Dialog of the Dogs

Miguel de Cervantes's most famous work, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, was published in two installments released ten years apart in 1605 and 1615. In 1613, Cervantez wrote The Conversation of the Dogs. Many scholars consider it to be his finest work next to Don Quixote. The story begins with a young man in a hospital, who, through a window, sees and hears two dogs begin to speak at the stroke of midnight. The dogs, Scipio and Berganza, discuss their experiences with their human masters. Cervantes leaves the reader to determine whether or not the dogs have actually been talking or the bedridden man has imagined it. In 1881, George Bell and Sons published the first English translation of this work. Walter K. Kelly, a prolific writer and translator of books of historical significance, did the translation. Although the English-speaking world owes their thanks to Kelly and the publisher, the book couldn't have been very accessible even then. The opening sentence is 73 words long. The second is a little better, coming in at 47 words. In 2016, twenty-one alumni of Wizard Academy volunteered to create a modern rewrite of the classic.