THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG QUIXOTE (A PROLOGUE)

Prologue

Ever since his mother died of malaria when he was just five years old, Alonso had been plagued by vivid dreams and nightmares. He would often wake in the early dawn, drenched in a cold sweat after battling hideous creatures he could barely describe. But as he grew older and recounted his disturbing visions more clearly to his friends and family, he found himself increasingly isolated from their company, alarmed by what he revealed. More recently, he had begun dreaming during his work lunch breaks of saving princesses in faraway lands, his imagination stirred whilst vigorously stomping grapes in his father’s vineyard in El Toboso, La Mancha, Spain.

For Alonso, the line between waking and sleeping often blurred, leaving him increasingly uncertain about what was a dream and what was real. His father, Diego Quixano, grew worried that his son might struggle to function in the adult world. Alonso’s vivid imagination seemed impossible to rein in, veering ever closer to fantasies and delusion.

"You need to stop dreaming so much!" Diego shouted one day, angry after finding his son fast asleep in a vat of crushed red mulch.

"The morning's work was already done, though, Father," Alonso replied.

"I don't care! Too much sleeping and dreaming makes you unfit to live in the real world, where you have REAL responsibilities. How you going to look after your family if your head is all the way up in the clouds?”

Although Alonso tried to find numerous ways to quieten his riotous imagination including fervent prayers to God, there was nothing he seemingly could do to make the dreams stop.

Except for one thing:

A quest!