[Cervantes]
May I set the stage? I shall impersonate a man
Come, enter into my imagination and see him
His name... Alonso Quijana. A country squire
No longer young... bony, hollow-faced... eyes
That burn with the fire of inner vision. Being
Retired, he has much time for books. He studies
Them from morn to night and often through the
Night as well. And all he reads oppresses him
Fills him with indignation at man's murderous
Ways toward man. And he conceives the strangest
Project ever imagined: to become a knight-errant
And sally forth into the world to right all
Wrongs. No longer shall he be plain Alonso Quijana
But a dauntless knight known as
Don Quixote de La Mancha!
[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
My destiny calls and I go
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward
Whithersoever they blow
Whithersoever they blow
Onward to glory I go!
[Sancho Panza]
I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho!
I'll follow my master till the end
I'll tell all the world proudly
I'm his squire! I'm his friend!
[Don Quixote]
Hear me, heathens and wizards and serpents of sin
All your dastardly doings are past
For a holy endeavor is now to begin
And virtue shall triumph at last!
I am I, Don Quixote
The Lord of La Mancha
My destiny calls and I go
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward
Whithersoever they blow
[Sancho]
I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho!
I'll follow my master till the end
I'll tell all the world proudly
I'm his squire! I'm his friend!
[Both]
Whithersoever they blow
Onward to glory we go!