If you recall the story, Don Quixote is a brave white knight who battles an evil empire in the form of the Knight of the White Moon (a young man from Quixote’s hometown who had earlier posed as the Knight of Mirrors) on the beach in Barcelona, Spain. When he was defeated in battle, Quixote submits to prearranged chivalric terms: the vanquished must obey the will of the conqueror. He is ordered to lay down his arms and cease his acts of chivalry for a period of one year, by which time his friends and relatives hope he will be cured (of his apparent hopeless idealism).
On the way back home, Quixote and his sidekick squire Sancho “resolve” the disenchantment of Dulcinea, his dream princess. Upon returning to his village, Quixote announces his plan to retire to the countryside as a shepherd.
It is now in the Public Domain. The other parts of the book are linked in the text on this YouTube video.
To read the full column, check it out in the New American Journal.