Don Quixote Plot Summary: Part 1, Chapters XXI-XXVI

Enchanted barber basin helmets, stolen donkeys, and paying penance deep within the crags.

Chapter XXI

Concerning the sublime adventure and rich prize of Mambrino’s helmet, and other things that happened to our invincible knight

Don Quixote scares away a traveling barber and takes his basin, which Don Quixote takes to be the famous Mambrino’s helmet. Don Quixote and Sancho then fantasize about what their lives will be like after they’ve achieved great notoriety.

Chapter XXII

About how Don Quixote freed many wretches who, much against their will, were being taken where they would have preferred not to go

The two men see a group of prisoners in chains being marched down the road towards the King’s galleys. Don Quixote talks to the prisoners, decides they’re innocent, and then attacks the guards in order to free them. The prisoners then turn on Don Quixote and throw stones at him.

Chapter XXIII

About what happened to the famous Don Quixote in the Sierra Morena, one of the strangest adventures recounted in this true history

Don Quixote and Sancho find an old travel bag with a notebook and money in it deep in the woods. The come to be told that the items belong to a young man who said he was living in the most remote and rugged land in the area in order to pay a penance for his sins. They eventually encounter the young man.

Chapter XXIV

In which the advent in the Sierra Morena is continued

The Ragged Knight of the Sierra, Cardenio, tells the men his story full of love and envy, but then Don Quixote takes offense to a remark Cardenio makes about Queen Madasima. The men end up fighting, and Cardenio runs off into the woods before finishing his story.

Chapter XXV

Concerning the strange things that happened to the brave knight of La Mancha in the Sierra Morena, and his imitation of the penance of Beltenebros

Gines de Pasamonte, one of the prisoners whom Don Quixote had freed, had been hiding in the same sierra and decided to steal Sancho’s donkey. Don Quixote writes a letter for Sancho to take to Dulcinea, as well as a warrant to allow Sancho to have three of his donkeys. Sancho embarks towards home on Rocinante.

Chapter XXVI

In which a further account is given of the dainty deeds performed by the lover Don Quixote in the Sierra Morena

While returning to El Toboso, Sancho passes the inn where he was blanket-tossed and sees the priest and barber who burned Don Quixote’s books. He realizes that he has forgotten to bring the notebook with the letter to Dulcinea, so he makes a comical attempt at reciting the letter from memory for the priest and barber to write down.

Don Quixote Plot Summary: Part 1, Chapters XI-XX

The two adventurers continue along their stretch of bad luck; including being beaten with walking sticks, a run-in with the Holy Brotherhood, a blanket-tossing for the squire, and excommunication from the church after yet another case of mistaken identity. 

Chapter XI

About what happened to Don Quixote with some goatherds

Sancho and Don Quixote are welcomed by the goatherds and they all eat and drink together. Don Quixote, inspired by seeing a golden colored acorn, tells everybody about how wonderful and carefree of a time the golden ages were compared to their current age. A goatherd musician performs a song for them at the end of the night.

Chapter XII

About what a goatherd told Don Quixote and the others

The goatherds hear news that a famous shepherd named Grisostomo died that morning of despair after being rejected by a woman he loved named Marcela. A goatherd named Pedro tells Don Quixote the story of Marcela; a beautiful women who becomes a shepherdess and rejects all the many men who become shepherds to try to woo her. Don Quixote plans to go to Grisotomo’s burial with the other goatherds because he hears it will be a curiosity to see.

Chapter XIII

Which concludes the story about the shepherdess Marcela, together with other events

The group rides off together towards the burial service, and Don Quixote tells a shepherd named Vivaldo about his lady Dulcinea. At the burial, Vivaldo convinces the shepherd Ambrosio to let him keep a paper with the last song Grisotomo ever wrote, despite Grisotomo’s request that all of his papers be burned after his death.

Chapter XIV

In which the dead shepherd’s verses of despair are given, together with other unexpected events

Grisostomo’s final song is read. Then Marcela makes a surprise appearance to the service to defend herself against all the claims that she was responsible for Grisostomo’s death; arguing that it is not her fault that she is beautiful and that the men should accept her desire to live a solitary life. After the service Don Quixote told all the men to respect Marcela’s wishes and not to follow her, but then he himself went off to look for her.

Chapter XV

Which relates to the unfortunate adventure that came Don Quixote’s way when h came the way of some wicked men from Yanguas

After Rocinante wanders off in a meadow and finds trouble, he, Don Quixote and Sancho get beat up by a group of muleteers. The badly injured Sancho then straps the badly injured Don Quixote over the back of his donkey, then ties on the badly injured Rocinante to walk behind them. They come to another inn that Don Quixote again takes for a castle.

Chapter XVI

About what happened to the ingenious hidalgo at the inn that he took for a castle

While sleeping at the inn that night, Don Quixote provokes some confusion and jealousy involving a prostitute and a muleteer, which causes them all to get in a big fight that includes Sancho and the innkeeper as well. An officer of the Holy Brotherhood who was staying at the inn that night heard the commotion, saw Don Quixote lifeless, and assumed that he is dead and that one of the others had killed him.

Chapter XVII

In which a further account of the countless hardships that the brave Don Quixote and his good squire Sancho Panza underwent at the inn that, unfortunately for him, he mistook for a castle

Don Quixote leaves the inn without paying, but ends up having to return after he hears his squire being tossed in a blanket as punishment for trying to skip the bill.

