El coloquio de los perros

El coloquio de los perros (The Conversation of the Dogs or Dialogue between Scipio and Berganza) is a short story from the collection Novelas ejemplares. Written by Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, it is actually the continuation of a story entitled El casamiento engañoso (The Deceitful Wedding), which is about a suitor duped out of his wealth by his conniving young bride. The experience lands the suitor in a hospital from venereal disease, and through a window of it, presumably in a delirium, he sees and hears two dogs begin to speak at the stroke of midnight. This gives Cervantes an opportunity to humorously satirize the society in which he lived; the dogs, Scipio and Berganza, discuss their experiences with their human masters and other aspects of society such as greed, Romani, honor, and witchcraft. Cervantes leaves the reader to determine whether or not the dogs have actually been talking or the bedridden man has imagined it.