LatestLatest ·Post28 Aug 1615
Sancho's proverbs, ranked
My squire speaks in proverbs the way a fountain speaks in water. I have ranked a few, with my verdicts.
Everyday life1 min read
LatestAll stories 29
- Post25 Aug 1615
Books of chivalry, reviewed
My honest ranking of the books of chivalry, with stars, and the sad tale of how half my library went into the yard.
Review3 min read
- ES
SpainMay 1615The road home
Disarmed for a year, trampled by pigs, and planning a shepherd's life, I rode back towards La Mancha until I saw my village.
Nature5 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
The Knight of the White Moon
A gentleman bandit, my first sight of the sea, a great city, and on its beach the hardest morning of my life.
City7 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
Sancho Panza's account: ten days a governor
My squire governed an island, judged like Solomon, starved like a hermit, and resigned like a gentleman. In his own words.
Culture & history7 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
The Duke and the Duchess
A great Duke and Duchess received me as a true knight errant. A wooden horse, a scolding chaplain and much laughter followed.
Culture & history6 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
The enchanted boat
An empty boat on the Ebro, plainly sent by an enchanter. The millers, the river and Sancho saw it otherwise.
Nature3 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
Master Pedro's puppets
A puppet show, an ape that reads the past, and a rescue I would make again, though it cost forty reales.
Culture & history5 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
What I saw in the Cave of Montesinos
I went down a hundred fathoms of rope and spent three days among enchanted knights. My companions say it was half an hour.
Nature7 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
Camacho's wedding
The richest wedding feast in La Mancha, a bridegroom with a sword in his chest, and Sancho's inventory of the pots.
Food & drink3 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
Four days with the Knight of the Green Coat
Four quiet days in the house of a good man, with a poet for a son and a cook who understood Sancho perfectly.
Food & drink3 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
The lions
The king's lions were on the road. I asked to have the cage opened. What followed earned me a new name.
Nature4 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
The Knight of the Mirrors
A stranger in a wood boasted that he had beaten me. At dawn I gave him the chance to prove it, and the enchanters gave him a face.
Culture & history5 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
A palace in El Toboso
I rode to El Toboso to kiss my lady's hands. I found a church, three donkeys, and the cruellest enchantment of my career.
Culture & history7 min read
- ESSpainMay 1615
Why I rode out a third time
A bachelor from Salamanca brings news: my history has been printed. My niece objects. Sancho asks for wages.
Culture & history6 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
Home in a cage
Phantoms seized me in my sleep and set me in a cage on an ox-cart. Sancho thinks the phantoms were from our village.
Road trip5 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
The battle of the wineskins
In the dead of night I fought the giant Pandafilando and took his head. The innkeeper has a different account, and a bill.
Food & drink6 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
Penance in the Sierra Morena
A ragged lover in the rocks, a penance in my shirt like Amadís, a letter to Dulcinea, and a princess come to beg my help.
Nature7 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
The galley slaves
Twelve men in chains, sent to the galleys by force. I set them free. They thanked me in the way that such men thank.
Culture & history6 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
The fulling mills, and Mambrino's helmet
A night of terrible hammering, an enchanted horse, a story about goats, and at dawn the golden helmet of Mambrino.
Nature7 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
The armies that were sheep
Two vast armies met on a plain in La Mancha. I named every knight in them. Sancho named them sheep.
Nature4 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
Sancho Panza's account: the blanket
My squire tells it his way: carriers, a dark attic, a balsam that turned us inside out, and a blanket he will never forgive.
Culture & history6 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
Marcela, and a funeral in the hills
Acorns, a speech on the Golden Age, a funeral for a poet, and a shepherdess who answered every one of her accusers.
Nature7 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
The Biscayan
Two enchanters, a captive lady, and a duel with a Biscayan who fought behind a cushion. Half an ear is a fair price.
Culture & history4 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
The giants of Criptana
Thirty giants on a ridge, waving long arms. My squire saw windmills. The sage Frestón saw to it that he was proved right.
Nature7 min read
- ESSpainAug 1614
On choosing a squire
A knight needs a squire, and I found mine next door: a sound man with a good donkey and a keen interest in islands.
Road trip5 min read
- ESSpainJul 1614
Andrés, and the merchants of Toledo
On my first morning as a knight I freed a boy from a cruel master and saw him paid in full. Then came the merchants.
Culture & history4 min read
- ESSpainJul 1614
A vigil of arms at the castle (some call it an inn)
A castle with silver towers, two gracious ladies, a worldly castellan, and a long night guarding my armour by the well.
Culture & history6 min read
- ESSpainJul 1614
How I became a knight
Fifty years a quiet gentleman, then the books spoke plainly: the world needed a knight errant, and I was at hand.
Culture & history6 min read