or Quesada was mad--as mad as the books he had been reading.

Senor Quesada lived with his niece and his housekeeper, both sensible
women who loved him and who were much grieved over the havoc his
books of chivalry had worked with his senses. They believed that to
talk about these books made the old gentleman worse, so they refused
to answer him when he argued about knights and dragons and whether
this fair lady was an enchantress in disguise or only a mortal woman,
and whether that dragon actually did breathe forth fire from his
nostrils, or only sulphur fumes and smoke. His niece and the
housekeeper would run away when he started upon one of his favorite
subjects; so he turned to the society of the village curate, a learned
man for those times, who knew almost as much about books of chivalry
as Senor Quesada himself, and to that of Master Nicholas, the village
barber. And these three friends would sit up until dawn arguing as to
who was the better knight, Sir Lancelot or Amadis of Gaul, and how
these both compared with the Knight of the Burning Sword, who with one
back stroke cut in half two fierce and monstrous giants.

After he had become thoroughly mad from reading, and more so from such
arguments and discussions, Senor Quesada hit upon the strangest notion
that ever entered the head of a lunatic. He believed that he and no
other was called upon to restore the entire world to the ancient
conditions of chivalry, and bring back the tournaments and the
courteous knights and fair ladies whose like had existed in the times
of the famous King Arthur of Britain. Believing this, it was an easy
step for him to think that the world was still full of giants and
fierce dragons for him to vanquish, and that as a man of honor and
skill at arms he must leave his comfortable home and do battle with
them. To his disordered senses things took on a different appearance
than was actually the case--inns seemed castles, and towers and hills
appeared as giants that moved about in the distance; and Senor Quesada
could hardly wait before he could meet them on horseback and overthrow
them in battle.

To become a knight and encounter all these strange and visionary dangers
it was necessary for him, however, to have a war horse, a stout lance and
a suit of armor, and he cast about among his possessions to see what he
could find that would answer the purpose--for he had no money to buy
them, and no shop could have furnished them for him if h