Modern-day Don Quixote

It seems to me that Shetland needs a modern-day Don Quixote. Most of you are probably familiar with the endearing character the Spanish writer Cervantes created. Don Quixote was a rather confused latter-day knight of the 16th century who wandered the countryside attempting to revive chivalry.

When he came in sight of a group of windmills, Don Quixote said to his squire, Sancho Panza, “Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless.”

Unfortunately, Don Quixote was not successful in his attempt to slay the giants/windmills: “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.” While Don Quixote didn’t stop the windmills, at least he tried.

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I live in the eastern part of Extremadura in Spain, very close to the border with Castilla la Mancha where Cervantes had his character, Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. The same windmills that inspired Don Quixote’s battle in Castilla la Mancha still stand there today, but now they are no more than restored showpieces, a fascinating tourist attraction on a hillside overlooking the town of Consuegra. They are tiny compared to the proposed windmills that Shetland may have to endure, and they cause no harm to anyone.

John Coutts
Extremadura
Spain