In order to understand and enjoy this great book more fully it helps to know something about the author and his times. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in 1547 in the university town of Alcala de Henares, dose to Madrid. His father, Rodrigo de Cervantes, was a barber- surgeon (someone who combined the functions of a conventional barber with the performance of minor surgical operations). Cervantes, therefore, was born into what we might term the middle class. ……

Cervantes" tale of the deranged gentleman who turns knight-errant,tilts at windmills and battles with sheep in the service of the lady of his dreams, Dulcinea del Toboso, has fascinated generations of readers, and inspired other creative artists such as Flaubert, Picasso and Richard Strauss. The tall, thin knight and his short, fat squire, Sancho Panza, have found their way into films, cartoons and even computer games. Supposedly intended as a parody of the most popular escapist fiction of the day, the "books of chivalry", this precursor of the modern novel broadened and deepened into a sophisticated, comic account of the contradictions of human nature.

On his "heroic" journey Don Quixote meets characters of every class and condition, from the prostitute Maritornes, who is commended for her Christian charity, to the Knight of the Green Coat,who seems to embody some of the constraints of virtue.

Cervantes" greatest work can be enjoyed on many levels, an suffused with a subtle irony that reaches out to encompass the reader, and does not leave the author outside its circle.

Peter Motteux"s fine eighteenth-century translation, acknowledged as one of the best, brilliantly succeeds in communicating the spirit of the original Spanish.

PART ONE

THE AUTHOR"S PREFACE TO THE READER

BOOK I

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

BOOK II

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

BOOK III

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

BOOK Ⅳ

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PART TWO

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