Don Quixote is a very long novel, but its basic plot is quite simple. A certain middle-aged gentleman named Alonso Quixano has read so many romantic stories about knights of the Middle Ages that he freaks out and imagines that he is really a knight. He also imagines that he is in love with a princess named Dulcinea, actually a local girl who never paid attention to him. Changing his name to Don Quixote de la Mancha, he dons old, rusty armor and sets out in search of adventure. In a certain inn, which he mistakes for a castle, Don Quixote asks the innkeeper to officially knight him. The innkeeper agrees, only to humor his crazy guest. Later, after mistaking a group of merchants for knights, the Don challenges them to battle and ends up much worse for wear. A passing neighbor takes him home, where his niece, his housekeeper, and two friends, the local priest and a barber named Nicholas, burn his books in an attempt to restore him to sanity. Don Quixote is still determined to seek adventure. He convinces a local worker, Sancho Panza, to accompany him as his "squire". Don Quixote's crazy delusions get him and Sancho into a lot of trouble. Mistake a group of windmills for giants. He takes a funeral procession for the ghosts. He even "captures" a brass bowl, which he believes is a valuable helmet. Finally he meets a young man, Cardenio, disoriented by an unhappy love story. The Don decides that he will become a hermit, like his new friend. Meanwhile, Don Quixote's friends, the priest and the barber, have devised a plan to lure him home. They convince a girl named Dorothea to pose as Princess Micomicona. Under this disguise, Dorothea begs Don Quixote to follow her to her kingdom and kill an ogre who has usurped her late father's throne. The Don, his friends, Cardenio and Dorothea all travel together until they reach the same inn where the Don was "knighted". Here Cardenio and Dorothea are reunited with their lost loves, Lucinda and Don Ferdinand. Yes No Yes No Yes No The priest now decides that the only way to bring Don Quixote home is to take him there in a cage.