’s master was changing his walk in life, he too must change his name and take on a famous and terrific one, befitting the new order of chivalry and the new career his master was now professing. And so, after inventing many names, erasing and removing them, adding new ones, rejecting them and remaking them in his memory and imagination, finally he came to call him Rocinante, a name he found lofty, sonorous, and indicative of the fact that he had been a workhorse [rocín] before [antes] being what he was now, which was the leader [antes] and foremost of all the workhorses in the world.

    Having named his horse, so much to his own satisfaction, he now wished to bestow a new name on himself; he thought about this a further eight days, and finally came to call himself Don Quixote.¹² On this basis, as it is said, the authors of this most truthful history deduced that his name certainly had to be Quijada, and not Quesada, as others stated. But, remembering that the valiant Amadís hadn’t been content to call himself just plain Amadís, but had added the name of

    ¹⁰ The Spanish has a pun on cuarto, which means (among other things) a crack in a hoof and a copper coin worth about 1/8 of the silver coin called the real.

    ¹¹ A court jester in Ferrara, Italy, in the fifteenth century.

    ¹² Literally, a cuisse (thigh armor).

    su reino y patria, por hacerla famosa, y se llamó Amadís de Gaula, así quiso, como buen caballero, añadir al suyo el nombre de la suya y llamarse don Quijote de la Mancha, con que, a su parecer, declaraba muy al vivo su linaje y patria, y la honraba con tomar el sobrenombre della.

    Limpias, pues, sus armas, hecho del morrión celada, puesto nombre a su rocín y confirmándose a sí mismo, se dio a entender que no le faltaba otra cosa sino buscar una dama de quien enamorarse; porque el caballero andante sin amores era árbol sin hojas y sin fruto y cuerpo sin alma. Decíase él a sí:

    —Si yo, por malos de mis pecados, o por mi buena suerte, me encuentro por ahí con algún gigante, como de ordinario les acontece a los caballeros andantes, y le derribo de un encuentro, o le parto por mitad del cuerpo, o, finalmente, le venzo y le rindo, ¿no será bien tener a quien enviarle presentado y que entre y se hinque de rodillas ante mi dulce señora, y diga con voz humilde y rendido: «Yo, señora, soy el gigante Caraculiambro, señor de la ínsula Malindrania, a quien venció en singular batalla el jamás como se debe alabado caballero don Quijote de la Mancha, el cual me mandó que me presentase ante vuestra merced, para que la vuestra grandeza disponga de mí a su talante»?

    ¡Oh, cómo se holgó nuestro buen caballero cuando hubo hecho este discurso, y más cuando halló a quien dar nombre de su dama! Y fue, a lo que se cree, que en un lugar cerca del suyo había una moza labradora de muy buen parecer, de quien él un tiempo anduvo enamorado, aunque, según se entiende, ella jamás lo supo, ni le dio cata dello. Llamábase Aldonza Lorenzo, y a ésta le pareció ser bien darle título de señora de sus pensamientos, y, buscándole nombre que no desdijese mucho del suyo y que tirase y se encaminase al de princesa y gran señora, vino a llamarla Dulcinea del Toboso, porque era natural del Toboso; nombre, a su parecer, músico y peregrino y significativo, como todos los demás que a él y a sus cosas había puesto.

    Capítulo II

    Que trata de la primera salida que de su tierra hizo el ingenioso Don Quijote

    Hechas, pues, estas prevenciones, no quiso aguardar más tiempo a poner en efeto su pensamiento, apretándole a ello la falta que él

    his kingdom and homeland in order to make it famous, calling himself Amadís of Gaul, similarly he decided, like a good knight, to add his own region’s name to his, calling himself Don Quixote of La Mancha; in his eyes, this vividly declared his lineage and homeland, honoring his region by taking its name as part of his own.

    And so, now that his armor was clean, the headpiece was turned into a full helmet, his horse had been given a name, and he had rebaptized himself, he realized that nothing else was lacking but to find a noble lady to fall in love with, because a knight-errant without a lady to love was a tree without leaves or fruit, or a body without a soul. He said to himself:

    If, as a punishment for my sins or through my good fortune, I come across some giant out there, as knights-errant generally do, and I unseat him in an encounter, or split him in half, or, in short, overcome and subdue him, won’t it be a good thing if I have someone to send him to as a present, so he can come in, kneel down before my sweet lady, and say in humble, submissive tones: ‘I, lady, am the giant Caraculiambro, lord of the island Malindrania, conquered in single combat by the never sufficiently to be praised knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, who has ordered me to present myself to your grace so that your highness may dispose of me as she wishes’?

