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COPYRIGHT,
I9IO,
BY JOSEPHINE BROWER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published November iqio
©CLA27583?
Contmte Introduction
xi
Legend of the Arabian Astrologer
i
Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel
29
Legend of the Moor's Legacy
85
Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses
121
Legend of the Rose of the Alhambra
163
Legend of the Two Discreet Statues
189
Jttmivaiione FROM DRAWINGS IN COLOUR BY C. E. BROCK Legend of the Arabian Astrologer
(p. 15)
Frontispiece " Beware,
O
king " whispered Ibrahim. !
Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel The
^
.
.82'^
carpet rose in the air, bearing off the
prince and princess
Legend of the Moor's Legacy They
....
fancied they heard a noise from above
Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses The
108-
136
princesses crowded round him, and im-
plored mercy for the prisoners
Legend of the Rose of the Alhambra He
seized her hand,
and imprinted on
.
172^
.
210
it
a kiss
Legend of the Two Discreet Statues Was friar ?
ever such a trick played
upon a holy
Jnixo^uction
HERE
a promontory in the
corner
which
from the sea on one
rises
of
and a once unknown ocean
cliff
above
above
cliff, hill
mountain above mountain. About in
Queen Dido's time prowled
beaked ships
Europe
southwest
side
on the other,
is
of
its
hill,
shores
the high-
Carthage hungry for trade.
Curiously their wily captains scanned the
mountain paths leading from inaccessible defiles
down which,
sea-beach,
Having
came
trails, to
their vast like
dered
tall,
on the
bold-featured Iberians.
finished bargaining, the savages dis-
trustfully turned
it
in order to traffic
up
away, remounted the stony
melt into the mists that crowned
and gloomy tableland.
What was
there, the Phoenician trader
?
xi
won-
3n<trobuction
Years afterwards, when Carthaginian generals
had crushed many a hardy and
liberty-
loving race, the Phoenicians wondered
For the
more.
Iberians
taciturn
withdrew from every attempt
Up
still
silently
conquest.
at
within those melancholy mountains, no-
body knew how, a race
of
men
who
lived
could not be enslaved.
One
thing
the
old-world
know, however. Out
into
unknown inwore their way west-
of that
terior four great rivers
ward
empires did
the Atlantic, and, as
they
fell
toward the beach, they washed down gold.
And
it
was the rumour
of this gold
that
called those sailing kites of wealth, Carthage,
Greece,
Rome, the Goths, who make
chapters of Spanish history. nations, in turn, of
Each
the
of these
conquered the green
Spanish shore.
Not any one
entered the guarded heart of Spain.
first
of
strip
them
Her
in-
vincible mountain-rampart rolled back the
invaders as the
cliffs xii
rolled
back the
sea,
3ntxobuctxon
from above,
while,
down
looked silent,
in
ancient Iberians
unconquerable manhood,
melancholy, honourable.
By and by a fifth ning.
the
Out
invasion
came
like light-
North Africa, across the
of
straits,
rushing up and over the mountain barriers
had kept out the great races before
that
them, came the desert-born Moors
came
They
like wild-fire, scorching, blinding,
driving before
they
!
hemmed
them the it
and
old Iberian race until
into the
ner where afterwards
little
northwest cor-
Castile
and North
Portugal were outlined. There they passed it
by
for a time, while they
the defiles of the
down
into the
poured through
Pyrenees and streamed
green plains of France. The
white barbs of the Moorish desert disdained to tread
on Prankish
soil,
and, as they poised
their dainty feet in air, the of the riders
it
steel
caps
with their quivering spikes and
floating green veils
shimmered
smooth
caught the sunlight and
away. Like a sea-tide the green xiii
3n(xob\xctxon
and glancing Moslem host rolled
into the
history of Europe.
In
its
path waited a forlorn army. Frag-
ments and remnants
of the
broken
Roman
empire had gathered together, dreary and desperate, for a
last
stand.
Before them
loomed one colossus, Charles the Sledge-
Hammer, It
that
was on the
day the saviour
plain of
Tours
of a continent.
in the year 732
that they fought one of the greatest battles
Darkness and despair led by
of the world.
Charles the Sledge-Hammer broke and shattered the Moorish array. killed,
Abdurrahman was
and slowly and sullenly the Moors
receded southward again.
And now
begins the romance of Spain.
The Moors had come back built beautiful
cities,
to stay.
They
graceful palaces, and
barren old Spain began to blossom like a garden. there.
Famous
universities arose here
Music, poetry,
and
literature, flourished
under the kindly smile xiv
of the Khalifs.
But
Untxobuctxon behind
this
smile of peace the spirit of Iberia
was gathering
together up there
itself
the mountains of Castile.
comes from the chain
The name
among Castile
which the
of castles
hunted Spaniards had hung from
cliff to cliff
around their forbidding refuge.
As soon
the
Moors began
ways
than
day,
the
fighting,
knights began to
One
busy themselves
to
when
let
gaunt
Castilian
everything was ready, they
their priests blessing
ladies
in other
down their drawbridges.
rode forth followed by their
anxious
as
men
at arms,
them as they went,
their
from
the
fluttering
battlements and calling
''
scarfs
God-speed, God-
speed! " For they were going to fight against the infidels
whose religion was a worse crime
than their conquest.
The
old Castilian be-
lieved in the right of the strong to take
he could, but he never could be made
man had the cording to his own
that a
right to worship
what
to see
God
ac-
conscience. Step by step
the unconquerable Iberian stubbornness
XV
won
3ntxobuctxon
back year
when Columbus
of the dil,
At
country.
its
new
last, in
the very
same
sailed for the discovery
world, the day
came when Boab-
with a handful of lamenting Moors, sur-
rendered the
last
jewel of their kingdom, the
most wonderful palace
Alhambra, and
left
in the
world.
The
forever the shores of
Spain.
But the
spirit of
the
appeared from Spain.
Moor never
Still
has dis-
he rules the Sierra
Morena and haunts every watercourse Andalusia.
Spain
is
To
this
after
nightfall,
no Christian kingdom, but
over by the Khalif.
fire of
ruled
mountain roads, bring-
down snow or wood
build the
is
The Spanish peasant who
lingers too late on the
ing
day,
of
to cool the
water or
the Spanish city-dwellers,
runs the risk of being overtaken and caught
up by some phantom cavalcade, and swept
away with them
into their caverns
deep un-
der the mountains. There they sleep an en-
chanted slumber by day, and with the night xvi
Sntxohuctxon
come
forth to
resume
their ancient realm.
And all this is why Spain is the most romantic country of Europe
;
the genius of her Moorish
conqueror enchanted her even while she drove him out.
The
Moor enchanted her She was ignorant. The Moor was skilled in every science known to that time. She could genius of the
build just rude castles, and
!
she loved the
slender minarets and the swelling
domes
of
Moorish mosque and palace. She could not help contrasting her dull grey stone walls
with the glowing richness of Moorish stucco
work, and her heart was wrung when she her rude war songs, her harsh
contrasted
trumpet notes, her massive religious chants, with the languorous and passionate music
and poetry
of her invader, his clashing
cym-
bals, quiver of strings, the soft notes of the flageolet.
The
pride of the Castilian noble,
accentuated by his honourable poverty, and his high-souled struggle for independence, xvii
Sntxobuctxon
was shamed by the
oriental grace, the Epi-
curean serenity and courtliness of the benign
Moslems. Lastly,
some matchless
at
his imagination stories that
took
fire
have held the
world spellbound ever since the Spaniard retold them. It is this
union
of the stern spirit of old
Iberia with the rich imagination of the
which makes old Spanish finest ever told.
They tell
stories of the
Moors
about the
honour and
the dignity and the pride of the Castilian fight-
ing noble matched by an urbane and chivalrous foe. of the
by
They display the glow and luxuriance
most
flexible of the tropic races side
side with the desolate sadness that broods
over those barren and sun-scorched plains,
whose
solitudes to this
day are dotted here
and there only by a few taciturn herdsmen. Their plots are of the
full of
the mystery and
Arabian Nights,
full
of castles
secret passages, mountains with
fire
with
subterra-
nean caverns, beautiful ladies shut up in xviii
3n(xdbMCtxon towers, music coming from no one
who
where, mysterious physicians
proud young
magic,
cloaks, their
cavaliers
knows practise
velvet
in
swords sticking briskly out be-
neath, incomparable seiioritas throwing roses
from moonlit balconies whose arabesques form tantalizing screens hard-hearted soft-hearted
blessing
the end
runaway
of
beauty,
their
becoming
fathers at
to
suddenly
the story, and
children. In other
these stories carry us
where
so
words
many
great
conquerors of Spain could not fight their way, that
is,
into the
A good
dreaming heart
many
years ago, one of our coun-
trymen travelled into on a sober errand
enchanted country
to write the
discovered America.
fortunate project
hundred years ica, to
this
of historical research.
was getting ready
man who
bring
it
of Spain.
of
the
was
this
life
It
He
which enabled him, four
after
Spain discovered
Amer-
about that America discovered
Spain. xix
Sntxo^uctxon
Washington Irving went
He was He had and
on a seventeen year
been
Italy,
cially
to Spain in 1826.
in
England, France, Germany,
and each country
of
them, espe-
England where he stayed the longest,
made him
think and write about his
country. But
when he found
the Pyrenees,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
self in
Europe.
visit to
himself across
for the first time,
he
lost
From
until the
of
Eu-
the hour that he entered Spain
end
of his life
was haunted by Moorish that
him-
a country which has suffered less from
change than has any other country rope.
own
we owe
Washington Irving Iberia. It is to this
a richness of style, a romantic
feeling for the superb, which, but for Spain,
the " Father of
American Literature " would
have lacked.
Some
of the time Irving lived at court in
Madrid, but best of
all
he loved the time he
spent at Granada in the the Moors. There he
summer
palace of
wandered by sunlight
and by moonlight through the flower-scented XX
Sntxobuctxon courts, listening to the tinkle of water as
it
ran unceasingly through the deserted corri-
dors into marble basin and tessellated reservoir.
And
reached
most
there,
its
its
More
most unreal monarchy that ever
fabric for a time in Europe.
pedantic critics than
we may
smile
at Irving's gifts as a scholarly historian,
we who know wisdom
it
glory, he recreated the strangest,
gifted,
reared
on the very spot where
in
that the highest
but
and sweetest
every race finds expression in
legends will see to of children in
it
that every generation
America
traditions as heroic
its
shall
and
be familiar with
brilliant as
any ever
created.
The author of this arrangement of Irving's Alhambra stories loved these stories when she was a child, but was troubled by the necessity of
hunting them out from their
context. Therefore with rare and
happy
tact
she has selected and simplified some of the narratives, enriching
them with Mr. Charles xxi
E. Brock's fine drawings, for other children
whose eyes *'
turn eagerly to look through
Magic casements opening on
Of
the
foam
perilous seas in faery lands forlorn."
Frances Squire.
Bi$^t> of
jBe^enb of
N old times, many hundred years ago, there
was a Moorish king
Aben
named
Habuz,
who
reigned over the kingdom of
Granada. In his youthful days he had been
now that he had grown
a great conqueror, but old,
he desired nothing more than to live at
peace with
all
the world and to enjoy in quiet
the possessions he had taken from his neighbours. It
so happened, however, that he had young
rivals to deal with; princes full of the desire for
fame and
fighting,
scores to settle with
up with
who had some
old
him which he had run
He
their fathers.
also
had some
dis-
contented districts in his own kingdom, which in his days of warfare 3
he had treated with a
high hand, and which, now that he languished
were prone
for repose,
and threaten
to invade
Thus he had Granada
to rise in rebellion
him
in his capital.
and as
foes on every side;
surrounded by wild and craggy
is
mountains, which hide the approach of an
enemy, the unfortunate Aben Habuz was kept
in a constant state of
watchfulness and
alarm.
He
built
watch-towers on the mountains,
and stationed guards to
make
fires at
at
every pass with orders
night and
smoke by
the approach of an enemy. But vain.
His foes baffled him
were sure of pass,
to break out of
was
all in
every turn, and
some unthought-
plunder his lands under his very nose,
and then make their prisoners It
at
it
day, on
off to
the mountains with
and booty.
chanced that while Aben Habuz was
thus so sadly perplexed, an ancient Arabian arrived at his court. to his girdle,
His white beard hung
and he had every mark 4
of ex-
treme age, yet he had travelled almost the
whole way from Egypt on
foot,
with no other
marked with hieroglyphics.
aid than a staff
His fame had preceded him. His name was Ibrahim, and
was
it
said that he
ever since the days of Mahomet.
when
a child, followed the Arabian
Egypt, where he had remained studying magic
among
had lived
He
had,
army into
many
years
the priests, and there
he had learned the secret of prolonging This wonderful old
man was honourably
by the king.
entertained
life.
He
invited
him
to
an apartment in his palace, but
remain
in
the old
Arab
preferred a cave in the side of
the hill which rises above the city of Gra-
nada.
He
had the cave enlarged
to
form a
spacious hall, with a circular hole at the top,
through which he could see the heavens and behold the
stars.
The walls
of this hall
were
covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics, and with the figures of the stars in their signs. In a
little
while the sage Ibrahim became 5
the
him
bosom
for advice
was
the king
who applied to occasion. One day
friend of the king,
justice of his
on every
as usual lamenting over the in-
neighbours and the
was obliged
fulness he
silent a
" Know, I
replied:
O king, that when I was in Egypt,
city of Borsa,
great valley of the Nile
and above
The old Arab
moment, and then
On
beheld a great marvel.
above the
watch-
to observe to guard
himself against their invasions.
remained
strict
it
a mountain,
and overlooking the
was
a figure of a ram,
a figure of a cock, both of brass,
and turning upon a
Whenever
pivot.
the
country was threatened with invasion, the
ram would
turn in the direction of the enemy,
and the cock would crow. Upon habitants of the city of the quarter ing,
knew
from which
this the in-
of the danger, it
was approach-
and could take timely means
against
and
to
guard
it."
"God
is
great!" exclaimed
Aben Habuz,
" what a treasure would be such a ram to 6
&tQttib of
tS}t
(^tafiian (ยง$txoto^tt
keep an eye upon these mountains around
me: and then such a cock,
How
of danger!
my
securely
to I
crow
in
time
might sleep
in
palace with such sentinels on the top
"When
"Listen, king," said the Arab. the city
!
was conquered, this talisman was de-
stroyed, but
and studied
make one
its
of
"Owise
was present and examined
I
secret
and mystery, and
one," cried
towers on the
hills,
borders. Give
me
And so
Aben Habuz, " better
your command."
set to
work
carry out the wishes of the king. a great tower to be built It
the watch-
such a safeguard, and the
Arab
the old
all
and sentinels upon the
my treasury are at
royal palace.
can
even greater power."
were such a talisman than
riches of
I
it
was
at
once to
He
caused
upon the top
built of stones
from Egypt, and taken,
it is
said,
of the
brought
from one
of
the pyramids. In the upper part of the tower
was a circular hall, with windows looking
ward every point
of the 7
to-
compass, and before
â&#x201A;Źcik0 ftom
window was
each
t^t (Kii^cm&xci
a table, on
which was
army
ranged, as on a chess-board, a mimic horse and foot, with an
of
monarch who ruled
in
image
ar-
the
of
direction, all
that
carved of wood.
To
each
of these tables there
was a small
lance, no bigger than a bodkin,
were engraved This
certain Chaldaic characters.
was kept constantly
hall
on which
closed,
by a
gate of brass, with a great lock of steel, the
key
of
On of a
which was
the top of the tower was a bronze figure
Moorish horseman, fixed on a
a shield on one this
in possession of the king.
arm and
ing guard over
it.
But
The
a lance.
horseman was toward the if
pivot, with
city, as
face of if
keep-
any foe were
at
hand, the figure would turn in that direction,
and would
When
this
Habuz was
now
level the lance as
all
longed as
if
for action.
talisman was finished,
impatient to try
much
had before sighed
it.
Aben
And
he
for an invasion as he
for peace.
8
He
soon had his
wish. Tidings were brought, early one morning, that the face of the
bronze horseman was
turned toward the mountains of Elvira, and that his lance pointed directly against the
Pass of Lope. ^'Let the
arms, and said
drums and trumpets sound
all
Granada be put on the
to
alert/'
Aben Habuz.
" Let not your city be disturbed," said the
Arab, "nor your warriors called
Send your attendants away and
to arms. let
us go
alone to the secret hall of the tower."
So the ancient Aben Habuz mounted the staircase, leaning
on the arm
of the
still
more
They unlocked the door and entered. The window that looked toward the Pass of Lope was open. ancient Ibrahim.
"In
that direction," said the astrologer,
" lies the danger.
Behold,
O king, the
mys-
tery of the table."
The king stepped
close to the board on
which were placed the small wooden 9
figures,
and,"to his surprise,
motion.
The
saw that they were
all
in
horses pranced, the warriors
brandished their weapons, and there was a faint
sound
drums and trumpets, and a
of
clang of arms, and the neighing of steeds all
no louder, nor more
distinct,
than the
:
but
hum
of a bee.
" Behold," said the astrologer, " a proof that
your enemies are even now
in the field.
They
must be advancing through the mountains,
by the Pass
Lope.
of
to retreat without loss of
images with the head if
you wish them
If
life,
of the
strike these
magic lance, but
you would cause bloodshed among them,
strike
with the point."
Aben Habuz
seized the lance with trem-
bling eagerness. ''
Son
of
Abu Ayub,"
chuckling tone, "
I
think
exclaimed he, in a
we will have a
little
blood!"
So saying, he one
of the
thrust the
magic lance
into
images, and beat others with the i6
head, upon which the former
upon the board, and the
as
dead
rest turned
upon
fell
each other and began fighting pell-mell. It
was hard
hand
for the astrologer to stay the
of the old king,
and prevent him from
killing all of his foes, but at last
him
to leave the tower,
he persuaded
and scouts were
at
once sent out to the mountains.
They returned with the news that a Christian army had advanced through the heart of the Sierra, almost within sight of Granada,
where disagreement had broken out among them. They had turned upon each other, and after
much
killing
had retreated over the
border.
Aben Habuz was "At length," said of peace,
and have
overjoyed. he, all
"I
my
shall lead a life
enemies
in
my
power."
And to the Arab he said: " What can I give you in reward great a blessing?" II
for so
Zcik0 ftom
(^f^amfim
t^t
" The wants of an old
man and a few and simple. Grant me
pher are
means tent,"
of fitting
my
up
cave and
I
philoso-
but the
am
con-
answered Ibrahim.
The king was
know
secretly pleased to
that
he asked so small a reward.
his
treasurer to give
might be required
He ordered
him whatever sums and complete
to furnish
his cave.
The
now gave orders to have chambers hewn out of the solid rock.
astrologer
various
These he caused ful
be furnished with beauti-
to
ottomans and divans, and the walls to be
hung with "I
am
rich silks
from Damascus.
an old man," said he, "and can no
longer rest
my
bones on stone couches.
These damp walls require covering."
He and
had the apartments hung with
crystal lamps,
fragrant
oil
which were
made according to a
he had found
in the
tombs
of
with a
recipe which
Egypt. These
lights diffused a soft radiance. 12
filled
silver
"
light of the sun," said he, "
The
bright for the eyes of an old man. of these
lamps
is
The
too
light
better suited to the studies
is
of a philosopher."
The
treasurer
groaned
at the
astrologer,
of
sums
and he
had
shrugged "
We
been
daily
Habuz
demanded by
The
royal word,
Aben
given.
the
com-
finally carried his
plaints to the king.
ever,
King Aben
how-
Habuz
his shoulders.
must have patience,"
" All
said he.
things have an end, and so will the furnish-
ing of this cavern."
And
he was
right.
last complete, and
The hermitage was
at
formed a sumptuous under-
ground palace.
While cave,
the
Arab passed
Aben Habuz
in the tower.
It
his time in his
carried on furious battles
was a glorious thing
old man, like himself, to have
and
to
war made
be able to amuse himself 13
for
in his
an
easy,
cham-
^aC^0 ftom t^t (^t^cm&xa ber by brushing
many swarms
away whole armies
of flies.
And by
like so
degrees, his
enemies grew weary from repeated failures
and
tried
At
no more
to
invade his kingdom.
length, one day, the bronze
horseman
turned suddenly round, and lowering his lance,
made
a dead point towards a certain
range of mountains.
Aben Habuz
hastened
to his tower, but the magic table in that di-
rection
was
quiet
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not a single warrior was
The king was perplexed and sent a troop to scour the mountains. They re-
in motion.
out
turned after three days' absence. "
We have searched every mountain pass,"
said they, " but not a stirring.
tian
All that
damsel
helm nor spear was
we have found was
a Chris-
of great beauty, sleeping at
noon-
tide beside a fountain."
" Let her be brought before me," said the king.
