About the product
The novel Don Quixote by Cervantes consists of two parts. The first volume was published in 1605, and the second ten years later. The book is a parody of the chivalric romances that were so popular at the time.
To better prepare for a literature lesson, we recommend reading online a summary of Don Quixote chapter by chapter. Also, a retelling of the novel about the adventures of a noble hidalgo will be useful for a reader’s diary.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Summary
First part
Chapters 1-3
Once upon a time in La Mancha there lived “one of those hidalgos whose property consists of a family spear, an ancient shield, a skinny nag and a greyhound.” He was a lean, strong man of about fifty years old.
With great pleasure, he “devoted himself to reading chivalric novels,” sometimes forgetting about his immediate responsibilities - housekeeping and hunting. He spent so much time reading that “his brain began to dry out, so that in the end he completely lost his mind.”
One day, following the example of the heroes of his favorite novels, he himself decided to “become a knight errant”, calling himself Don Quixote and his old nag Rocinante. After some thought, he found a lady of his heart, in whose honor he was to perform many valiant deeds. She turned out to be a “very pretty village girl” Aldonza Lorenzo, whom the knight christened Dulcinea of Toboso.
Without hesitating for a minute, Don Quixote set off on the road. After a while, a palace appeared before his eyes, which turned out to be an ordinary tavern. The wanderer's stories amused the guests, and Don Quixote received food and drink.
The hero was tormented by the thought “that he had not yet been knighted.” To fulfill his plan, he chose the owner of the tavern. When asked a reasonable question about whether he had money, Don Quixote was quite surprised: he had not read in any of the novels that knights should have money. Taking pity on the eccentric, the tavern owner advised him to always have money with him, which could be useful at any moment.
The mule driver, deciding to give his animals water, took Don Quixote's armor from the watering trough and received a strong blow from him with a spear. Wanting to quickly get rid of the crazy guest, the owner of the tavern knighted him with a slap on the head and a blow to the back with a sword, after which the hero set off on an adventure.
Chapters 4-6
Hearing someone's crying, Don Quixote saw a boy whom "a certain stalwart villager was mercilessly whipping with a belt, accompanying each blow with reproaches and moralizing." The newly-minted knight stood up for the boy, but after his departure the man beat the offending shepherd boy almost to death.
Don Quixote soon had to taste his fair share of punches himself when he tried to get local merchants to recognize Dulcinea of Toboso as the most beautiful lady in the world.
The household, seeing the beaten and exhausted Don Quixote, decided that the cause of his troubles were books that needed to be burned. They carefully examined the hero's rich library and destroyed almost all of it, except for a few harmless publications.
Chapters 7-20
Having come to his senses, Don Quixote invited the naive farmer Sancho Panza to go on the road with him “as his squire.” He, without thinking twice, saddled his faithful donkey and followed the knight.
On their way, they met windmills, which Don Quixote mistook for mighty giants and decided to fight them. But, having failed in the fight against them, the knight and his squire were forced to continue their journey.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza stopped to spend the night at an inn, which the knight once again mistook for “some glorious castle.” Meanwhile, the owner’s daughter was getting ready “to go on a date with the driver,” but in the dark she came across Don Quixote, who decided that she was the daughter of “the owner of the castle, whom he allegedly managed to charm.”
There was a commotion, a fight broke out - the knight and his innocent squire got a lot of nuts.
Further on their way they met a herd of sheep, which Don Quixote mistook for an enemy army. He began to mercilessly beat the unfortunate animals, but as a result he himself became a victim of the shepherds, who threw stones at him. Looking at the sad expression on his master's face, Sancho called him the Knight of the Sad Countenance.
One day, while spending the night, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza heard strange loud sounds that frightened them. They prepared for the worst, but in the morning it turned out that the sounds were made by ordinary fulling hammers.