Chapter XVIII

Which relates the conversation that Sancho Panza had with his master Don Quixote, and other adventures worth relating

Taking them to be two rival armies, Don Quixote attacks flocks of sheep and has his teeth knocked out with rocks flung by the flock’s herders.

Chapter XIX

About the intelligent conversation that Sancho had with his master, and their adventure with a corpse, together with other famous events

Sancho and Don Quixote spot an odd sight of men clad in white carrying torches walking towards them on the road. Don Quixote ends up attacking them, only later to discover that they are priests escorting a corpse.

Chapter XX

About the unprecedented and unique adventure undertaken by the valiant Don Quixote de la Mancha, the one that with the least danger was ever brought to a happy conclusion by any famous knight in the world.

The two adventures hear a dreadful sound of running water and clanking iron and Don Quixote is eager to take it on as his next adventure, only to later discover that the sound is just coming from fulling hammers.

Don Quixote Plot Summary: Part 1, Author's Prologue, Chapters I-X

Without yet evaluating the content of the story itself, I can say that the experience of reading this book has been a pleasant surprise. Initially, the thought of reading 1,000 pages of something written in the 1600's was a bit intimidating. I was happy to find that the book is light and whimsical, and a pleasure to read. There have even been a couple of points so far where Cervantes uses a type of self-deprecating humor that comes across like a fully modern style of wit.

Author’s Prologue

Cervantes explains that writing the prologue was the most difficult part of the entire book, to the point of not wanting to publish the book at all. He then recounts a conversation in which a friend gave him advice on how he can take shortcuts to make his book mimic the proper format of highly regarded books at the time.

Chapter I

"Concerning the famous hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha’s position, character, and way of life"

A countryman who is driven mad by reading chivalrous books day and night decides to become a makeshift knight himself and travel the world in search of adventures.

Chapter II

"Concerning the ingenious Don Quixote’s first sally"

After an uneventful first day of wandering in search of adventure, Don Quixote comes to a common inn that he takes to be a castle. He meets two prostitutes whom he thinks are fair ladies, an innkeeper whom he thinks is the lord of a castle, and is fed a meager meal that he takes to be a fancy feast.

Chapter III

"Which relates to the amusing way in which Don Quixote had himself knighted"

Don Quixote asks the innkeeper, as lord of the castle, to knight him, and the innkeeper plays along. After attacking two mule drivers who moved his armor, Don Quixote is quickly “knighted” by the innkeeper and two maidens so that they may send the madman on his way.

Chapter IV

"About what happened to our knight when he left the inn"

On his way back him to gather more supplies, Don Quixote finds a farmer beating his young servant in the woods and demands it stop (the farmer agrees but then waits until Don Quixote leaves and continues beating the servant). Don Quixote then confronts a group of merchants traveling along the road, but ends up falling off his horse and getting beat up by one of the merchants’ assistants.

Chapter V

"In which the story of our knight’s misfortune continues"

A neighbor of Don Quixote’s finds him beat up on the road and helps take him home, where they find a group of Don Quixote’s associates speculating about where he might have disappeared to. 

Chapter VI

"About the amusing and exhaustive scrutiny that the priest and the barber made in the library of our ingenious hidalgo"

While Don Quixote is recovering through sleep, his niece, housekeeper, priest, and barber go to his library with the intention of burning all of the books on chivalry that caused him to go mad. They end up finding redeeming qualities about many of the books that justify them in being spared from the bonfire.

Chapter VII

"About our worthy knight Don Quixote de la Mancha’s second sally"

Don Quixote convinces his neighbor Sancho Panza to become his squire by promising to make Sancho the governor of the first kingdom they conquer. The two set off together, with Sancho riding a donkey.

Chapter VIII

"About the brave Don Quixote’s success in the dreadful and unimaginable adventure of the windmills, together with other events worthy of happy memory"

Taking them to be giants, Don Quixote attacks some windmills and gets thrown off his horse. He then attacks two Benedictine fiars whom he thinks are enchanters who have kidnapped a carriage carrying a princess. A Basque squire escorting the carriage, using a pillow as a makeshift shield, attacks Don Quixote.

Chapter IX

"In which the stupendous battle between the gallant Basque and the valiant man from La Mancha is brought to a conclusion"

Cervantes breaks from the story, with Don Quixote and the Basque’s swords raised over each other’s heads, to explain that he did not know how the incident ended until one day when he found the rest of the story written in Arabic in some notebooks and had them translated. The incident concludes with Don Quixote slashing down the Basque, and then sparing his life only after the pleading of the ladies from the carriage.

Chapter X

"About what happened next between Don Quixote and the Basque, and the peril with which he was threatened by a mob of men from Yanguas"

Don Quixote tells Sancho about a balsam he knows how to make that can cure any injury- even a man cut in two. They eat a small meal and then find some goatherds’ huts to spend the night.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog.

I will be using this space as a public commonplace book to journal the path of giving myself a classical education by reading great books. My guide for this journey will be Susan Wise Bauer's booklist published in The Well-Educated Mind. As I read down the list, I will post my summaries, evaluations, and arguments from each book. Comments are welcome.