La gitanilla

"The Little Gypsy Girl"
Don Juan en Constançe (Proef-steen van den Trou-ringh, 1636) A. Mattham naar Adriaen van de Venne
Author	Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Original title	"La gitanilla"
Translator	Walter Kelly
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish
Genre(s)	Short story, exemplary novel, novella
Published in	Novelas ejemplares de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Publisher	Juan de la Cuesta
Publication date	1613
Published in English	1846

La gitanilla (The Little Gypsy Girl) is the first novella contained in Miguel de Cervantes' collection of short stories, the Novelas ejemplares (The Exemplary Novels).

La gitanilla is the story of a 15 year old gypsy girl named Preciosa, who is said to be talented, extremely beautiful, and wise beyond her years. Accompanied by her adoptive grandmother & other members of her gypsy family group, Preciosa travels to Madrid, where she meets a charming nobleman, named Juan de Carcome. Juan proposes to Preciosa, only to be challenged to spend two years as a member of Preciosa’s gypsy family group, under the alias of Andres Caballero. During these adventurous two years, much is learned by the main characters and of the main characters, resulting in an unexpected happy ending. The main themes of the story include the making & breaking of stereotypes, female power & freedom, the importance of word, and the so-called truth behind the mystery of gypsy life.

Preciosa is a 15 year old gypsy girl who was raised by an old gypsy woman who calls herself Preciosa's grandmother. Preciosa grew up with her gypsy family group in Sevilla, Spain. The gypsies travel to Madrid where Preciosa makes her debut in a festival for the patron saint of the city, Saint Anna, where Preciosa is able to sing and dance for the public. She immediately attracts a great following as she is recognized as a wonderful performer, a great beauty, and a kind soul. On her second visit to Madrid, a lieutenant of the city stops to listen to Preciosa perform in the Calle de Toledo, and although he does not stay to listen to the entire performance, he sends a page to ask the gypsies to come to his house that night and perform for his wife, Doña Clara. Preciosa's grandmother agrees to perform for the lieutenant and his wife. After the performance another page approaches Preciosa with a petition to perform his poems, giving her a folder paper containing one of his romances for her to perform. Preciosa agrees and makes a deal to pay for his poems by the dozen, to the satisfaction of the page.

While the gypsies are on the way to the lieutenant's house, they stop when beckoned from a window by a gentleman. They are invited to perform for a group of gentlemen, much to the dismay of Cristina, a fellow gypsy maiden wary of spending much time with a large group of men. Preciosa convinces Cristina that there is nothing to fear, and the group of gypsies decide to perform for the group of gentlemen. One of the gentlemen sees the paper in Preciosa's hand and grabs it, sees that it has a coin for Preciosa within, and begins to read the poem, as prompted by Preciosa to do so. Preciosa critiques the poem and when questioned as to how she knows so much, she insists that she needs no teacher as the life of a gypsy is teacher enough to ensure that every gypsy is wise to the ways of the world at a young age.