brother of Amadis of Gaul, because he had
a spirit that was equal to every occasion, and was no finikin knight,
nor lachrymose like his brother, while in the matter of valor he was
not a whit behind him. In short, he became so absorbed in his books
that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise, and his days from
dawn to dark, poring over them; and what with little sleep and much
reading his brains got so dry that he lost his wits. His fancy grew
full of what he used to read about in his books--enchantments,
quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, agonies, and
all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his mind that
the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read of was true, that to
him no history in the world had more reality in it. He used to say the
Cid Ruy Diaz was a very good knight, but that he was not to be
compared with the Knight of the Burning Sword, who with one back
stroke cut in half two fierce and monstrous giants. He thought more of
Bernardo del Carpio because at Roncesvalles he slew Roland in spite of
enchantments, availing himself of the artifice of Hercules when he
strangled Antaeus the son of Terra in his arms. He approved highly of
the giant Morgante, because although of the giant breed, which is
always arrogant and ill-conditioned, he alone was affable and
well-bred. But above all he admired Reinaldos of Montalban; especially
when he saw him sallying forth from his castle and robbing every one
he met, and when beyond the seas he stole that image of Mahomet which,
as his history says, was entirely of gold. And to have a bout of
kicking at that traitor of a Ganelon he would have given his
housekeeper, and his niece into the bargain.

In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest notion
that ever madman in this world hit upon: and that was that he fancied
it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own honor
as for the service of his country, that he should make a knight-errant
of himself, roaming the world over in full armor and on horseback in
quest of adventures, and putting in practice himself all that he had
read of as being the usual practices of knights-errant; righting
every kind of wrong, and exposing himself to peril and danger from
which, in the issue, he was to reap eternal renown and fame. Already
the poor man saw himself crowned, by the might of his arm, Emperor of
Trebizond at least; and so, led away by the intense enjoyment he