From a distance, Don Quixote sees a knight on a dappled steed wearing a golden, glistening helmet. As they approach, Sancho remarks that it is indeed a person on a gray ass wearing something like a barber's basin on his head. "Nonsense," says the Don, "That is a knight wearing Mambrino's helmet [Mambrino was a Saracen deprived by Don Rinaldo of his golden helmet] and I shall deal with him while you wait here." Sancho is right, of course, for the traveling barber has placed his bronze basin over his new hat to protect it from the rain. Don Quixote charges his adversary, and the poor barber throws himself to the ground to avoid being speared by the lance. He then runs through the fields as fast as possible. Don Quixote wins the helmet and Sancho exchanges the trappings of his ass for the superior packsaddle of the barber's mule. Pleasantly discoursing, the two well-furnished companions ride contentedly along.
The next adventure begins when Don Quixote stops some guards who are taking twelve prisoners in a chain gang to the place where they will serve as galley slaves. After listening to the story of each prisoner, the knight demands that the guards set them free for "'tis a hard case to make slaves of men whom God and nature made free." The guard refuses, and while Don Quixote fights with him, the prisoners use the opportunity to struggle out of their chains. When the guards are all subdued, Don Quixote demands of each prisoner that he present himself before the Lady Dulcinea and describe how he gained his freedom. The ringleader, a notorious rogue named Gines de Passamonte, realizes that the knight is mad, and he signals to his companions. All the prisoners throw stones at their liberator until he is knocked down. Stealing whatever they can find, they swiftly scatter and disappear along their separate ways.
