Tom Cecial

Also known as: he of the Grove / his squire / my gossip / squire of the Grove / the squire of the Grove / the squire of the Mirrors · Family: La Mancha · Role: squire of the Knight of the Grove · First appears: Part 2, Ch. 12.2

At Part 2, Ch. 12, Tom Cecial serves as squire of the Grove alongside Samson Carrasco, describing his own squire as silent whenever his master speaks. In Ch. 13, he spends time with his gossip and neighbour Sancho Panza, producing wine and a large pasty; the two talk, drink, and fall asleep together. By Ch. 14, he reveals himself as “Tom Cecial I am, gossip and friend Sancho Panza,” and assists Samson Carrasco after the encounter, while also facing Sancho Panza as an opponent and threatening to strike him before their battle.

In Ch. 15, after Samson Carrasco undertakes the knightly mission, Tom Cecial offers himself as his squire. Disguised with a false nose, he follows Don Quixote with Samson Carrasco, but after the expedition fails he leaves him and goes home. In Ch. 16, Sancho Panza identifies the defeated knight as Samson Carrasco and the squire as Tom Cecial once the false nose is removed.

Relationship record

Life events

• The disguised squire reveals himself as Tom Cecial, Sancho Panza’s neighbor and friend.(Part 2, Ch. 14.3)
  • With: Sancho Panza
  • “Why, to be sure I am!” returned the now unnosed squire; “Tom Cecial I am, gossip and friend Sancho Panza; and I’ll tell you presently the means and tricks and falsehoods by which I have been brought here;”
• Samson Carrasco undertakes the knightly mission, and Tom Cecial volunteers to serve as his squire.(Part 2, Ch. 15)
  • With: Samson Carrasco
  • “Carrasco undertook the task, and Tom Cecial, a gossip and neighbour of Sancho Panza’s, a lively, feather-headed fellow, offered himself as his squire.”
• Samson Carrasco and Tom Cecial disguise themselves and pursue Don Quixote as knight and squire.(Part 2, Ch. 15)
  • With: Samson Carrasco
  • “Carrasco armed himself in the fashion described, and Tom Cecial, that he might not be known by his gossip when they met, fitted on over his own natural nose the false masquerade one that has been mentioned; and so they followed the same route Don Quixote took”
• Tom Cecial abandons the squirehood and returns home after the failed expedition.(Part 2, Ch. 15)
  • With: Samson Carrasco
  • “Tom Cecial left him and went home, while he stayed behind meditating vengeance”
• Sancho identifies the defeated Knight of the Mirrors as Samson Carrasco and his squire as Tom Cecial.(Part 2, Ch. 16.1)
  • With: Sancho Panza Samson Carrasco Don Quixote
  • “all I know is that the tokens he gave me about my own house, wife and children, nobody else but himself could have given me; and the face, once the nose was off, was the very face of Tom Cecial”