14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 88 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 88 pagesAbout this book
What would you give up for love—your name, your rank, or the life you know?
Preciosa sings and dances in the streets of Madrid. Clever and proud, she draws admiration but guards her honor. In Miguel de Cervantes's La Gitanilla — The Little Gypsy Girl, the young nobleman Don Juan de Cárcamo falls for her and faces a challenge: love must prove itself.
Taking the name Andrés Caballero, Don Juan joins the gypsies to win Preciosa. Camp life brings rules he must learn, while the open road brings dangers to his hopes and honor. Through song, wit and irony, Cervantes asks what makes a person worthy: birth, a name, or the choices they make.
What you’ll discover
- A proud young heroine Meet Preciosa, whose wit and guarded honor make admiration alone far from enough.
- Love beyond a name Follow a nobleman as he leaves his familiar place to prove his devotion.
- Life within the camp Hear the chief describe freedom, shared possessions and the rules Andrés must follow.
- Honor on the road Travel with the band as new dangers put love and personal choices under pressure.
- Wit with a moral edge Explore how song and irony sharpen questions about identity, refinement and the way to live.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy a spirited heroine, witty talk, songs and verses inside a story, and old Spanish tales of love, honor and disguise told with warmth and a sly humor.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Preciosa earns attention on her terms
- Her wit protects her dignity
- Love must prove itself through conduct
- Andres keeps his conscience without rank
- A refusal brings a new threat
- Honor belongs to actions not titles
- Freedom includes choosing your bonds
- Laughter and warning share a voice
- Firmness gives the courtship its shape
Who’s who
- PreciosaA fifteen-year-old Gypsy dancer and singer, famous in Madrid, who wants to protect her honor and test any man before she trusts him.
- AndresA young nobleman, known earlier as Don Juan, who gives up his rank and joins the Gypsies to win Preciosa's hand.
- The old Gypsy womanPreciosa's supposed grandmother, a shrewd trainer and guardian who loves money, proverbs and tricks, and watches over the girl like a hawk.
- CristinaOne of Preciosa's dancing companions, easily frightened and curious, who keeps an eye on gifts and gossip.
- KlemensA young poet, first called Alonso Hurtado, who flees the law in disguise and carries a secret and a purse of gold.
- Juana CarduchaAn innkeeper's daughter who falls for Andres and cannot accept being turned down.
- The pageA courteous young admirer who gives Preciosa poems wrapped around gold coins and claims to love poetry without being a poet.
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La Gitanilla — The Little Gypsy Girl
by Miguel de Cervantes · 1613
A Gypsy girl dancing in Madrid sets two years of trials for a nobleman who offers her a hundred gold coins.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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“Virginity is a flower that should not, if possible, even be touched in thought.”
In short
Picture a fifteen-year-old girl who can silence a crowded Madrid street with a dance, talk back to a magistrate with a joke, and refuse a hundred gold coins because she does not trust a promise. She is Preciosa, the heroine of La Gitanilla, The Little Gypsy Girl.
La Gitanilla — The Little Gypsy Girl at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 40 min1 h 20 min fast, 2 h slow
- Length
- 24,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1613by Miguel de Cervantes
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An old woman trains a girl to dance
The tale opens with a harsh claim that Gypsies are born to steal, and then sets a girl against it. An old Gypsy woman raises Preciosa as her granddaughter and teaches her every trick of the trade. Yet the girl grows up with more grace and good sense than that trade would suggest.
She is lively but modest, and no Gypsy woman dares to sing a coarse song in her presence. The narrator hints that she comes from better stock than her camp, and a careful listener keeps that hint in mind.
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A Gypsy girl dancing in Madrid sets two years of trials for a nobleman who offers her a hundred gold coins.
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Details
- First published
- 1613
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 88 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 88 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 136 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 136 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
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For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Cervantes, Miguel de. La Gitanilla — The Little Gypsy Girl. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/la-gitanilla-the-little-gypsy-girl.
Cervantes, M. de. (2026). La gitanilla — The little Gypsy girl. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/la-gitanilla-the-little-gypsy-girl (Original work published 1613)
Cervantes, Miguel de. La Gitanilla — The Little Gypsy Girl. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/la-gitanilla-the-little-gypsy-girl.
@book{cervantes2026la,
author = {Cervantes, Miguel de},
title = {La Gitanilla — The Little Gypsy Girl},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/la-gitanilla-the-little-gypsy-girl},
note = {First published 1613}
}
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What is La Gitanilla about?
It follows Preciosa, a young Gypsy dancer and singer in Madrid, and a nobleman who falls in love with her. She sets him a two-year trial living among her people, and their journey leads across Spain.
Who wrote The Little Gypsy Girl and when?
Miguel de Cervantes wrote it. It belongs to his Exemplary Novels, published in 1613. Cervantes is also the author of Don Quixote.
What does Preciosa's name mean?
Preciosa means precious, and the tale plays on it. People call her a precious jewel, and her own view of her worth, her virtue and her freedom gives the name its depth.
The author
Miguel de Cervantes
1547–1616 · Spanish novelist, poet and playwright
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. He was born in Alcalá de Henares and died in Madrid. He published La Galatea in 1585 and Don Quixote in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda appeared after his death, in 1617.
“Virginity is a flower that should not, if possible, even be touched in thought.”
More by Miguel de Cervantes
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