So the
Christian damsel
was brought
into
the king's presence. She was dressed in the
style of
the Spaniards at the time of the
Arabian conquest. Pearls were entwined in her hair, and jewels sparkled on her forehead. to
Around her neck was
which was suspended a
hung by her
The heart of
Aben Habuz,
what are you ?
women/' cried of a
but lately ruled over
magic,
he, "
who and
"
"The daughter
my
dark eyes were like
on the old yet combustible
fire
" Fairest of
of
which
silver lyre
side.
flashes of her
sparks of
a golden chain,
father have
Spanish prince
who
The armies
this land.
been destroyed, as
among these mountains. He
driven into exile, and his daughter
if
by
has been is
a cap-
tive."
"Beware,
O
king!" whispered Ibrahim.
" This
may be some
evil spirit sent
foes to
do you harm
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
craft in her eye.
I
think
Doubtless this
pointed out by the talisman." 15
I
by your
read witch-
is
the
enemy
^afC0 ftom " You are a wise king, "but
women.
of
As
man. her.
She
my
in
man
you are
I
of
I
little
grant/' replied the
versed in the ways
In that knowledge
is fair
to look
yield to no
I
to this damsel, I see
no harm
in
upon and
finds favour
the
astrologer.
eyes."
"Hearken, king!" "
^l^am&xa
t^t
said
have given you many victories by means
my
of the spoil.
solace
any
talisman, but have never shared
me
Give
in
my
me
this stray captive, to
solitude with her silver
lyre."
"
What!
" cried
Aben Habuz.
"
You have
already dancing-women to solace you." "
Dancing-women
Ibrahim, "but
I
strelsy to refresh
I
have,
it is
would have a
true," said little
my mind when weary
minwith
the toils of study."
But the king would not
listen
to
the
Arab's request, and they parted in high displeasure.
All kinds of festivities were devised for the i6
entertainment of the princess
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; minstrelsy, Granada
dancing, tournaments, bull-fights. for a time
was a scene
But she treated and seemed pense as
if
all this
of perpetual pageant.
as a matter of course,
to take delight in causing ex-
she wished to drain the treasury
of the king.
Aben Habuz could
not flatter himself that
he had made any impression on the heart
of
She never frowned on him,
it
the princess. is
true,
but then she never smiled.
ever he began to plead his
suit,
When-
she struck
her silver lyre, and in an instant the old
monarch began into a
deep
to
nod and gradually sink
sleep.
All Granada scoffed at
his infatuation.
At length the danger burst on the head of Aben Habuz, but this time the talisman gave him no warning. His palace was surrounded by an armed
rabble, and both his
of the princess
were
in danger. 17
life
At
and that the head
of a handful of guards
the rebels to
he
put
sallied forth,
and crushed the insur-
flight,
rection in the bud.
When in great
was again
quiet
alarm to the astrologer
mained shut up
who
some
sort
he,
"what you
come
enemies ? I
re-
How
can
I
fore-
to pass.
be secure from
Show me some
The
and danger
princess has brought trouble
upon me.
still
in his cave.
"Wise Ibrahim," said told has in
went
restored, he
safe retreat
my
where
can stay in peace."
A gleam shone from the under
his
"You
eyes of the Arab
bushy eyebrows.
have heard, no doubt," said he, "of
the palace and garden of Irem
named
in the
Koran."
And
the king answered:
" I have heard of that garden things are told of
Mecca, but
I
it
:
wonderful
by the pilgrims who
visit
have thought them only wild
fables." i8
"Listen," said Ibrahim. days,
when
I
was a mere Arab
my
younger
of the desert, I
my father's camels. Once one
tended
strayed from the rest and after
"In
it
was
lost. I
of
them
searched
for several days, but in vain, until,
weary and
faint, I laid
down and
myself
slept
under a palm tree by the side of a well.
When I awoke, I the city.
I
found myself
entered and saw noble streets and
squares and market places, but
and without an inhabitant. until
came
I
at the gate of
to
I
all
silent
wandered on
a palace with
adorned with fountains and
were
fish
a
garden
ponds and
groves and flowers and orchards of delicious fruits.
But
still
no one was to be seen.
came frightened and hastened
I
be-
to depart,
and
when
I
city, I
turned to look upon the palace once
had gone through the gate
more, but
it
was no longer
to
be seen
nothing but the silent desert before I
of the
my eyes.
met an ancient Arabian, who knew the
crets of the land,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
se-
and told him what had be19
fallen
me
'
:
This/ said he,
'
is
the Garden of
Irem, one of the wonders of the desert.
It
only appears at times to some wanderer like yourself.' In after years,
when
I
Egypt and made myself master of
magic
spells, I
the palace.
me and The
I
I
in
of all kinds
made up my mind
again this wonderful garden.
revealed to
had been
to visit
did so.
It
was
passed several days in
genii
who watch
over the
palace obeyed
my
them
how the whole garden came and how it was made invisi-
I
learned
into existence, ble.
What
magic power, and from
say you, king, would you have a
palace and garden like that of Irem,
with
all
manner
of delights,
filled
but hidden from
the eyes of mortals?"
"Owise one," exclaimed the king eagerly, " make me such a garden and ask any reward even
to the half of
my
kingdom."
"Alas," replied the other, "you
am an old man satisfied.
know
I
and a philosopher, and easily
All the reward 20
I
ask
is
the
first
beast of burden with
its
load,
which
shall
enter the gates of the garden."
The king
On
began
his
work.
above
his
underground
gateway with a
built.
the top of the hall,
hill just
he had a great
There was an outer porch
lofty arch,
and within was a portal
On
secured by massive gates. of the portal, the
made
and the Arab
gladly agreed
the top stone
Arab, with his
own
hand,
the figure of a huge key, and on the
top stone of the outer arch, which
was
loftier
than that of the portal, he carved a gigantic hand.
Over these he repeated many sen-
tences in an
When
unknown
this
tongue.
gateway was
finished,
he shut
himself up for two days in his hall, engaged in secret incantations.
to
the
summit
whole day
My
there.
summit
work
is
third
of the hill,
At
down and appeared "
The
day he went
and passed the
a late hour he
came
before the king.
finished," said he. "
of the hill stands 21
On
the
one of the most
wonderful palaces that ever the head
man
devised, or the heart of
of
man
desired. It con-
tains beautiful halls, galleries, gardens, cool
fountains,
and fragrant baths.
mountain
is
of Irem, it
is
like paradise.
The whole
Like the garden
hidden from the sight of mortals,
except those
who know
the secret of the
talismans."
"Enough!" cried Aben Habuz joyfully. "To-morrow morning with the first light
we will
take possession."
Scarcely had the rays of the sun begun to play about the mountains
mounted
his steed,
when Aben Habuz
and with a few
of his at-
tendants ascended a steep and narrow road leading up the
hill.
Beside him on a white
palfrey rode the princess.
Her whole
dress
sparkled with jewels, and round her neck was
suspended her silver
lyre.
The Arab, who
never mounted a steed of any kind, walked beside the king carrying his 22
staff.
Aben Habuz looked
to see the towers of
the palace, the terraces and gardens, but as
yet nothing of the kind was to be seen.
" That
is
the mystery of the place," said
the Arab; "nothing can be discerned until
you have passed the spell-bound gateway."
As
they drew near, Ibrahim paused, and
pointed out the hand and key carved upon the portal of the arch.
" These," said he, " are the talismans which
guard the entrance to
down and
the hand shall reach
key no this
evil
this paradise.
Until
seize the
can prevail against the lord of
mountain."
While wonder
the
king was gazing
at these
in
silent
signs, the palfrey of the
princess went on and bore her in at the portal, to the
very centre of the barbican.
" Behold," cried the astrologer, " ised reward: the
first
animal with
my promits
burden
that should enter the gateway."
The king smiled
at first, not thinking the
23
Zcik0 old
man
ftrom i^t
(^l^am&xa
when he found
in earnest, but
that
he was, his gray beard trembled with indignation.
"
You know
the
meaning
of
my promise,"
said he sternly, "the first beast of burden,
with
its
Take it
load, that should enter this portal.
the strongest
mule
in
my
stables, load
with the most precious things of
sury,
and
it
" What need
Your word
you the
I of
"The
princess."
wealth ? " cried the Arab
princess
pledged.
is
trea-
yours, but dare not to think
is
that I shall give
scornfully.
my
I
is
mine by
right.
claim her as
my
own."
The
princess looked
down
haughtily from
her palfrey, as she listened to this dispute
between two gray heads. " Base son of the desert," cried the king, " you
me
may be
for
master of
many arts, but know
your master, and do not try to juggle
with your king." "
My master
!
" echoed the Arab, " my king 24
Aben Habuz, your petty kingdom As for me, I indeed! Farewell,
!
at
you
in
my
shall
laugh
retirement."
And saying this, palfrey on
reign over
he seized the bridle of the
which the princess was
smote the earth with
his staff,
seated,
and sank with
her through the centre of the barbican.
The
earth closed and no trace remained of the
opening.
Aben Habuz was struck dumb for a time. Then he ordered a thousand workmen to dig ground where the Arab had disap-
into the
peared.
As
They digged and digged, but in vain.
soon as they threw the earth out,
in again.
They sought
the foot of the
hill,
it filled
the Arab's cavern at
but there was no entrance
to be found.
All of the king's talismans
be
of use.
now
ceased to
The bronze horseman remained
fixed with his face turned toward the hill his spear pointed to the spot 25
and
where the Arab
had descended^ as
if
there
still
lurked the
king's deadliest foe.
The
top of the mountain, the
site
of the
promised palace and garden, remained a desolate waste. king, finding
magic
spell,
And
the neighbours of the
him no longer protected by
invaded his lands from
all sides,
was a
tissue of
and the remainder
of his life
turmoils.
At length Aben Habuz died and was buried. Ages have since rolled away. The Alhambra has been in
built
on the mountain, and
some measure resembles the fabled garden
The spell-bound gateway still stands with the mystic hand and key, and now forms the entrance to the fortress. Under the gateway, it is said, the old Arab still remains in of Irem.
his
underground cavern, nodding on
divan, lulled
by the
his
silver lyre of the princess.
who guard the gate,
hear
the music of the lyre sometimes in the
sum-
The old mer
sentinels,
nights,
and doze quietly 26
at their posts.
It is said that
even those
who watch by day
are generally found nodding on the stone
benches, or sleeping under the trees, so that in truth all
it
is
the drowsiest military post in
the world.
And endure.
the legends
From age
tell
us that this will
to age the Christian prin-
cess will remain a captive to the old Arab,
and by the music in
of
her lyre he will remain
magic slumber, unless the mystic hand
shall
grasp the fated key and dispel the
whole charm
of this
enchanted mountain.
Be^en^ of
B^5^n^ of (prince
O^tneb af (KameC
HERE was once a Moorish king of
Granada,
whom
son, to
surname
of al
which
who had
but one
he named Ahmed,
his courtiers
added the
Kamel, or the Perfect, from
the signs of super-excellence which they per-
ceived in him in his very infancy.
The
as-
trologers predicted everything in his favour that could
make
a perfect prince and a pros-
perous sovereign.
upon from
his destiny.
only rested
Unless he could be kept
falling in love until
age, he
To
One cloud
would run great
he was of mature perils.
prevent this danger, the king wisely
determined to rear him
in a seclusion
he would never see a woman. For
where
this pur-
ppse he built a beautiful palace on the brow 31
â&#x201A;ŹaU0
from t^t l^t^cm&xa
above the Alhambra,
of the hill
of delightful gardens,
but surrounded by lofty
same palace known
walls, being, in fact, the
day as the Generalife.
at the present
midst
in the
In this
palace the youthful prince was shut up and entrusted to the care of
and dryest
of the wisest
who had in
Eben Bonabben, one of
passed the greatest part of his
life
Egypt, studying hieroglyphics, and making
researches
among
the tombs and pyramids,
and who saw more charms
mummy than The
prince
palace and of
Arabian sages,
its
in a living
grew up
in
an Egyptian
beauty.
in the seclusion of the
gardens, under the vigilant care
Eben Bonabben, who sought
him
in the abstruse lore of
this
he made
little
to instruct
Egypt. But in
progress, and
it
was
soon evident that he had no turn for philosophy.
He
was, however, amazingly ductile for a
youthful prince, ready to follow any advice,
and always guided by the 32
last counsellor.
&t^^^ He
of ^rinc^
(^^meb ai Mcimt(
suppressed his yawns, and listened pa-
tiently to the
long and learned discourse of
Eben Bonabben, from which he imbibed
a
smattering of various kinds of knowledge, and thus happily attained his twentieth year, a
miracle of princely wisdom.
About
this time,
however, a change came
over the conduct of the prince. pletely
abandoned
and took
his studies,
about the gardens, and
strolling
little
music among
complishments.
It
now
to
musing
He had been
about the side of the fountains. taught a
He com-
his various ac-
engrossed a great
part of his time, and a turn for poetry be-
came
apparent.
took the alarm, these idle
The
Eben Bonabben and endeavoured to work
humours out
course of algebra:
from
it
sage
of
him by a severe
but the prince turned
with distaste.
"I cannot endure algebra,"
want something
that speaks
heart." 33
said he. "I
more
to
the
The head " he.
Eben Bonabben shook
sage
words.
at the
Here
an end to philosophy," thought
is
"The
his dry
prince has discovered he has a
heart."
As
algebra was not to be mentioned, and
he had exhausted almost
now
able knowledge, he
him
all
kinds of agree-
tried to instruct
in the language of birds.
Bonabben had learned
in
This Eben
Egypt, and the
prince applied himself to the study with such avidity that he soon
became
great an
as
adept as his master.
The tower a solitude
whom
:
of the Generalife
was no longer
he had companions
at
hand with
he could converse.
The first acquaintance he formed was with a hawk,
who
built his nest in a crevice of the
lofty battlements,
wide found
whence he soared
in quest of prey. little to
like or
34
and
The prince, however,
esteem
a mere pirate of the
far
air,
in
him.
He was
swaggering and
boastful,
Mamd
prince (5^m<^b at
&t^tx(i> of
whose
and desperate
was
talk
about carnage
all
exploits.
His next acquaintance was an owl, a wiselooking bird, with a huge head and staring
who
eyes,
sat blinking
in a hole in the
night.
He
talked
of
and goggling
wall, but
roamed
had great pretensions
moon, hinted
the
sciences, and
physics, and the prince found
forth at
the
was grievously given
day
wisdom,
to
at
all
dark
to meta-
him even more
ponderous than Eben Bonabben.
Then by
there
was a
his heels in the
but sallied out
bat, that
hung
dark corner
all
day
of a vault,
in slipshod style at twilight.
He, however, had but twilight ideas on all subjects,
and seemed to take delight
in nothing.
Besides these there was a swallow, with
whom the prince was at first much taken. He was a smart talker, but restless, bustling, and forever on the wing. He turned out in the end to be a
mere smatterer, who did but
skim over the surface 35
of things,
pretending
to
know
everything, but
knowing nothing
thoroughly.
These were the only feathered associates
whom
he had any opportunity of ex-
ercising his
newly acquired language. The
with
tower was too high frequent
it.
He
for
any other birds to
soon grew weary of his
new
acquaintances whose conversation spoke so little
to the
head and nothing to the heart,
and gradually relapsed
into his loneliness.
winter passed away, spring opened with its
A all
bloom and verdure, and the time arrived
for birds to build their nests. Suddenly, as it
were, a universal burst of song broke from
the groves and gardens of the Generalife,
and reached the prince tower.
From
universal
in the solitude of his
every side he heard the same
theme
— love — love — love —
chanted, and responded to in every variety of note
and tone.
He
listened in silence
and
perplexity.
"What
can
this love be.?''
36
thought he,
^tQtnb of ^xinu ^^meb ai Mamtt " of which the world seems to be so
and
which
of
He
I
full,
know nothing?"
applied for information to his friend
The
the hawk.
bird answered in a tone of
scorn.
"
You must
apply," said he, " to the vul-
who
gar, peaceable birds of earth,
for the prey of us princes of the air. is
war, and fighting
rior,
my delight.
and know nothing
I
are
made
My trade
am
a war-
of this thing called
love."
The
and sought the owl
"This habits,
him with
prince [turned from
is
disgust
in his retreat.
a bird," said he, "of peaceful
and may be able to solve
my
ques-
tion."
So he asked the owl this love
about which
to tell all
him what was
the birds in the
groves below were singing.
Upon
this the
owl put on a look
of of-
fended dignity. "
My
time," said he, " 37
is
taken up with
As
study and research. of I
whom you
despise
talk, I
them and
to these singing birds
never
and know nothing
The where heels,
a philosopher,
of this thing called love."
now
prince
am
I
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Allah be
their themes.
praised, I cannot sing:
them
listen to
repaired to the vault,
was hanging by the
his friend the bat
and asked the same question. The bat
wrinkled up his nose into a most snappish expression.
"Why do you disturb me in my morning's he
nap with such an
idle question?''
peevishly. "
when all and never trouble my-
birds self
are
I
only
asleep,
fly
by
twilight,
with their concerns.
nor beast, and
I
I
am
neither bird
thank Heaven for
found out the villainy
of the
and hate them one and
said
all.
it.
whole I
know
have
I
of
them,
nothing
of this thing called love."
As
a last resort, the prince
now sought the
swallow, and stopped him just as he was cling about the
summit 38
of the tower.
cir-
The
&tQ^^
(^^m^b aC
of prince
Mamd
swallow, as usual, was in a hurry, and had scarce time to
make
a reply.
"Upon my word," said he, "I have so much public business to attend to, and so many pursuits to follow, that I have had no time to think on the subject.
day a thousand of
affairs
leaves little
visits
have every
I
a thousand
to pay;
importance to examine
me not a moment
into, that
of leisure for these
sing-song matters. In a word,
citizen of the
world
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
I
know
I
am
a
nothing of
this thing called love."
So saying, the swallow dived ley and
The
was out
of sight in a
into the val-
moment.
prince remained disappointed and
perplexed, and while he was
still
in this
mood, Eben Bonabben entered the tower.
The
prince advanced eagerly to meet him.
"OEben Bonabben," cried he, "you have revealed to me much of the wisdom of the earth; but there
main
is
one thing
in utter ignorance,
39
of
which
and would
I
re-
fain
be
informed. Tell me, most profound of sages,
what
the nature of this thing called love
is
Eben Bonabben was struck as with
He
derbolt. felt as
if
What
ders.
sat
a thun-
but loosely on his shoul-
could have suggested such a
question to the prince learnt so idle a
The
"
trembled and turned pale, and
head
his
?
Where could he have
?
word ?
prince led
him
to the
window
of the
tower. " Listen,
O Eben Bonabben," said he. The
sage listened.
The
nightingale sat singing in
the thicket below the tower, and from every
grove rose a strain of melody; and love love
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; love â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was
" Allah Akbar!
still
God
the unvarying strain. is
great! " cried the
wise Bonabben.
"Who
keep
from the heart
secret
this
when even betray
it ?
Then
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
shall
pretend to of
man,
the birds of the air conspire to
"
turning to
Ahmed:
" O prince," cried he, " shut your ears to 40
&t^M^
(5ยงmeb ai Mamtt
of ^trinc^
mind
these strains. Close your
dangerous knowledge. is
the cause of half the
tality.
and
It is this
strife
Know of
ills
against this
that this love
wretched mor-
which produces
between brethren and
bitterness
friends; care
and sorrow, weary days and sleepless are
its
attendants. It withers the
blights the joy of youth, ills
and
griefs of
nights,
bloom and
and brings on the
premature age. Allah pre-
serve you in total ignorance of this thing called love!
The
sage
Eben Bonabben
hastily retired,
leaving the prince plunged in perplexity. It
was
in vain
still
he attempted to
dismiss the subject from his mind.
continued uppermost
deeper
It still
in his thoughts.
"Surely," said he to himself, as he listened to the tuneful strains of the birds, " there is
no sorrow of
in those notes.
such wretchedness and
If
love be a cause
strife,
why
are not
these birds drooping in solitude, or tearing
each other in pieces, instead of fluttering 41
cheerfully about the groves, or sporting with
among
each other
One morning, as
dow in the
the flowers?"
the prince sat at his win-
tower, there was a sudden rushing
noise in the
air.
A beautiful dove, pursued by
a hawk, darted in at the window, and
panting on the
floor, while the
of his prey, soared off to the
The
pursuer, balked
mountains.
prince took up the gasping bird and
smoothed it,
fell
he put
its it
feathers.
in a
When he had soothed
golden cage, and offered
it
the finest and whitest of wheat and the purest of water.
and
sat
The
bird,
however, refused food,
drooping and pining, and uttering
piteous moans.
"
Have you not everything your heart can wish?" said Ahmed. " Alas, no! " replied the dove. "
separated from
my
Am
mate and that too
happy spring-time, the very season
I
not
in the
of love
" Pray, pretty bird," said the prince. " you then tell me what is love ? "
?
