Don Quixote Ch. 42: The Judge, the Brother,

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The Judge, the Brother, and the Curate's Tale

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Summary

The captive ends his tale and Don Fernando wishes it could begin again tomorrow. Night brings a Judge of appeal with his daughter Doña Clara; Don Quixote greets them with a speech about castles, arms, letters, and beauty, while Dorothea, Luscinda, and Zoraida welcome the girl. The women retire to the garret; the captive learns the Judge is his brother Juan Perez de Viedma, bound for Mexico with his motherless daughter, and fears a poor return will bring shame.

The curate offers to test reception indirectly. At supper he tells a story of a captive comrade named Ruy Perez de Viedma from Leon: the father's division of property, the choice of arms, Lepanto, Algiers, Zoraida, and French robbery. The Judge listens with tears, cries that the captain is his eldest brother, and laments that no letter came when ransom could have saved years of suffering; he would cross the sea for Zoraida who was good to his brother.

The curate brings Zoraida and the captain out. The brothers embrace; the Judge puts all he has at Zoraida's disposal; Christian and Moor weep together while Don Quixote attributes everything to chivalry. They agree the captain and Zoraida will go to Seville and send word to their father; the Judge cannot delay his voyage. Quixote offers to guard the castle against giants; Sancho stretches on his ass's trappings. As the ladies sleep, a voice sings at dawn so sweetly that Dorothea and Clara listen, and Cardenio says a muleteer is enchanting the night.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Staging Recognition Before the Reveal

Coming home after hardship can feel more dangerous than staying lost. The captive will not face his brother until the curate tells their story at supper and the Judge weeps that the captain is his eldest brother; only then are Zoraida and the captain led into the room.

Let someone test reception before they walk in under a name they fear has been forgotten or disgraced.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Don Quixote

Don Quixote tells the Judge he may "take your ease in this castle," though the lodging is scanty and poor. No quarters, he says, are so cramped they cannot "make room for arms and letters," above all when beauty leads them. He can turn the inn into a castle by giving the guests their parts before they sit down.

Continue this thoughtHe Authors a Self and Then Has to Believe It

Coming Up in Chapter 43

At dawn the muleteer's love song wakes the inn and Dorothea rouses Clara to hear it. Clara confesses the singer is not a muleteer but an Aragonese gentleman who followed her disguised as a labourer.

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Original text

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Chapter 42

The Judge, the Brother, and the Curate's Tale

LII. WHICH TREATS OF WHAT FURTHER TOOK PLACE IN THE INN, AND OF SEVERAL OTHER THINGS WORTH KNOWING With these words the captive held his peace, and Don Fernando said to him, “In truth, captain, the manner in which you have related this remarkable adventure has been such as befitted the novelty and strangeness of the matter. The whole story is curious and uncommon, and abounds with incidents that fill the hearers with wonder and astonishment; and so great is the pleasure we have found in listening to it that we should be glad if it were to begin again,…

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The Judge, the Brother, and the Curate's Tale

Summary

Why This Matters