José Moreno Carbonero

Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote tells the story of humble landowner Alonso Quixano, who descends into fantasy and becomes convinced he is a valiant knight. Together with his companion Sancho Panza, the self-titled Don Quixote de la Mancha sets off to save Dulcinea, a farmgirl who he belives to be a true maiden.  Along the way the pair have many misadventures-- one such episode is illustrated in the present work. Taken from Volume I, Chapter VIII, Carbonero depicts Don Quixote and Sancho Panza preparing to meet a Biscay lady's coach on its way to Seville along with an accompanying group of friars. The deluded Don Quixote proclaims: ""Either I am mistaken, or this is going to be the most famous adventure that has ever been seen, for those black bodies we see there must be, and doubtless are, magicians who are carrying off some stolen princess in that coach, and with all my might I must undo this wrong."  Indeed Don Quixote challenges the "magicians" saying: "Devilish and unnatural beings, release instantly the highborn princesses whom you are carrying off by force in this coach, else prepare to meet a speedy death as the just punishment of your evil deeds."