"
Can
42
J
&tQtt{b of
"Too is
^xinu (^^m^b
well can
at
Mamd
the dove. "It
I," replied
the torment of one, the felicity of two, the
and enmity
strife
of three. It
is
charm
the
which draws two beings together, and unites
them by tender sympathies, making
hap-
it
piness to be with each other, but misery to
be
apart. Is there
drawn by such "
I
my
like
ties
?
and
I
are
"
old teacher,
Eben Bonabben,
better than any other being. tedious,
whom you
no being to
But he
is
often
occasionally feel myself hap-
pier without his society."
" That
is
not the sympathy
I
wooes
its
its
mate.
speak
I
of life.
Every
The very
beetle
of love, the great principle
created being has
mean.
lady-beetle in the dust. Is there no
beautiful princess
nor lovely damsel
who
has ensnared your heart?" "
I
begin to understand," said the prince,
sighing.
A the
little
first
further conversation ensued,
lesson
was complete. 43
and
" Alas " said he, " !
light,
and
its
love be such a de-
interruption such a misery,
Allah forbid that
any
if
I
should mar the joy of
of its votaries."
He
opened the cage, took out the dove,
and carried
it
to the
window.
" Go, happy bird," said he, "rejoice with
your mate time.
in the days of
Why should
I
youth and spring-
make you
a fellow pris-
oner in this dreary tower, where love can never enter ? "
The dove
flapped
its
wings in rapture, gave
one vault into the air, and then swooped down-
ward
to the
blooming bowers
A few mornings
of the
Darro.
afterward, as the prince
was ruminating on the battlements tower, the dove
came hovering
of the
in the
air,
and alighted fearlessly upon his shoulder. "
Happy
bird," said he,
"who can fly,
as
it
were, with the wings of the morning to the uttermost parts of the earth, where have you
been since we parted ? " 44
&tQM^
of i^xxnu (gl^meb at
Mamd
" In a far country, prince, whence
you
tidings in
my liberty.
reward for
wild compass of
my
the
beheld below
air, I
with
all
a green
I
was soaring
in
me a delightful garden
kinds of fruits and flowers.
meadow, on
In the
which extends
flight,
over plain and mountain, as
bring
I
It
was
in
the banks of a winding
stream: and in the centre of the garden was a stately palace.
bowers
to rest after
green bank below cess. ants,
I
alighted in one of the
my weary flight. On the
me was
a youthful prin-
She was surrounded by female attend-
young
like herself,
who decked
her with
com-
garlands, but no flower of the field could
pare with her for loveliness. I,
^is
spire
the being formed
my
The
'
Here,' thought
by Heaven
to in-
prince with love.' "
resolution of the prince
He
addressed a
the
Unknown
mel," and gave
"Away,
was taken.
letter to the princess
Beauty, from it
Ahmed
:
al
"
To Ka-
to the dove.
trustiest of
messengers! " said he.
45
â&#x201A;Źak&
from t^^ ^t^am&xa
" Fly over mountain and valley, river and plain.
Rest not
until
you have given
this
letter to the princess."
The dove
soared high in the
The
ing his course, darted away.
lowed him with
air,
and tak-
prince fol-
eye until he was a mere
his
speck on a cloud, and gradually disappeared
behind a mountain.
Day
after
of the
At
last,
day he watched
for the return
messenger, but he watched in vain.
one evening toward sunset, the
ful bird fluttered
faith-
into his apartment, and,
expired.
falling at his feet,
some archer had pierced
The arrow
his breast, yet
had struggled with the lingerings deliver the message.
As the
of
he
of life to
prince bent with
grief over the gentle martyr,
he beheld a
chain of pearls round his neck, attached to
which, beneath his wing, was a small
enamelled picture.
It
represented a lovely
princess in the very flower of her years, and
was doubtless
the
unknown beauty 46
of the
&t^M^
of prince
garden. But
was
(^^meb ai Mamtt
who and where was
this picture sent as a
she
And
?
token of her ap-
proval of his letter ? Unfortunately the death of the faithful
dove
left
everything in mystery
and doubt. The prince gazed on the "
I
will fly
from
picture.
this palace/' said he, "
which
has
become an odious
this
unknown princess throughout the world."
To
prison,
and will seek
escape from the tower in the day,
when every one was awake, might be cult matter;
a
diflS-
but at night the palace was
slightly guarded, for
no one thought
of the
prince making any attempt of the kind.
had alwa3^s been passive
How
was he
in his
to guide himself,
captivity.
however,
his flight, being ignorant of the country?
bethought him
roaming lane and
in
He
who was used to and must know every by-
of the owl,
at night,
secret path. Seeking
hermitage, he questioned
knowledge
He
of the land.
him
him touching
Upon
this the
put on a mighty self-important look. 47
in his
his
owl
â&#x201A;ŹcKkB from
t^t
(At^am&xa
"You must know, O prince," said " that we owls are of a very ancient and
he,
ex-
tensive family, though rather fallen to decay,
and possess ruinous parts of Spain.
all
castles
There
is
and palaces
in
scarcely a tower
of the mountains, or a fortress of the plains
or old citadel, but has
some brother,
or cousin, quartered in
rounds to
visit
it.
And in
my numerous
or uncle,
going the
kindred,
I
pried into every nook and corner, and
have
made
myself acquainted with every secret of the land."
The
prince was overjoyed to find the owl
so deeply versed in topography, and
formed him ing "
him
Go
to
be his companion and counsellor. with a look of
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
I
whose whole time
voted to meditation and the moon?
Be
dis-
Am I a bird to engage in such an
affair as this ?
"
in-
of his intended elopement, urg-
to! " said the owl,
pleasure. "
now
is
de-
"
not offended, most solemn owl," re-
plied the prince. "Abstract yourself for a
48
ÂŁ^5^b
of Qprince
(^§meb aC Mamtt
time from meditation and the moon. Aid
my
in
and you
flight,
me
have whatever
shall
heart can wish.''
"
I
have that already," said the owl. "
few mice are and for
sufficient for
my
frugal table,
enough
this hole in the wall is spacious
my
studies.
What more
pher like myself desire ?
A
does a philoso-
"
" But think, wise owl, that while moping
your
in
cell
and gazing
at the
talents are lost to the world.
moon, I
shall
all
your
one day
be a sovereign prince, and may advance you
some post
to
of
honour and dignity."
The owl,thoughaphilosopher, and above the ordinary wants of life, was not above ambition, so he
was
finally prevailed
on to elope with
the prince and be his guide in the pilgrimage.
The
prince collected
all
his jewels,
and
concealed them about his person as travelling funds.
by
That very night he lowered himself
his scarf
from a balcony
clambered over the
oiiter
49
of the
tower,
walls of the Gen-
eralife,
by the owl, made good
and, guided
his escape before
He now
morning
to the mountains.
held a council with his guide as
to his future course.
"Might
would recommend you
You must know on a nity
visit to
said
advise,"
I
that
many years
since
I
was
an uncle, an owl of great dig-
of the Alcazar. In I
"I
to repair to Seville.
and power, who lived
the city,
owl,
the
in a ruined
wing
my ho verings at night over
frequently remarked a light burn-
ing in a lonely tower.
At
length
on the battlements, and found from the lamp
of
alighted
to
proceed
an Arabian magician.
was surrounded by his shoulder
it
I
his
He
magic books, and on
was perched an ancient raven,
who had come with him from Egypt. I am acquainted with that raven, and owe to him a great part of the knowledge I possess. The magician
is
since dead, but the raven
inhabits the tower,
wonderfully long
still
for these birds are of
life.
50
I
would advise you,
^e^^b
O
of
^xxnu (^ยงmeb
ai
Mamd
prince, to seek that raven, for like
ravens, especially those of Egypt, he
is
a re-
nowned soothsayer and a conjuror." The prince was struck with the wisdom this advice,
and accordingly bent
towards Seville. night to
He
travelled
accommodate
his
all
of
his course
only
in the
companion, and
some dark cavern
lay
by during the day
or
mouldering watch-tower, for the owl
knew every had a great
At
in
hiding place of the kind, and taste for ruins.
length one morning, at daybreak, they
reached the city of Seville, where the owl,
who
hated the glare and bustle of crowded
streets, halted
without the gate, and took up
his quarters in a
The
hollow
tree.
prince entered the gate and readily
found the magic tower, which rose above the houses of the city as a palm tree rises above the shrubs of the desert.
same
as
known
the
It
was
in fact the
tower standing to-day, and
as the Giralda. 51
â&#x201A;Ź(Xit0 ftrom t^t ^t^cm&xci
The
prince ascended by a great winding
summit
staircase to the
he found the
of the tower,
raven â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an
gray-headed bird, ragged film over one eye. leg,
old,
mysterious,
in feather,
He was
where with a
perched on one
with his head turned on one
side, por-
ing with his remaining eye on a diagram
described on the pavement.
The
prince approached
him with awe and
reverence. " Pardon me, most ancient and wise raven,"
exclaimed he, "
if
for a
moment
those studies which are the
world.
and
I
You
behold
in
me
interrupt
wonder
And
my
of the
a pilgrim of love,
would seek your counsel how
tain the object of
"
in
I
to ob-
devotion."
can you be at any loss for an object
Andalusia?" said the old raven, leering
upon him with
his single eye. "
Above
all,
can you be at a loss in Seville, where black-
eyed damsels dance the zambra under every orange grove ? " 52
B(^5^b of ^xxnct (^ยงmeb at
The
prince
Mcmd
was somewhat shocked
at
hearing an old bird with one foot in the grave talk thus loosely.
" Believe me," said he gravely, "
no such
light errand as
eyed damsels
of
that.
I
The
on
black-
who dance among
Andalusia
the orange groves are naught to me.
And
the original of this picture.
you, most potent raven,
am
if
it
I
I
seek
beseech
be within the
scope of your knowledge or reach of your art,
me where
inform
she
may be
found."
The gray-headed raven was rebuked by the gravity of the prince. "
What know
I," replied
youth and beauty?
My
and not the young and ger of fate
who
visits are to the old fair.
where
I
am the harbin-
croak bodings of death from
the chimney-top and flap sick man's
he dryly, " of
my
wings
at the
window. You must seek
for tidings of
else-
your unknown prin-
cess."
"
And where
can
I
seek
53
if
not
among
the
Zak^
from t^t f^i^am&xa
wisdom ? Know
sons of
prince, fated
by the
stars,
terious enterprise on
am
that I
a royal
and sent on a mys-
which may hang the
destiny of empires."
When
the raven heard that
ter of vast
it
moment, he changed
was a mat-
his tone
and
manner, and listened with profound attention to the story of the prince. finished,
it
was
he replied:
" Touching this princess,
no information
among
When
of myself, for
I
can give you
my
flight is
not
gardens, or around ladies' bowers.
But go to Cordova, seek the palm
tree
which
stands in the court of the principal mosque.
At
the foot of
ler
who
He
it
you
has visited
will give
you
will find a great travel-
all
countries and courts.
tidings of the object of
your search." "
Many
thanks for this information," said
the prince. " Farewell."
" Farewell," said the raven dryly, and again fell to
pondering on the diagram. 54
Si^ij^b of ^xintt (^^meb
M Mamd
The prince sallied forth from Seville, sought his fellow-traveller, the owl, who
was still doz-
ing in the hollow tree, and set off for Cordova.
He
approached
it
along hanging gardens,
and orange and citron groves, overlooking the fair valley of the river.
When
they ar-
rived at the city gates, the owl flew up to a
dark hole
ceeded
in the wall,
in quest of the
been planted
and the prince pro-
palm
tree
which had
in days of yore. It stood in the
midst of the great court of the mosque towering from amidst orange and cypress trees.
Men were seated in groups under the of the court,
washing
and many
cloisters
of the faithful
were
at the fountains, before entering the
mosque.
At
the foot of the
listening to the
palm
words
of
tree
one
was a crowd
who appeared
to be a great talker.
" This," said the prince to himself, " must
be the great traveller tidings of the
unknown 55
who
is
to give
princess."
me
He
mingled
crowd, but was aston-
in the
ished to perceive that they were to a parrot,
who, with
all
listening
his bright-green coat,
pragmatical eye and consequential top-knot,
had the
on excellent terms with
air of a bird
himself.
"
How
is
this," said the prince to
many grave
the by-standers, " that so
one
of
persons
can be delighted with a chattering bird?"
whom
'^You know not
you speak
said the other. " This parrot of the
famous parrot
his story-telling talent.
He
a descendant
is
of Persia,
of,"
renowned
has
all
for
the learn-
ing of the East at the tip of his tongue, and
can quote poetry as
fast as
he can
talk.
He
has visited various foreign courts, where he has been considered an oracle of erudition."
" Enough," said the prince,
some
private talk
with
this
''
I
will
have
distinguished
traveller."
He
sought a private interview, and told the
parrot the nature of his errand. 56
He
had
BtQ^nb of ypmce @ยงm^b af Mamti scarcely mentioned into a
fit
of
it
when
the parrot burst
dry rickety laughter, that brought
tears into his eyes.
" Excuse the
my
merriment," said he, " but
mere mention
always
of love
sets
me
laughing."
The
prince
was shocked
at this ill-timed
mirth.
"
Is
"
A fig's end!"
not love," said he, "the universal bond of sympathy ? " cried the parrot, interrupt-
ing him. " Prithee where have you learned this
jargon? Trust me, love
vogue.
One never
of wits
and people
The
hears of
it
is
quite out of
in the
company
of refinement."
prince sighed as he recalled the dif-
ferent language of his friend the dove.
He
then directed his inquiries to the immediate purport of his
visit.
"Tell me," said he, "have you
in the
course of your travels met with the original of this portrait ? "
"57
The
parrot took the picture in his claw,
turned his head from side to side, and examined
it
curiously with either eye.
"Upon my
honour," said he,
pretty face, a very pretty face.
many
sees so
pretty
women
"a very
But then one
in one's travels
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but hold â&#x20AC;&#x201D; bless me! again â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sure enough,
that one can hardly
now is
I
look at
this
it
the princess Aldegonda.
forget one
me!" "The prince.
who
How
could
I
such a favourite with
is
Aldegonda!" echoed the
princess
"And where
is
she to be found?"
" Softly, softly," said the parrot: "easier to be found than gained.
She
is
daughter of the Christian king at
Toledo, and
until
who
reigns
shut up from the world
is
her seventeenth birthday.
get a sight of her. her. I
the only
No
was admitted
mortal
You man
will not
can see
to her presence to en-
assure you, on the word
tertain her,
and
I
of a parrot
who
has seen the world, 58
I
have
&tQM^
conversed with
my
(ยง^mt^ at Mamtt
of ^xxnct
much
princesses
sillier
in
time."
A word in
"
confidence,
said the prince.
and
shall
that
you
"
one day
am
I
heir to a kingdom,
upon a throne.
sit
Help me
this princess,
see
I
and
I
to gain possession of
will
advance you to some
distinguished place about
"With let
dear parrot,"
are a bird of parts, and understand
the world.
" But
my
all it
my
my
court."
heart," said
be a sinecure,
if
the
parrot.
possible, for
we
wits have a great dislike to labour."
Arrangements were promptly made. The prince sallied forth from Cordova through the
same gate by which he had entered.
called the
owl down from the hole
wall, introduced
him
to his
new
in the
travelling
companion as a brother savant, and set
He
off
they
on their journey.
The elled
The
prince was impatient, but they trav-
much more parrot
slowly than he wished.
was accustomed 59
to high
life,
and
â&#x201A;Źcik0 ftom t^t @{f amfim did not like to be disturbed early in the
The
morning.
owl, on the other hand, was
for sleeping at mid-day, of time
by
taste also
his
was
long in the
and
siestas.
lost a great deal
His antiquarian
way, for he insisted on
pausing and inspecting every ruin, and had long legendary tales to
tower and
The
tell
about every old
castle in the country.
prince had supposed that he and the
parrot, being both birds of learning,
would
delight in each other's society, but never
had
he been more mistaken. They were eter-
The one was a wit, the other a philosopher. The parrot quoted poetry, was critical on new readings and elo-
nally
bickering.
quent on small points of erudition: the owl treated
all
such knowledge as
trifling,
cared for nothing but metaphysics.
and
Then the
parrot would sing songs and crack jokes
upon his
his
own
solemn neighbour, and laugh
wit.
The owl considered
all this
at
as
an invasion on his dignity, and he would 60
^
*
Bt^M^
^xxnu (^ยงmeb
of
ctC
scowl and sulk and swell, and be
Mamd silent for
a whole day together.
The
prince,
dreams
being wrapped up
own
of his
the
in
fancy, gave no heed to
the wranglings of his companions. In this
way they journeyed through the
mountains, across the sunburnt plains
of the of
stern passes
La Mancha and
banks
of the
Castile,
and along the
Tagus, which winds
its
wiz-
ard mazes over one half of Spain and Portugal.
At
length they
city with walls
came
in sight of a strong
and towers
built
promontory, round the foot
Tagus
on a rocky
which the
of
circled with brawling violence.
"Behold!" exclaimed the owl, cient city of Toledo.
domes and towers,
" the an-
Behold those venerable
in
which
so
many
of
my
ancestors have meditated."
" Pish " cried the parrot, interrupting his !
solemn rapture. " What have we
to
do with
legends and your ancestry.? Behold what 6i
is
more
to the purpose
prince, the
abode
of
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; behold
at length,
O
your long-sought prin-
cess."
The
prince looked in the direction indi-
cated by the parrot, and beheld, in a delightful
green meadow on the banks
of the
Tagus,
a stately palace rising from amidst the ers of a garden. It
was
such a place as
just
had been described by the dove dence gazed
of the original of the at
it
bow-
as the resi-
picture.
He
with a throbbing heart.
"Perhaps
at this
moment," thought
" the beautiful princess
is
he,
sporting beneath
those shady bowers, or pacing with delicate step those stately terraces, or reposing bethose lofty roofs "
neath
As he
!
looked more closely, he perceived
were
of great
height, so as to defy access, while
numbers
that the walls of the garden
of
armed guards
patrolled around them.
The prince turned to the "Most accomplished of 62
parrot.
birds," said
he,
&t^m\> of ^xxnu (^^meb at " you have the
you tell
to
Hie
!
yon garden. Seek the princess, and
Ahmed, guided by
the
has arrived in quest of her."
The away
human speech
gift of
her that Prince
stars,
Mcmd
parrot,
proud
to the garden,
of
his
embassy, flew
mounted above
its
lofty
wall, and, after soaring for a time over the
lawns and groves, alighted on the balcony of a pavilion that
overhung the
river.
Here,
looking in at the casement, he beheld the princess reclining on a couch, with her eyes fixed on a paper, while tears gently stole after
each other down her pallid cheek.
Pluming justing
his
his
wings
for a
moment, and ad-
bright-green coat, the parrot
perched himself beside her with a gallant
Then he assumed a tenderness "Dry your tears, most beautiful
air.
cesses," said he;
"I come
of tone. of prin-
to bring solace to
your heart."
The
princess
was
voice, but turning
startled
on hearing a
and seeing nothing but a 63
little
green-coated bird bobbing and bowing
before her " Alas
!
what solace can you
she, "seeing
The "
I
yield," said
you are but a parrot? "
parrot
was
nettled at the question.
have consoled many ladies
said he ; " but let that pass.
At present I come
ambassador from a royal prince.
Ahmed,
Know
that
the prince of Granada, has arrived
in quest of you,
on the banks
The
my time,"
in
and
of the
is
encamped even now
Tagus."
eyes of the princess sparkled at these
words. " ful
O
sweetest of parrots," cried she, "joy-
indeed are your tidings, for
and weary with doubt
Ahmed.
Tell
I
was
faint
constancy of
of the
him that the words
of his letter
my heart, and that his poetry has been the food of my soul. Tell him, how-
are engraven in
ever, that he
by
must prepare
force of arms.
teenth birthday,
to
prove his love
To-morrow
when 64
is
the king,
my my
sevenfather,
&tQM^
Mcmd
of (ptince (^^tneb af
holds a great tournament. Several princes are to enter the
and
lists,
my
hand
is
to be
the prize of the victor."
The to
parrot again took wing, and flew back
where the prince awaited
rapture of
Ahmed
his return.
The
on finding the original
of
the portrait, and finding her kind and true,
can only be understood by those favoured mortals realize
who have had
the good fortune to
day-dreams and turn a shadow into
substance. Still
there
transport fact,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
was one thing this
that alloyed his
impending tournament. In
Tagus were already
the banks of the
glittering with arms,
and resounding with
trumpets of the various knights,
who were
prancing on toward Toledo.
Like the prince, the princess had been shut up from the world until her seventeenth birthday, but the fame of her
been enhanced by
charms had
this seclusion.
Several
powerful princes had contended for her hand; 65
and her
father,
who was
a king of wondrous
shrewdness, to avoid making enemies, had referred
Among nowned
them
all
power
to the
the rival candidates
of arms.
were several
and prowess.
for strength
re-
What
a
predicament for the unfortunate Ahmed, unprovided as he was with weapons, and un-
arms
skilled in the exercise of
" Luckless prince that
have been brought up
I
am
!
