A coming of age story blended with a swashbuckling road trip through an mythical "golden age" of Spain. The titular character is excluded from the inheritance of the family castle on the grounds that given his expertise with sword and mandolin he should be able to win his own estate and bride. Setting out to achieve his place in the world, Rodriguez quickly acquires a Sancho Panza-like servant, Morano, and goes on to experience a series of adventures, often humorous, en route to his goal. Lord Dunsany, well known as an influence on J.R.R. Tolkein, H.P. Lovecraft, Ursula Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, and others, creates a world in which anything is possible, and all outcomes serve poetry and wonder first.