Many people have thought about the book Cervantes wrote 1605 and continued in 1615.
Question 1: “What is Cervantes’s most famous book?”
Answer: “Don Quixote”.
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Question 2: “What is it about?”
Answer: “Don Quixote was a confused nobleman who believed in Chivalry. He decided to fight evil. He persuaded Sancho Panza to follow him with a promise of wealth and power.”
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Question 3: “What does everyone remember about Don Quixote?
Answer: “He tilted at 40 windmills.”
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Question 4: “Why?”
Answer: “Don Quixote thought they were evil giants! He attacked them with his lance from his old, limping horse.”
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Question 5: “Did Cervantes use ‘40 windmills’ to connect Don Quixote with The Bible?”
Answer: “Yes. There were: 40 days and 40 nights of rain during The Flood; 40 years Moses lived in Egypt; 40 years that Hebrews travelled to the Promised Land; 40 days Moses spent on Mount Sinai; 40 days Jonah preached in Nineveh; 40 days Ezekiel laid on his right side to symbolize Judah’s sins; 40 days Elijah fasted on Mount Horeb; 40 days Goliath taunted Israel; 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert; 40 days between The Resurrection and The Ascension of Jesus.”
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Question 6: “That’s a lot of #40s! What did ‘windmills’ symbolize in Spain’s most famous book?”
Answer: “Before the ‘windmill’, grain was ground into flour by grindstones. They were turned by hand, animal, or water power.
‘Windmill’s let people use free ‘wind’ to turn grindstones.”
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Question 7: “That was a big change! Every‘windmill’ put people, animals, and those who tended them out of work. Did ’40 windmills’ put an end to hundreds of local jobs?”
Answer: “Yes! That’s why ‘windmills’ are symbols for ‘evil giants’! Behind the ’40 windmills’ were ‘giant’ financial powers that let well-connected greedy people get land, build windmills, and staff them! There was no better symbol for ‘evil giants’ than ‘windmills’!
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Question 8: “Was Don Quixote fighting against the powers of finance and government that allowed greedy people to put families out of work in every time and place?”
Answer: “Yes.”
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Question 9: “We should all fight evil. Is there one mistake that every Don Quixote makes?”
Answer: “All of us Don Quixotes tend to worry more about the sins of others than making ourselves more obedient to God. Every Don Quixote gets a better perspective by heeding Rev. 22:11: “Meanwhile, let the sinner go on sinning . . “
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Simple reasons to be Catholic. catholicfundamentalism.com
A free book of simple reasons. http://catholicfundamentalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AllTheWorldIsAStage-Final.pdf
