La gitanilla ("The Little Gypsy Girl") is the first novella contained in Miguel de Cervantes' collection of short stories, the Novelas ejemplares (The Exemplary Novels).
Accompanied by her adoptive grandmother and other members of her gypsy family group, Preciosa travels to Madrid, where she meets a charming nobleman, named Juan de Carcome.
The main themes of the story include the making and breaking of stereotypes, female power and freedom, the importance of word, and the so-called truth behind the mystery of gypsy life.
The next morning, on their way back to Madrid, the gypsies meet a handsome young gentleman who asks to speak Preciosa and her grandmother in private.
The young knight presents the two of them with a large sum of money, as a means of proving what he can provide as a future husband to Preciosa.
Preciosa insists on answering the gentleman for herself, asserting that her virtue cannot be swayed by money, promises, or schemes.
They agreed that they should return to the same place in eight days, in which time Preciosa could verify his identity and the gentleman could arrange his affairs.
The poem is read aloud, filling Andrés with jealousy, for which Preciosa slightly taunts him for being weakened by a piece of paper.
The group quickly departs from Madrid so as to avoid the recognition of Andrés as Don Juan de Cárcamo.
After several days with the gypsies, and several lessons on thievery, Andrés still refuses to steal and instead actually pays for each item he claims he has stolen.
Despite this, Andrés is able to add to the fortune of the gypsy group and gain as much fame for his abilities as Preciosa is for her beauty and talent.
At the same time, while Andrés refuses to steal due to moral conflicts, he seems to have no issue with the continuous deceptions he must maintain in order to keep his true identity a secret.
This is initially introduced to the reader in the very first sentence of the story, "It would almost seem that the Gitanos and Gitanas, or male and female gipsies, had been sent into the world for the sole purpose of thieving.
Cervantes supports this first depiction when Preciosa denies the monetary gift offered by Don Juan when he first proposes marriage only to be reprimanded by her grandmother under the guise of maintaining the reputation of gypsies: "I do not choose that the gitanas should lose, through my fault, the reputation they have had for long ages of being greedy of lucre.
It appears that Cervantes is attempting to acknowledge a version of the gypsy life completely contrary to the stereotypical depiction.
The problem comes in at the end of the story, in that moment of anagnorisis, when it is revealed that Preciosa is not a true gypsy girl but rather a young woman of noble birth.
Are the readers still able to hold on to this exceptional depiction of gypsy life as true when the main example is found to be based on a lie?
Through the prevalence of songs and poems as well as the descriptions of dances and fortune-tellings, Cervantes shows mainstream Spain the art behind a group of people often ostracized.
This dialogue unfolds a moral code in which marriage, love, and fidelity are all very important and integral to the gypsy life.
Although the negative stereotypes may be sustained by some aspects of the story, some very positive facets of the community are also supported by the text.