Chapters 21-31
The wanderers set off again and soon noticed “a horseman with some object on his head that sparkled like gold.” It turned out to be a barber with a basin on his head. Don Quixote decided to capture the sparkling helmet and was very happy when he succeeded.
Next, the travelers freed the convicts. As gratitude, they beat their savior just because he asked them to say hello to the beautiful Dulcinea.
While spending the night, Sancho Panza's donkey was kidnapped. The thief “even before dawn managed to drive so far that it was no longer possible to overtake him.” But soon the loss was compensated very generously: Don Quixote and his squire found a chest with money and a book. The knight took the book for himself and gave all the money to Sancho Panza.
Don Quixote wrote two letters, one of which was intended for Dulcinea of Toboso, and the other for his niece, asking him to send three donkeys belonging to the hero. The letters were to be delivered by Sancho Panza.
The squire set off, but, meeting a barber and a priest on the way home, he realized that he had forgotten to take Don Quixote’s messages with him. Then he began to reproduce them from memory and “talked who knows how much nonsense.”
The villagers decided that the maddened Don Quixote should be returned to his native village. They asked Sancho to tell the knight that he should return home, since Dulcinea herself wanted it. They assured the squire that the service he had provided would allow him to become king, and he began to implement the plan.
Sancho Panza conveyed to his master the “request” of the beautiful Dulcinea, to which he replied that he would not return to his native land until he accomplished feats worthy of his lady’s heart.
Then a girl named Dorothea came to the aid of the barber and priest. She lured Don Quixote by introducing herself to him as a princess who needed the help of a noble knight. On the way, they met a convict who had stolen Sancho Panza's donkey, and the squire's property was returned to the owner.
At the source, the companions saw the same boy who was “lashed with the reins by a certain villager” and for whom Don Quixote stood up. The shepherd admitted that the knight’s intervention had backfired on him, and scolded his defender to the best of his ability.
Chapters 32-46
The company decided to stop for the night at an inn, where at night Don Quixote imagined an enemy attack. He began to swing his sword, piercing the vessels with wine and frightening his squire. Fellow villagers notified everyone in the area that Don Quixote had lost his mind.
During the travelers' stay at the inn, they witnessed a wide variety of everyday stories: dramatic, love and frankly comedic.
One of the visitors to the tavern was the barber, from whom Don Quixote took the basin and placed it on his head as a helmet. To quell the flaring conflict, the priest paid the barber the required amount.
Next, the guards arrived at the tavern. They provided "a decree directly concerning Don Quixote, whom the Holy Brotherhood decided to detain because he had freed convicts." To eliminate the trouble, this time the priest had to pay off and remind him that the wanted person was crazy.
Chapters 47-52
Fellow villagers, with good intentions, decided to put Don Quixote in a makeshift cage in order to bring the madman home safe and sound. After some time, the knight managed to convince his escorts that he did not intend to run away, and he was transferred to a cart.
Having reached his native village, Sancho Panza did not fail to tell his wife that he would soon become “a count or governor of the island, and not just some seedy one, but the very best.”
Meanwhile, the “housekeeper and niece of Don Quixote” began to look after the knight. The priest told the girl to “take the best possible care of her uncle and for both of them to be on alert, otherwise, they say, he will run away again.”
Part two
Chapters 1-11
Entrusting himself to the care of his housekeeper and niece, Don Quixote restored his health. The barber and the priest did not visit him for a month, “so as not to evoke and resurrect past events in his memory.” When the priest ventured to visit Don Quixote, he realized that he was completely healthy. But as soon as the visitor casually mentioned chivalry, it became clear: Don Quixote was still obsessed with it.
From his faithful squire, the hero learned that a book “titled The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” had been published, which was enjoying great success. After this conversation, Don Quixote decided that he absolutely had to hit the road. Suspecting something was wrong, the housekeeper and Antonia tried with all their might to prevent this, but to no avail.
