Adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha
Don Quixote de la Mancha revolves around the adventures of a noble (hidalgo) from La Mancha named Alonso Quixano, who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his mind and decides to become a knight-errant (caballero andante) to revive chivalry and serve his nation, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Loving reader, thou wilt believe me, I trust, without an oath, when I tell thee it was my earnest desire that this offspring of my brain should be as beautiful, ingenious, and sprightly as it is possible to imagine; but, alas! I have not been able to control that order in nature's works whereby all things produce their like; and therefore, what could be expected from a mind sterile and uncultivated like mine, but a dry, meagre, fantastical thing, full of strange conceits, and that might well be engendered in a prison — the dreadful abode of care, where nothing is heard but sounds of wretchedness?
Leisure, an agreeable residence, pleasant fields, serene skies, murmuring streams, and tranquillity of mind — by these the most barren muse may become fruitful, and produce that which will delight and astonish the world. Loving reader, thou wilt believe me, I trust, without an oath, when I tell thee it was my earnest desire that this offspring of my brain should be as beautiful, ingenious, and sprightly as it is possible to imagine; but, alas!
I have not been able to control that order in nature's works whereby all things produce their like; and therefore, what could be expected from a mind sterile and uncultivated like mine, but a dry, meager, fantastical thing, full of strange conceits, and that might well be engendered in a prison — the dreadful abode of care, where nothing is heard but sounds of wretchedness? Leisure, an agreeable residence, pleasant fields, serene skies, murmuring streams, and tranquillity of mind — by these the most barren muse may become fruitful, and produce that which will delight and astonish the world.
Translated by Charles Jarvis
Author: Miguel de Cervantes