Cadells

The Cadells are named as enemies of Roque Guinart’s band in the events leading to Don Quixote’s arrival in Barcelona. Their brief appearance places them within the factional divisions surrounding Roque, while the episode suggests that the absurdity of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza can command an audience beyond those divisions.

Identity and Context

The episode identifies the Cadells as Roque Guinart’s enemies and contrasts them with the Niarros, whom Roque calls his friends. It supplies no further account of the Cadells’ structure, membership, or aims; their significance here is their position in relation to Roque’s faction.

Relation to Roque Guinart

After freeing a group of squires, Roque sends a letter to a friend in Barcelona announcing that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza will be brought to the city in four days, on Saint John the Baptist’s Day. He asks that the Niarros be notified so they can enjoy the spectacle, and says he wishes the Cadells could be deprived of that pleasure. The wish is immediately undercut: Roque recognizes that Don Quixote’s eccentricities and Sancho’s sayings are likely to entertain everyone, including his enemies.

Narrative Significance

The Cadells appear not through an action of their own but through Roque’s anticipation of an audience divided by rivalry. His plan treats the arrival of Don Quixote and Sancho as a public diversion capable of crossing factional boundaries. The Cadells therefore help establish the reach of the pair’s comic reputation even before they enter Barcelona.