" said he, " to
in seclusion
under the
eye of a philosopher! " " Allah Akbar!
God
is
great! " exclaimed
the owl. " In his hands are
all
secret things
he alone governs the destinies of princes!
Know,
O
prince, that this land
mysteries hidden from like myself,
the dark.
can grope
Know
mountains there there lies
is
all
full of
but those who,
after
that in the is
is
knowledge
in
neighbouring
a cave, and in that cave
an iron table, and on that table there
a suit of magic armour, and beside that
table there stands a spell-bound steed, 66
which
^^meb
^t^ttib of ^xinct
Mam^i
ai
have been shut up there for many generations."
The
prince stared with wonder.
"Many "
I
years since," continued the owl,
my
accompanied
father to these parts on
a tour of his estates, and that cave;
and thus
with the mystery. family which
when
I
I
It
is
we
sojourned in
became acquainted a tradition in our
have heard from
my
grand-
was yet but a very little owlet, that this armour belonged to a Moorish magi-
father,
cian
I
who took
refuge in this cavern
when
Toledo was captured by the Christians, and died here leaving his steed and weapons
under a mystic
spell,
a Moslem, and
by him only from
never to be used but by sunrise to
mid-day. In that time, whoever uses them will
overthrow every opponent."
"Enough: claimed
let
us seek this cave!" ex-
Ahmed.
Guided by the owl, the prince found the cavern, which was in a wild, rocky 67
cliff.
A
â&#x201A;ŹciU0 ftom lamp
t^t (^f^amfita
shed a solemn light
of everlasting oil
through the place.
On
an iron table in the
centre of the cavern lay the magic armour, against
it
leaned
the lance, and beside
stood an Arabian steed, ready for the
but motionless as a statue. laid his
hand upon the
it
field,
When Ahmed pawed
steed's neck, he
the ground and gave a loud neigh of joy that
shook the walls
of the
cavern.
Thus pro-
vided with "horse and rider and weapon to wear," the prince determined to defy the field in the
The for the just
coming tourney.
eventful
morning
arrived.
combat were prepared
below the walls
of
in
The lists the Vega
Toledo, where stages
were erected
and
galleries
tors,
covered with rich tapestry, and shel-
tered from the sun
by
for the
specta-
silken awnings. All
the beauties of the land were assembled in
those galleries, while below pranced
plumed
knights with their pages and esquires, 68
among
whom
were the princes who were
to
con-
tend in the tourney.
All the beauties of the land, however,
were eclipsed when the princess Aldegonda appeared in the royal pavilion, and for the first
time broke forth upon the gaze of an
admiring world.
The princess, however, had a troubled look. The colour came and went from her cheek, and her eye wandered with a restless expression over the plumed throng of knights.
The trumpets were about sounding for encounter, when the herald announced arrival of a strange knight,
and
the
the
Ahmed rode
into the field.
A steel
helmet rose above his turban. His
cimeter and dagger were of the workmanship of Fez, and flamed with precious stones.
A round his
shield
was
at his shoulder,
hand he bore the charmed
lofty
and graceful demeanour
struck every eye, and 69
when
and
lance.
in
The
of the prince
his
name was
â&#x201A;Źcik0
ftrom i^e
announced, a fair
dames
prevailed
flutter
presented himself at the
but princes, he was told, were ad-
He declared his name
mitted to the contest.
and rank.
Still
worse
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he was a Moslem,
!
and could not engage
in a
tourney
of a Christian princess
;
and youthful form. The aroused.
He
They took was
ire of
prize.
princes surat his light
the prince
distance,
wheeled and charged;
touch of the magic lance the
tilted
from
his saddle.
Here the prince would have paused, alas! nothing
armour.
was
defied his rival to an encounter.
at the first
scoffer
when the
was the
With haughty looks the rival rounded him and one sneered
and
the
however, they were closed against him.
None
hand
among
in the gallery.
When Ahmed lists,
(^i^am&xa
would
but,
control his horse and
The Arabian
steed charged into the
The lance overturned everything that presented. The gentle prince
thickest of the throng.
was
carried pell-mell about the field, strew70
^^5^b ing
(^§meb ai Mamti
of ^xxnct
with high and low, gentle and simple.
it
The king stormed and raged on
and
his subjects
out his guards
his guests.
He
as fast
The king threw
off his
up.
robes, grasped buckler and lance, forth to of
awe
majesty
ordered
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they were unhorsed
came
as they
at this outrage
and rode
the stranger with the presence
itself.
Alas
!
majesty fared no bet-
The steed and lance were persons. To the dismay of
ter than the vulgar.
no respecters
of
Ahmed, he was borne full tilt against the king, and in a moment the royal heels were in the air,
and the crown was rolling
At
in the dust.
moment the sun reached the meThe magic spell resumed its power.
this
ridian.
The Arabian
steed scoured across the plain,
leaped the barrier, plunged into the Tagus,
swam
its
raging
breathless and
resumed
The
torrent, bore the
amazed
prince
to the cavern,
and
his station beside the iron table.
prince dismounted right gladly, and
replaced the armour.
Then he 71
seated him-
self in
the cavern, and began to think.
again should he dare to
show
Never
his face at
To-
ledo after inflicting such disgrace upon
an outrage on
chivalry, and such
its
king.
What, too, would the princess think ? Full anxiety, he sent forth his
its
of
winged messengers
to gather tidings.
The
parrot resorted to
and crowded resorts
all
the public places
of the
city,
and soon
returned with a world of gossip. All Toledo
was
The
in consternation.
borne
oflT
princess had been
senseless to the palace.
nament had ended was talking
in confusion.
of the
Moslem
The
tour-
Every one
knight.
Some
thought him a Moorish magician; while others thought he might be one of the en-
chanted warriors
den that
in the
who were
said to be hid-
caves of the mountains. All agreed
no ordinary mortal could have wrought
such wonders.
The owl
flew out at night and hovered
about the dusky
city,
perching on the roofs
72
;S^5^b of ^xinct (ยง^mt)> a(
He
and chimneys.
Mcmd
then wheeled his flight
up to the royal palace, and went prowling about, eavesdropping at every cranny, and
glaring in with his big goggling eyes at every
window where
there
was a
throw two or three maids It
was not
until the
of
light,
so as to
honour into
fits.
grey dawn began to peer
above the mountains that he returned from his expedition
and related
what
to the prince
he had seen. " As
I
towers
was prying about one
of
of the loftiest
the palace," said he, " I beheld
through a casement a beautiful princess. She
was reclining on a couch, with attendants and physicians around her, but she would have none
of their ministry
they retired,
I
and relief.
beheld her draw a
her bosom, and read
it,
When
letter
and give way to loud
lamentations, at which, philosopher as I
from
I
am,
could but be greatly moved."
Ahmed was "Too
distressed at these tidings.
true were your words, 73
O Eben Bon-
â&#x201A;Źak$
from t^t (§t^am&xa
abben! " cried he. "Care and sorrow, and sleepless nights are the lot of lovers. Allah
preserve the princess from the blighting influence of this thing called love."
Further news from Toledo showed that the report of the owl
a prey to uneasiness cess
was conveyed
the palace,
The city was and alarm. The prin-
was
true.
to the highest
tower
of
every avenue to which was
strongly guarded.
In the meantime, a de-
vouring melancholy had seized upon her, of
which no one could divine the cause. She refused food, and turned a deaf ear to every consolation.
had essayed
The most
skilful
their art in vain. It
physicians
was thought
some magic spell had been practised upon her, and the king made proclamation, declaring that
whoever should
effect her cure should
receive the richest jewel in the royal treasury.
When
the owl,
who was
dozing in a cor-
ner, heard of this, he rolled his large eyes
and looked more mysterious than 74
ever.
^e^^b
of
^xxnu
Mamd
(^ยงm<^b af
" Allah Akbar " exclaimed he, "happy !
man that shall he but know what the
effect that cure, should
to choose
from the royal
treasury."
" said
What mean
you, most reverend owl ? "
Ahmed.
" Hearken, prince, to what
We
owls, you must
body, and search.
much
During
I shall
relate.
know, are a learned
given to dark and dusty re-
my
late
prowling
at night
about the domes and turrets of Toledo, discovered a college of owls,
who
I
hold their
meetings in a great vaulted tower where the royal treasury
discussing
is
deposited.
ancient
Here they were
gems and
jewels,
golden and silver vessels, heaped up
in the
treasury, the fashion of every country
age.
and
But mostly they were interested about
certain relics
mained
and talismans which have re-
in the treasury since the
Roderick the Goth.
box
and
of
time of
Among them was
a
sandal-wood, secured by bands of 75
^afe0 from t^t (^C^amfira and inscribed with mystic characters
steel,
known
only to the learned few. This box
and inscription had occupied the college for several sessions, and had caused
and grave dispute. At the time very ancient owl,
who had
from
it
upon the
of
long
my visit
a
recently arrived
from Egypt, was seated on the lecturing
much
inscription,
lid of
the
box
and he proved
that the coffer contained the silken
carpet of the throne of
Solomon the Wise."
When the owl had concluded his harangue, the prince remained for a time absorbed in thought.
"
I
have heard," said he, " from the sage
Eben Bonabben of that talisman, fall of
to
of the
wonderful properties
which disappeared
Jerusalem and was supposed
mankind. Doubtless
it
mystery to the Christians
to
at the
be
lost
remains a sealed
of Toledo. If I
get possession of the carpet,
my
can
fortune
is
secure."
The
next day the prince laid aside his rich 76
attire,
and arrayed himself
garb of
an Arab
complexion
of the desert.
to a
the
in
He
simple
dyed
his
tawny hue, and no one
could have recognized in him the splendid warrior
who had
and dismay
at the
caused such admiration tournament.
With
staff in
hand, and a small pastoral reed, he repaired to Toledo,
and presenting himself
of the royal palace,
at the gate
announced himself
as a
candidate for the reward offered for the cure of
the princess.
driven him
"What
The guards would have
away with blows.
can a vagrant Arab like you pre-
tend to do," said they, " in a case where the
most learned
The
king,
of the land
have failed?"
however, overheard, and or-
dered the Arab to be brought into his presence.
" Most potent king," said
Ahmed,
" you
behold before you a Bedouin Arab, the greater part of
whose
life
has been passed in
the solitudes of the desert. These solitudes, 77
it
and in
well known, are the haunts of demons
is
evil spirits,
who beset us
poor shepherds
our lonely watchings, enter into and pos-
sess our flocks
render even
and herds, and sometimes
the
patient
camel
Against these, our counter-charm
and we have legendary
airs
am
music
we
chant
to cast forth these evil spirits.
I
power
in
of a gifted line,
its fullest
is
handed down
from generation to generation, that and pipe,
furious.
force. If
and possess it
be any
this
evil influence of
the kind that holds a spell over your daughter, I
pledge
my
head to free her from
its
sway."
who was a man of understandand knew the wonderful secrets often
The ing,
king,
possessed by the Arabs, was inspired with
hope by the language
of the
prince.
He
conducted him immediately to the lofty tower, in the
summit
the princess. terrace,
of
which was the chamber
The windows opened upon
of
a
commanding a view over Toledo and 78
iSe^mb of ^nnce (?l^m^b ai Mamtt all
the surrounding country.
were darkened,
The windows
for the princess lay within,
a prey to devouring grief.
The
prince seated himself on the terrace,
and performed on
his pastoral pipe several
wild Arabian airs which he had learnt from his attendants in the Generalife at
The
Granada.
princess continued insensible, and the
who were
doctors
present shook their heads,
and smiled with contempt. At length the prince laid aside the reed, and, to a simple
melody, chanted the verses of the
which he had sent
The
letter
to the princess.
princess recognized the strain
raised her head and listened.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; she
She would have
asked for the minstrel to be brought into her presence, but maiden coyness held her
The king read her wishes, and at his command Ahmed was conducted into the chamber. The prince and princess exchanged silent.
glances which spoke volumes.
triumph
of
Never was
music more complete. The rose 79
t^akB from had returned and the
cess,
t^t
to the soft
(^t^cm&xa cheek
of the prin-
light to her eyes.
All the physicians present stared at each
other with astonishment. the
The king regarded
Arab minstrel with admiration and awe.
"Wonderful youth! "exclaimed shall henceforth
be the
first
physician of
and no other prescription will
court,
"you
he,
I
my
take
but your melody. For the present receive
your reward, the most precious jewel
in
my
treasury."
"O
king," replied
silver or
one
Ahmed, "I
care not for
gold or precious stones.
relic in
You
have
your treasury, handed down
from the Moslems, who once owned Toledo
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a box carpet.
of sandal- wood containing a silken
Give
me
that box,
and
I
am
con-
tent."
All present were surprised at the moderation of the
box
of
carpet
Arab, and
still
more when the
sandal-wood was brought and the
drawn forth.
It
was
80
of fine
green
silk.
Se^^b The
of prince
@^meb
Mamti
at
court physicians looked at each other,
shrugged their shoulders, and smiled. " This carpet," said the prince, " once
covered the throne of Solomon. of being placed
So
It is
worthy
beneath the feet of beauty."
saying, he spread
it
on the terrace be-
neath an ottoman that had been brought to the princess
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; then
seating himself at her
feet:
" is
Who,"
said he, " shall counteract
written in the
book
of fate?
Behold the
prediction of the astrologers verified.
O
king, that your daughter and
what
Know,
have long
I
loved each other in secret."
These words were scarcely carpet rose in the
air,
said
when the
bearing off the prince
and princess. The king and the physicians gazed
after
it
ing eyes until
with open mouths and strainit
became a
little
speck, and
then disappeared in the blue vault of Heaven.
The king
in a rage
surer. 8i
summoned
his trea-
â&#x201A;Źciit& from i^t (§t^am&xa
"How
this," said he,
is
"that you have
suffered an infidel to get possession of such " a talisman?
" Alas,
sir,
we knew
be indeed the carpet
mon,
not
its
nature.
If it
of the throne of Solo-
possessed of magic power, and can
it is
transport
owner from place
its
through the
place
air."
The king assembled set off for
to
Granada
a mighty army, and
in pursuit of the fugitives.
His march was long and toilsome. Encamping in the Vega, he sent a herald to
The king
his daughter.
came and
of
Granada himself
forth with all his court to
in
him
demand
meet him,
the Christian king beheld the
minstrel, for
Ahmed had
succeeded to the
throne on the death of his father, and the beautiful
Aldegonda was the
sultana.
The Christian king was easily pacified when he found that his daughter continued in
his
faith;
not that he was particularly
pious, but religion
is
always a point 82
of pride
ii»«a»|KlKnei»iie;
BtQm^
of ^tinc^
^^mtl
ai
and etiquette with princes. Instead
Mamd of battles,
there
was a succession of feasts and rejoicings,
after
which the king returned well pleased to
Toledo, and the youthful couple continued to reign as happily as wisely in the Alhambra. It is
proper to add that the owl and the
parrot had severally followed the prince
by
easy stages to Granada: the former travelling
by
night,
and stopping
at the various he-
reditary possessions of his family
figuring in city
gay
circles
of
every town and
gratefully requited
which they had rendered on
the services
his pilgrimage.
appointed the owl his prime minister,
and the parrot is
latter
on his route.
Ahmed
He
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
his
master of ceremonies.
needless to say that never
It
was a realm
more sagely administered, nor a court conducted with more exact punctilio.
Be^enb of
Cpe
(moot'0 Be^ac^
Bt^tn'b of
UST â&#x20AC;˘^^
within the fortress of the
Alhambra, palace,
in front of the royal
a broad open space,
is
called the Place of the Cisterns,
so called from being undermined by reservoirs of water. is
At one corner
of this place
a Moorish well, cut through the rock to a
great depth, the water of
and clear as throughout
which is cold
This well
crystal.
and
Granada,
famous
water-carriers,
some bearing great water-jars on ders, others driving
is
as ice
their shoul-
donkeys before them
laden with earthen vessels, are going up and
down
the
woody
avenues, from early morn-
ing until a late hour of the night.
Fountains and wells have always been noted gossiping-places in hot climates; and 87
at this well there is a
kind of perpetual club
kept up during the livelong day, by the invalids, old
women, and other curious do-
nothing folk,
who
sit
on the stone benches,
and dawdle over the gossip
of the fortress,
and question every water-carrier that arrives about the news of the
city,
and make long
comments on everything they hear and
Not an hour
of the
see.
day but loitering house-
wives and idle maid-servants
may be
seen,
lingering with pitcher on head or in hand, to
hear the last of the endless
Among
tattle.
the water-carriers
who once
re-
sorted to this well, there
was a sturdy, strong-
backed, bandy-legged
little
Pedro Like
Gil,
all
fellow,
named
but called Peregil for shortness.
the water-carriers he
was a Gallego,
or native of Gallicia.
Peregil had begun business with merely a great earthen jar which he carried
upon
by degrees he rose
in the
his shoulder; but
world, and was enabled to purchase a don88
BtQtnb of key.
On
t^t (moov'^ ^t^at^z
each side of his long-eared com-
panion, in a kind of pannier, were slung his water-jars, covered with fig-leaves to protect
them from the
There was not a more
sun.
industrious water-carrier in
Granada, nor
all
The
one more merry withal.
streets
rang
with his cheerful voice as he trudged after his
donkey, singing the usual summer note
that resounds
throughout the Spanish towns:
"Who wants water â&#x20AC;&#x201D; water colder than snow? Who wants water from the well of Alhambra, cold as
the
crystal
?
When
he served a customer with a spark-
ling glass,
it
was always with a pleasant word perchance,
it
was
comely dame or dimpling damsel,
it
was
that
a
and clear as
ice
"
caused a smile; and
if,
always with a sly leer and a compliment to her beauty that gil
was
irresistible.
was noted throughout
being one of the
civilest,
happiest of mortals.
Yet 89
all
Thus PereGranada for
pleasantest, it
is
not he
and
who
sings loudest lightest heart.
and jokes most that has the
Under
this air of merri-
all
ment, honest Peregil had
He
troubles.
cares
his
had a large family
children to support,
clamorous as a nest
of
He had
home
of
of
a wife, too,
a help to him.
ragged
who were hungry and young swallows, and
beset him with their outcries for food
ever he came
and
when-
an evening.
who was
She had been a
anything but
village beauty
before marriage, noted for her skill at danc-
ing the bolero and rattling the castanets; and
she
retained her
still
early
propensities,
spending the hard earnings of honest Peregil in frippery,
and laying the very donkey un-
der requisition for junketing parties into the
country on Sundays and Saints' Days, and those innumerable holidays, which are rather
more numerous the week. slattern,
above
With
in
Spain than the days of
all this
she was a
something more
all,
of
a
of a lie-abed, and,
a gossip of the 90
little
first
water; neg-
&t^M}> of
t^^ (Wloot'je^
Bt^at^
household, and everything
lecting house,
else, to loiter slipshod in the
houses of her
gossip neighbours.
He, however, who tempers the wind the shorn lamb,
matrimony bore
all
accommodates the yoke
to of
to the submissive neck. Peregil
the heavy dispensations of wife and
children with as
meek
a spirit as his
donkey
bore the water-jars ; and, however he might
shake his ears
in private,
never ventured to
question the household virtues of his slattern spouse.
He loves
loved his children, too, even as an owl its
owlets, seeing in
them
his
own im-
age multiplied and perpetuated; for they
were a sturdy, long-backed, bandy-legged, brood.
little
Peregil was, self a
The
great pleasure of honest
whenever he could afford him-
scanty holiday, to take the whole
litter
with him, some in his arms, some tugging at his skirts,
and some trudging
and
them
to treat
to a 91
at his heels,
gambol among the
orchards of the Vega, while his wife was
dancing with her holiday friends in the Angosturas of the Darro.
was a
It
most
hour one summer night, and
late
of the water-carriers
The day had been uncommonly
their toils. sultry.
had desisted from
The
night
was one
of those delicious
moonlights which tempt the inhabitants of
summer
climes to linger in the open until
after midnight.
therefore
still
Customers for water were
abroad. Peregil, like a con-
siderate, painstaking father,
thought of his
hungry children. "
One more journey
to the well," said
to himself, " to earn a Sunday's
the
little
So
up the steep avenue
Alhambra, singing
now and
puchero for
ones."
saying, he trudged
of the
he
as he went,
and
then bestowing a hearty thwack
with a cudgel on the flanks of his donkey, either
by way
of
cadence to the song, or re92
JSi^5^b of
t^(^
(Tnoov'0 &tQCiC^
freshment to the animal ; for dry blows serve
provender in Spain for
in lieu of
of
beasts
burden.
When serted in
all
arrived at the well, he found
by every one except a
it
de-
solitary stranger
Moorish garb, seated on a stone bench
the moonlight. Peregil paused at
first
in
and
regarded him with surprise, not unmixed with awe, but the Moor feebly beckoned him to approach.
