To my dear parents
“Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
che’ la diritta via era smarrita”
(Dante. “La Divina Commedia”). 1
“Puesto nombre, y tan a su gusto, a su caballo, quiso ponérsele a sí mismo, y en este pensamiento duró otros ocho días, y al cabo se vino a llamar “don Quijote”; de donde, como queda dicho, tomaron ocasión los autores desta tan verdadera historia que, sin duda, se debía de llamar “Quijada”, y no “Quesada”, como otros quisieron decir”. (Miguel de Cervantes. “El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha”).2
‘“Must I show you a place to sleep? Are you not at home here?”. “I understand that you take me for one of the tiny folk,” said the midget, “but I’m a human being, like yourself, although I have been transformed by an elf.” “That is the most remarkable thing I have ever heard! Wouldn’t you like to tell me how you happened to get into such a plight?” The boy did not mind telling her of his adventures, and, as the narrative proceeded, she who listened to him grew more and more astonished and happy. “What luck to run across one who has travelled all over Sweden on the back of a goose!” thought she. “Just this which he is relating I shall write down in my book. Now I need worry no more over that matter. It was well that I came home. To think that I should find such help as soon as I came to the old place!” Instantly another thought flashed into her mind. She had sent word to her father by the doves that she longed for home, and almost immediately she had received help in the matter she had pondered so long. Might not this be the father’s answer to her prayer?”’. (Selma Lagerlöf. “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils”).