Author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Spanish, 1547 - 1616)
Published: 1613
Category: Tale
Text: Project Gutenberg
Summary:
A young nobleman falls in love with a young gypsy girl; pledging her two years of his life in exchange for her hand in marriage, he joins the gypsy band, abandoning his parents and his city but not his values.
Points of Interest:
More of a morality tale than a short story, it is full of negative comments on gypsies except for the young gypsy girl, Percosia, who is always described in glowing terms, as is her suitor. The reason becomes clear in the end, when we discover Percosia had been stolen away from her true parents when she was very young and was not really the old gypsy woman's granddaughter.