"
I
am
faint
and
said
ill,"
return to the city, and
I will
he
" aid
:
was touched "
God
the
to
pay you double
what you could gain by your jars
The honest heart of
me
little
of water."
water-carrier
at the appeal of the stranger.
forbid," said he, " that
I
should ask
fee or
reward for doing an act
of kindness,"
He
accordingly helped the
Moor on
donkey, and set
off
slowly for Granada, the
poor Moslem being so weak that cessary to hold
him from
his
him on
falling to the
93
it
was ne-
the animal to keep
ground.
When
they entered the
the water-
city,
demanded whither he should conduct
carrier
him.
"Alas!" neither
said the
home nor
Moor
faintly,
habitation;
in the land. Suffer
me
"
have
I
lam a stranger
to lay
my
head
this
night beneath your roof, and you shall be
amply
repaid."
Honest Peregil thus saw himself unexpectedly saddled with an infidel guest, but
he was too humane to refuse a night's shelter to a fellow-being in so forlorn a plight;
so he conducted the
The
children,
Moor
who had
to his dwelling.
sallied forth
open-
mouthed, as usual, on hearing the tramp the donkey, ran back with affright
of
when they
beheld the turbaned stranger and hid themselves behind their mother. forth like a ruffling
" this
What infidel
The latter stepped
hen before her brood.
companion," cried she, "is
you have brought home
hour?" 94
at this
late
&tQtr(b of t^t (jnoot^if Bt^ac^
"Be
quiet, wife," replied Peregil:
"here
a poor sick stranger, without friend or
is
Would you
home.
turn
him
forth to perish
in the streets?"
The
wife would
still
have remonstrated,
for although she lived in a hovel, she
was
a furious stickler for the credit of her house.
The
little
water-carrier, however,
was
for
once stiff-necked, and refused to bend beneath the yoke. to alight,
for
He assisted the poor Moslem
and spread a mat and a sheepskin
him on the ground,
of the house,
in the coolest part
being the only kind of bed
that he had.
In a
little
violent skill of
My
I die, I
for
Moor was
convulsions, which the water-carrier.
to his side
"
while the
He
and addressing him
end," said he, "I fear
bequeath you
this
seized with
defied
all
the
called Peregil in a is
box
low voice
at hand.
as a
If
reward
your charity."
So saying, he opened 95
his cloak,
and showed
box
a small
of
sandal-wood, strapped round
his body.
"
God
grant,
Gallego, " that
my
friend," replied the
you may
enjoy your treasure,
The Moor shook
many years to whatever it may be." live
his head.
He
laid his
hand upon the box, and would have something more about returned, and in a
The
little
it,
little
said
but his convulsions
while he expired.
water-carrier's wife
was now
as one
distracted.
"This comes,"
good
said she, " of
your foolish
nature, always running into scrapes to
oblige others. this corpse is
What will become of found in our house ?
us
when
We
shall
be sent to prison as murderers."
Poor Peregil almost repented done a good deed,
for,
distracted as his wife.
in truth,
At
of
having
he was as
length a thought
struck him.
"
It is
not yet day," said he.
vey the dead body out 96
" I can con-
of the city,
and bury
JS^(5enb of t^t (WVoot'j5 it
in the sands
No
on the banks
M^ac^ of the Xenil.
Moor enter our dwelling, and no one will know anything of his death." So said, so done. The wife aided him: they rolled the body of the Moor in the mat on one saw the
which he had expired,
laid
it
across the
donkey, and Peregil set out with
banks
As
it
for the
of the river.
ill-luck
would have
it,
there lived op-
posite to the water-carrier a barber
named
Pedrillo Pedrugo, one of the
most prying,
and mischief-making
of his gossip
tattling, tribe.
varlet.
He was
a weasel-faced, spider-legged
The famous barber
of Seville could
not surpass him for his universal knowledge of the affairs of others,
power
and he had no more
of retention than a sieve. It
was
that he slept with but one eye at a time,
said
and
kept one ear uncovered, so that even in his sleep he might see and hear
going on. Certain
it
is,
97
all
that
was
he was a sort of
â&#x201A;ŹaUB
from t^t (^Cfamfim
chronicle for the quidnuncs of Granada, and
had more customers than
all
the rest of his
fraternity.
You may be
sure that he heard Peregil
arrive at an unusual hour of the night.
head was instantly popped out
dow which saw
his
of a little
His win-
served him as a look-out, and he
neighbour
assist a
man
in
Moorish
garb into his dwelling. This was so strange
an occurrence, that Pedrillo Pedrugo slept not a wink that night. Every five minutes
he was that
at his loophole,
watching the
gleamed through the chinks
lights
of PeregiPs
door, and before daylight he beheld Peregil sally forth
with his donkey unusually laden.
The barber was
in a fidget.
He
slipped
on his clothes, and silently followed the watercarrier at a distance, until he
saw him dig a
hole in the sandy bank of the Xenil, and
bury the dead body.
He rise
then went back to his shop.
At
he took a basin under his arm, and 98
sunsal-
lied forth to the
the
house
The
alcalde.
of his daily customer,
Pedrugo seated him
Pedrillo
threw a napkin round of hot
was
alcalde
just in
risen.
a chair,
his neck, put a basin
water under his chin, and began his
work. " Strange doings," said he
murder and "
Hey
!
" robbery and
:
" burial all in one night!
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what !
is
that
you say ? "
cried the alcalde.
" I say," replied the barber, rubbing a piece of soap over the nose
and mouth
of the dig-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; "I say that Peregil the Gallego has
nitary,
robbed and murdered a Moor, and buried
him this blessed for the
same
"
Be
about
Accursed be the night
" !
how do you know
" But
manded
night.
all this ?
" de-
the alcalde.
patient, Senor,
it,"
and you
shall hear all
replied Pedrillo, taking
him by
nose and sliding a razor over his cheek. then told
all
the
He
he had seen, shaving his beard, 99
his chin, while
and washing
he was robbing,
murdering, and burying the Moor.
Now one
happened
so
it
that this alcalde
the most overbearing
of
judges in
all
Granada.
however, that he tice, for
he sold
It
and greedy
could not be denied,
upon
jus-
in gold.
He
set a high value
it
presumed the case
weight
at its
was
in point to
be one
of
mur-
der and robbery. Doubtless there must be a rich spoil. It
was not long before he had the
poor water-carrier before him.
"Hark voice that
you, culprit," roared
made
"everything
is
little
he
in
a
Peregil's knees shake,
known
to
me.
A gallows
is
the proper reward for the crime you have
committed, but that has
a
I
am
merciful.
been murdered
Moor, an
infidel,
the
Render up the property
in
your house was
enemy of
The man
of our faith.
which you have
robbed him, and we will hush the matter up."
The poor saints,
water-carrier called upon
all
the
but alas! not one of them appeared. lOO
BtQM'b of
He
Bt^ctc^
the whole story of the
related
Moor
iS}t (ttloot^ief
truthfully, but
"Will you
was
it
all in
persist in saying,"
the judge, "that this
dying
vain.
demanded
Moslem had
neither
gold nor jewels?" "
He
had nothing but a small box
of san-
dal-wood," said Peregil, " which he gave in
reward
"A
for
box
of
my
services."
sandal-wood! a box of san-
dal-wood!" exclaimed the
alcalde, his eyes
sparkling at the idea of jewels. is this
me
"And where
box? Where have you concealed it?"
" Please, your grace," replied the watercarrier, "
it
is
in
one
of the panniers of
my
mule, and heartily at the service of your worship."
He
had hardly spoken the words, when
the keen alguazil darted in
off,
and reappeared
an instant with the box of sandal-wood.
The judge opened bling hand.
it
with an eager and trem-
All pressed forward to gaze
upon the treasure
it
was expected lOI
to con-
tain;
when,
nothing
to their disappointment,
appeared within but a parchment
scroll,
covered with Arabic characters, and an end of a
waxen
The
taper.
alcalde, finding
was no
there
that
booty in the case, discharged Peregil from arrest, permitting
legacy, the
box
tents; but alas,
ment
of costs
him to carry
of sandal- wood
he kept
his
own
upon
hill in
con-
in
pay-
I
He now had
to
water-carrier and trudge up to
the well of the jar
its
and charges.
Poor unfortunate Peregil be
and
donkey
his
Moor's
off the
Alhambra with a great earthen
As he toiled up the summer noon, his usual
his shoulder.
the heat of a
good humour forsook him. "
Dog
of an alcalde ! "
rob a poor
man
would he
of the best friend
cry, " to
he had in
the world!"
And
then at the remembrance of his be-
loved companion, he would exclaim: 1
02
&^QM)> of
"Ah, donkey you think
t^t (JUoot'^ Bt^ac^i of
my
heart!
your old master
of
you miss the water-jars
To add
warrant
I !
I
warrant
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; poor beast!
to his trouble, he
me me
"
had to endure
the railings and reproaches of his wife.
He
was much grieved
in flesh
At
length, one evening,
when,
toil,
and
spirit.
after a hot day's
she was scolding him as usual, he seized
the sandal-wood box, and dashed
it
to the
floor.
" Unlucky was the day
I
ever set eyes on
you," he cried, "or sheltered your master
beneath
As
my
the
roof."
box struck the
floor, the lid
flew
open, and the parchment scroll rolled forth.
"Who
knows,"
may be Moor seems this
care
?
of
to
thought Peregil, "but
some importance, have guarded
it
as
the
with such
"
Picking
it
up, therefore, he put
it
in his
bosom, and the next morning, as he was crying water through the streets, he stopped 103
â&#x201A;ŹciU0 ftom shop
at the
^(^antfim
Moor, a native
of a
and asked him
t^t
of Tangiers,
to explain the contents.
The Moor read
the scroll attentively.
" This manuscript," he said, " of incantation for the
a form
is
recovery of enchanted
treasures."
"Bah!" all
that to
cried the
me ?
I
little
am
So saying, he took
Gallego,
"what
is
no enchanter."
his water-jar and
trudged
forward on his daily rounds.
That evening, however, self
as
he rested him-
about twilight at the well, he heard some
of the gossips
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they were
who had as
gathered at the place
poor as
rats
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; talking about
riches
left
by the Moors
the enchanted
the Alhambra.
They
told marvellous tales of the treasures
which
in
different
parts of
they believed were buried deep in the earth
under the tower stories
mind
of the s*even floors.
These
made an unusual impression on
of the
deeper and
the
honest Peregil, and they sank
deeper
into 104
his
thoughts
as
ÂŁe5<^b of
ti}t
(JUoOt'0 &tQCiC1^
down
he returned alone
the darkling ave-
nues. "If, after all," thought he, "there should
be treasure hid beneath that tower; and the scroll
I left
with the
me to get at it!" He well nigh let
fall
Moor
if
should enable
his water-jar at the
thought.
That night he tumbled and
tossed,
and
could scarcely get a wink of sleep for his thoughts. Bright and early he went again to the Moor's shop and told
him
passing in his mind.
all
that
'
You can read Arabic," pose we go together to the
said he
the effect of the charm;
it
"
no worse
off
equally
"This writing said the
by the
if
Moor:
is
"it
all
:
" sup-
tower, and try
than before; but
we will share may discover."
was
fails, if it
we
succeeds,
the treasure
not sufficient of
must be read
are
we
itself,"
at midnight,
light of a taper singularly prepared of 105
certain ingredients,
reach.
which are not within
Without such a taper the
scroll
my
is
of
no avail."
"Say no more!" " it
cried the
and
at hand,
have such a taper
I
little
Gallego.
will bring
here in a moment."
So
saying, he hastened
home, and soon re-
turned with the end of a yellow that he
had found
box
in the
of
wax
taper
sandal-wood.
The Moor smelt of it. " Here are rare and costly perfumes," said he. "While this burns, the strongest walls and most secret caverns will remain open, but
woe
to
goes out.
him who
lingers within until
it
He will remain enchanted with the
treasure." It
was now agreed between them
charm
that very night.
At
to try the
a late hour
when
only bats and owls were stirring, they climbed
woody hill of the Alhambra and made their way to the awful tower. By the light of a lantern the}^ groped their way through bushes,
the
1
06
&t^m^
of
QUoot'0 ^e^ac^
tSit
and over
fallen stones, to the
beneath.
With
scended a led to an
fear
door
of a vault
and trembling they de-
flight of steps cut into the rock. It
empty chamber, damp and
Then they went down another
drear.
flight into a
deeper vault, and so on until they had gone
down
four flights of
The
ferent vaults. solid.
The
air
stairs,
and into four
floor of the fourth
was damp and
chilly.
dif-
was
Here
they waited until they heard the clock in the
watchtower
strike midnight.
Then they
lit
the taper which diffused an odour of myrrh
and frankincense and
storax.
The Moor began to read in a hurried voice. He had scarce finished when there was a noise as of thunder beneath them. The earth shook, and the floor opened, showing a flight of steps.
They went down and found them-
selves in another vault covered with Arabic inscriptions.
In
the
centre stood a great
chest, secured with seven at
bands
of steel,
each end of which sat an enchanted 107
Moor
â&#x201A;Źixk0 ftom t^t (Kt^ixm&xa in
armour.
jars filled
Before the chest were several
with gold and silver and precious
In the largest of these they thrust
stones.
arms up
their
to the elbow,
and
at
every
dip hauled forth handfuls of broad pieces of
Moorish gold, or bracelets and ornaments of the
same precious metal. Sometimes a
necklace of pearl would stick to their fingers.
And
all
Moors
the time the enchanted
glaring at
them with unwinking
sat
eyes.
They fancied they heard a noise from above and both rushed up the
staircase, falling
over
each other as they went. They overturned the
waxen
taper,
and when
floor closed again with a
it
went
out, the
thundering sound.
Filled with dismay, they did not pause until
they had groped their wa}^ out of the
tower, and beheld the stars shining through the trees.
Then
seating themselves
grass, they divided their treasures
mined
make
to return
some night
sure of each other's 08
upon the
and deter-
for more.
good
To
faith, also,
'
!^l^i?
iJCjKey ia,ncled ikey keskrd a noise irom
aWe
|*^ยง.
&^Qtnb
of
(JTloot'0 Mit^ac^
tS}t
they divided the talismans between them, one taking the scroll, the other the taper. This done, they set off with light hearts and welllined pockets for Granada.
As
they wended their
the shrewd
way down
Moor whispered a word
sel in the ear of the
simple
little
If
of the alcalde,
a whisper of
we
are
it
coun-
all this afTair
until
secured the treasure, and conveyed
harm's way.
of
hill,
water-carrier.
" Friend Peregil," said he, "
must be kept a profound secret
the
we have it
out of
gets to the ear
undone!"
" Certainly," replied the Gallego, " nothing can be more true."
" Friend Peregil," said the Moor,
''
you are
a discreet man, and can keep a secret, but you
have a wife."
"She plied the
shall not little
know
a
word
water-carrier sturdily.
Never was promise more alas
!
of it," re-
what man can keep a
sincere; but
secret
from
his
wife? Certainly not such a one as Peregil 109
â&#x201A;Źak&
from t^t ^i^am&ta
On
the water-carrier.
found
his wife
moping
"You've come
home, he
in a corner.
at last," she cried," after
rambling about until I
his return
this
hour
of the night.
wonder you have not brought home another
Moor."
Then
bursting into tears, she began to
wring her hands.
"What
"My
will
become
of
us?" she
husband a do-no-good that no longer
home bread
brings
to his family, but goes
rambling about day and night, with
Moors! will
cried.
O my
become
in the streets
children!
of us
?
my
infidel
children!
what
We shall all have to beg
!
Honest Peregil was so moved by her tears that
he could not help whimpering
also.
Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he hauled forth three or four gold pieces, and slipped
them
into her
bosom. Then he took out a
golden chain and dangled
it
before her,
the time smiling from ear to ear.
no
all
&^^Ml
of
tS}t (ttloot'j^
&^QClC^
" What have you been doing, Peregil ? "
exclaimed the wife. " Surely you have not
been committing robbery!"
But she became so sure
of
entered her brain, that she
it,
after the idea
into violent
fell
What could the poor man do He other way to ease her mind than to
weeping.
had no tell
.^^
her the whole story of his good fortune.
Her
joy was boundless. And, of course, she
promised
"Now,
to
keep the
secret.
wife," exclaimed
the
with honest exultation, " what say to the Moor's legacy?
abuse
me
man you now
little
Henceforth never
for helping a fellow-creature in
distress."
Peregil slept soundly that night. his wife.
Not
She emptied the whole contents
his pockets
upon the mat, and
sat
so of
counting
gold pieces of Arabic coin, trying on necklaces
and earrings, and fancying the figure
she should one day
make when permitted
enjoy her riches. Ill
to
â&#x201A;Źcik0
On
ftrom t^t (glf^amfita
the following morning the honest Gal-
lego sold one of the coins to a jeweller, and
with the little
money bought new and
flock,
all
clothes for his
kinds of toys, and good
things to eat, and returning to his dwelling, set all his children
he capered
dancing around him, while
in their midst, the happiest of
fathers.
What was secret.
surprising, his wife kept
For a whole day and a
about with a look
of
half she
went
mystery and a heart
most bursting, yet she told not a word It is true,
the
she gave herself a few
al-
of
airs.
it.
She
new basquiila all trimmed and a new mantilla. She
talked of buying a
with gold
lace,
threw out hints of her husband's intention
of
leaving off his trade of water-carrying, as
it
did not altogether agree with his health.
The
stared
gossips
thought she had
lost
at
each other and
her wits, and the
mo-
ment her back was
turned, they were quite
merry over her
and graces.
airs
112
When
she
jS^^^b of
t^t Q!Uoot^0
M^aci^^
got home, she put a string of pearls round
her neck, bracelets on her arms, a diamond aigrette
on her head, and sailed backwards
and forwards in a piece of
in
her rags, admiring herself
broken mirror.
And
not resist showing herself at the
she could
window
to
enjoy the effect on the passers by.
As
the fates
would have
it,
Pedrillo Pe-
drugo, the meddlesome barber, was at this
moment
sitting idly in his
site side of
ful
shop on the oppo-
when
the street,
his
ever-watch-
eye caught the sparkle of the diamonds.
In an instant he
was
at his loophole
watching
Peregil's wife decorated with the splendour of
an eastern bride.
No
sooner had he taken
an accurate inventory of her ornaments than he posted
off
with
all
speed to the alcalde,
and before the day was over the unfortunate Peregil
was once more dragged
into the pre-
sence of the judge. " in
How
is this,
villain! " cried the alcalde,
a furious voice. "
You
"3
told
me
that the
^akB Moor who
from t^t ^(^amfita
died in your house
behind but an empty of
coffer,
left
and
nothing
now
I
hear
your wife flaunting in her rags decked out
with pearls and diamonds. Wretch that 3^ou are
Prepare to render up the spoils of your
!
miserable victim and to swing on the gal-
lows that
is
already tired of waiting for
you."
The
and confessed the whole
was sent
secret.
his
knees
The Moor
He entered half-frightened out When he beheld the water-car-
for.
of his wits. rier,
on
terrified water-carrier fell
he understood the whole matter.
" Miserable animal," said he, as he passed
near him, "did
not bling to your wife ? "
The
I
Moor
story of the
with that of Peregil to
be slow
of
imprisonment. "Softly,
of belief
warn you
:
against bab-
coincided exactly
but the alcalde affected
and threw out menaces
good Senor Alcalde,"
Moor, who by
this
said the
time had recovered his 114
Se^enb
B^^ac^
of t^^ (ttloot?'0
usual shrewdness and self-possession. " Let
us not
mar
fortune's favours in a scramble
Nobody knows anything
for them.
of this
matter but ourselves. Let us keep the secret.
There
is
rich us shall
wealth enough in the cave to en-
all.
Promise a
fair division
and
all
be produced. Refuse, and the cave shall
remain for ever closed."
The guazil.
alcalde consulted apart with the al-
The latter was a fox
in his profession.
" Promise anything," said he, " until you get possession of the treasure.
upon the whole, and
seize
You may then
if
they dare to
murmur, threaten them with the faggot and the stake."
The
alcalde relished the advice.
Smooth-
ing his brow, and turning to the Moor, he said:
" This
but
I
is
a strange story and
must have proof
of
it.
may be
This very night
you must repeat the incantation sence.
If
true,
in
my
pre-
there be really such treasure,
"5
we
will share
between us and say nothing fur-
it
ther of the matter.
expect no mercy at
If
you have deceived me,
my
hands."
Towards midnight they started
out.
