Whom does Don Quixote try to help in his first adventure Don Quixote de la Mancha?

Directly after being made a knight by the innkeeper, Don
Quixote sets out and encounters his first adventure. A young lad is crying out. He has
been tied to a tree and a farmer is beating him.

readability="26">

"I thank Heaven for this lucky moment," he said
to himself. "I shall now have an adventure. [45] No doubt I shall rescue some one who is
in peril, or I shall correct some grievous wrong."

He put
spurs to Rozinante and rode as fast as he could to the spot from which the cries seemed
to issue.

At the edge of the woody thicket he saw a horse
tied to a small oak tree. Not far away, a [46] lad of about fifteen years was tied to
another oak. The lad's shoulders and back were bare, and it was he who was making the
doleful outcry. For a stout country fellow was standing over him and beating him
unmercifully with a horsewhip.

"Hold! hold!" cried Don
Quixote, rushing up. "It is an unmanly act to strike a person who cannot strike
back."

The farmer was frightened at the sudden appearance
of a knight on horseback. He dropped his whip. He stood with open mouth and trembling
hands, not knowing what to
expect.

Don Quixote demands
that he stop beating the boy. The farmer claims that the boy is lazy and neglectful
while watching his sheep. The issue of not paying the young lad his wages for nine
months comes up. Don Quixote commands the farmer to pay the boy for his
labor.

Of course, the farmer assures Quixote that he will
return home for his money and pay the lad.

Don Quixote is
satisfied that the farmer will do what he has been commanded to do. Quixote rides away
feeling that his first adventure is a success. However, no sooner has Quixote left the
scene until the farmer begins beating the lad again. The boys' cries are not heard for
Quixote is too far away by this point.