    Oh, how pleased our good knight was after making that speech, and even more so when he discovered to whom he should give the name of his lady! It is believed that, in a village near his, there lived a very good-looking farm laborer whom he had been in love with at one time, although of course she never knew about it and he never informed her. Her name was Aldonza Lorenzo, and it was on her that he saw fit to bestow the title of lady of his thoughts. Searching for a name that wouldn’t be too inconsistent with hers, and would resemble and indicate that of a princess and great lady, he decided to call her Dulcinea of El Toboso, because she was a native of El Toboso. This name, to his mind, was musical, exotic, and meaningful, like all the others he had given to himself and his possessions.

    Chapter II

    Which Concerns the First Venture Forth from His Lands by the Inventive Don Quixote

    Well, then, after these preparations he didn’t want to wait any longer to put his ideas into action. He was urged on by the thought that the

    pensaba que hacía en el mundo su tardanza, según eran los agravios que pensaba deshacer, tuertos que enderezar, sinrazones que emendar, y abusos que mejorar, y deudas que satisfacer. Y así, sin dar parte a persona alguna de su intención, y sin que nadie le viese, una mañana, antes del día, que era uno de los calurosos del mes de julio, se armó de todas sus armas, subió sobre Rocinante, puesta su mal compuesta celada, embrazó su adarga, tomó su lanza, y por la puerta falsa de un corral salió al campo, con grandísimo contento y alborozo de ver con cuánta facilidad había dado principio a su buen deseo. Mas apenas se vio en el campo, cuando le asaltó un pensamiento terrible, y tal, que por poco le hiciera dejar la comenzada empresa; y fue que le vino a la memoria que no era armado caballero, y que, conforme a la ley de caballería, ni podía ni debía tomar armas con ningún caballero; y puesto que lo fuera, había de llevar armas blancas, como novel caballero, sin empresa en el escudo, hasta que por su esfuerzo la ganase. Estos pensamientos le hicieron titubear en su propósito; mas, pudiendo más su locura que otra razón alguna, propuso de hacerse armar caballero del primero que topase, a imitación de otros muchos que así lo hicieron, según él había leído en los libros que tal le tenían. En lo de las armas blancas, pensaba limpiarlas de manera, en teniendo lugar, que lo fuesen más que un armiño, y con esto se quietó y prosiguió su camino, sin llevar otro que aquel que su caballo quería, creyendo que en aquello consistía la fuerza de las aventuras.

    Yendo, pues, caminando nuestro flamante aventurero, iba hablando consigo mesmo y diciendo:

    —¿Quién duda sino que en los venideros tiempos, cuando salga a luz la verdadera historia de mis famosos hechos, que el sabio que los escribiere no ponga, cuando llegue a contar esta mi primera salida tan de mañana, desta manera?: «Apenas había el rubicundo Apolo tendido por la faz de la ancha y espaciosa tierra las doradas hebras de sus hermosos cabellos, y apenas los pequeños y pintados pajarillos con sus arpadas lenguas habían saludado con dulce y meliflua armonía la venida de la rosada aurora, que, dejando la blanda cama del celoso marido, por las puertas y balcones del manchego horizonte a los mortales se mostraba, cuando el famoso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha, dejando las ociosas plumas, subió sobre su famoso caballo Rocinante, y comenzó a caminar por el antiguo y conocido campo de Montiel».

    Y era la verdad que por él caminaba. Y añadió diciendo:

    —Dichosa edad y siglo dichoso aquel adonde saldrán a luz las

    world would suffer from any delay on his part, since there were so many wrongs he intended to right, so many injuries to redress, injustices to rectify, abuses to abolish, and debts to pay. And so, without informing anyone of his plans, and without anyone seeing him, one morning before daybreak, on one of the hot days in the month of July, he put on all his armor, mounted Rocinante, having placed his poorly replaced helmet on his head, put his shield on his arm, and sallied forth into the countryside through a back door in a courtyard, mightily pleased and joyful to see how easily he had set his noble desire in motion. But as soon as he was out in the open, he was struck by an awful thought, one that nearly made him abandon the undertaking he had begun: it occurred to him that he had never been knighted, and that thus, according to the laws of chivalry, he couldn’t and shouldn’t enter into combat with any knight. Even if that were possible, he had to bear blank arms, as a novice knight, without an emblem or device on his shield, until he earned one through his efforts. These thoughts made him waver in his resolve; but, his madness outweighing any rational idea, he determined to have himself knighted by the first knight he came across, just as he had read in the books that captivated him so. As for the blank arms, he hoped that, when the right time came, he would polish them until they were whiter than an ermine. With that in mind, he calmed down and continued along his way, not taking any other than the one his horse chose, in the belief that the destiny of his adventures would have it so.

