1.1.8
Don Quixote 1.1.8 · He sells land for books1.1.8He sells land for books
His reading turns to a passion he pays for with his own fields.
· · ·
Y1
y
And
llegó8
lle·GÓ
reachedarrived
a9
a
to
tanto10
TAN·to
such a pointso much
su2
su
his
curiosidad3
cu·rio·si·DAD
eagernesscuriosity
y4
y
and
desatino5
de·sa·TI·no
follynonsense
en6
en
in
esto7
ES·to
this
, que11
que
that
vendió12
ven·DIÓ
sold
muchas13
MU·chas
many
hanegas14
ha·NE·gas
acresbushels
de15
de
of
tierra16
TIE·rra
land
de17
de
for
sembradura18
sem·bra·DU·ra
sowing
para19
PA·ra
in order
comprar20
com·PRAR
to buy
libros21
LI·bros
books
de22
de
of
caballerías23
ca·ba·lle·RÍ·as
chivalry
en24
en
(in)
que25
que
which
leer26
le·ER
to read
, y27
y
and
así28
a·SÍ
so
, llevó29
lle·VÓ
broughtcarried
a30
a
to
su31
su
his
casa32
CA·sa
homehouse
todos33
TO·dos
all
cuantos34
CUAN·tos
as many as
pudo36
PU·do
could
haber37
ha·BER
getto have
dellos35
DE·llos
of them
; And his eagerness and folly in this went so far that he sold many acres of farmland to buy books of chivalry to read, and so he brought home every one of them he could lay hands on
And his eagerness and folly in this went so far that he sold many acres of farmland to buy books of chivalry to read, and so he brought home every one of them he could lay hands on
Interpretation
His eagerness and folly in this went so far that he sold many acres of good farmland to buy books of chivalry to read, and so he brought home every one of them he could get hold of;
A hidalgo lived off his land, and this one sells it for books. The sowing land, tierra de sembradura, fed the household; trading it for romances is the first act of the madness, before any armor or horse. The sentence does not stop here: the semicolon runs on into the next passage, where he names his favorite author.
Curiosidad in Cervantes’ Spanish is close to "keen care, avid interest", stronger than English curiosity. Desatino is built on atinar, to hit the mark: a desatino is a miss, a folly.
1.1.9
Don Quixote 1.1.9 · Feliciano de Silva’s prose1.1.9Feliciano de Silva’s prose
Of all the romances on his shelves, the gentleman has a favorite author, and the narrator tells us why.
· · ·
and of them all, none seemed to him as good as those that the famous Feliciano de Silva wrote, because the clearness of his prose and those tangled phrases of his seemed to him just right, and all the more when he came to read those compliments and letters of challenge, where in many places he found written: