Galatea. "The six books of Galatea"

Cervantes’s first book to be published. On the banks of the Tagus, the beautiful shepherdess Galatea lives unencumbered by the passion that consumes her two hopeless suitors. Meanwhile, her father intends to marry her to a foreigner. Galatea is indifferent to the passion that consumes nearly all the shepherds who, like her, tend their flocks on the banks of the Tagus. Her hopeless suitors are two inseparable friends, the cultured Elicio and the rustic Erastro. They praise her beauty, speak of the desire such loveliness provokes, and console each other by sharing their sorrows.The shepherdess goes around with her equally loveless friend Florisa; and so the two of them, free of passion, can judge the beauty of the poetry competition on Love – in favour, against – that is sung. Cervantes never published the sequel.