Before setting off on the road, the Knight of the Sorrowful Image decided to receive the blessing of the lady of his heart. He ordered his squire to take him to the castle of Dulcinea, but he had no idea where to look for him.
Then Don Quixote was forced to admit that he had never seen Dulcinea in person and “fell in love with her only by rumor.” Sancho almost admitted that he didn’t know what this lady looked like, but in time he remembered how he “gave” letters to her and bit his tongue.
The squire had no choice but to pass off an ordinary peasant woman as the beautiful Dulcinea. Imagine Don Quixote's surprise and disappointment when, instead of a charming lady, he saw an uncouth, ugly woman. The last straw was the behavior of the “lady of the heart” when she rudely cursed the knight and his servant. Sancho Panza managed to get out of it: he said that this was the machinations of an insidious sorcerer. Don Quixote was satisfied with this explanation, and they set off.
Chapters 12-21
During a halt, Don Quixote and Sancho noticed how two men, one of whom was the Knight of Mirrors, settled down to rest not far from them. Having met him, Don Quixote learned his sad love story.
The Knight of Mirrors admitted that, for the sake of his lady’s favor, he threatened to defeat “all the knights errant of Spain and even the whole world,” including the famous Don Quixote. Offended by such lies, the Knight of the Sorrowful Image challenged him to a duel.
Don Quixote managed to defeat the enemy, and he soon learned that it was none other than Samson Carrasco, the author of a book about Don Quixote, who wanted to bring the eccentric home in this way. The hero had no doubt that all this was the work of an evil magician, and continued on his way with his faithful squire.
On the road, Don Quixote met the noble hidalgo Diego, and together they continued their journey. Soon they noticed a cart, and on it - “a cage with two fierce lions.” The knight realized that this was an excellent chance to demonstrate courage and ordered the driver to open the cage. He obeyed, but the lions never left the cage. As a result, Don Quixote appropriated the title of Knight of Lions and continued on his way.
Next, the wanderers found themselves at the wedding of Quiteria the Beautiful and Camacho the Rich. Suddenly, Basillo, in love with the girl, appeared at the celebration, declaring that he could not live without his beloved and piercing himself with a dagger. The young man told the priest “that he would never confess until Quiteria gave him her hand.” Quiteria agreed, and after a while it turned out that the lovers had deliberately arranged everything in order to get rid of the hated Camacho.
Chapters 22-41
Don Quixote decided to explore Montesinos' cave. They tied him tightly with ropes, and the brave knight prepared for the dangerous descent. Faithful Sancho asked the owner not to be like “a bottle that is lowered into a well to cool it,” but no one listened to him.
When the rope ran out, the researcher had to be lifted up. At first it was so easy that everyone came to the “conclusion that Don Quixote remained in the cave.” Only the last jerks were difficult, and the knight was brought to the surface of the earth in a faint state. Having come to his senses, he said that, having found himself at the bottom of the cave, he witnessed many strange things.
Having reached the Ebro River, the knight noticed a boat. He admitted to Sancho that this boat “forces one to enter it and go to the aid of some knight or other suffering noble person who has suffered a great misfortune.” Having boarded the boat, the travelers soon found themselves “into a whirlpool formed by mill wheels.” The flour millers tried to save them, but the knight waved his sword and called for the release of the noble person they had imprisoned. As a result, the boat was smashed into pieces, and the travelers had to pay a significant amount for it.
Once in the meadows, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza met the dukes, who read a book about the brave knight and were filled with respect for him. At first, the wanderers were greeted with honor, but soon ridicule began to arise against them.
Having learned that Dulcinea Toboso was bewitched by an evil magician, the local sorcerer suggested a way to get rid of the spell. To do this, Sancho had to receive several thousand lashes. The squire rebelled, because for him even “three blows with a whip are the same as three blows with a dagger.” Only after Sancho learned that the period of scourging was unlimited, and after that he would receive an island as a gift, did he agree.
