Chapter V
A laborer finds Don Quixote lying near the road and leads
him home on his mule. Don Quixote showers the laborer with chivalric verse,
comparing his troubles to those of the great knights about whom
he has read. The laborer waits for night before entering the town
with Don Quixote, in hopes of preserving the wounded man’s dignity.
But Don Quixote’s friends the barber and the priest are at his house.
They have just resolved to investigate his books when Don Quixote
and the laborer arrive. The family receives Don Quixote, feeds him,
and sends him to bed.
Chapter VI
The priest and the barber begin an inquisition into Don
Quixote’s library to burn the books of chivalry. Though the housekeeper wants
merely to exorcise any spirits with holy water, Don Quixote’s niece
prefers to burn all the books. Over the niece’s and the housekeeper’s
objections, the priest insists on reading each book’s title before
condemning it. He knows many of the stories and saves several of
the books due to their rarity or style. He suggests that all the poetry
be saved but decides against it because the niece fears that Don
Quixote will then become a poet—a vocation even worse than knight-errant.
The priest soon discovers a book by Cervantes, who he
claims is a friend of his. He says that Cervantes’s work has clever
ideas but that it never fulfills its potential. He decides to keep
the novel, expecting that the sequel Cervantes has promised will
eventually be published.
Chapter VII
Don Quixote wakes, still delusional, and interrupts the
priest and the barber. Having walled up the entrance to the library,
they decide to tell Don Quixote that an enchanter has carried off
all his books and the library itself. That night, the housekeeper
burns all the books. Two days later, when Don Quixote rises from
bed and looks for his books, his niece tells him that an enchanter
came on a cloud with a dragon, took the books due to a grudge he
held against Don Quixote, and left the house full of smoke. Don
Quixote believes her and explains that he recognizes this enchanter
as his archrival, who knows that Don Quixote will defeat the enchanter’s
favorite knight.
Don Quixote’s niece begs him to abandon his quest, but
he refuses. He promises an illiterate laborer, Sancho Panza, that
he will make him governor of an isle if Sancho leaves his wife,
Teresa, and children to become Don Quixote’s squire. Sancho agrees,
and after he acquires a donkey, they ride from the village, discussing
the isle.
Chapter VIII
After a full day, Don Quixote and Sancho come to a field
of windmills, which Don Quixote mistakes for giants. Don Quixote
charges at one at full speed, and his lance gets caught in the windmill’s
sail, throwing him and Rocinante to the ground. Don Quixote assures Sancho
that the same enemy enchanter who has stolen his library turned
the giants into windmills at the last minute.
