Date of publication: 1844
The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—inseparable friends who live by the motto, "One for all, and all for one".
The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne. Those three novels by Dumas are together known as the D'Artagnan Romances.
Plot Summary
The main character, d'Artagnan, comes from an impoverished noble family of Gascony, presumably near a place called Artagnan. In April 1625, he leaves home for Paris to fulfill his greatest dream: becoming a Musketeer of the Guard. Fortunately, his Father knows M. De Treville, Captain of the Company of Musketeers (also a Gascon) and has written a letter of introduction. On his journey, after his odd colored horse is ridiculed by a passing gentleman, he begins arguing with the mysterious man with a black cape and a scar on his face. Assaulted by the servants of the inn where the argument took place—the inn's owner feeling that it would be better to support the well-dressed gentleman (Comte de Rochefort) rather than the impudent youth—d'Artagnan is left broken and bleeding while the mysterious stranger calmly leaves without bothering to conclude the affair. Unfortunately, the gentleman is made aware of the Senior d'Artagnan's letter of introduction. When d'Artagnan regains consciousness, he realizes that the gentleman has stolen his letter. The innkeeper manages to get his hands on much of d'Artagnan's money as he recuperates as well.
(From Wikipedia, description text under GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL))
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