donQuixote.txt

CHAPTER I.
WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN DON
QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA

In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there
lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old
buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing. An olla of rather more beef than
mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon
or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income. The rest of it
went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches and shoes to match for holidays,
while on week-days he made a brave figure in his best homespun. He had in his house
a housekeeper past forty, a niece under twenty, and a lad for the field and marketplace, 
who used to saddle the hack as well as handle the bill-hook. The age of this
gentleman of ours was bordering on fifty; he was of a hardy habit, spare, gauntfeatured, 
a very early riser and a great sportsman. They will have it his surname was
Quixada or Quesada (for here there is some difference of opinion among the authors
who write on the subject), although from reasonable conjectures it seems plain that he
was called Quexana. This, however, is of but little importance to our tale; it will be
enough not to stray a hair's breadth from the truth in the telling of it.