Every-
The scroll was produced, the yellow waxen taper was lighted, and the Moor read the form of incantation. The earth trembled, and the thing turned out as before.
pavement opened with a thundering sound,
The
disclosing the narrow flight of steps. alcalde, the alguazil,
and the barber were
struck aghast, and could not
summon
cour-
Moor and
the water-
carrier entered the lower vault,
and found
age to descend. The
the
two Moors seated
They removed two
motionless. jars, filled
stones.
as before, silent
and
of the great
with golden coin and precious
The
water-carrier bore
by one upon on each side
his shoulders
of his
them up one
and slung them
donkey. Peregil staggered
beneath their weight, and they were as as the animal could bear. ii6
much
&tQtnb of
ti}t
(VUoot^0 &t$CiC^^
" Let us be content for the present," said the
Moor. " Here
can carry to
make
off
us
is
as
much
treasure as
we
without being seen, and enough
all
wealthy."
"Is there more treasure remaining?" de-
manded "
The
the alcalde. greatest
Moor: "a huge of steel,
and
prize coffer
filled
of
all,"
said
the
bound with bands
with pearls and precious
stones."
"Let us have up
the coffer
by
all
means,"
cried the grasping alcalde.
"I will descend for no more," said the
Moor. "Enough
is
enough
for a reasonable
man." "
And
I,"
said the water-carrier,
" will
bring up no further burden to break the back of
my
poor donkey."
Finding commands,
threats,
and entreaties
equally vain, the alcalde turned to his
two
adherents.
"
Aid me,"
said he, " to bring 117
up the
cof-
fer,
and
its
contents shall be divided between
us."
So saying, he descended the
steps, fol-
lowed by the alguazil and the barber.
No sooner did the Moor behold them fairly earthed than he blew out the yellow taper.
The pavement
closed with
usual crash,
its
and the three remained buried.
He
then hastened up the different flights
nor stopped until in the open
of steps,
The
little
water-carrier followed
would
as his short legs
"
him
air.
as fast
permit.
What have you done ? "
cried Peregil, as
soon as he could recover breath. " The alcalde
and the other two are shut up "It
in the vault."
the will of Allah!" said the
is
Moor
devoutly.
"And manded
will
you not release them?" de-
the Gallego.
" Allah forbid " replied the Moor, smooth!
ing his beard. "It fate that
is
written in the book of
they shall remain enchanted until ii8
&^QMl some
of
tS}^
QfUoor'^ &tQCiC^i
when
future time
the
charm
shall
be
broken."
So saying, he hurled the waxen taper the
gloomy
into
thickets of the glen.
There was now no remedy, so the Moor and Peregil, with the richly laden donkey, pro-
ceeded toward the water-carrier
was
The honest
city.
so
happy to have
little
his long-
eared companion restored to him once more, that he could not refrain It is
from hugging him.
doubtful which gave
at that
him the most joy
moment â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the rich
treasures, or the
recovery of his beloved donkey.
The two
partners in good luck divided
their spoil fairly, except that the
Moor made
out to get into his heap the most of the pearls
and precious stones, but then he always gave the water-carrier in lieu magnificent jewels of
massive gold, of
which the
latter
They took
five times the size,
was
with
heartily content.
great care not to linger within
reach of accidents, but 119
made
off to enjoy
their wealth undisturbed in other countries.
The Moor
returned to Africa, to his native
and the Gallego, with
city of Tangiers,
wife, his children,
best of his
way
and
his
his
donkey, made the
Here he be-
to Portugal.
came a personage of some consequence, for his wife made him array his long body and short legs in doublet and hose, with a feather in his hat
change
his
children self,
and a sword by
name
grew up
to
as
his side
Don Pedro
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
Gil.
merry hearted
as
His him-
while Senora Gil, befringed, belaced,
and betasselled from her head
to her heels,
with glittering rings on every finger, became a model of fashion and finery.
As
to the alcalde
and
his adjuncts, they
remained shut up under the great tower
of
the seven floors, and there they remain spell-
bound
at the present day.
Bejmb
of i^t
Be^enb of (^t
N
old
times there reigned a
Moorish
king
in
Granada,
whose name was Mohamed, which
to
the
title
of "
his
subjects
The Left-handed." Some say
he was so called on account really
added
more expert with his
left
of his
being
than his right
hand; others, because he was prone to take ever37thing
by the wrong end,
or, in
other
words, to mar wherever he meddled. Certain it is
he was continually
he driven from
in trouble.
his throne,
Thrice was
and on one occa-
sion barely escaped to Africa with his
dressed as a fisherman. as
Still
life,
he was as brave
he was blundering; and, though left-hand-
ed, wielded his cimeter to such purpose that
he always succeeded
in 123
keeping his throne*
As this Mohamed was one day riding forth with a train of his courtiers, he met a band of
horsemen returning from a foray
land of the Christians.
into the
They were conduct-
ing a long string of mules laden with spoil,
and many captives, among
whom
the
mon-
arch was struck with the appearance of a beautiful damsel, palfrey, of a
who
sat
weeping on a low
and heeded not the consoling words
duenna who rode beside
The monarch noted her
her.
beauty, and on in-
quiring of the captain of the troop, found that
she was the daughter of an alcayde.
claimed her as his royal share
Mohamed
of the booty,
had her taken to the Alhambra, and soon sought to make her his queen.
At
first
to him.
the Spanish maid
He was
country, and, what
an
would not listen
infidel,
a foe to her
was worse, he was stricken
in years!
Finding his addresses
hamed decided
of
no
avail,
Mo-
to enlist in his favour the 124
services of the duenna,
who had been
cap-
tured with the lady. She was an Andalusian
whose name was Kadiga. he had a
little
No
sooner had
private conversation with her
than she promised to undertake his cause
with her young mistress. "
Go
to,
she. "
now! " cried
in all this to
weep and
What
there
is
wail about? Is
it
not
better to be mistress of this beautiful palace,
with
its
gardens and fountains, than to be
shut up within your father's tower this
Mohamed
to the purpose ligion.
At any
being an
infidel,
You marry
?
rate,
what
As is
to
that
him, not his re-
you are
power,
in his
and must either be a queen or a
The arguments
?
slave."
Kadiga prevailed. The
of
Spanish lady dried her tears, and became the
queen
of
Mohamed,
even conformed
in
the Left-handed.
appearance to the
She
faith of
her royal husband. In process of time,
Mohamed was made
the happy father of three daughters, 125
all
born
at the
same
time, and, as
Moorish kings, he sent "
Your daughters,"
was usual with
for his astrologers.
said they, " will
most
need your watchfulness when they arrive a marriageable age.
at
At that time gather them
under your wings, and
trust
them
to
no one
else."
Mohamed of not
the Left-handed had
being able to outwit the
little
fear
fates, for
he
considered himself a wise king, as did also his courtiers.
Within a few
years, the
queen died, leav-
ing her infant daughters to his love, and to the fidelity of Kadiga. to pass before they of
Many
years had yet
would arrive at the period
danger â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the marriageable age. "It
is
good, however, to be cautious in
time," said the shrewd
Mohamed,
so he de-
termined to have the princesses reared in a distant castle,
on the summit
of a hill over-
looking the Mediterranean sea.
It
was a
royal retreat, and here they remained, separ136
ated from the world, but surrounded by every pleasure.
grew
In this abode, the three princesses
up
wondrous beauty;
though
all
reared alike, they gave early tokens of a
dif-
into
ference
of
but,
Their names were
character.
Zayda, Zorayda and Zorahayda.
Zayda, the
eldest,
and took the lead thing.
was
of
an intrepid
spirit,
of her sisters in every-
She was curious and
inquisitive,
and
fond of getting at the bottom of things.
Zorayda had a great feeling
which was the reason, no doubt, lighting to regard her
own image
for beauty, of her dein a
mirror
or a fountain, and of her fondness for flowers
and jewels, and other
As soft
to
tasteful
ornaments.
Zorahayda, the youngest, she was
and timid, and very
vast deal of tenderness, as
sensitive,
with a
was evident from
her number of pet flowers, and pet birds, and pet animals,
all of
which she cherished with
the fondest care.^Her amusements, too, were 127
â&#x201A;Źcik& from t^t (^C^amfim and mixed with musing
of a gentle nature,
She would
and reverie.
hours
for
sit
in a
balcony, gazing on the stars of a summer's night, or on the sea
when lit up by the moon;
at
such times the song of a fisherman,
faintly
heard from the beach, or the notes of
and
a Moorish ecstasy.
The
however, of
elevated her feelings into
flute,
least
filled
uproar of the elements,
her with dismay, and a clap
thunder was enough to throw her into a
swoon.
Years rolled on serenely. Kadiga was her
faithful to
trust,
and attended the three
princesses with unremitting care.
The
has been said, was built
castle, as
on the sea-coast. straggled
down
One
the
hill, until
rock overhanging the
tower on
this
sea.
pavilion, with latticed
Here
outer walls it
A
rock had been
/
sea-breeze.
of the
reached a
small watchfitted
windows
to
up
as a
admit the
the princesses used to pass
the sultry hours of mid-day. 128
The a
curious
window
Zayda was one day seated
of the pavilion, as her sisters, re-
clining on ottomans,
when ley
their siesta,
her attention was attracted to a gal-
near, she
the
were taking
which came coasting along. As
saw
The
men.
at
tower.
that
it
was
filled
it
drew
with armed
galley anchored at the foot of
A
number
of
Moorish
soldiers
landed on the narrow beach, conducting several Christian prisoners.
Zayda awakened her
sisters,
and
all
three peeped cautiously through the lattice.
Among
the prisoners
were three Spanish
cavaliers, richly dressed. ful
They were youth-
and noble, and though loaded with chains
and surrounded with enemies, carried themselves in a lofty manner.
been cooped up is
The
princesses had
in the castle so
long that
it
not to be wondered at that they should
gaze with breathless interest at three gallant cavaliers in the pride of youth.
"Did ever nobler being 129
tread the earth
than the cavalier in crimson ?" cried Zayda.
"See how proudly he bears though all around him were his
himself, as
slaves
!
" But notice the one in green! " exclaimed
"What
Zorayda.
what
grace! what elegance!
spirit!
The
gentle Zorahayda said nothing, but
she secretly gave preference to the cavalier in blue.
The
princesses remained gazing until the
prisoners
were out
of sight,
and then
sat
down, musing and pensive, on their ottomans. Kadiga found them
in this situation,
and
they related to her what they had seen. " Poor youths " exclaimed she. " !
rant their captivity
makes many a
I
war-
'11
fair
and
high-born lady's heart ache in their native
Ah! my
you have
little
idea
of the life these cavaliers lead in their
own
land!
country.
children,
Such devotion
courting and serenading
The
curiosity of
to the ladies
Such
!
Zayda was 130
!
" fully aroused.
She
plied the
duenna with questions, and
drew from her and native
The
tales of
her youthful days
Zorayda
slyly regarded her-
land.
beautiful
when
self in a mirror,
upon the charms
of the
the
theme turned
Spanish
Zorahayda suppressed a sigh
ladies.
at the
men-
tion of moonlight serenades.
Every day the curious Zayda renewed her inquiries, stories.
and every day Kadiga repeated her
The
old
woman awoke
at length to
the mischief she might be doing. She had
been used
to thinking of the princesses only
as children, but she realized
now
that there
bloomed before her three damsels
of the
marriageable age. "
It is
time," thought she, " to give notice
to the king."
Mohamed
the Left-handed
morning on a divan
was seated one
in a cool hall of the
Al-
hambra, when a slave arrived with a message 131
â&#x201A;Źcik0 ftom
t^t
(^t^cm&xa
from Kadiga, congratulating him on the an I niversary of his slave at the little
The
daughters' birthday.
same time presented a
delicate
basket decorated with flowers, within
which lay a peach, an
and a necta-
apricot,
rine, all three in a stage of ripeness.
being versed in the language of
The king fruits
and
flowers at once understood the meaning of this offering.
" So," said he, " the out by
the
critical
period pointed
astrologers has
daughters are at a marriageable age. is
What
done ? They are shut up from the
to be
eyes of
My
arrived.
men under
very good
my own
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but
eye. I
the care of Kadiga still
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
all
they are not under
must gather them under
my
wing, and trust them to no one else."
So
saying, he ordered that a tower of the
Alhambra should be prepared
for them,
and
departed with his guards for the castle, to
conduct them home It
in person.
had been three years since 132
Mohamed
had beheld the princesses, and he could scarcely believe his eyes at the wonderful
change which that small space
made
in
of time
had
them.
Zayda was
tall
and
finely formed, with
a lofty manner. She entered with a stately
and made a profound reverence to Mo-
step,
hamed,
him more
treating
as her sovereign
than her father.
Zorayda was
of the
middle height, with
an alluring look heightened by the assistance of the toilette.
She approached her father with
a smile, kissed his hand, and recited several stanzas from an Arabian poet.
The king was
delighted.
Zorahayda was shy and timid, smaller than her
sisters,
and with a beauty
of that
tender kind which looks for fondness and protection. like
She was
Zayda
drew near step,
little
fitted to
command
or to dazzle like Zorayda. to her
father,
with a faltering
and would have taken 133
She
his
hand to
â&#x201A;Ź(xk0 ftom i§e ^f^amfim kiss,
ing
but on looking up into his face, and see-
beam with
it
a smile, she threw her arms
^
about his neck.
Mohamed
the Left-handed looked at the
three princesses with mingled pride and perplexity, for while
he exulted
in their
charms,
he bethought him of the prediction
of the
astrologers.
" Three daughters
he to himself, " and
!
He
!
all of
Here 's tempting fruit watch
three daughters " said
a marriageable age
that requires a dragon
!"
prepared for his return to Granada by him, commanding
sending heralds before
every one to keep out of the road by which
he was to pass, and that
all
dows should be closed This done, they
The
doors and win-
at their
approach.
set forth.
princesses
rode
beside
the
king,
closely veiled, on beautiful white palfreys.
The silk
bits
and
bridles
stirrups
were
of gold
and the
were adorned with precious 134
stones. silver
The palfreys were covered with little bells, which made the most musical
tinkling as they
ambled along.
bells!
to the
who lingered in the
unlucky wight, however,
way when he heard
Woe
the tinkling of these
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the guards were ordered
him
to cut
down without mercy. The cavalcade was drawing near to Granada, when it overtook, on the banks of the river Xenil, a small
body of Moorish soldiers
with some prisoners.
It
was too
soldiers to get out of the
late for the
way, so they threw
themselves on their faces on the earth, order-
Among cavaliers whom
ing their captives to do the like. prisoners
were the three
princesses had seen from the pavilion. either did not understand, or to
the the
They
were too proud
obey the order, and remained standing and
gazing upon the cavalcade as
The
ire of
the
it
approached.
monarch was kindled at this
defiance of his orders.
Drawing
his cimeter,
and pressing forward, he was about 135
to
deal
a left-handed blow that might have been
one
fatal to at least
princesses
mercy
of the gazers
when
the
crowded round him, and implored
for the prisoners.
Even
the timid
Zorahayda forgot her shy-
ness.
Mohamed when
paused, with uplifted cimeter,
the captain of the guard threw himself
at his feet.
" Let not your highness," said he, " do a
deed that may cause great trouble throughout the kingdom. These are three brave and
noble Spanish knights,
who have been taken
in battle, fighting like lions.
high birth, and "
Enough
!
may
They
are of
bring great ransoms."
" said the king. " I will spare
their lives, but they
them be taken
must be punished. Let
to the
Vermilion Towers and
put to hard labour."
Mohamed was making
one
handed blunders. In the tumult
of
his
left-
of this blus-
tering scene, the veils of the three princesses 136
^4£
iBSlkejttiiKes^ arm^eA rourAUm^im^otzim€K^&riitej^iiso«en
had been thrown back. In those days people fell in
love
much more suddenly than at
sent, as all ancient stories will tell you.
therefore
is
it
not a matter of
that
were com-
them with a
sev-
to the princesses, they
were
pletely captured, each of
As
And
wonder
the hearts of the three cavaliers
eral beauty.
pre-
more than ever struck with the noble demeanour
of the three cavaliers.
The cavalcade resumed
back
now and
palfreys,
their
then glancing
in search of the Christian captives
were being conducted
The
march.
rode pensively along on
princesses tinkling
its
who
to their allotted pri-
son.
The was
residence provided for the princesses
in a
tower,
main palace nected with the whole it
somewhat
of the it
apart from the
Alhambra, though con-
by the wall which encircled
summit
of the hill.
looked into the interior *
137
On
one side
of the fortress,
and
had, at
its
flowers.
foot, a small
On
the other side
embowered
a deep
grounds
garden
of the
it
filled
with
overlooked
ravine, separating the
Alhambra from those
of the
Generalife.
The
the
interior of
tower was divided
into small fairy apartments, light
Arabian
style,
ornamented
surrounding a lofty
the roof of which rose almost to the of the tower. hall
The
in
hall,
summit
walls and ceilings of the
were adorned with arabesque and
fret-
work, sparkling with gold and bright pencilling.
In the centre of the marble pavement
was an
alabaster fountain, set round with
shrubs and flowers, and throwing up a
jet of
water that cooled the whole place. Round the hall were
hung gold and
silver cages,
containing singing birds.
The princesses had always been cheerful when in the castle, and the king had expected to see
To
them enraptured with the Alhambra.
his surprise,
however, they began to pine 138
and grow melancholy, and everything around them. the flowers
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
song
They of
disturbed their night's rest
out of
all
dissatisfied
with
did not like
the nightingale
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and they were
patience with the fountain with
its
drop-drop and splash-splash, from morning
till
night and from night
till
morning.
The king at first took this in high displeasure. Then he reflected that his daughters were no longer j"
They
are
children.
women
need suitable objects
He
therefore had
grown," said he, " and to interest
all
them."
the dressmakers and
jewellers in Granada set to work, and the princesses were silk
overwhelmed with robes
of
and brocade, and cashmere shawls, and
necklaces of pearls and diamonds, and rings
and bracelets and anklets and
all
manner
of
precious things. All,
however, was
of
no
avail.
They con-
tinued pale and languid in the midst of their finery
and looked
like three blighted rose139
The king
buds, drooping from one stalk.
was
at his wits' end,
and called
in the aid of
the duenna.
" Kadiga," said he, "
I
wish you to find
out the secret malady that the princesses, and devise
them
storing
to health
is
preying upon
some means
and cheerfulness."
Kadiga promised obedience. In
knew more
of the
of re-
malady
fact she
of the princesses
than they did themselves. "
My
dear children," said she, " what
the reason
is
you are so dismal and downcast
in so beautiful
a place,
where you have
everything that heart can wish?"
The
princesses looked vacantl}^ round the
apartment, and sighed.
"
What more, then, would you have ?
I get
you the wonderful parrot
Shall
that talks all
languages ? " Odious " exclaimed the princess Zayda. !
"A
horrid, screaming bird,
without ideas." 140
that
chatters
" Shall
I
send for a monkey from the rock
of Gibraltar, to divert
you with
his antics
A monkey faugh cried Zorayda. ÂĽ detestable mimic of man. hate "
!
!
"
What say you
to the
"
The
the animal."
I
"
"
?
famous black singer,
Casem, from Morocco? They say he has a voice as fine as a woman's." "I
am
terrified at the sight of these
black
slaves," said the delicate Zorahayda. "
Be-
sides I have lost all relish for music."
"Ah, my
child,
you would not say so,"
replied Kadiga slyly,
music
I
heard
last
Spanish cavaliers
"had you heard the
evening from the three
whom we met
on our
journey. But bless me, children! what the matter that you are
all in
such a
flutter }
is
"
"Nothing, nothing, good mother: pray proceed."
" Well, as evening,
I
I
was passing by the tower last
saw the three
after their day's labour.
cavaliers resting
One was
a guitar, and the others sang 141
by
playing on turns,
and
â&#x201A;ŹakB they did
seemed
it
from
t§(^
such style that the very guards
in
Allah forgive me!
like statues.
could not help being
my
songs of
f^i^am&xa
moved
at .hearing the
native country.
see three such noble and " in chains and slavery
I
And
then to
handsome youths
I
Here the kind-hearted old woman could not keep back her tears.
"Perhaps, mother, you could manage to procure us a sight of these cavaliers," said
Zayda.
"I
think," said Zorayda,
would be
The
"a
little
music
quite reviving."
timid Zorahayda said nothing, but
threw her arms round the neck
"Mercy on me!" you talking
of,
my
would be the death such a thing.
of
cried she.
children? of us all
To be
Kadiga.
"What
Your if
are
father
he heard of
sure, these cavaliers
seem well-bred and high-minded; but what of that?
They
are the enemies of our faith,
and you must not think 142
of
them."
But her argument was princesses
of
no
avail.
The
hung around her and coaxed, and
declared that a refusal would break their hearts.
What most
could she do
?
She certainly was a But was
faithful servant to the king.
she to see three beautiful princesses break their hearts for the
mere
tinkling of a guitar ?
Besides, though she had been so long the Moors, she
among
was a Spaniard born, and had
the lingerings of Christianity in her heart.
So she
set
about to contrive
of the princesses
The
might be
how
the wish
gratified.
