After the group escorting Don Quixote from the mountains arrives at an inn, the knight retires to bed, while the others hear a story about knights read aloud. And this is that story.
narrative
As they ride down from the Sierra, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are constantly bickering. But Sancho’s donkey is recovered, and they learn what happened to a young to whom the knight had given his aid.
The tragic events which drove the young nobleman Cardenio are seen in new light when they meet Dorotea, who becomes an exotic princess with a quest for Don Quixote.
Sancho returns to deliver a letter to Lady Dulcinea and get 3 donkeys, but bumps into the village priest and barber. Together they launch a mission to rescue Don Quixote from his madness in the mountains.
In which a young noble starts telling the story as to how he came to pay penance in the mountains, but never finishes. The theft of Sancho’s donkey, and Don Quixote feigns madness.
They meet 12 convicts, who Don Quixote frees before they stone him. On the run, they head for the mountains where they come across gold and a dead mule.
The pair grow scared of noises in the night. When they finally investigate, it’s just a cloth mill. They meet with a barber wearing his bowl on his head, which become the legendary helmet.
They see the dust of two armies marching against one another, but they turn out to be flocks of sheep. As they travel on through the night they come across a group of ghosts.
In Florence, stories told in paintings became increasingly secular, and ingeniously integrated multiple scenes from the single story into one painting.
After being badly beaten by a group of muleteers, the pair stay at an inn to recover. But the night proves a nightmare, and escaping the next day isn’t easy either.
