Don Quixote Ch. 124: Don Álvaro Tarfe and the True Knight's

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Álvaro Tarfe and the True Knight's Declaration

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Summary

Don Quixote and Sancho spend the day at a village inn waiting for night so Sancho can finish his scourging penance in the open country. A traveller arrives whose servant announces Don Álvaro Tarfe, a name Quixote remembers from the spurious Second Part. Tarfe believes he once befriended a Don Quixote who went to Saragossa jousts and finds this pair nothing like the printed originals; Sancho furiously insists they are the only real knight and squire while all others are dreams and mockeries.

Quixote proves his identity by swearing he never entered Saragossa and asking Tarfe to declare before the alcalde and notary that neither he nor Sancho is the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Avellaneda's fake history. The legal declaration delights them both as if paper could settle what their lives already show. After dinner they part ways; Quixote recounts his defeat and Dulcinea's cure while Sancho whips beech trees again until the duped knight counts three thousand and twenty-nine lashes. Sancho completes the task, Quixote greets every woman on the road hoping Merlin's promise holds, and at last they descry their village. Sancho falls on his knees praising home, whipping, and borrowed money; Quixote cuts off the fooleries and steers them toward pastoral plans as they enter the town.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading When a Counterfeit History Meets the Real Knight

When a fake version of you exists in print, the living person must make the record clear. Don Álvaro Tarfe arrives at the inn, declares the Second Part's Quixote and Sancho are not the pair before him, and signs a declaration before the alcalde while the real Sancho whips beech trees again until they descry their village on the horizon.

Protect the true story when an impostor book tries to occupy your name.

Coming Up in Chapter 125

At the entrance of the village, so says Cide Hamete, Don Quixote saw two boys quarrelling on the village threshing-floor, one of whom said to the other, "Take it easy, Periquillo; thou shalt never see it again as long as thou livest.".

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Original text

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Chapter 124

Don Álvaro Tarfe and the True Knight's Declaration

CHAPTER LXXII. OF HOW DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO REACHED THEIR VILLAGE All that day Don Quixote and Sancho remained in the village and inn waiting for night, the one to finish off his task of scourging in the open country, the other to see it accomplished, for therein lay the accomplishment of his wishes. Meanwhile there arrived at the hostelry a traveller on horseback with three or four servants, one of whom said to him who appeared to be the master, “Here, Señor Don Álvaro Tarfe, your worship may take your siesta to-day; the quarters seem clean and cool.” When…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Name the When a Counterfeit History Meets the Real Knight Move

Re-read the chapter summary and write down where when a counterfeit history meets the real 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 counterfeit history meets the real knight in your own life. What finally made the pattern impossible to ignore?

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Don Álvaro Tarfe and the True Knight's Declaration

Summary