Christian captives, confined in the
Vermilion Towers, were under the charge of a big-whiskered,
broad-shouldered man,
called Hussein Baba,
who was
said to
have
a most itching palm. Kadiga went to him privately and slipped a broad piece of gold into his hand.
" Hussein Baba," said she, " my mistresses
the three princesses
who H3
are shut up in the
tower are
in sad
have heard
want the
of
of
amusement. They
musical talents of the
three Spanish cavaliers, and wish to hear
a specimen of their
skill. I
am
sure you are
too kind-hearted to refuse so innocent a request."
"What! and
to
have
ning over the gate of that
my head set grinmy own tower! for
would be the reward
if
the king should
discover it"
" No danger of anything of the kind affair
know
:
the
may be managed
so that the king will
nothing about
You know
it.
the deep
ravine outside the walls, which passes be-
low the tower. Put the three Christians to
work
there,
bour,
let
own
and
at the intervals of their la-
them play and
pleasure.
In this
will be able to hear
sing, as
way
if
for their
the princesses
them from the windows
of the tower."
As
the good old
woman finished speaking,
she kindly pressed the rough hand of Hus144
sein Baba, leaving
in
it
another piece of
gold.
The very were put
to
next day the three cavaliers
work
in the ravine.
noontide heat,
when
were sleeping
in the shade,
nodding
at his post,
at the foot of the
During the
their fellow labourers
and the guard
they seated themselves
tower and sang a Spanish
roundelay to the music of the guitar.
The
glen was deep, the tower was high,
but their voices rose distinctly in the ness of the
The cony.
summer
still-
noon.
princesses listened from their bal-
They had been
taught the Spanish
language by their duenna, and were moved
by the tenderness the contrary,
was
Kadiga, on
of the song.
terribly shocked.
"Allah preserve us!" cried
she.
"They
are singing a song addressed to yourselves. I will
run to the slave-master and have them
punished."
But the three princesses were
H5
filled
with
â&#x201A;ŹixkB from t^t (^t^am&xa horror at the idea. Besides the music seemed to
have a beneficial effect upon them. Their
eyes sparkled, and a bloom came to their cheeks, so with
all
her indignation, Kadiga
was soon appeased and made no further objection to the song.
When lute,
it
was
finished,
Zorayda took up a
and with a sweet, though
trembling voice, warbled a air,
the burden of
"
The
but she
rose
is
faint
little
and
Arabian
which was
concealed
among
her leaves,
with delight to the song of
listens
the nightingale."
From
this
time forward
worked almost sein
daily in
cavaliers
the ravine.
Hus-
Baba became more and more indulgent
and daily more prone
By
the
to sleep at his post.
degrees the princesses showed them-
selves at the balcony,
when they could do
so without being seen
by the guards, and
conversed with the cavaliers. The change effected in their looks and spirits surprised 146
and
no
gratified the left-handed king, but
one was more elated than Kadiga, considered
it all
owing
to
who
her able manage-
ment.
At
length there was an interruption.
make
several days the cavaliers ceased to their appearance in the glen.
The
looked out from the tower
in vain.
For
princesses In vain
they stretched their swan-like necks from the balcony: in vain they sang like captive nightingales in their cage. Nothing
be seen
of their Christian lovers
was
to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not a note
responded from the groves. Kadiga
sallied
forth in quest of intelligence, and soon re-
turned with a face
"Ah, my what
all this
children!" cried she. "I saw
would come
have your way. lutes
are
full of trouble.
to,
but you would
You may now hang
your
on the willows. The Spanish cavaliers
ransomed by
down
in
their families.
Granada preparing
their native country." 147
They
to return
are to
The
three beautiful princesses were in de-
spair at the tidings.
Zayda was indignant at the
slight put
upon
them, in thus being deserted without a parting word.
Zorayda wrung her hands and looked
and wiped away her
in the glass
and cried
cried,
and
tears,
afresh.
The gentle Zorahayda cony and wept
leaned over the bal-
in silence,
and her tears
fell
drop by drop among the flowers where the
had so often been seated.
faithless cavaliers
Kadiga did
all in
her power to soothe their
sorrow.
"Take "this
This
is is
comfort,
nothing
the
way
are as old as
my
children," said she,
when you
are used to
of the world.
I
value these men.
am, you I
'11
will
it.
Ah when you I
know how
to
warrant these cavaliers
have their loves among the Spanish beauties of
Cordova and
Seville,
and will soon be sere-
nading under their balconies, and thinking no 148
more bra.
Moorish beauties
in the
comfort, therefore,
my
of the
Take
Alham-
children,
and drive them from your thoughts."
But the words their distress,
of
Kadiga only redoubled
and for two days they could not
On the morning of the third, the good old woman entered their apartment all be consoled.
ruffling
with indignation.
"Who would have believed such insolence man!" exclaimed
in mortal
she, as soon as
she could find words to speak. " But
I
'm
rightly served for helping to deceive your
worthy
father.
Never
talk
more
me
to
of
your Spanish cavaliers." " Why, what has happened, good Kadiga ? "
exclaimed the princesses.
"What
has happened?
proposed and to me, the ;
Yes,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; treason has been
trustiest of
duennas
my children, the Spanish cavaliers dared
to ask
me
to persuade
to Cordova, and
you to
become
their
Here Kadiga covered her 149
fly
with them
wives
!
face with her
way
hands, and gave grief.
The
to a violent burst of
three beautiful princesses turned
pale and red and trembled, and looked at
each other, but said nothing. Meantime the old
woman
ward
At
rocking backward and for-
sat
in violent agitation.
length the eldest princess,
who had
the most spirit and always took the lead, ap-
proached her, and
laid
her hand upon her
shoulder.
"Well, mother,"
were willing to liers
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
is
fly
said she,
"supposing
we
with these Christian cava-
such a thing possible?"
Kadiga paused suddenly. "Possible," echoed she, "to be sure possible.
Have
not the cavaliers
it
is
already
bribed Hussein Baba to arrange the whole plan
?
But then,
to think of deceiving
your
father!"
And
here she gave
way to
a fresh burst of
grief.
" But our father has never placed anycon150
fidence in us," said the eldest princess, "but
has trusted to bolts and bars, and treated us as captives."
"Why, old
that
woman,
is
true enough," replied the
"he
again pausing in her grief:
has indeed treated you unreasonably, keeping you shut up here in a
moping old tower,
like roses left to wither in a flower-jar.
then, to fly
" And
from your native land not the land
is
we
land of our mother, where
freedom?
And
shall
we
fly to
we
But
!
the native
shall live in
not each have a
youthful husband in exchange for a severe old father?"
"Why,
that
what then,"
"would you
again
again leave
is
all
giving
me
very true, but
way
to
grief,
behind to bear the
brunt of his displeasure ? " "
you
By no means, my good Kadiga: fly
with us ?
cannot
"
"Very true, my child, and to tell the truth, when I talked the matter over with 151
Hussein Baba, he promised to take care me,
I
if
would
of
with you. But then, be-
fly
think you, children, are you willing to renounce the faith of your father ? "
"
The
faith
of
Christian faith
original
our mother," said Zayda. "
ready to embrace
my
was the
and
it,
so, I
am
am
I
sure, are
sisters."
" Right again," exclaimed the old
woman,
brightening up. "It was the original faith of
your mother, and
bitterly did she lament,
on
her death-bed, that she had renounced
it.
I
promised her then to take care
souls,
and
in a fair I
too
I
way
to
be saved. Yes,
was born a
Christian, in
my
solved to return to the
with Hussein Baba,
my
native town.
own
now
and have
re-
am
re-
heart,
faith.
who
my children,
is
I
and
have talked
a Spaniard,
and comes from a place not
see his
your
rejoice to see that they are
mained a Christian
birth,
of
He
is
far
by
from
equally anxious to
country, and the cavaliers have 152
promised that
man and
if
we
become
are disposed to
wife, on returning to our native
land, they will provide for us handsomely."
In a word,
appeared that Kadiga had
it
consulted with the cavaliers and Hussein
Baba, and had made the whole plan of escape.
Zayda and Zorayda agreed
to the plan at
once, but Zorahayda hesitated, for she gentle and timid of soul.
with silent tears and pared herself for
is
last,
however,
stifled sighs,
she pre-
flight.
In old times, the rugged
Alhambra
At
was
built
hill
on which the
had many underground
passages cut through the rock, leading from the fortress to various parts of the city, and to distant sally-ports
on the banks
Darro and Xenil. They had been different times
means
of
of the
built at
by the Moorish kings,
as a
escape from sudden insurrections,
and by one
of these passages
Hussein Baba
had undertaken to conduct the princesses 153
beyond the walls liers
were
of the city,
where the cava-
be ready with
to
fleet steeds, to
bear the whole party over the borders.
The appointed of the princesses
night arrived.
The tower
had been locked up as
usual,
and the Alhambra was buried
in
sleep.
Towards midnight, Kadiga
listened
from the balcony into the garden.
window
of a
deep
that looked
Hussein Baba was already
The duenna
below, and gave the signal.
fastened the end of a ladder of ropes to the
lowered
balcony,
descended.
it
The two
lowed with beating
came
into the garden
and
eldest princesses folhearts,
but
when
it
Zorahayda, she hesitated and trem-
to
bled. Several times she placed her foot
the ladder, and as often
her poor
little
drew
heart fluttered
it
upon
back, while
more and more
the longer she delayed. She cast a wistful
look back into the silken chamber. She had lived in
it,
to
be sure,
like a bird in a cage,
154
but within
it
she was secure.
tell
what dangers might beset
she
flutter forth into
Who
could
her, should
the wide world
!
Now
she bethought her of her Christian lover,
and her
little
foot
was
instantly
upon the
ladder: and anon she thought of her father
and shrank back. In vain her sisters implored, the duenna
scolded, and Hussein
neath the balcony.
Baba blasphemed be-
The
gentle Moorish
stood doubting and wavering.
ment increased the danger distant
"
maid
Every mo-
of discovery.
A
tramp was heard.
The
patrols are walking their rounds !
cried Hussein Baba. " If
we
linger,
"
we perish.
we leave you." moment in fearful
Princess, descend instantly or
Zorahayda was
for a
agitation; then loosening the ladder of ropes,
she flung " It
out of
my
is
it
from the balcony. !
decided " cried she
my power!
dear sisters
:
" flight
is
now
Allah guide and bless you,
" !
^55
The two
eldest princesses
were shocked
at the
thoughts of leaving her behind, and
would
fain
have lingered, but the patrol was
advancing, Hussein Baba was furious, and
they were hurried away to the passage.
They
groped their way through the heart
of the
mountain, and succeeded in reaching an iron gate that opened outside of the walls.
The
Spanish cavaliers were waiting to receive
them, disguised as Moorish soldiers.
The
lover of Zorahayda
was
frantic
when
he learned that she had refused to leave the tower, but there was no time to waste in lamentations.
The two
princesses
were placed
behind their lovers, Kadiga mounted behind
Hussein Baba, and they
all set off at
pace in the direction of the Pass
a round
of
Lope,
which leads through the mountains towards Cordova.
They had
not gone very far
when they
heard the noise of drums and trumpets from the battlements of the Alhambra. 156
"
Our
flight is
discovered! " said Hussein
Baba.
"We
have
fleet steeds, the night is dark,
and we may distance
all
pursuit," replied the
cavaliers.
They put spurs to
their horses, and scoured
When
across the Vega.
they reached the
foot of the mountain of Elvira, Hussein
paused and "
As
traces.
listened.
yet," said he, "there
We
Baba
shall
is
no one on our
make good our escape
to
the mountains."
,While he spoke a light blaze sprung up
watch-tower
of the
Al-
"Confusion!" cried he, "that bale
fire
on the top
of the
hambra.
will put all the guards of the passes alert. is
Away! away! Spur
no time to be
like
mad
on the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; there
lost."
Away they dashed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the horses' hoofs echoed
clattering of their
from rock to rock, as
they swept along the road. 157
As
they galloped
â&#x201A;Ź(Xk0 from
t^^ (^f^amfitra
on, the bale fire of the
swered
in
Alhambra was an-
every direction. Light after light
blazed on the watch-towers of the mountains. " Forward forward " cried Hussein Baba, !
!
" to the bridge, before the alarm has reached
there!"
They doubled in sight of the
the mountains and arrived
famous Bridge
crosses a rushing stream.
To
of
Pinos that
their confusion,
the tower of the bridge blazed with lights
and
glittered with
armed men.
Hussein Baba pulled up his stirrups
his steed, rose in
and looked about him
ment; then beckoning
for a
mo-
to the cavaliers,
he
struck off from the road, skirted the river for
some
The
distance,
and dashed into
cavaliers called
its
waters.
upon the princesses
cling to them, and did the same.
to
They were
borne for some distance down the rapid current, the surges roared
round them, but the
princesses clung to their Christian knights,
and never uttered a complaint. The cavaliers 158
bank in
attained the opposite sein
safety,
and Hus-
Baba conducted them, by rude and un-
frequented paths, through the heart of the
mountains, so as to avoid In a
all
the regular passes.
word they succeeded
in reaching the
ancient city of Cordova.
Their restoration to their country and friends
was celebrated with great
for they
were
of the noblest families.
beautiful princesses into the in all
bosom
rejoicings,
The
were forthwith received
of the
Church, and
after
being
due form made Christians, were rend-
ered happy wives.
In our hurry to
make good
the escape of
the princesses across the river, and up the
mountains,
we forgot
to
mention the
Kadiga. She had clung, like a
cat, to
fate of
Hussein
Baba in the scamper across the Vega, screaming at every turn, and w^hen he prepared to
plunge his steed into the
knew no
bounds.
>59
river,
her terror
" Grasp
me
not so tightly," cried Hussein
my
Baba. "Hold on
and fear nothing."
belt
She held firmly with both hands by the
when he
leather belt, but cavaliers to take
halted with the
breath on
the mountain
summit, the duenna was no longer to be seen. "
What has become of Kadiga ? "
cried the
princesses in alarm.
"Allah alone knows!"
"My
Baba.
belt
came
the river, and Kadiga the stream. it
The
replied Hussein
loose in the midst of
was swept with it down
will of
was an embroidered
Allah be done! But belt
and
of
great
price."
There was no time
to
waste in idle regrets
yet bitterly did the princesses bewail the loss of their faithful
duenna. That excellent old
woman, however,
did not lose
more than
half of her nine lives in the water.
A fish-
who was drawing his nets some distance down the stream, brought her to
erman,
land,
and he was not a little astonished 1
60
at his
What
miraculous draught.
became of
further
her, the story does not tell; but
certain
it is
that she never ventured within reach of
hamed
the Left-handed.
known of the conduct wise monarch when he discovered
Almost of that
Mo-
as
little is
the escape of his daughters, and the deceit
him by
practised upon servants. It
the most faithful of
was the only instance
he had called
in
in the aid of counsel,
was never afterwards known
to
which
and he
be guilty
of
a similar weakness.
He
took good care, however, to guard his
remaining daughter to
elope.
It
is
who had no
disposition
thought, indeed, that she
secretly repented having remained behind.
Now
and then she was seen leaning on the
battlements of the tower, and looking in the direction of
Cordova, and sometimes the
notes of her lute were heard as she sang plaintive songs in
ment the
which she was
loss of her sisters i6i
said to la-
and her
lover,
and
to
bewail her solitary
life.
She died
young, and, according to popular rumour,
was buried in a vault beneath the tower, and her untimely fate has given rise to more than
one traditionary
fable.
Be^m^ t^t
of
(Bo0e of t^i
(gt^miu
Be^m^ tpe
of
(Ko^e of (^t @f^ain6ta *OR some time render
after the
Granada
of
sur-
by the
Moors, that deh'ghtful
city
was
a frequent and favourite resi-
dence
Spanish kings, until they were
of the
away by shocks of earthquakes, which toppled down houses, and made the
frightened
Moslem towers rock. Many, many years then
old
ing which Granada royal guest.
The
was
rolled away, dur-
rarely honoured
by a
palaces remained silent and
shut up, and the Alhambra, like a slighted beauty, sat mournfully
gardens.
The
among her
neglected
tower, which was once the
residence of the three beautiful princesses,
partook of the general desolation. der spun her
web
The
spi-
across the gilded vault, 165
'tak0 from t^t ^{^amfita and bats and owls nestled that
in those
chambers
had been graced by the presence
of
Zayda, Zorayda, and Zorahayda. The neglect of this
owing
to
tower
some
neighbours.
It
may have been
partly
superstitious notions of the
was
said that the spirit of
Zo-
rahayda was often seen by moonlight seated beside the fountain in the hall, or heard
moaning about the battlements, and that the notes of her silver lute could be heard at
midnight by wayfarers passing along the glen.
At length the city was once more to welcome the king and queen, and the Alhambra was repaired and
fitted
expedition for the
up with
visit.
The
all
possible
arrival of the
court changed the whole aspect of the lately
deserted palace.
The clamour
of
drum and
trumpet, the tramp of steed about the avenues, the glitter of arms and display of banners, recalled the ancient i66
and warlike glories
â&#x201A;Ź^^
(Ho0e of t^^
@f§am6m
Within the palace, there was
of the fortress.
the rustling of robes and the cautious tread
and murmuring voice
of courtiers
about the
and
ante-chambers, a loitering of pages
maids
of
honour about the
gardens, and
the sound of music stealing from open case-
ments.
Among
the monarchs
queen,
who
attended in the train of
was a
favourite page of the
those
named Ruyz de Alarcon. He was
just
turned of eighteen, light and lithe of form,
and very graceful.
To
the queen he
was
all
deference and respect, yet he was at heart a
roguish stripling, petted and spoiled by the ladies about the court.
This loitering page was one morning rambling about the groves of the Generalife, and
had taken with him
for his
amusement a
fa-
vourite ger-falcon of the queen. In the course of his rambles, seeing a bird rising
thicket, fly.
The
he unhooded the hawk and falcon towered high in the 167
from a let
air,
him
made
a swoop at his quarry, but missing
away, regardless
it,
soared
of the calls of the
page.
The page followed until of a
he saw
it
the bird with his eye,
upon the battlements
alight
remote and lonely tower,
in the outer
wall of the Alhambra, built on the edge of
a ravine that separated the fortress from the
grounds ^f
of the Generalife. It was, in fact, the
Tower of the Princesses." The page descended into
approached the tower, but
it
from the glen, and
its
attempt to scale
useless.
it
the ravine and
had no entrance
lofty height
made any
Seeking one of
the gates of the fortress, therefore, he
made
a wide circuit to that side of the tower facing
within the walls.
A small garden overhung with
myrtle lay
before the tower. Opening a wicket, the page
passed between beds of flowers and thickets of roses
bolted.
peep
to
A
the
door.
It
was closed and
crevice in the door gave
inside.
him a
There was a small Moorish 1
68
t^t hall
(Ro^e of t^t (^C^amfim
with fretted walls, light marble columns,
and an alabaster fountain surrounded with flowers.. In the centre
hung a
gilt
taining a singing-bird. Beneath
among
lay a tortoise-shell cat
it,
cage con-
on a chair,
reels of silk,
and a guitar leaned against the fountain.
Ruyz de Alarcon was
struck with these
traces of female taste in a lonely, and, as he
had supposed, deserted tower. They
minded him of the
of the tales of the
Alhambra; and the
re-
enchanted hall
tortoise-shell cat
might be some spell-bound princess.
He
knocked gently
at the door.
face peeped out from a
tiful
little
A beauwindow
above, but was instantly withdrawn. waited, expecting that the door
opened, but he waited in vain.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
would be
No
to
Had
his senses deceived him, or
all
footstep
was
was
be heard within
He
silent.
was
this
beautiful apparition the fairy of the tower?
He a
knocked
little
again,
and more loudly. After
while the beaming face once more 169
â&#x201A;Źcitt0 from t^t (^t^am&xa
peeped
forth. It was that of a
blooming dam-
sel of fifteen.
The page immediately
doffed his plumed
bonnet, and entreated in the most courteous
way
to
be permitted to ascend the tower
in
pursuit of his falcon.
" the
I
dare not open the door, Senor," replied
damsel
little
:
my
"
aunt has forbidden
it."
"
I
do beseech you,
fair
maid
favourite falcon of the queen.
turn to the palace without
"Are you then one
I
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
it
is
the
dare not re-
it."
of the cavaliers of the
court ? "
"I am,
fair
But
maid.
queen's favour and
my
I shall
place
if
I
lose the lose this
hawk." " Santa Maria! of the court
my
It is
against you cavaliers
aunt has charged
me
spe-
cially to bar the door."
"Against wicked cavaliers doubtless, but I
am
none
of these, only a simple harmless 170
t^t
(Ro0e of t^t (^i^am&xa
who will be ruined and undone deny me this small request."
page,
The by the sand
heart of the
little
of those
Surely he could not be
dangerous beings
aunt had described. est,
was a thou-
he should be ruined for the want
of so trifling a boon.
one
you
damsel was touched
distress of the page. It
pities
if
whom
her
He was gentle and mod-
and stood so entreatingly with cap
in
hand, and looked so charming.
