Level A2 · Chapter 36
Mambrino’s helmet
A barber rides across country with a brass basin on his head to keep his hat dry. Don Quixote sees gold, charges, and carries off his prize.
What you will learn
- Tell por and para apart in everyday sentences.
- Give the reason for something with por and the purpose with para.
- Give a personal opinion with para mí.
Before you read
This lesson turns on two small words that English squashes into one. As you read, count the times you see por and para, and look at what follows each of them. There are fourteen in the story. The last four sentences hold the key to the whole chapter.The story in easy Spanish
Por la mañana empezó a llover un poco.
In the morning it began to rain a little.
Sancho quería entrar en el molino de los batanes.
Sancho wanted to go inside the fulling mill.
Don Quijote no quiso entrar allí por vergüenza.
Don Quixote refused to go in, out of embarrassment.
Torcieron a la derecha y siguieron por otro camino.
They turned right and carried on along another road.
A lo lejos venía un hombre montado en un asno pardo.
In the distance came a man riding a grey donkey.
Llevaba en la cabeza una cosa que brillaba como el oro.
On his head he was wearing something that shone like gold.
«Sancho, ese hombre trae el yelmo de Mambrino», dijo el caballero.
"Sancho, that man is wearing Mambrino’s helmet," said the knight.
«Yo solo veo a un hombre con una cosa que relumbra.»
"All I see is a man with something shiny on him."
«Apártate y déjame solo con él. Ganaré ese yelmo para mí.»
"Stand aside and leave him to me. I will win that helmet for myself."
La verdad era mucho más sencilla y mucho más pobre.
The truth was a great deal simpler and a great deal poorer.
Aquel hombre era el barbero de un pueblo cercano.
That man was the barber from a nearby village.
Iba a sangrar a un enfermo y a afeitar a otro.
He was going to bleed one patient and shave another.
Llevaba una bacía de latón para el agua y el jabón.
He was carrying a brass basin for the water and the soap.
Empezó a llover y no quería estropear su sombrero nuevo.
It started raining and he did not want to ruin his new hat.
Por eso se puso la bacía encima de la cabeza.
That is why he put the basin on top of his head.
La bacía estaba limpia y relumbraba desde media legua.
The basin was clean and it gleamed from half a league away.
Don Quijote corrió hacia él con la lanza baja.
Don Quixote charged at him with his lance lowered.
«Defiéndete o dame por tu voluntad lo que es mío.»
"Defend yourself, or give me of your own free will what is mine."
El barbero se tiró del asno y corrió por el campo.
The barber threw himself off the donkey and ran across the field.
Dejó la bacía en el suelo y no volvió por ella.
He left the basin on the ground and did not come back for it.
Don Quijote la cogió y se la puso en la cabeza.
Don Quixote picked it up and put it on his head.
Le daba vueltas y buscaba el encaje, pero no lo encontraba.
He turned it round and round looking for the fitting, but could not find it.
«A este yelmo le falta la mitad», dijo muy convencido.
"This helmet is missing half of itself," he said, quite convinced.
Sancho oyó aquello y se mordió los labios para no reír.
Sancho heard that and bit his lips to stop himself laughing.
«Para mí, esto es una bacía de barbero», pensó el escudero.
"To me, this is a barber’s basin," thought the squire.
«Para mi amo, es un yelmo de oro purísimo.»
"To my master, it is a helmet of the purest gold."
«La llevaré así por ahora. Sirve para defenderme de una pedrada.»
"I will wear it like this for now. It will do to protect me from a stone."
Los dos siguieron por el camino, contentos por razones distintas.
The two of them carried on along the road, happy for different reasons.
Vocabulary
The barber and his trade
- el barbero
- the barber
- la bacía
- the shaving basin
- afeitar
- to shave someone
- sangrar
- to bleed someone
- la barba
- the beard
- el enfermo
- the sick man, the patient
- el jabón
- the soap
What Don Quixote sees
- el yelmo
- the helmet
- el oro
- the gold
- el latón
- the brass
- relumbrar
- to gleam
- la lanza
- the lance
- la pedrada
- the blow from a stone
Set phrases with por and para
- por eso
- that is why
- por la mañana
- in the morning
- por ahora
- for now
- por fin
- at last
- para mí
- in my opinion, for me
- para siempre
- forever
- para qué
- what for
Por and para
El barbero corrió por el campo.
