Luis Andrés Murillo
The new hypothesis is that the tale told by Ruy Pérez about himself and Zoraida in I, 39-41 is the most primitive version (Ur) of the ¿ore¿ of Part I: the idealized picture of Ruy's relationship to Zoraida is the Ur relationship of Quijote-Dulcinea. In the tale Ruy is the aging captive stirred to action by the figure of the idealized Moorish girl. In the early phase of his evolution as a novelist, Cervantes traced, in the form of a tale (cuento), the improbable nexus between an exotic female and an impoverished hidalgo whose love for her is chaste. He subsequently subverted the relationship into the comical one (Quijote-Dulcinea-Aldonza Lorenso), and the inclusion of the tale in the scenes in the inn was his manner of confirming the connection.