Chap 3 DQ's Equipment and It's First Use

Chapter 3

A word about the armour of our knight, and it's first aggressive use:

Quijote's insane fixation on becoming a knight-errant includes the notion that he must have weapons. The logic of his delusion lead him to conclude that whatever objects he selects are weapons of quality. They're not.

From Chapter one:

"Y lo primero que hizo fue limpiar unas armas que habían sido de sus bisabuelos, que, tomadas de orín y llenas de moho, luengos siglos había que estaban puestas y olvidadas en un rincón. Limpiólas y aderezólas lo mejor que pudo [. . .] cartones hizo un modo de media celada, que, encajada con el morrión, hacían una apariencia de celada entera. Es verdad que para probar si era fuerte y podía estar al riesgo de una cuchillada, sacó su espada y le dio dos golpes, y con el primero y en un punto deshizo lo que había hecho en una semana; y no dejó de parecerle mal la facilidad con que la había hecho pedazos, y, por asegurarse deste peligro, la tornó a hacer de nuevo, poniéndole unas barras de hierro por de dentro, de tal manera que él quedó satisfecho de su fortaleza; y, sin querer hacer nueva experiencia della, la diputó y tuvo por celada finísima de encaje."

"The first thing he did was to clean up some armour that had belonged to his great-grandfather, and had been for ages lying forgotten in a corner eaten with rust and covered with mildew. He scoured and polished it as best he could [. . .] he contrived a kind of half-helmet of pasteboard which, fitted on to the morion, looked like a whole one. It is true that, in order to see if it was strong and fit to stand a cut, he drew his sword and gave it a couple of slashes, the first of which undid in an instant what had taken him a week to do. The ease with which he had knocked it to pieces disconcerted him somewhat, and to guard against that danger he set to work again, fixing bars of iron on the inside until he was satisfied with its strength; and then, not caring to try any more experiments with it, he passed it and adopted it as a helmet of the most perfect construction."

Now, at a roadhouse for the night, DQ is convinced that part of his preparation for entering into knightly status, is the ritualistic night-watch of his weaponry prior to the dubbing ceremony:

". . . recogiéndolas don Quijote todas, las puso sobre una pila que junto a un pozo estaba, y embrazando su adarga asió de su lanza y con gentil continente se comenzó a pasear delante de la pila; y cuando comenzó el paseo comenzaba a cerrar la noche."

". . . gathering everything together, Don Quixote placed it on a trough beside a well, and fastening his buckler on his arm he took up his lance and, with a serene affect, began to march up and down in front of the trough; as he began to march night began to fall."

". . . unas veces se paseaba, otras, arrimado a su lanza, ponía los ojos en las armas, sin quitarlos por un buen espacio dellas."

". . . at times he marched, at other times, leaning on his lance, he would look intently at his arms, staring for quite a long time."

Antojósele en esto a uno de los arrieros que estaban en la venta ir a dar agua a su recua, y fue menester quitar las armas de don Quijote, que estaban sobre la pila [. . .] trabando de las correas las arrojó gran trecho de sí [. . .].

Quijote, [. . . ] soltando la adarga, alzó la lanza a dos manos, y dio con ella tan gran golpe al arriero en la cabeza, que le derribó en el suelo [. . .] Hecho esto, recogió sus armas, y tornó a pasearse con el mismo reposo que primero.

Meanwhile one of the teamsters, who were staying in the inn, came to water his team, and thought it necessary to remove Don Quixote's armour, which was lying on the trough [. . .] seizing it by the straps, he tossed the armour some distance away [. . .]. 

DQ "dropping his buckler, raised his lance with both hands and hit the carrier's head with such force that that he knocked him to the ground [. . .] After this, he collected up his arms and returned to pacing up and down, as peacefully as before.