Don Quixote, Part 2, Chapter 38 summary

What happens

1. Trifaldi enters the garden with mourning attendants, and the duke and duchess receive her with elaborate courtesy.
2. Don Quixote offers his strength, while Sancho promises to support her request without further flattery.
3. The duke and duchess privately enjoy Trifaldi’s performance because they understand the adventure’s arrangements.
4. Trifaldi describes her care of Antonomasia and admits that Don Clavijo wins her cooperation through gifts, flattery, and songs.
5. She arranges repeated private meetings, insisting on marriage, until Antonomasia’s swelling belly threatens to expose the secret.
6. A vicar examines the marriage document and places Antonomasia in custody; Sancho urges Trifaldi to finish her account.

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What to notice

Countess Trifaldi shifts responsibility away from seductive poetry and toward her own choices. This admission explains how the princess’s guardian becomes the courtship’s intermediary.

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