Red Spanish Reading Course, Part 4263

Welcome back to our Red Spanish reading course! In this lesson, we'll be continuing our journey into the fascinating world of Spanish literature. We'll be reading an excerpt from the novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, one of the most celebrated works of Spanish literature.

Before we dive into the reading, let's quickly review what we covered in the previous lesson. We learned about the different parts of a Spanish book, including the title page, the copyright page, and the table of contents. We also practiced reading Spanish numbers and dates.

Now, let's take a look at our excerpt from "Don Quixote." The passage we'll be reading is about Don Quixote's encounter with a group of merchants.```
En esto, descubrieron treinta o cuarenta molinos de viento que hay en aquel campo, y así como Don Quijote los vio, dijo a su escudero:
—La ventura va guiando nuestras cosas mejor de lo que acertáramos a desear; porque ves allí, amigo Sancho, donde se descubren treinta o poco más desaforados gigantes, con quien pienso hacer batalla y quitarles a todos las vidas, con cuyos despojos comenzaremos a enriquecer; que esta es buena guerra, y es gran servicio de Dios quitar tan mala simiente de sobre la faz de la tierra.
—¿Qué gigantes? —dijo Sancho Panza.
—Aquellos que allí ves —respondió su amo—, de los brazos largos, que los suelen tener algunos de casi dos leguas.
—Mire vuestra merced —respondió Sancho— que aquellos que allí se ven no son gigantes, sino molinos de viento, y lo que parecen brazos son las aspas, que, volteadas del viento, hacen andar la piedra del molino.
—Bien parece —respondió Don Quijote— que no estás cursado en esto de las aventuras: ellos son gigantes; y si tienes miedo, quí­tate de aquí, y ponte en oración en el espacio que yo voy a entrar con ellos en fiera y desigual batalla.
```

As you can see, the passage is written in a very formal and elevated style. This is typical of Spanish literature from the 16th and 17th centuries. However, don't let that discourage you! We'll go through the passage slowly and carefully, and I'll provide plenty of explanations along the way.

The first thing we notice is that the passage is written in the third person. This is the most common way to write in Spanish, and it's used to tell stories and describe events.

The next thing we notice is the use of the verb "descubrieron." This verb means "to discover" or "to find." It's in the third person plural form, which means that it's referring to a group of people. In this case, the group of people is Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza.

The next sentence tells us that Don Quixote sees thirty or forty windmills in the distance. He thinks that they are giants, and he decides to attack them.

Sancho Panza, however, is more realistic. He knows that the windmills are not giants, and he tries to convince Don Quixote of this. However, Don Quixote is too caught up in his own fantasy to listen to Sancho.

In the final sentence, Don Quixote tells Sancho to get out of the way and to pray while he fights the giants. Sancho does as he's told, and Don Quixote charges into battle against the windmills.

That's it for this lesson! In the next lesson, we'll continue reading from "Don Quixote" and learn even more about the adventures of this famous knight.

2024-12-12

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