Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes, Chapter VIII, Paragraphs 7-15

PARAGRAPH 7: A slight breeze at this moment sprang up, and the great sails began to move, seeing which Don Quixote exclaimed, "Though ye flourish more arms than the giant Briareus, ye have to reckon with me."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 7:
A wind kicked up and made the arms of the windmills move. Don Quixote thinks they are the arms of the giants waving at him in a threatening manner (the 16th century equivalent of flipping him off). He told them to go ahead and wave their arms. He was still bent on whooping their collective ass.

PARAGRAPH 8: So saying, and commending himself with all his heart to his lady Dulcinea, imploring her to support him in such a peril, with lance in rest and covered by his buckler, he charged at Rocinante's fullest gallop and fell upon the first mill that stood in front of him; but as he drove his lance-point into the sail the wind whirled it round with such force that it shivered the lance to pieces, sweeping with it horse and rider, who went rolling over on the plain, in a sorry condition. Sancho hastened to his assistance as fast as his ass could go, and when he came up found him unable to move, with such a shock had Rocinante fallen with him.

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 8:
So Don Quixote lowers his lance and attacks the first windmill. His lance gets caught in one of the windmill sails and flips him and his horse over. Sancho races to Don Quixote's aid "as fast as his ass could go." That still cracks me up. Don Quixote is lying on the ground, unable to move.

PARAGRAPH 9: "God bless me!" said Sancho, "did I not tell your worship to mind what you were about, for they were only windmills? and no one could have made any mistake about it but one who had something of the same kind in his head."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 9:
Sancho essentially says, "I told you they were windmills and only someone with lots of wind between his own sails wouldn't have recognized them."

PARAGRAPH 10: "Hush, friend Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "the fortunes of war more than any other are liable to frequent fluctuations; and moreover I think, and it is the truth, that that same sage Friston who carried off my study and books, has turned these giants into mills in order to rob me of the glory of vanquishing them, such is the enmity he bears me; but in the end his wicked arts will avail but little against my good sword."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 10:
Don Quixote tells Sancho to stop talking crap. He concludes that a magician has changed the giants into windmills just before he attacked them to thwart Don Quixote.

PARAGRAPH 11: "God order it as he may," said Sancho Panza, and helping him to rise got him up again on Rocinante, whose shoulder was half out; and then, discussing the late adventure, they followed the road to Puerto Lapice, for there, said Don Quixote, they could not fail to find adventures in abundance and variety, as it was a great thoroughfare. For all that, he was much grieved at the loss of his lance, and saying so to his squire, he added, "I remember having read how a Spanish knight, Diego Perez de Vargas by name, having broken his sword in battle, tore from an oak a ponderous bough or branch, and with it did such things that day, and pounded so many Moors, that he got the surname of Machuca, and he and his descendants from that day forth were called Vargas y Machuca. I mention this because from the first oak I see I mean to rend such another branch, large and stout like that, with which I am determined and resolved to do such deeds that thou mayest deem thyself very fortunate in being found worthy to come and see them, and be an eyewitness of things that will with difficulty be believed."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 11:
Sancho gets Don Quixote back on his horse and they get back on the road (Cervantes isn't big on transition when he tells a story). The Don is pissed that he broke his lance. He tells Sancho about a story he read in which a knight broke his sword in battle and continued fighting with a branch he broke off an oak tree. He beat so many enemies that day that he got the nickname "Machuca" or Crusher (which sounds a bit too much like a big time wrestler). Don Quixote says that he is going to break a branch off the first oak tree he sees and do great deeds, too.

PARAGRAPH 12: "Be that as God will," said Sancho, "I believe it all as your worship says it; but straighten yourself a little, for you seem all on one side, may be from the shaking of the fall."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 12:
Sancho humors Don Quixote, but tells him to sit up in the saddle because he is leaning to one side, probably from the fall.

PARAGRAPH 13: "That is the truth," said Don Quixote, "and if I make no complaint of the pain it is because knights-errant are not permitted to complain of any wound, even though their bowels be coming out through it."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 13:
Don Quixote says that he is in pain from the fall, but "big boys don't cry."

PARAGRAPH 14: "If so," said Sancho, "I have nothing to say; but God knows I would rather your worship complained when anything ailed you. For my part, I confess I must complain however small the ache may be; unless this rule about not complaining extends to the squires of knights-errant also."

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 14:
Sancho tells Don Quixote that he would rather he confess that he is hurt. God knows Sancho would be screaming like a little girl if he was hurt.

PARAGRAPH 15: Don Quixote could not help laughing at his squire's simplicity, and he assured him he might complain whenever and however he chose, just as he liked, for, so far, he had never read of anything to the contrary in the order of knighthood.

TIM'S OBSERVATION ON PARAGRAPH 15:
Don Quixote laughs at how "simple" his squire is (this from a man who has just attacked and been de-horsed by a windmill). He points out that it is okay for a squire to complain, but knights are held to different standards.

Whew...that was a lot of parapgraphs for one day. I need to rest now.