    And thus, our brand-new adventurer, as he went along and pursued his way, spoke to himself, saying:

    Who can doubt but that in the days to come, when the true history of my famous feats is published, the sage who writes it will state, when he comes to relate this first sally of mine so early in the morning: ‘Scarcely had ruddy-faced Apollo spread the golden threads of his lovely hair over the face of the broad and spacious earth, and scarcely had the little, multicolored songbirds, with their melodious tongues, greeted with sweet, mellifluous harmony the coming of rosy Dawn, who, leaving the soft couch of her jealous husband, was displaying herself to mortals through the gateways and balconies of the La Mancha horizon, when the famous knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, abandoning his idle featherbed, mounted his famous steed Rocinante and began his journey through the ancient and renowned Campo de Montiel.’

    And, in truth, that was where he was journeying. And he went on to say:

    "Fortunate will be that age, and fortunate that century, in which

    famosas hazañas mías, dignas de entallarse en bronces, esculpirse en mármoles y pintarse en tablas para memoria en lo futuro. ¡Oh tú, sabio encantador, quienquiera que seas, a quien ha de tocar el ser coronista desta peregrina historia! Ruégote que no te olvides de mi buen Rocinante, compañero eterno mío en todos mis caminos y carreras.

    Luego volvía diciendo, como si verdaderamente fuera enamorado:

    —¡Oh princesa Dulcinea, señora deste cautivo corazón! Mucho agravio me habedes fecho en despedirme y reprocharme con el riguroso afincamiento de mandarme no parecer ante la vuestra fermosura. Plégaos, señora, de membraros deste vuestro sujeto corazón, que tantas cuitas por vuestro amor padece.

    Con éstos iba ensartando otros disparates, todos al modo de los que sus libros le habían enseñado, imitando en cuanto podía su lenguaje. Con esto, caminaba tan despacio, y el sol entraba tan apriesa y con tanto ardor, que fuera bastante a derretirle los sesos, si algunos tuviera.

    Casi todo aquel día caminó sin acontecerle cosa que de contar fuese, de lo cual se desesperaba, porque quisiera topar luego luego con quien hacer experiencia del valor de su fuerte brazo. Autores hay que dicen que la primera aventura que le avino fue la del Puerto Lápice; otros dicen que la de los molinos de viento; pero lo que yo he podido averiguar en este caso, y lo que he hallado escrito en los anales de la Mancha, es que él anduvo todo aquel día, y, al anochecer, su rocín y él se hallaron cansados y muertos de hambre; y que, mirando a todas partes por ver si descubriría algún castillo o alguna majada de pastores donde recogerse y adonde pudiese remediar su mucha hambre y necesidad, vio, no lejos del camino por donde iba, una venta, que fue como si viera una estrella que, no a los portales, sino a los alcázares de su redención le encaminaba. Diose priesa a caminar, y llegó a ella a tiempo que anochecía.

    Estaban acaso a la puerta dos mujeres mozas, destas que llaman del partido, las cuales iban a Sevilla con unos arrieros que en la venta aquella noche acertaron a hacer jornada, y como a nuestro aventurero todo cuanto pensaba, veía o imaginaba le parecía ser hecho y pasar al modo de lo que había leído, luego que vio la venta se le representó que era un castillo con sus cuatro torres y chapiteles de luciente plata, sin faltarle su puente levadiza y honda cava, con todos aquellos adherentes que semejantes castillos se pintan. Fuese llegando a la venta que a él le parecía castillo, y a poco trecho della detuvo las riendas a Rocinante, esperando que algún enano se pusiese entre las almenas a dar señal con alguna trompeta

    my famous exploits become known, exploits worthy of being engraved on bronze, carved in marble, and painted on boards as a memorial for the future. O you wise enchanter, whoever you may be, whose fate it is to be the chronicler of this unusual history, I beg you not to forget my good Rocinate, my eternal companion on all my roads and paths!"

    Then he continued, as if he were really in love:

    O Princess Dulcinea, mistress of this afflicted heart! You did me a great wrong when you sent me away reproachfully with the severe and grievous injunction not to show my face in your beautiful presence. May it please you, lady, to call to mind this heart subjected to you, which is suffering so many sorrows for love of you.

    He kept on reeling off other nonsense to match the above, all of it in the style his books had taught him, imitating their jargon to the best of his

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