Please Help Don Quixote Find His Lost Words! Quiz

Answer: sword

...carelesS WORDs for this...

"The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" was written by Miguel de Cervantes with part 1 published in 1605 and part 2 published in 1615. Many literary scholars consider "Don Quixote" to be the first modern novel and it is often considered by many to be one of the best novels ever written. Don Quixote was written towards the end of Cervantes' life and was preceded by both his first novel, "La Galatea", and several plays that have mostly been lost to history. Cervantes was little known in his day and profited little from his brilliant work.

Answer: shield

...sayS "HI ELDerly Statesman...

Cervantes' hero's given name is Alonso Quixano and is described as a member of the Spanish nobility. The reader of "Don Quixote" is quick to learn that the hero, himself, is also a lover of chivalric romances. Overconsumption of romantic stories and believing every word as truth are the basis for Don Quixote's delusional decision to become a knight errant. In the classic romances, the knights of old wandered around the country finding injustices to correct for no other reason than honor and defending the defenseless.

Answer: helmet

...shall overwHELM ETernal...

Considering how often Don Quixote gets hit on the head in the novel, he would have benefited greatly from a mighty helmet. Unfortunately, his head covering, affectionately named Mambrino, is not a mighty helm, but rather a washbasin. Don Quixote witnesses a barber keeping his head dry from the rain with a basin and insists it is actually a legendary helm with magical powers. The name Mambrino is taken from a Moorish king who had a legendary helmet that bestowed invulnerability upon the wearer.

Answer: lance

BaLANCE your Grace...

The lance was a long pointy spear used by a knight on horseback. In a jousting competition, the goal of the rider is to knock the other jouster off his horse with a lance. Unlike the medieval knights, who were usually part of the gentry, Cervantes lived mostly in poverty. He spent much of his twenties as an infantryman in the Spanish navy and, at one point, both he and his brother were captured by pirates and held for ransom. While his family raised enough money for his brother's release, they did not have enough for poor Miguel. He was a prisoner for 5 years before a Christian charity was able to raise the funds to have him released.

...point out YOU That...

Youth is an acceptable alternative answer as a youth could be a manservant.

Answer: horse

...a metapHOR? SEe, my...

Don Quixote chooses the name Rocinante for his mighty steed. The tongue in cheek humor is said to be more vibrant in the original Spanish. Essentially a "rocin" is an old workhorse, probably for plowing. However, by adding 'ante' to the end of the name Don Quixote is suggesting his mighty steed is not a broken-down old horse but rather a youthful, grand horse in its prime before becoming a workhorse. The horse and rider are often portrayed as a comparison to one another. Both are not nearly as capable of the tasks before them as their names imply.

Answer: armor

...trying to hARM OR destroy our beautiful...

At the start of his quest, Don Quixote finds a rusty set of ancestral armor in the back of a mildewy closet. He polishes up the armor and proceeds to declare it fit for a knight, but as you might guess, the reality was quite the opposite. In his travels, Don Quixote recruits a simple farmer named Sancho Panza to be his squire. Sancho's down to earth wisdom and humor add great texture to the novel. Sancho is well aware that Don Quixote is quite mad and often plays along with his lord's fancies to great comedic effect.

Answer: lady

...yonder vilLA DYing at...

Don Quixote decides early in his quest that a great knight must dedicate his achievements of righting wrongs to a noble lady in the manner of the romantic knights he is trying to emulate. Since Don Quixote does not have his own lady to honor, he decides on a local farm girl, Aldonza, who has "hands fit for salting pigs", the novel tells us. Indeed, she shall be his great lady, though she is completely unaware of Don Quixote's musings! Since the name Aldonza is too simple, Quixote decides to rename her Dulcinea which means "sweet one".

In the musical, "Man of La Mancha", Aldonza is a serving maid and part-time prostitute at an inn. Don Quixote's insistence on calling Aldonza the name Dulcinea enrages her because she does not believe she is worthy of such a kind title.

Answer: crest

...romantiC RESTful rememberings...

While many think the fancy patterns on a knight's shield, armor, or family banner to be the family crest, the word originally referred to decorations on a knight's helmet. The word "crest" has its roots in Latin and meant "plume". So it might be more accurate to think about the colorful horse hair sticking up on a Roman centurion's helmet for an original use of the word crest. The decoration on a knight's armor or banner is more accurately called a heraldic display. A nobleman who added prestige to the family might add an image to the family heraldry to celebrate the accomplishment, which is then passed on to the next generation.

Answer: honor

SancHO, NO Romantic hero...

The chivalry of the novel Don Quixote is of a highly romantic variety. The knight-errant would travel the countryside defending the masses from grave injustices. Honor was a large motivator that drove Don Quixote, especially if it brought imagined glory to his lady Dulcinea...who, of course, knew nothing about his mighty deeds! In the 16th century, there was this notion that there was a time of civility in the past where noble knights defended what was right and just. However, in reality, this was rarely the truth. Knights were the vassals of their more powerful lords with the purpose of defending the lord's holdings and also collecting spoils for the lord when called to battle. There was plenty of room for dishonorable characters in that brutal time.

Answer: rose

...a heRO SEeking...

The Romans believed that the goddess of love, Aphrodite, created the red rose giving it the symbolic meaning for love. In the romantic tradition, the knight would sometimes present a token to his lady as a sign of his courtly love. Usually, the lady being honored was of a higher station and thus out of reach for the knight's serious romantic interest. Since a real relationship was usually impossible, the efforts of the knight to honor his lady were viewed as even more romantic since the knight gained little in return.