Don Quixote, Chapter 59 summary

What happens

1. Beside a spring, Sancho encourages the despairing Don Quixote to eat and postpones the whipping meant to free Dulcinea.
2. They sleep, resume traveling, and reach an inn whose plentiful advertised food proves largely unavailable.
3. Don Quixote overhears Don Juan and Don Jerónimo discussing a rival history that claims he no longer loves Dulcinea.
4. The travelers reject the book’s descriptions, and Don Quixote explains Dulcinea’s enchantment while dining with the gentlemen.
5. Learning that the rival book places him in Zaragoza, Don Quixote chooses Barcelona to contradict its account.
6. The next morning, Don Quixote bids farewell, and Sancho pays while criticizing the innkeeper’s exaggerated promises.

In this chapter

What to notice

Don Quixote turns his rejection of the rival history into a travel decision. His desire to control his public identity changes his route.

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