400th Anniversary of Death of Miguel Cervantes

Number by catalogue:  Michel: 2549Zf  

Perforation type: 13 ¼x13 ½

Subject:

100 pesos.

Portrait of Miguel Cervantes (on the stamp) and Don Quixote attacking the windmills (on the coupon).

Additional:

Excerpt from the work of M. de Cervantes about the valiant knight Don Quixote: "Chapter 7 on the victory won by the valiant Don Quixote in a terrible, hitherto unheard-of adventure with windmills"

 

"Then they saw thirty or forty windmills standing in the middle of the field. Noticing them from afar, Don Quixote said to his squire:

- A favorable fate sends us good luck. Look that way, friend Sancho! Giants gathered there on the plain. Now I will join the battle with them and kill them all to one. They own countless treasures; defeating them, we will become rich. This is a righteous battle, for God himself wants this evil seed to be wiped off the face of the earth.

“But where are these giants?” Asked Sancho Panza.

- Yes, here they are in front of you! - answered Don Quixote. “See how big their hands are?” Others are almost two miles long.

- Believe me, your mercy, these are not giants at all, but windmills. And what you call hands is not hands at all, but wings that spin from the wind and set the millstone in motion.

“You can see right away,” said Don Quixote, “that you are not yet experienced in knightly adventures.” These are the giants! If you are scared, then step aside and read the prayers, and in the meantime I will engage in a fierce unequal battle with them!

With these words, Don Quixote drove spurs into the sides of Rocinante and rushed forward, not listening to the screams of his squire.

- Do not run, despicable creatures! He cried out. - There are a lot of you! And there is only one knight against you!

At that moment a light breeze rose and the huge wings began to spin. Seeing this, Don Quixote shouted even louder:

“If you have more hands than the giant Briareus, you still can’t escape your fate!”

And, entrusting the soul to his lady Dulcinea of ​​Tobos, Don Quixote rushed to the mill nearest to him and from all magnitude thrust a spear into her wing.

But then a strong gust of wind turned the wing. The spear broke, and the knight flew away with the horse far to the side."