Gil Blas
By ALAIN RENE LE SAGE Condensation by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE GIL BLAS, the only son of an old soldier, had reached the age of seventeen when his uncle, the village priest, who had taught him a little Latin, Greek, and logic, sent him off with forty ducats and a bad mule to study divinity at Salamanca.
His adventures began immediately. At his first stop he was cheated out of his mule; as he was eating his dinner a wily flatterer invited him to be his guest and showed his gratitude by the good advice never to be taken in by praise. He had to pay an exorbitant reckoning and went on his way, "giving to as many devils as there are saints in the calendar, the parasite, the landlord, and the inn."