Don Quixote

Ruy continues his story. After several years as a galley slave, he was taken to Algiers and made to live in a prison with other noble-born prisoners of war. The prison was situated next to the home of a wealthy Muslim merchant named Hajji Murad. One day, a long stick with a handkerchief on the end was dangled from the window of the merchant’s house over the courtyard of the prison. Ruy caught the handkerchief and discovered that it contained gold coins. He glimpsed the woman’s hand that held the stick. Soon after, another handkerchief was held over the courtyard. This time, it contained a note as well as the coins.

Ruy asked his friend to translate the Arabic note and learned that it was written by the merchant’s daughter, who wished to escape her father’s home and convert to Christianity. She asked Ruy for help in traveling to Spain, promising to marry him if he helped her. Ruy and his friend replied to the note. Zoraida shares her escape plan with them, giving them a large sum of money with which they can pay their ransoms, travel to a Christian country, and return with a boat to collect her from her father’s home beside the sea.