“… you must know that my liberty must never be restricted, or disturbed or burdened by jealousy; and please understand that I shall never take such liberties that anyone can fail to see from miles of that my good character will not suffer because of my free and easy ways. And the first burden I wish to impose on you is that of asking you to trust me, and bear in mind that lovers who start by showing jealousy are either foolish or foolhardy.”
“… These gentlemen may indeed hand over my body to you, but not my soul, which is free, and was born free, and will be free as long as I wish …”
“Jealousy, it seems to me,” said Preciosa, “never leaves the understanding free to judge things as they are. Jealous people always look at things with magnifying glasses which make small things look large, make dwarfs look like giants and suspicions like certainties.”
From “The Little Gypsy Girl” in Exemplary Stories (1613) by Miguel Cervantes (translator: C.A. Jones)
I like that the protagonist of the story, Preciosa, is so feisty. It’s really amazing to me how self-confident Preciosa is portrayed although the story was written in the 17th century. Cervantes also has some strong women characters in Don Quixote.