DON QUIXOTE
My lady...

ALDONZA
I am not your lady!...
I am not any kind of a lady!
I was spawned in a ditch
By a mother who left me there,
Naked and cold and too hungry to cry;
I never blamed her.
I'm sure she left hoping
That I'd have the good

DON QUIXOTE
Someone approaches...!

SANCHO
Just an ordinary traveler.

DON QUIXOTE
(pointing off)
But see what he wears upon his head.
Get thee to a place of hiding, Sancho.

SANCHO
Oh, dear!

BARBER
(from a distance)
Oh, I am a lit

INNKEEPER
Don Quixote de La Mancha,
Having proved yourself this day
In glorious and terrible combat,
And by my authority as lord of this castle...
I hereby dub thee knight!

DON QUIXOTE
But, your Lordship...

INNKEEPER
Didn't I do it right?

D

Don Quixote
(Enters the inn)
Sweet lady, fair virgin

(Don quixote averts his eyes worshipfully)
I dare not gaze full upon thy countenance
Lest I be blinded by beauty. But I implore
Thee - speak once thy name.

Aldonza
Aldonza

Don quixote
My lady jests

ALDONZA
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,

PADRE
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go...

ANTONIA
To run where the brave dare not go,
Though the goal be forever too far.

SANCHO, ANTONIA
T

DON QUIXOTE
(courteously, but without recognition.)
Now then. What is it you want?

ALDONZA
Don't you know me?

DON QUIXOTE
Should I?

ALDONZA
I am Aldonza!

DON QUIXOTE
I'm sorry. I do not recall anyone of that name.

ALDONZA
Sanc

DON QUIXOTE
Hand over that golden helmet!

BARBER
But this is a shaving basin!

DON QUIXOTE
Shaving basin! Know thou not what this really is?
The Golden Helmet of Mambrino!
When worn by one of noble heart, it renders
him invulnerable to all wounds!

SANCHO
I like him, I really like him.
Tear out my fingernails one by one, I like him!
I don't have a very good reason,
Since I've been with him,
Cuckoo-nuts have been in season...
But there's nothing I can do,
Chop me up for onion stew,
Still I'll yell to

Don quixote
Hear me now
Oh thou bleak and unbearable world,
Thou art base and debauched as can be;
And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee!
I am i, don quixote,
The lord of la mancha, þ
My destiny calls and i go,

ANTONIA
(Don Quixote's niece)
(piously)
I'm only thinking of him,
I'm only thinking of him,
Whatever I may do or say;
I'm only thinking of him!
In my body; it's well known,
There is not one selfish bone...
I'm only thinking end worrying about him!

(The Quest)

ALDONZA
Why do you do these things?

DON QUIXOTE
What things?

ALDONZA
These ridiculous... the things you do!

DON QUIXOTE
I hope to add some measure of grace to the world.

ALDONZA
The world's a dung heap and we are maggots that

MULETEERS
Food! Wine! Aldonza! Aldonza!
I come for love, I come for love,
I come to Aldonza for love!

ALDONZA
One pair of arms is like another
I don't know why or who's to blame,
I'll go with you or with your brother
It's all the same, it's all the same.

INNKEEPER
Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance,
Knight of the Woeful Countenance!
Wherever you go
People will know
Of the glorious deeds
Of the Knight of the Woeful Countenance!

Farewell and good cheer
Oh my brave cavalier
Ride onward to glorious

ANSELMO, PEDRO
(two Muleteers)
Little bird, little bird,
In the cinnamon tree,
Little bird, little bird,
Do you sing for me?
Do you bring me word
Of one I know?
Little bird, little bird,
I love her so,
Little bird, little bird,
I have to kno

SANCHO
Your Reverence, could I talk to him?

PADRE
I'm afraid he won't hear you.

SANCHO
(moving toward the bed)
Then, I won't say much.

PADRE
And no mention of knight-errantry!

SANCHO
Of course not. Does one speak of the rope
in the h

DON QUIXOTE
Oh the trumpets of glory
Now call me to ride,
Yes, the trumpets are calling to me,
And wherever I ride,
Ever staunch at my side
My squire and my lady shall be!
I am I, Don Quixote...

DON QUIXOTE, ALDONZA, SANCHO
The Lord of la Mancha

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear the unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star!

This

PADRE
To each his Dulcinea
That he alone can name...
To each a secret hiding place
Where he can find the haunting face
To light his secret flame.
For with his Dulcinea Beside him so to stand,
A man can do quite anything,
Outfly the bird upon the wing,

ALDONZA
Why does he do the things he does?
Why does he do these things?
Why does he march
Through that dream that he's in,
Covered with glory and rusty old tin?
Why does he live in a world that can't be,
And what does he want of me...
What does he want of