Lo que sucedió a un deán de Santiago con don Illán, el mago de Toledo
By: Don Juan Manuel
Summary (continued)
- Don Illan reminds the bishop of his promise, but he again makes up an excuse
- Later on, the bishop is named a cardinal and is given the choice to choose his successor
- Don Illan once again reminds him of his promise, but the cardinal once again makes up an excuse not to make his son the successor
- Then the pope dies and the cardinal is named the successor
- Don Illan asks the pope again to appoint his son a position
- The pope makes another excuse and Don Illan complains that the pope has not followed through with his promise
Summary (continued)
Style
- The pope threatens to throw Don Illan in jail as a heretic
- Don Illan, seeing how bad he has been treated, calls to his housekeeper to cook the partridges
- The dean, realizing he is still the dean of Santiago, finds himself still in Don Illan's home in Toledo
- Patronio then tells the count that he should now know how to act towards the man
- Most prominent literature was El Libro del conde Lucanor
- It was a collection of stories written in a straightforward manner with an informal and personal prose style
- All stories follow a model where count Lucanor presents a problem to Patronio and he responds with a story to resolve the problem
- The stories would always have a moral and be set in Toledo
- The dean receives a letter that his uncle, the archbishop is dead
- He then becomes the archbishop
- Don Illan asks the archbishop to appoint his son the dean, but the archbishop makes up an excuse nad invites him to Santiago
- Don Illan agrees and they go
- Later, the archbishop is then named Bishop of Tolosa
Moral
Don Juan Manuel
Who pays thy kindness with ungratefulness,
The more he has to give, he’ll give the less.
- Born on May 5, 1282 in Toledo
- Died in 1348
- Grandson of Ferdinand III and nephew of Alfonso X
- Considered the most important prose writer of the 14th century
Summary (continued)
- Patronio tells the count the story of the dean of Santiago
- The dean wanted to learn necromancy and the only man who knew it was the magician of Toledo named Don Illan
- The dean went to Don Illan and asked to learn necromancy, promising to assist the magician with whatever he needed
- Don Illan agrees to help, but first he asks his housekeeper to prepare two partidges for dinner but not to cook until he said so
Summary
- The story begins with count Lucanor presenting Patronio with a problem
- The count tells Patronio that a man begged him for assistance, promising that in return he would assist him as well
- The count helped him, but whenever he asked the man, the man would have an excuse not to help
- Patronio replies by telling the count a story