The Inn of the Seven Secrets in "Don Quijote" (I.16-17): Cide Hamete Benengeli and Jalal ad-Din Muhamad Rumi

• Main Author: Frederick A. De Armas
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Navarra 2016-12-01
• Series: Memoria y Civilización
• Subjects: cervantes; cide hamete; covarrubias; rumi; bálsamo; ensalmo; maritornes; morisco; fierabrás; sileno
• Online Access: https://www.unav.edu/publicaciones/revistas/index.php/myc/article/view/7289

Taking as a point of departure the fable of the lion and the hare by Jalal ad-Din Muhamad Rumi, this essay seeks to discover seven secrets that are hidden at the inn in the first part of Don Quijote. Sebastián de Covar-rubias defines a secret as «anything that is hidden or silenced» and places it in «a secret location where few people are found». It would seem, then, that the inn, a place always filled with travelers, would be a place inimical for secrets. But Cervantes understands quite well that, being a space crisscrossed by so many people, it can be an ideal location to hide or to hide a secret in plain sight; and also to pass on a secret to one person to another. Since the inn is a place where so many secrets can be hidden and revealed, this essay will focus on chapters 16 and 17. Four secrets will make us laugh and will turn us away from the truth; while three will hide something almost unnamable.