Don Quixote and Me. Donald Barr
Don Quixote and Me
Donald A. Barr
Copyright © 2020 Donald A. Barr
All rights reserved
First Edition
Fulton Books, Inc.
Meadville, PA
Published by Fulton Books 2020
ISBN 978-1-64654-677-0 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64654-678-7 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
In which books about knights and chivalry cause a problem
In which we meet a strange knight in a strange place
In which the knight and his squire enter a castle that was really a country inn
In which Sandy gets bounced, and we meet an army of sheep
In which some traveling monks help Sandy and Sir Don
In which the famed Helmet of Mambrino is recovered
In which we encounter a giant masquerading as a windmill
In which we meet Cardenio and begin to hear his sad story
In which Sandy is sent on an errand
In which we meet Dulcinea of Toboso
In which Cardenio finishes his story
In which we meet Dorotea and hear her sad story
In which our travelers find Sir Don and we meet yet more travelers
In which amazing things happen, Sir Don fights a giant, and everyone ends up happy
In which we meet yet another goatherd and hear his sad story
In which Sir Don gets a ride in an oxcart and our travelers return to La Mancha
In which we meet Samson the college student, and Sir Don finally gets to meet Dulcinea
In which Don Quixote faces the Knight of the Mirrors in single combat
In which Don Quixote confronts a hungry lion
In which Don Quixote enters the Cave of Montesinos
In which Don Quixote tells what he saw in the Cave of Montesinos
In which Don Quixote and Sandy take a ride in a boat, and encounter an omen
In which Don Quixote encounters the Knight of the White Moon
In which Don Quixote ends his adventures and returns to La Mancha
In which Sandy must say goodbye to Don Quixote
In which Sir Sandy convinces his Mom that there really are knights errant
Note to the Reader
The stories in this book were originally told by an author named Miguel Cervantes, and were first published more than 400 years ago. Cervantes lived in Spain, and wrote his book telling these stories in Spanish. Over the years, a number of writers have translated the stories into English. However, many of the names in the book are still written in Spanish. I will suggest a way to pronounce these names, so as you read the story, you will know how they sound.
The name of the Spanish gentleman in this story is Don Quixote. ‘Quixote’ is pronounced kē-hōˈ-tē.
His horse is named ‘Rocinante’, which is pronounced rōs-ē-nänˈ-tē.
‘La Mancha’ is the name of the small town in Spain where Don Quixote lived, and is pronounced lä mänˈ-chä.
The name of the woman to whom Don Quixote dedicates all his adventures is Dulcinea, and is pronounced dull-sē-nāˈ-ah.
The town in which Dulcinea lives is Toboso, pronounced tō-bōˈ-sō.
Finally, I would like to explain what the word ‘Don’ means in Spanish. In English, we often refer to someone who has become a knight as ‘Sir’—as is ‘Sir Lancelot’ or ‘Sir Galahad’. The ‘Sir’ is not really part of their name—it just means that they have become a knight.
In Spanish, it is typical to refer to someone who has become a knight as ‘Don’, as in ‘Don Quixote’. Again, ‘Don’ is not really part of the knight’s name. However, as you will see when you read this story, our hero, Sandy Preston, gets a bit confused when he first meets Don Quixote about what the knight’s name actually is.
Acknowledgements
In crafting this story, I have relied on three different English translations of the original Don Quixote:
The 2003 translation by Edith Grossman, published by Harper Collins;
The 1947 translation by J. M. Cohen, published by Penguin Books; and
The translation by P. Motteux from the early 1700s, published in 1880 by Hurst and Co. of New York.
I have attempted to use my own words, based on the adventures related in these translations. Any duplication of text from one or more of them is unintentional.
I wish to acknowledge the immeasurable contribution Prof. James March of Stanford University made by introducing me to the Ingenious Gentleman from La Mancha, and in helping me to understand that ‘quixotic’ is not necessarily a pejorative adjective.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge my son, Isaac (age 10 at the time), for reading an early draft of this manuscript and giving me helpful comments as to what would make this story of interest to a young reader.
© 2014 Donald A. Barr
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