Chapters 42-59
The Duke and Duchess, “seeing that their jokes were accepted as truth without the slightest hesitation, set out to joke further.” They sent Sancho to the promised island as governor, after warning the servants how to behave with him.
So many annoying incidents happened to him on the island that Sancho decided to return to his knight, fully realizing that power was not his calling.
Meanwhile, Don Quixote began to “become burdened by the idle life that he led in the castle.” He asked the Duke for permission to leave his hospitable abode and again set off on the road with his faithful squire. Feeling all the beauty of the road, the knight admitted to Sancho that freedom “is one of the most precious bounties that heaven pours out on people.”
The Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance decided to head to Barcelona.
Chapters 60-74
On the way to Barcelona, the travelers had to encounter a gang of robbers. They would certainly have lost their horses and all their money if not for the robber leader Roque Guinart, “who is not so much cruel as merciful.” Having recognized Don Quixote, he not only saved him from an unenviable fate, but also personally escorted him.
In Barcelona, the hero fought with the Knight of the White Moon and was defeated. He found out that his opponent was the same writer who wrote a book about him - Samson Carrasco. The Knight of the White Moon demanded that Don Quixote go home and not leave him for a year until his mind became stronger.
The knight followed his advice and, finding himself in his native village, decided to forget about knighthood and become a shepherd. On his deathbed, he realized that stupid fantasies had deprived him of his sanity and distracted him from more important matters. Before his death, he called "friends, the priest, bachelor Samson Carrasco and the barber" to inform them of his desire to change his name to Alonso Quijano. He died “so calmly and so Christianly”, like no other knight from his favorite novels...
"Don Quixote" abbreviated
“Don Quixote”, an abbreviated novel by Cervantes, can be read in 8 minutes.
"Don Quixote" abbreviated
In one village of La Mancha there lived one man. He was about 50 years old, and his appearance was very decrepit. He had almost nothing, and his name was either Kohana or Quesada, but it doesn’t matter, because the main thing is that he calls himself Don Quixote and considers himself a knight. And all because he read a lot of books about knights, and on this basis he began to go crazy.
One day he decided to travel. He chose a lady of his heart because he read about it. She became a certain Dulcinea of Tabos, but in fact her name was Aldonza Lourensa.
So, he hit the road. After some time, he got tired and decided to spend the night in the castle, although it was only an inn. Don Quixote talked very funny, imagining himself as a knight and did not want to take off his helmet, even though it was in his way. Don Quixote also asked the owner of the inn to knight him, but before that Don Quixote must perform a ritual. However, after one driver from the inn touched the armor of an imaginary knight and Don Quixote hit him, the owner of the inn hastened to knight him. Don Quixote went towards the house because he wanted to take money and shirts - this was advised to him by the owner of the yard. On his way home, Don Quixote saw a man beating a boy. Then he stood up for the shepherdess, and after Don Quixote left, the man beat this boy half to death.
While Don Quixote was traveling, the priest and barber burned his books about knights. Meanwhile, Don Quixote invites the farmer Sancho Panza to become his squire, and the guy agrees. In the evening they left the village; on the way they saw windmills. Don Quixote thought that these were giants and began to fight with them, but they won.
This was not Don Quixote's last exploit. Either at the inn he thought that the maid was the daughter of the owner of the house in love with him, then he mistook a flock of sheep for an enemy army. And he always got it for it. And Sancho Panza called him the knight of the sad image. One day, the barber put a basin on his head in the rain, so Don Quixote thought that it was Mambrina’s helmet, which he so wanted to take possession of and took it away from the barber. And even later, he freed the convicts.
In Sierra Morena, Sancha's donkey is stolen. She and Don Quixote find a suitcase containing poetry, linen and some coins. The owner of the suitcase was a certain madman Cardenio, who had a very complicated love story, in which certain Lucinda, Dorothea and Fernando appear. He begins to tell this story, but Don Quixote quarrels with him because Cardenio spoke badly about Queen Madoshima.
