Sooner or later everyone reads or hears about Cervantes’ story of Don Quixote. Cervantes is thrown in prison in Seville. Finding himself in the middle of a band of cutthroats he tries to divert them by telling them his story of Don Quixote, the Man of La Mancha. In the story, Quixote pictures himself as a chivalrous knight. He goes forth to right all the wrongs of the world and take it by storm, but the Don is a man who lives in a world of impossible dreams. His armor is shabby and his horse is sagging. He rides for his fair lady whom he calls Dulcinea — “Sweetness.” But Dulcinea is far form a fair lady. She is a prostitute in a country tavern. She assures him that she is “the most casual bride of the murderous scum of the earth.” Her real name is Aldonza. She resents Quixote’s intrusion in her life and screams at him saying she is no kind of lady. But the Don persists, “And still thou art my lady.” He says that he sees heaven when he sees her, to which she replies that all she can see is a dream covered with rusty tin. Soon Don Quixote’s family tries to make him face reality. They oblige him to see the world as it is by shocking him into reality. As they begin to succeed, his health and his spirit begin to break, and he is at the point of giving up his impossible dream. But just then Aldonza comes into his room. She looks at him with grateful eyes and says,
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