Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes
26 hrs to finish
0% read
Part II
1 min to read
455 words

To the Count of Lemos:

These days past, when sending Your Excellency my plays, that had appeared in print before being shown on the stage, I said, if I remember well, that Don Quixote was putting on his spurs to go and render homage to Your Excellency. Now I say that “with his spurs, he is on his way.” Should he reach destination methinks I shall have rendered some service to Your Excellency, as from many parts I am urged to send him off, so as to dispel the loathing and disgust caused by another Don Quixote who, under the name of Second Part, has run masquerading through the whole world. And he who has shown the greatest longing for him has been the great Emperor of China, who wrote me a letter in Chinese a month ago and sent it by a special courier. He asked me, or to be truthful, he begged me to send him Don Quixote, for he intended to found a college where the Spanish tongue would be taught, and it was his wish that the book to be read should be the History of Don Quixote. He also added that I should go and be the rector of this college. I asked the bearer if His Majesty had afforded a sum in aid of my travel expenses. He answered, “No, not even in thought.”

“Then, brother,” I replied, “you can return to your China, post haste or at whatever haste you are bound to go, as I am not fit for so long a travel and, besides being ill, I am very much without money, while Emperor for Emperor and Monarch for Monarch, I have at Naples the great Count of Lemos, who, without so many petty titles of colleges and rectorships, sustains me, protects me and does me more favour than I can wish for.”

Thus I gave him his leave and I beg mine from you, offering Your Excellency the Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda, a book I shall finish within four months, Deo volente, and which will be either the worst or the best that has been composed in our language, I mean of those intended for entertainment; at which I repent of having called it the worst, for, in the opinion of friends, it is bound to attain the summit of possible quality. May Your Excellency return in such health that is wished you; Persiles will be ready to kiss your hand and I your feet, being as I am, Your Excellency’s most humble servant.

From Madrid, this last day of October of the year one thousand six hundred and fifteen.

At the service of Your Excellency:

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

1 min
Preface
6 mins
I - Of the interview the curate and the barber had with Don Quixote about his malady.
17 mins
II - Which treats of the notable altercation which Sancho Panza had with Don Quixote’s niece, and housekeeper, together with other droll matters.
7 mins
III - Of the laughable conversation that passed between Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and the bachelor Samson Carrasco.
12 mins
IV - In which Sancho Panza gives a satisfactory reply to the doubts and questions of the bachelor Samson Carrasco, together with other matters worth knowing and telling.
8 mins
V - Of the shrewd and droll conversation that passed between Sancho Panza and his wife Teresa Panza, and other matters worthy of being duly recorded.
10 mins
VI - Of what took place between Don Quixote and his niece and housekeeper; one of the most important chapters in the whole history.
8 mins
VII - Of what passed between Don Quixote and his squire, together with other very notable incidents.
11 mins
VIII - Wherein is related what befell Don Quixote on his way to see his lady Dulcinea del Toboso.
11 mins
IX - Wherein is related what will be seen there.
6 mins
Wherein is related the crafty device Sancho adopted to enchant the lady Dulcinea, and other incidents as ludicrous as they are true.
13 mins
XI - Of the strange adventure which the valiant Don Quixote had with the car or cart of the
9 mins
XII - Of the strange adventure which befell the valiant Don Quixote with the bold Knight of the Mirrors.
9 mins
XIII - In which is continued the adventure of the Knight of the Grove, together with the sensible, original, and tranquil colloquy that passed between the two squires.
9 mins
XIV - Wherein is continued the adventure of the Knight of the Grove.
17 mins
XV - Wherein it is told and known who the Knight of the Mirrors and his squire were.
3 mins
XVI - Of what befell Don Quixote with a discreet gentleman of La Mancha.
15 mins
XVII - Wherein is shown the furthest and highest point which the unexampled courage of Don Quixote reached or could reach; together with the happily achieved adventure of the lions.
16 mins
XVIII - Of what happened Don Quixote in the castle or house of the Knight of the Green Gabán, together with other matters out of the common.
11 mins
XIX - In which is related the adventure of the enamoured shepherd, together with other truly droll incidents.
11 mins
XX - Wherein an account is given of the wedding of Camacho the Rich, together with the incident of Basilio the Poor.
12 mins
XXI - In which Camacho’s wedding is continued, with other delightful incidents.
9 mins
XXII - Wherin is related the grand adventure of the Cave of Montesinos in the heart of La Mancha, which the valiant Don Quixote brought to a happy termination.
12 mins
XXIII - Of the wonderful things the incomparable Don Quixote said he saw in the profound Cave of Montesinos, the impossibility and magnitude of which cause this adventure to be deemed apocryphal.
16 mins
XXIV - Wherein are related a thousand trifling matters, as trivial as they are necessary to the right understanding of this great history.
10 mins
XXV - Wherein is set down the braying adventure, and the droll one of the puppet-showman, together with the memorable divinations of the divining ape.
15 mins
XXVI - Wherein is continued the droll adventure of the puppet-showman, together with other things in truth right good.
12 mins
XXVII - Wherein it is shown who Master Pedro and his ape were, together with the mishap Don Quixote had in the braying adventure, which he did not conclude as he would have liked or as he had expected.
10 mins
XXVIII - Of matters that Benengeli says he who reads them will know, if he reads them with attention.
8 mins
XXIX - Of the famous adventure of the enchanted bark.
9 mins
XXX - Of Don Quixote’s adventure with a fair huntress.
7 mins
XXXI - Which treats of many and great matters.
13 mins
XXXII - Of the reply Don Quixote gave his censurer, with other incidents, grave and droll.
22 mins
XXXIII - Of the delectable discourse which the duchess and her damsels held with Sancho Panza, well worth reading and noting.
11 mins
XXXIV - Which relates how they learned the way in which they were to disenchant the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, which is one of the rarest adventures in this book.
11 mins
XXXV - Wherein is continued the instruction given to Don Quixote touching the disenchantment of Dulcinea, together with other marvellous incidents.
9 mins
XXXVI - Wherein is related the strange and undreamt-of adventure of the distressed Duenna, alias the countess Trifaldi, together with a letter which Sancho Panza wrote to his wife, Teresa Panza.
6 mins
XXXVII - Wherein is continued the notable adventure of the distressed Duenna.
3 mins
XXXVIII - Wherein is told the distressed Duenna’s tale of her misfortunes.
9 mins
XXXIX - In which the Trifaldi continues her marvellous and memorable story.
4 mins
XL - Of matters relating and belonging to this adventure and to this memorable history.
8 mins
XLI - Of the arrival of Clavileño and the end of this protracted adventure.
16 mins
XLII - Of the counsels which Don Quixote gave Sancho Panza before he set out to govern the island, together with other well-considered matters.
8 mins
XLIII - Of the second set of counsels Don Quixote gave Sancho Panza.
9 mins
XLIV - How Sancho Panza was conducted to his government, and of the strange adventure that befell Don Quixote in the castle.
12 mins
XLV - Of how the great Sancho Panza took possession of his island, and of how he made a beginning in governing.
11 mins
XLVI - Of the terrible bell and cat fright that Don Quixote got in the course of the enamoured Altisidora’s wooing.
5 mins
XLVII - Wherein is continued the account of how Sancho Panza conducted himself in his government.
12 mins
XLVIII - Of what befell Don Quixote with Doña Rodriguez, the duchess’s Duenna, together with other occurrences worthy of record and eternal remembrance.
13 mins
XLIX - Of what happened Sancho in making the round of his island.
17 mins
L - Wherein is set forth who the enchanters and executioners were who flogged the Duenna and pinched Don Quixote, and also what befell the page who carried the letter to Teresa Panza, Sancho Panza’s wife.
12 mins
LI - Of the progress of Sancho’s government, and other such entertaining matters.
6 mins
LII - Wherein is related the adventure of the second distressed or afflicted Duenna, otherwise called Doña Rodriguez.
6 mins
LIII - Of the troublous end and termination Sancho Panza’s government came to.
9 mins
LIV - Which deals with matters relating to this history and no other.
12 mins
LV - Of what befell Sancho on the road, and other things that cannot be surpassed.
11 mins
LVI - Of the prodigious and unparalleled battle that took place between Don Quixote of La Mancha and the Lackey Tosilos in defence of the daughter of Doña Rodriguez.
7 mins
LVII - Which treats of how Don Quixote took leave of the duke, and of what followed with the witty and impudent Altisidora, one of the duchess’s damsels.
4 mins
LVIII - Which tells how adventures came crowding on Don Quixote in such numbers that they gave one another no breathing-time.
18 mins
LIX - Wherein is related the strange thing, which may be regarded as an adventure, that happened Don Quixote.
12 mins
LX - Of what happened Don Quixote on his way to Barcelona.
20 mins
LXI - Of what happened Don Quixote on entering Barcelona, together with other matters that partake of the true rather than of the ingenious.
4 mins
LXII - Which deals with the adventure of the enchanted head, together with other trivial matters which cannot be left untold.
18 mins
LXIII - Of the mishap that befell Sancho Panza through the visit to the galleys, and the strange adventure of the fair Morisco.
15 mins
LXIV - Treating of the adventure which gave Don Quixote more unhappiness than all that had hitherto befallen him.
6 mins
LXV - Wherein is made known who the knight of the white moon was; likewise Don Gregorio’s release, and other events.
8 mins
LXVI - Which treats of what he who reads will see, or what he who has it read to him will hear.
8 mins
LXVII - Of the resolution Don Quixote formed to turn shepherd and take to a life in the fields while the year for which he had given his word was running its course; with other events truly delectable and happy.
7 mins
LXVIII - Of the bristly adventure that befell Don Quixote.
7 mins
LXIX - Of the strangest and most extraordinary adventure that befell Don Quixote in the whole course of this great history.
7 mins
LXX - Which follows sixty-nine and deals with matters indispensable for the clear comprehension of this history.
11 mins
LXXI - Of what passed between Don Quixote and his squire Sancho on the way to their village.
9 mins
LXXII - Of how Don Quixote and Sancho reached their village.
7 mins
LXXIII - Of the omens Don Quixote had as he entered his own village, and other incidents that embellish and give a colour to this great history.
7 mins
LXXIV - Of how Don Quixote fell sick, and of the will he made, and how he died.
10 mins
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455 words
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