Don Quixote

Quixote quizzes Panza about his trip to find Dulcinea. In an attempt to distract Quixote, Panza tells him about Dulcinea’s supposed request that he immediately return to the town. He agrees to do so, though this upsets Panza, who is angry he has not yet earned the riches he was promised. The group pauses their journey at a fountain. As they rest, they meet Andres. The boy reveals that he was the person whom Quixote saved from a savage beating earlier in the adventure. Quixote describes his valiant effort to save Andres, who interjects to mention his abusive master never paid him the wages he was owed. Furthermore, Andres’s wounds meant he was forced to go to the hospital. Quixote is horrified. Andres bitterly states that everything would have been fine had Quixote not interfered. He asks Quixote to never help him again. Quixote swears to avenge Andres and ensure that he is paid. Andres asks for some food instead. 

The group returns to the inn. Quixote falls asleep as soon as they arrive while everyone else eats dinner. Perez talks to the innkeeper and the innkeeper’s wife about how stories of knights and chivalry have done something to Quixote’s mind. However, the innkeeper is a fan of the chivalric tales. Perez becomes worried the innkeeper will suffer a similar fate as Quixote. He offers to burn the innkeeper’s books. The innkeeper assures the priest he will not suffer the same fate because the world is no longer like the one described in the books. He insists he can distinguish between the truth and fiction. Panza overhears the conversation. He becomes concerned, as he had not thought about the way Quixote’s books and ideas might be foolish or wrong. As Panza debates whether he should abandon the adventure and return home, Perez finds a book and begins to read aloud. 

Perez reads from the book, a cautionary tale about a curious husband. In the story, two young men named Lotario and Anselmo live in the Italian city of Florence. Anselmo marries a young woman named Camila and after a short time asks his friend to test his wife’s loyalty by trying to seduce her. Lotario warns that his friend may not be pleased with the results, but Anselmo insists his curiosity will not be satisfied unless he knows for certain his wife is faithful. Lotario eventually agrees but plans to resolve the situation without necessarily attempting to seduce Camila. When he is alone with Camila, they both remain silent and honorable. Lotario lies to Anselmo and says that he tried and failed to seduce Camila. Anselmo becomes suspicious of his friend and, when he again tests his wife by leaving her alone with Lotario, he sees they sit in respectful silence. He realizes that Lotario lied to him. Lotario apologizes for his deception and agrees to attempt to seduce Camila, regardless of the cost. As a result, he spends so much time thinking about Camila that he falls in love with her. He sincerely tries to seduce Camila, who declines his advances and writes a letter to Anselmo to complain about Lotario’s behavior. 

Perez continues the story. Camila’s letter asks Anselmo to either return home or to allow her to go to stay with her parents. Anselmo, desperate to test his wife’s loyalty, insists that she stay at home. She does so and, eventually, she falls in love with Lotario. After Lotario and Camila sleep together, Lotario assures Anselmo that Camila is a loyal wife while continuing their affair. Delighted at the results, Anselmo encourages his friend to press forward with his seduction so they can be sure of Camila’s faithfulness. The only person who knows about the affair is Camila’s maid Leonela, who uses her illicit knowledge to conduct her own romantic affair with a lover whom she sneaks into the house each night.

Lotario sees Leonela’s lover in the house one day and assumes that Camila has taken on another lover since he has never really acknowledged Leonela being in the house. Lotario becomes jealous and tells Anselmo that Camila is unfaithful. He encourages Anselmo to hide and observe his wife being in her affair. A short time later, however, Lotario regrets his decision. He reveals to Camila what he has told to Anselmo; Camila explains that the man Lotario thought was Camila’s other lover is actually the lover of Leonela. Camila conjures a plan: She will meet with Lotario while Anselmo watches from his hiding place, and she will threaten to stab Lotario for threatening her virtue and betraying her husband. Otherwise, she may threaten to kill herself. She performs the scene so convincingly that Anselmo almost bursts from his hiding place, but he decides to remain in the shadows. Eventually, Leonela returns with Lotario.

Camila brandishes the dagger and wounds herself slightly, hoping to make the scene even more convincing. Lotario leaves to fetch help. As Leonela and Camila dress the wound, Anselmo slips away, satisfied his wife is loyal to him. He goes to Lotario’s house to thank his friend. However, he does not know the affair between Lotario and Camila continues in secret for months afterward. 

Panza interrupts Perez’s story. He announces that Quixote has successfully beheaded the giant that had plagued the kingdom of Princess Micomicona. In reality, Quixote is sleepwalking and slashing at wineskins with his sword. He has made a huge mess; the spilled giant’s blood is actually red wine. As Panza searches for the giant’s severed head, the innkeeper and his wife become enraged. Cardenio and Nicholas try to disarm Quixote and lead him back to bed.

Once the chaos has been calmed, Perez returns to the story. He describes how Anselmo catches Leonela in a compromising position. The maid offers to tell her master an even more scandalous story to protect her job and her reputation. Camila worries that Leonela will expose her affair with Lotario. She quickly visits Lotario, who whisks her away to hide in a convent with a group of nuns. When Anselmo hears rumors that his wife has run away with his best friend, he dies from sadness and shame. Camila spends the rest of her life in the convent and Lotario is eventually killed in a battle. 

Four men dressed in black arrive at the inn. With them is a woman dressed entirely in white. One of the men is Fernando and the woman is Luscinda. Fernando holds the unhappy Luscinda in a tight grip; he only recognizes Dorotea when she reveals herself to him. Dorotea begs Fernando to release Luscinda and marry her instead, reminding him of the promises her made to her. She points out how much his reputation will suffer if he does not act in an honorable fashion. As Fernando is about to agree, he spots Cardenio. Fernando draws his sword and faces down Cardenio, who welcomes the relieved Luscinda into his arms. Perez interjects, pointing out to Fernando that Dorotea is a beautiful woman in her own right. The priest tells Fernando he should be a good Christian and an honorable gentleman by fulfilling his promise to marry Dorotea. After a short period of reflection, Fernando agrees. The people in the inn weep with happiness. 

Panza realizes Dorotea is not a real princess. He tells Quixote they have been tricked: The princess is really a peasant, and the giant’s blood is just wine. Quixote rejects Panza’s claim, insisting he has already killed the giant. He suggests Panza has once again been tricked by a magician. After Perez tells Fernando and his men about their plan to return Quixote to his home, Fernando agrees to help.

Dorotea resumes her pretense that she is a princess and begs Quixote to travel with her. More people arrive at the inn. This time, a Christian man named Ruy Perez de Viedma and a Moorish woman named Zoraida enter in search of somewhere to stay. Ruy assures the other guests that Zoraida has traveled to Spain to convert to Christianity. The guests dine together and listen to Quixote deliver an impassioned speech about the importance of chivalry and knights in bringing everyone together. He insists literature, fiction, and learning are not as important as the ability to actually take up arms to bring about peace. The other guests seem impressed with his remarks. 

Quixote continues his speech. He describes the fate of academics, who struggle to rise from nothing to a comfortable existence. Being a knight or a soldier is more difficult, he insists, because soldiers work harder for worse rewards. Soldiers risk their lives everyday while scholars sit around reading. Quixote claims he is not afraid to die in a battle because he has confronted more extreme dangers than even the knights in his books. He talks so long that he forgets to eat. Afterward, the guests encourage the newcomers to tell a story. 

Ruy Perez de Viedma tells his life’s story. After leaving home 22 years ago, he enlisted in the Spanish army because his father’s wish was that his sons become either scholars, merchants, or soldiers. During one campaign, Ruy was captured by Algerian forces from the Ottoman Empire and turned into a slave on a galley belonging to the King of Algiers. He decided against writing to his family and asking them to pay a ransom for his freedom because he did not want his father to know he had been captured. By chance, another captive on the ship was Pedro de Aguillar, Fernando’s brother.