Don Quixote Ch. 114: The Enchanted Head and Don Antonio's

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The Enchanted Head and Don Antonio's House

0:00

0:00 / 0:00

0:00

Summary

Don Antonio Moreno hosts Quixote to harmless sport in Barcelona, saying jests that give pain are no jests and no sport is worth anything if it hurts another; he shows him on a balcony in tight chamois while boys stare and cavaliers career, stitches a placard reading This is Don Quixote of La Mancha on his back without his noticing, and Sancho at table defends his eating, recounts Barataria's ten days, and amuses the servants with drolleries.

A Castilian reading the placard calls Quixote mad and says he makes fools of all company; Don Antonio tells him to go and bad luck to you, and the man vows never to advise anyone though he live longer than Methuselah, for to advise this good man is to kick against the pricks.

Don Antonio shows a bronze enchanted head said to answer truly except on Fridays; he swears Quixote to secrecy and passes his hand over jasper and bronze before the trial; after a ladies' dance where Quixote cries Fugite, partes adversae for Dulcinea and Sancho carries him to bed joking that mighty knights are not dancers, the head tells Don Antonio it cannot judge of thoughts, names every person present, answers wives and friends wittily, tells Quixote Montesinos holds something of both dream and truth and that Dulcinea's disenchantment will attain its consummation, and tells Sancho thou shalt govern in thy house, which he calls prophet Perogrullo talk.

Cide Hamete explains the ear-trumpet tube to Don Antonio's nephew below, whose voice passed as in an ear-trumpet, the contrivance lasts ten days until fear of the inquisitors breaks it up and ends the marvel, though Quixote and Sancho still hold it enchanted; Quixote visits Books printed here, praises Light of the Soul, lectures a translator that easy Italian renderings are like Flemish tapestries on the wrong side, finds the Second Part by Tordesillas and says its Martinmas will come to it as to every pig, walks out displeased soon, and Don Antonio arranges to show him the galleys that afternoon while tilting at the ring is planned for six days but deferred.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading When Staged Wonder and Fake Books Surround the Knight

What happens when Don Antonio's enchanted head answers Quixote and Sancho, the trick is revealed, and Quixote finds the fake Second Part in a printing office. Cide Hamete explains the ear-trumpet tube to Don Antonio's nephew below, whose voice passed as in an ear-trumpet, the contrivance lasts ten days until fear of the inquisitors breaks it up and ends the marvel, though Quixote and Sancho still hold it enchanted; Quixote visits Books printed here, praises Light of the Soul, lectures a translator that easy Italian renderings are like Flemish tapestries on the wrong side, finds the Second Part by Tordesillas and says its Martinmas will come to it as to every pig, walks out displeased soon, and Don Antonio arranges to show him the galleys that afternoon while tilting at the ring is planned for six days but deferred.

That Barcelona hospitality mixes mechanical marvels, public mockery, and literary imposture before the galleys.

Coming Up in Chapter 115

Profound were Don Quixote's reflections on the reply of the enchanted head, not one of them, however, hitting on the secret of the trick, but all concentrated on the promise of Dulcinea's disenchantment Quixote broods on the enchanted head's promise of Dulcinea's disenchantment while Sancho still misses giving orders even in jest; Don Antonio brings them to the galleys where awnings drop, clarions ring.

PreviousPrevious Chapter NextNext Chapter

Original text

4,744 wordscomplete

Chapter 114

The Enchanted Head and Don Antonio's House

CHAPTER LXII. WHICH DEALS WITH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED HEAD, TOGETHER WITH OTHER TRIVIAL MATTERS WHICH CANNOT BE LEFT UNTOLD Don Quixote’s host was one Don Antonio Moreno by name, a gentleman of wealth and intelligence, and very fond of diverting himself in any fair and good-natured way; and having Don Quixote in his house he set about devising modes of making him exhibit his mad points in some harmless fashion; for jests that give pain are no jests, and no sport is worth anything if it hurts another. The first thing he did was to make Don Quixote…

Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.

Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Name the When a Talking Head and a Printing Office Test the Knight Move

Re-read the chapter summary and write down where when a talking head and a printing office test the knight first appears, who pays for it, and who benefits from keeping it going. Then write one sentence you could say to interrupt the pattern without shaming the person caught in it.

Consider:

•Separate the person's worth from the pattern's cost
•Notice who has power to stop or fuel the scene
•Ask what truth would require someone to give up

Journaling Prompt

Write about a time when you saw when a talking head and a printing office test the knight in your own life. What finally made the pattern impossible to ignore?

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature

Buy at

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats

The Blue Castle

L. M. Montgomery

Explores identity & self

Notes from Underground

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Explores identity & self

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

Explores identity & self

Emma

Jane Austen

Explores identity & self

Identity & Self-Discovery

Lessons from Don Quixote

Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

Deep diving the literary elements.

The Enchanted Head and Don Antonio's House

Summary