Sirve para defenderme de una pedrada.
Para mí, esto es una bacía de barbero.
English uses for for both of these, plus by, through, because of and in order to. Spanish splits the job in two, and the split is not arbitrary. Learn it as a direction of travel.
Para looks forward. Towards a purpose, a person, a place, a deadline. Ask yourself: where is this heading?
| use | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| purpose | Sirve para defenderme. | It is for defending myself. |
| who it is for | Ganaré ese yelmo para mí. | I will win that helmet for myself. |
| destination | Salimos para el Toboso. | We are leaving for El Toboso. |
| deadline | Estará listo para el domingo. | It will be ready by Sunday. |
| opinion | Para mí, es una bacía. | In my view, it is a basin. |
Por looks back, or sideways. Towards a cause, a route, a stretch of time, an exchange. Ask yourself: what made this happen, or what did it go through?
| use | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| cause | No entró por vergüenza. | He did not go in out of embarrassment. |
| route | Corrió por el campo. | He ran across the field. |
| rough time | Por la mañana llovía. | In the morning it was raining. |
| exchange, price | Te doy el asno por la bacía. | I will give you the donkey for the basin. |
| means | Lo supimos por un arriero. | We heard it through a muleteer. |
| on behalf of | Habló por su amo. | He spoke on his master’s behalf. |
The pair that decides everything
Put the two next to each other with the same verb and the difference stops being abstract:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lo hago por ti. | I am doing it because of you, for your sake. |
| Lo hago para ti. | I am doing it to give to you. |
| Corrió por el miedo. | He ran because he was afraid. |
| Corrió para salvarse. | He ran in order to save himself. |
One shortcut that almost never fails
If the next word is an infinitive and you mean in order to, use para. Se mordió los labios para no reír. The main exception is por plus infinitive meaning something still undone, as in la cama está por hacer, and you can leave that for later.
Phrases to learn whole
Some of the commonest uses are frozen expressions. Do not analyse them, memorise them: por eso that is why, por fin at last, por ahora for now, por supuesto of course, por favor, por ejemplo, and on the other side para siempre forever, para qué what for, para nada not at all.
The barber, who was also the surgeon
The man Don Quixote charges is not a hairdresser. In 1605 the barber was the surgeon of the village, and a busy one. He cut hair and shaved beards, yes, but he also pulled teeth, dressed wounds, set small fractures and, above all, bled people. Bleeding was the standard treatment for almost everything, and it was done with a small blade and a basin held under the arm. The university physician knew Latin and theory and rarely touched a patient. The barber did the work with his hands.
His basin, the bacía, was the tool of the trade and the sign hung outside his door. It is a wide brass dish with a semicircular notch cut into the rim, which is where the customer’s throat sits. Brass, kept clean, is the colour of gold in strong light.
Now turn it upside down and put it on a head. The notch faces forward. What you have looks remarkably like the lower half of a helmet, the piece that guards the chin, with the top half missing. Don Quixote is not simply hallucinating here, and this is what separates this adventure from the windmills. He looks at the object, sees a helmet with half of it gone, and reasons his way to an explanation: some ignorant owner melted the top down for the gold. His logic is perfect. Only the first premise is mad.
Cervantes liked the object enough to keep it. The basin travels with them for the rest of Part One, and much later a whole roomful of people at an inn end up arguing about whether it is a basin or a helmet, until Sancho coins the word that settles nothing and says everything: baciyelmo, the basin helmet.
Cervantes in the original
Dime, ¿no ves aquel caballero que hacia nosotros viene, sobre un caballo rucio rodado, que trae puesto en la cabeza un yelmo de oro?
Tell me, do you not see that knight coming towards us, on a dapple grey horse, wearing a golden helmet on his head?
The line is a question, not a claim, and that is the craft of it. Don Quixote does not announce that a knight is coming. He asks Sancho whether he can see him, which invites the reader to look too. Sancho then answers with exactly the same scene translated into plain sight: a man on a grey donkey with something shiny on his head. Nothing in the two descriptions contradicts the other. Only the words change. Rucio rodado is a technical term for a dapple grey, the expensive coat of a warhorse, and Sancho’s asno pardo is a plain brown donkey like his own. Cervantes puts the two vocabularies side by side and never tells you which one to prefer, which is why this chapter, and not the windmills, is where readers usually notice what the book is actually doing.