Don Quixote writes letters to Dulcinea and his niece and sends them along with Sancho Panza. The latter, arriving in the village, meets a priest and a barber, who, wanting to help Don Quixote, persuade Sancho Panzo to say that Don Quixote is calling Dulcinea. But Don Quixote does not go to her, since he has not yet accomplished enough feats. Then the priest and barber come up with another plan. One of the participants in the Cardeno story, Dorothea, called herself Princess Mikomin, she was able to lure Don Quixote into the forest, where he was put in a cage by the priest and the barber.
Don Quixote spent some time at home. His niece looked after him. The priest and barber who came thought that Don Quixote had recovered, but they were mistaken.
After those events, Sancho came home to his wife and promised that next time he would return a bigger man. He went to Don Quixote and told him that the book “Don Quixote” had been published, which had become very popular. Then they secretly leave the village. Samson, the man who told Sancho about the book, advised them to go to Zaragoza, where the knightly tournament was to take place.
Don Quixote decides to go to Dulcinea from the beginning, but it turned out that not only did he not know where she lived, but he did not know what she looked like. Then Sancho Panza, wanting not to reveal the secret about the undelivered letters and the conspiracy with the barber and priest, points to the first peasant women he comes across and says. That one of them is the lady of the knight’s heart. But Don Quixote was disappointed, he thought that she was an unearthly beauty, but it turned out that she was an ordinary plain girl.
In the forest, Don Quixote and Sancho Panse meet the Knight of Mirrors, who, at the request of Samson, tried to lure him home. But alas, the Knight of Mirrors lost to Don Quixote. Our hero goes further, along the way he decides that he is the Knight of Lions, after he asked to open the cage with a lion in a passing cart, and the lion did not even come out.
Next, Don Quixote goes to the village where he attended the wedding. He and Sancho go to the cave of Montesinos, into which Don Quixote descended by rope. After half an hour they got him out and he began to tell what he saw there, but even Sancho did not believe these stories.
Then they reached the inn, where the soothsayer monkey told everything about Sancho Panza and Don Quixote, but in fact the person who brought the monkey was Gines de Pagamonche, who was hiding from the authorities and knew everything about Sancho and Don Quixote.
One day, Don Quixote witnessed the sable hunt of the Duke and Duchess. It turned out that they had read a lot about him. Because of this they treated him very well. Don Quixote was invited to the Duke's castle. They were amazed at the prudence and madness of Don Quixote and the intelligence and simplicity of Sancho, who already believed in all the fairy tales of Don Quixote and even about the enchanted Dulcinea, which in fact did not exist. And he believed that in order to disenchant her, it was necessary for Sancho to hit himself with a whip on his bare buttocks 3,000 times. For this, the Duke promised him an island.
A little later, Don Quixote managed to disenchant Countess Tifaldi and her husband Trenbreno, who arrived at the castle, into which they were enchanted into statues, and also helped the duennas get rid of their beards.
Sancho Panzo was given control of an island on land. He was a good governor, he could judge everyone fairly, but still he did not last long and abandoned the island, which was called Barataria.
He and Don Quixote leave the castle and go to the inn, where they learn about the false stories about the adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Pansavo in the second part of the book “Don Quixote”. Then our knight decides to do something different from what is written in the book. Instead of Sargosa, he goes to Barcelona, participates in a knightly tournament, but loses, and none other than Samson wins, who demands that Don Quixote return home in the hope of returning his sanity.
Returning to his native village, Don Quixote decides to become a shepherd, but he soon fell ill. His mind became clearer and he was no longer Don Quixote, but Alonso Quijano, who cursed romances of chivalry.
Don Quixote died, and it did not happen in a chivalrous manner.
You might be interested in:
- TOP 5 ideas for posts that will help increase your reach
- Loans for migrants: true stories
- Facts about Minecraft
- When is it better to eat carrots in the morning or evening?
