"The author of that book," said the curate, "was the same that wrote 'The Garden of Flowers,' and truly there is no deciding which of the two books is the more truthful, or, to put it better, the less lying; all I can say is, send this one into the yard for a swaggering fool."
"This that follows is 'Florismarte of Hircania,'" said the barber.[1]
Señor Florismarte here?" said the curate; "then by my faith he must take up his quarters in the yard, in spite of his marvellous birth and visionary adventures, for the stiffness and dryness of his style deserve nothing else; into the yard with him and the other, mistress housekeeper."
"With all my heart, señor," said she, and executed the order with great delight.
"This," said the barber, "is 'The Knight Platir.'"[2]
"An old book that," said the curate, "but I find no reason for clemency in it; send it after the others without appeal;" which was done.
Another book was opened, and they saw it was entitled, "The Knight of the Cross."
"For the sake of the holy name this book has," said the curate, "its ignorance might be excused; but then, they say, 'behind the cross there's the devil;' to the fire with it."[3]
Taking down another book, the barber said, "This is 'The Mirror of Chivalry.'"[4]
exceptionally stout as the description in the text implies. The Garden of Flowers (1575), a treatise of wonders natural and supernatural, was translated into English in 1600, as The Spanish Mandeville, a title which may seem to justify the curate's criticism; but it does not come with a good grace from Cervantes, who made free use of the book in the First Part of Persiles and Sigismunda, and in the Second Part of Don Quixote. The book is really an entertaining one.
- ↑ The correct title is Historia del muy Animoso y Esforzado Principe Felixmarte de Hircania, but the hero is also called Florismarte. It was by Melchor Ortega de Ubeda, and appeared in 1556.
- ↑ Platir is the fourth book of the Palmerin Series. The hero is the son of Primaleon, and grandson of Palmerin de Oliva. Its author is unknown. It appeared first in 1533.
- ↑ The Knight of the Cross appeared in two parts: the first, under the title of Lepolemo, by an unknown author, in 1543; the second, with the achievements of Leandro el Bel, the son of Lepolemo, by Pedro de Luxan, in 1563. "Behind the Cross," etc., Prov. 75, was evidently a favorite proverb with Cervantes.
- ↑ The Mirror of Chivalry—Espejo de Caballerias—was published at Seville in four parts, 1533-50. Next to the history of Charlemagne and
