Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (electric book reader TXT) π

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Don Quixote is a novel that doesnβt need much introduction. Not only is it widely considered the greatest Spanish literary work of all time, one of the greatest literary works in history, and a cornerstone of the Western literary canon, itβs also considered one of the firstβif not the firstβmodern novels.
This Standard Ebooks edition is believed to be the first ebook edition of Don Quixote to feature a full transcription of translator John Ormsbyβs nearly 1,000 footnotes. Ormsby as an annotator deftly explains obscure passages, gives background on the life and times of 1600s Spain, references decisions from other contemporary translators, and doesnβt hold back from sharing his views on the geniusβand flawsβof Cervantesβ greatest work.
The story is of the eponymous Don Quixote, a country noble who, in his old age, reads too many chivalric romances and goes mad. After convincing his grubby servant, Sancho Panza, to join him as his squire, he embarks on an absurd and comic quest to do good and right wrongs.
Today Don Quixoteβs two volumes are published as a single work, but their publication came ten years apart. Cervantes saw great success with the publication of his first volume, and appeared to have little desire to write a second volume until a different author wrote a spurious, inferior sequel. This kicked Cervantes into gear and he wrote volume two, a more serious and philosophical volume than the largely comic first volume.
Despite being written in 1605 and translated in 1885, Don Quixote contains a surprising amount of slapstick laughsβeven for the modern readerβand narrative devices still seen in todayβs fiction, including meta-narratives, frame narratives, and metafiction. Many scenes (like Quixoteβs attack on the windmills) and characters (like Sancho Panza and Lothario) are so famous that theyβre ingrained in our collective culture.
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- Author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Read book online Β«Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (electric book reader TXT) πΒ». Author - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Sancho Panza was touched by Master Pedroβs words, and said to him, βDonβt weep and lament, Master Pedro; you break my heart; let me tell you my master, Don Quixote, is so catholic and scrupulous a Christian that, if he can make out that he has done you any wrong, he will own it, and be willing to pay for it and make it good, and something over and above.β
βOnly let SeΓ±or Don Quixote pay me for some part of the work he has destroyed,β said Master Pedro, βand I would be content, and his worship would ease his conscience, for he cannot be saved who keeps what is anotherβs against the ownerβs will, and makes no restitution.β
βThat is true,β said Don Quixote; βbut at present I am not aware that I have got anything of yours, Master Pedro.β
βWhat!β returned Master Pedro; βand these relics lying here on the bare hard groundβ βwhat scattered and shattered them but the invincible strength of that mighty arm? And whose were the bodies they belonged to but mine? And what did I get my living by but by them?β
βNow am I fully convinced,β said Don Quixote, βof what I had many a time before believed; that the enchanters who persecute me do nothing more than put figures like these before my eyes, and then change and turn them into what they please. In truth and earnest, I assure you gentlemen who now hear me, that to me everything that has taken place here seemed to take place literally, that Melisendra was Melisendra, Don Gaiferos Don Gaiferos, Marsilio Marsilio, and Charlemagne Charlemagne. That was why my anger was roused; and to be faithful to my calling as a knight-errant I sought to give aid and protection to those who fled, and with this good intention I did what you have seen. If the result has been the opposite of what I intended, it is no fault of mine, but of those wicked beings that persecute me; but, for all that, I am willing to condemn myself in costs for this error of mine, though it did not proceed from malice; let Master Pedro see what he wants for the spoiled figures, for I agree to pay it at once in good and current money of Castile.β
Master Pedro made him a bow, saying, βI expected no less of the rare Christianity of the valiant Don Quixote of La Mancha, true helper and protector of all destitute and needy vagabonds; master landlord here and the great Sancho Panza shall be the arbitrators and appraisers between your worship and me of what these dilapidated figures are worth or may be worth.β
The landlord and Sancho consented, and then Master Pedro picked up from the ground King Marsilio of Saragossa with his head off, and said, βHere you see how impossible it is to restore this king to his former state, so I think, saving your better judgments, that for his death, decease, and demise, four reals and a half may be given me.β
βProceed,β said Don Quixote.
βWell then, for this cleavage from top to bottom,β continued Master Pedro, taking up the split Emperor Charlemagne, βit would not be much if I were to ask five reals and a quarter.β
βItβs not little,β said Sancho.
βNor is it much,β said the landlord; βmake it even, and say five reals.β
βLet him have the whole five and a quarter,β said Don Quixote; βfor the sum total of this notable disaster does not stand on a quarter more or less; and make an end of it quickly, Master Pedro, for itβs getting on to suppertime, and I have some hints of hunger.β
βFor this figure,β said Master Pedro, βthat is without a nose, and wants an eye, and is the fair Melisendra, I ask, and I am reasonable in my charge, two reals and twelve maravedis.β
βThe very devil must be in it,β said Don Quixote, βif Melisendra and her husband are not by this time at least on the French border, for the horse they rode on seemed to me to fly rather than gallop; so you neednβt try to sell me the cat for the hare,673 showing me here a noseless Melisendra when she is now, maybe, enjoying herself at her ease with her husband in France. God help every one to his own, Master Pedro, and let us all proceed fairly and honestly; and now go on.β
Master Pedro, perceiving that Don Quixote was beginning to wander, and return to his original fancy, was not disposed to let him escape, so he said to him, βThis cannot be Melisendra, but must be one of the damsels that waited on her; so if Iβm given sixty maravedis for her, Iβll be content and sufficiently paid.β
And so he went on, putting values on ever so many more smashed figures, which, after the two arbitrators had adjusted them to the satisfaction of both parties, came to forty reals and three-quarters; and over and above this sum, which Sancho at once disbursed, Master Pedro asked for two reals for his trouble in catching the ape.
βLet him have them, Sancho,β said Don Quixote; βnot to catch the ape, but to get drunk;674 and two hundred would I give this minute for the good news, to anyone who could tell me positively, that the lady DoΓ±a Melisandra and SeΓ±or Don Gaiferos were now in France and with their own people.β
βNo one could tell us that better than my ape,β said Master Pedro; βbut thereβs no devil that could catch him now; I suspect, however, that affection and hunger will drive
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