The page redoubled moving terms of mortal
warden
that
maiden
of the
to
it
his entreaties in
was not
such
in the nature
deny him, and the
little
tower descended and opened
The page was charmed with her appearance. Her Andalusian bodice and trim basquifia set off her round form. Her the door.
glossy hair
was parted on her forehead and
decorated with a fresh plucked rose, according to the custom of Spain.
It is
true her
complexion was tinged with the southern sun, but
it
served to give richness to the 171
bloom
of
her cheek, and heighten the lustre
of her eyes.
Ruyz de Alarcon beheld all this with a single glance, for it became him not to tarry.
He thanked her, and then bounded lightly up the spiral staircase in quest of his falcon.
He upon
soon returned with the truant bird his
fist.
The
damsel, in the meantime,
had seated herself by the fountain and was winding the reel
let
fall
silk.
in the hall
In her agitation she
upon the pavement. The
page sprang and picked
it
up, then dropping
on one knee, presented
it
to her.
so,
In doing
he seized her hand, and imprinted on
kiss
it
a
more fervent than he had ever imprinted
on the
fair
hand
of his sovereign.
"Ave Maria, Senor," exclaimed the damsel. The page made a thousand apologies, assuring her that
it
was the way
at court of ex-
pressing the most profound homage. Just then a shrill voice was heard at a distance. 172
tS}t (Ro0e of f^e (^t^am&xa " My aunt is returning from mass " cried the !
damsel in affright. " I pray you, Senor, depart."
"Not
you grant me
until
that rose
from
your hair as a remembrance."
She "
hastily untwisted the flower.
Take
cried she, " but pray begone."
it,"
The page took fair
hand
the rose, again kissing the
that gave
it.
Then
placing the
flower in his bonnet, and taking the falcon
upon
his
he bounded
fist,
garden, bearing
off
away with him
through the the heart of
the gentle Jacinta.
When
the aunt arrived at the tower, she
remarked the air of
"
agitation of her niece,
confusion in the
A ger-falcon
and an
hall.
pursued his prey into the
hall," said Jacinta.
"
Mercy on
us " said the aunt. !
of a falcon flying into the tower.
one hear
The
of so
aunt's
was one
saucy a
"To think Did ever
hawk?"
name was Fredegonda and she
of the
most wary 173
of ancient spin-
sters. Jacinta
who had
was the orphan
of
an
officer
She had been
fallen in the wars.
educated in a convent, and had only recently
been placed under the care fresh and
of her aunt.
dawning beauty had caught the pub-
eye, even in her seclusion,
lic
Her
poetical turn
common
and with that
to the people of
dalusia, the peasantry of the
had given her the name
of "
An-
neighbourhood
The Rose
of the
Alhambra."
The wary aunt kept niece
a faithful
at length the
watch over
king cut short
her
little
his
sojourn at Granada, and departed with
till
Fredegonda watched the royal
his court.
pageant as
it
issued from the gate and de-
scended the great avenue leading to the
When
the last banner disappeared from her
sight, she all
city.
returned exulting to her tower, for
her cares were over.
To
her surprise, a light Arabian steed
pawed garden.
the ground at the wicket gate of her
To her
horror she saw through the 174
t^t
(Ro0e of t^t (^l^cm&xa
thickets of roses a youth in gayly embroidered
dress at the feet of her niece.
gave
of her footsteps he
bounded
of sight in
upon
Throwing
I shall
"Gone!
"A me
and was out
thought of her aunt's displea-
"He's gone!
that I
his horse,
and
tender Jacinta, in the agony of her
herself into her arms, she
broke into sobs and
"and
a tender adieu,
an instant.
grief, lost all
sure.
the sound
lightly over the barrier of reeds
myrtles, sprang
The
At
saw
tears.
— he's
gone!" she
cried,
never see him more!"
— who at
is
gone?
— what youth
is
your feet?"
queen's page, aunt,
who came
to bid
farewell."
"A
queen's page, child!" echoed Frede-
gonda, " and when did you become acquainted
with the queen's page ? "
"The morning into the tower. It
and he came
that the ger-falcon
was
came
the queen's ger-falcon,
in pursuit of it."
175
"Ah aunt.
silly, silly girl
"There
I" said the indignant
are no ger-falcons half so dan-
gerous as these young prankling pages, and it is
precisely such simple birds as
you
that
they pounce upon."
Days, weeks, months elapsed, and nothing
more was heard
of the page.
The pome-
granate ripened, the vine yielded up the
autumn rains came down
did not come.
a
Still
Still
he
winter passed away.
Again the genial spring burst and blossom.
Nevada be-
snowy mantle.
The
from
in torrents
the mountains, and the Sierra
came covered with
its fruit,
song
forth with
nothing was heard of the
forgetful page.
In the meantime poor pale and thoughtful.
little
Jacinta
grew
Her former occupations
and amusements were abandoned, her lay entangled, her flowers
silk
were neglected,
and her eyes were dimmed with weeping. "Alas,
silly child! "
the staid Fredegonda
176
tS}t (Ro0^ of t^t (ac^amfira
would one
"What
say.
could you expect from
haughty family
of a
— you
an orphan,
Be
the descendant of a fallen line? if
the youth were true, his father,
assured,
who
of the proudest nobles about the court,
prohibit his union with one so
is
one
would
humble and
portionless as you. Therefore, drive these idle notions
from your mind."
But the words
of
Fredegonda only served
to increase Jacinta's melancholy.
At
a late hour one
midsummer night,
her aunt had gone to
rest,
after
Jacinta remained
alone in the hall of the tower, seated beside the alabaster fountain. sel's
tions,
heart
The poor
little
was overladen with sad
dam-
recollec-
her tears began to flow, and slowly fell
drop by drop into the fountain. the water
bubble
became
agitated,
and
By
degrees
— bubble —
— bubble — boiled up and was tossed
about, until a female figure, richly clad in
Moorish
dress, slowly rose to view. 177
Jacinta
was so frightened that she was
the hall, and
afraid to return.
fled
from
The next
morning she related to her aunt what she had seen, but the
good lady thought she had
fallen
asleep and dreamt beside the fountain.
"You have been
thinking of the story of
the three Moorish princesses that once lived in this tower," said she, "
into
and
it
has entered
your dreams."
"What story, aunt? I know nothing of it." "You have certainly heard of the three princesses, Zayda,
who were
Zorayda and Zorahayda,
shut up in this tower by the king,
their father,
and agreed
Christian cavaliers.
The
to fly with three first
two accom-
plished their escape, but the third failed in
her resolution, and,
it
is
said, died in this
tower." "I
now remember
Jacinta,
"and
to
to
have heard
it,"
have wept over the
said
fate of
the gentle Zorahayda."
"You may well weep," continued the aunt, 178
t^t
(Ro0e of t^t (^f^amfitd
Zorahayda was your an-
'^for the lover of
cestor.
He
cured him
long bemoaned his of
his
grief,
fate,
but time
and he married a
Spanish lady from whom you are descended." "If indeed
be the
it
Zorahayda, which this tower,
of
I
have heard lingers about
what should
thought Jacinta. "I to-night
spirit of the gentle
'11
— perhaps the
be afraid?"
I
watch by the fountain visit will
be repeated."
Towards midnight, when everything was quiet, she again
As
took her seat
in the hall.
the bell in the distant watch-tower struck
the midnight hour, the fountain agitated: it
and bubble
was again
— bubble — bubble —
tossed about the waters until the Moorish
woman
again rose to view.
and
beautiful.
els,
and
in
Her
dress
She was young
was
rich with jew-
her hand she held a silver
Jacinta trembled and was
faint,
lute.
but was re-
assured by the soft and plaintive voice of the apparition.
" Daughter of mortality," said she, " 179
why
do your tears trouble
my
fountain,
and your
" sighs disturb the quiet watches of the night ?
"I weep because
man, and
of the faithlessness of
bemoan my
I
and forsaken
solitary
state."
"Take
comfort.
Your sorrows may
have an end. Behold
who
cess,
a Moorish prin-
A Chris-
your ancestor, would have borne
to his native land, but I lacked
equal to
my
faith,
and lingered
For
this the evil genii
and
I
magic
I will,"
your hand
faith.
pelled,
and
Jacinta
late.
in this
tower
until
Will you undertake
replied Jacinta, trembling.
hither, then,
and fear
not.
in the fountain, sprinkle the
over me, and baptize
your
too
Christian will deign to break the the task.? "
spell.
"Come
till
courage
have power over me,
remain enchanted
some pure "
me
was, like you, unhappy.
tian knight,
me
in
yet
So
my
me after
shall the
troubled
water
manner of
enchantment be spirit
advanced with i8o
the
Dip
dis-
have repose."
faltering
steps,
t^t
(Uo0e of t^t (?lCยงam6ta
dipped her hand into the fountain, collected water
in the
palm, and sprinkled
it
over the
pale face of the phantom.
The
latter
smiled benignly. She dropped
her silver lute at the feet of Jacinta, crossed
her white arms, and melted from sight, so that
it
seemed merely as
if
a shower of dew-
drops had fallen into the fountain. Jacinta retired from the hall filled with
awe and wonder. She scarcely closed her eyes that night; but when she awoke at daybreak out
of a troubled slumber, the
appeared to her like a dream.
On
whole
descend-
ing into the hall, however, she beheld the silver lute lying beside the fountain, glitter-
ing in the morning sunshine.
She hastened
to her aunt, to relate all that
had befallen her, and called her
to
behold
the lute as a proof of the reality of her story. If
the
good lady had any doubts, they were
removed when Jacinta touched the
instru-
ment, for she played such a beautiful melody
was
that Fredegonda's frigid heart
entirely
thawed, and nothing but supernatural music could have produced such an
The power of more and more
the lute
effect.
became every day
apparent.
The
wayfarer,
passing by the tower, was detained, as
it
The very birds gathered hushing their own strains,
were, spell-bound. in the trees, and,
listened in
charmed
silence.
spread the news abroad.
Granada thronged to the
Rumour soon
The inhabitants of Alhambra to catch
a few notes of the wonderful
music that
floated about Jacinta's tower.
The lovely
little
minstrel
was
at length
drawn from her retreat. The rich and powerful of the
tain
land contended
and do honour
who
to her.
should enter-
Wherever she
went, her vigilant aunt kept a dragon watch at
her elbow,
mirers
who
awing the throngs
listened to her strains.
of
ad-
The
re-
port of her wonderful powers spread from city to city.
Malaga, Seville, Cordova, 182
all
te^t (Ro0^ of t^t (^t^am&xa
became mad on the theme. Nothing was talked of throughout Andalusia but the beautiful
minstrel of the Alhambra.
While
all
Andalusia was thus music mad,
mood The king,
a different
prevailed at the court of
Spain.
as
subject to
all
was well known, was
kinds of fancies. Sometimes
he would keep to his bed for weeks together, groaning under imaginary complaints. other times he would insist his throne,
to the great
royal spouse,
who had
At
upon abdicating
annoyance
of his
a strong relish for
the splendours of a court and the glories of
a crown, and guided the sceptre of her lord
with an expert and steady hand.
At the moment we treat of, a freak had come over the mind of the king that surpassed of
all
former moods. After a long spell
imaginary
idea, self
illness, the
monarch,
fairly in
gave up the ghost, and considered him-
absolutely dead. 183
This would have been harmless enough,
and even convenient both courtiers,
to the
had he been content
to
queen and remain
in
the quietude befitting a dead man. But to their annoyance,
he insisted upon having the
funeral ceremonies performed over him, and
began
to
grow impatient because they
left
him unburied. In the midst of this fearful dilemma, a
rumour reached the court strel
who was
dalusia.
of the
female min-
turning the brains of
Nothing was so
pelling the royal
all
An-
efficacious in dis-
megrims
as the
power
of
music, so the queen dispatched messengers in all haste to
summon
Within a few days, maids
of
Jacinta to the court.
as the
queen with her
honour was walking
in the stately
gardens of the palace, the far-famed minstrel
was conducted into her presence. The queen gazed with surprise
at the youthful
pretending appearance of the 184
little
and un-
being that
te}t (^oBt of
had
set the
tS}t
(^f^amfim
world madding. She was
in
her
picturesque Andalusian dress, her silver lute in hand,
and stood with modest and down-
cast eyes, but with a simplicity
ness of beauty that
Rose
bespoke her " the
Alhambra."
of the
As
still
usual, she
was accompanied by
the
who gave
the
ever-vigilant
Fredegonda,
whole history
of
the
to
pleased
and fresh-
her parentage and descent
The queen was
inquiring queen.
when
she learnt that her father had
bravely fallen in the service of the crown. "
If
she, "
your powers equal your renown," said and you can cast forth
this evil spirit
that possesses the king, your fortune shall
henceforth be
my
care,
and honours and
wealth attend you."
The queen was her
skill,
apartment Jacinta
impatient to
and led the way of the
files
trial of
once to the
moody monarch.
followed
through the
at
make
of
with
downcast
eyes
guards and crowds of 185
â&#x201A;Ź(1^0 from courtiers.
t^'t
They came
(^t^cmhxci
at length to a great
chamber hung with black. The windows were
A number
closed to exclude the light of day.
of yellow wax tapers in silver sconces diffused
a light which dimly revealed the figures of the courtiers as they glided about with noisestep
less
and woebegone visage.
In the
midst of a funeral bier, his hands folded on his breast
and the
tip of his
nose just visible,
lay extended this would-be-buried monarch.
The queen and pointing ner,
entered the chamber in silence, to a footstool in
beckoned
an obsure cor-
to Jacinta to sit
down and
commence.
At
first
she touched her lute with a
fal-
tering hand, but gathering confidence as she
proceeded, drew forth such wonderful har-
mony that all present could scarce believe it mortal. As to the king, who had already considered himself in the world of set
it
music
down
for
spirits,
some angelic melody or
of the spheres.
i86
he the
â&#x201A;Ź^t
(Ro0e of t^t (^f^amfim
By degrees
the
theme was
and the
varied,
voice of Jacinta accompanied the lute. She
sang one of the legendary ballads treating of the ancient glories of the
Alhambra and the
achievements of the Moors.
chamber resounded with the gloomy heart
tered into the
He sat
The
funeral
strains. It en-
of the
monarch.
raised his head and gazed around.
up on
dle.
At
length, leaping
called for
lute,
was complete. The demon
man brought
the apartment
glorious
floor
he
of music, or rather of the en-
melancholy was cast a dead
upon the
to kin-
sword and buckler.
The triumph chanted
His eyes began
his couch.
He
forth, and, as
to
life.
it
of
were,
The windows of
were thrown open and the
Spanish sunshine burst into the
chamber. All eyes sought the lovely enchantress, but the lute had fallen from her
hand, she had sunk upon the earth, and the
next
moment was
clasped to the heart of
Ruyz de Alarcon. 187
The wedding
of
happy couple was
the
celebrated soon afterwards with great splendour, and "
came
The Rose
of the
Alhambra " be-
the ornament and delight of the court.
"But hold
— not
fast—"
so
reader exclaim. " This
is
of a story at a furious rate
how Ruyz
I
jumping !
hear the to the
First let us
end
know
de Alarcon managed to account
to Jacinta for his long neglect."
Nothing more easy: the venerable, timehonoured excuse
— the
opposition to
his
wishes by a proud pragmatical old father.
"But how was
the proud pragmatical old
father reconciled to the
O!
match ? "
as to that, his scruples
were
easily
overcome by a word or two from the queen, especially
as dignities
and rewards were
showered upon the blooming favourite royalty.
Besides, the
lute
of Jacinta,
of
you
know, possessed a magic power, and could control the most stubborn head breast.
and hardest
Be^mb
of
Be^mb
of
Z^t Cioo ^iecxut statute HERE
once lived
Alhambra
of the
fellow,
singing
little
in
the
gardens,
He was the life and soul When his work was over, he
day long.
all
sit
merry
and gay as a grasshopper,
as brisk
of the fortress.
would
a
poor part
named Lope Sanchez,
who worked and was
in a
on one
his guitar,
of the stone
benches, strum
and sing songs about Spanish
heroes, or strike
up a merrier
tune, and set
the girls dancing boleros and fandangoes.
Like most
little
men. Lope had a buxom
dame for a wife, who could almost have put him in her pocket. They had but one child, a
little
was
as
black-eyed
merry
of his heart.
girl
named Sanchica, who
as her father,
and the delight
She played about him 191
as he
worked
in the gardens,
as he sat in the shade,
danced
to his guitar
and ran as wild as a
young fawn about the groves and ruined
It
was now the eve
went up keep
mit. It
and
halls.
of St.
men, women, and children
to
alleys
at night to the
their
John, and the
of the
mountain
midsummer
vigil
was a bright moonlight
Alhambra of the
on
its
night,
sun
sum-
and
all
the mountains were grey and silvery, and the city lay in
shadows below. The Vega was
a fairy land,
like
gleaming among
its
with haunted
dusky groves.
highest part of the mountain they
The
streams
On
the
a
fire.
lit
people of the country round were keep-
ing a similar vigil, and
fires
here and there
in the
Vega, and along the folds
tains,
blazed palely in the moonlight.
of the
The evening was gayly passed to the guitar of
in
moun-
dancing
Lope Sanchez, who was
never so joyous as on a holiday of 192
this kind.
While the dance was going and some
of her friends
on, Sanchica
were playing among
the ruins of an old Moorish
fort,
when
she
found among the pebbles a small hand curiously carved of
She ran
jet.
mother
to her
with her prize.
"Throw "
It 's
" sell
away," said one
Moorish and there
By no it
it
for
An
's
of the
witchcraft in
means," said another. "
something
old soldier
women. it."
You may
to the jewellers."
drew near who was
as
dark as a Moor.
"I have seen things "
among
the
Moors
of
of this kind," said he,
Barbary.
It is
a great
virtue to guard against all kinds of spells
enchantments. this
I
and
give you joy, friend Lope:
bodes good luck to your child."
Upon
hearing
chez tied the
hung
it
wife of
this, the
little
hand
round the neck
of
to a ribbon,
her daughter.
dance was neglected, and they
on the ground,
Lope San-
sat in
telling old legends
193
and
The
groups
about the
Moors.
Some
of the stories
were about the
very mountain on which they were seated.
One
old crone gave a long account of the
palace which was inside the mountain where
Boabdil and
court are said to remain
all his
enchanted.
"Among
yonder ruins," said
ing to some old walls, " there pit that
goes
down all
would not look
into
man
up on
of the
this
a deep black
into the very heart of the
mountain. For
poor
is
she, point-
the it.
money in Granada Once upon a time
I
a
Alhambra, who tended goats
mountain, scrambled
that pit after a kid that
came out again and
had
down
into
fallen in.
told such things of
He
what
he had seen, that every one thought he had
gone mad.
He raved about hobgoblin Moors,
and they could hardly get him goats up there again.
He
did so at
poor man, he never came down. his hat
to take his last,
They found
and mantle near the mouth
cavern, but he was never 194
but,
more heard
of the of."
Sanchica listened to
She
all this story.
felt
a great longing to peep into this dangerous pit,
so she stole
and
after
the
brow
time, found the hollow near
of the
mountain. In the centre of
was the mouth
this in.
some
away from her companions,
She peeped
of the pit.
All was as black as pitch.
Her blood
ran cold. She drew back, then peeped in
— then would have
again
run away
— then
took another peep. She pushed a large stone into
it.
then
it
For some time
it
fell
in silence
—
struck with a crash, rebounding from
side to side, rumbling and tumbling with a
noise like thunder. into water, far, far
Then
below
it
made
— and
a splash
all
was
still
again.
A
murmuring sound gradually rose out
of the pit like the
buzz and
hum
of bees. It
grew louder and louder. Sanchica could hear voices, and the sound of as
if
arms and trumpets,
some army were marshalling
in the
very inside of the mountain. 195
for battle
â&#x201A;ŹakB
from i^t (Ki^cm&ta
The child became frightened, and hastened where she had
back
to the place
father
and mother and
all
were gone. The
its last
wreath
fire
companions, but
was going
tain,
down
came
to the
and
to
in
be
was no an-
the side of the
and by the gardens
until she
out,
Everything seemed
asleep. Sanchica called, but there
swer. She ran
her
smoke was curling up
of
the moonshine.
their
left
moun-
of the Generalife,
to the alley of trees leading
Alhambra. Here she seated herself on
a bench of a
The
woody
bell in the
recess, to recover breath.
watch-tower tolled mid-
night. All she could hear of a stream.
to sleep,
The sweet
when
was the
air
was
tinkling
lulling her
her eye was caught by some-
thing glittering, and to her surprise she be-
held a long line of Moorish warriors pouring
down
the mountain side and along the
leafy avenues. Their horses pranced proudly,
but their tramp caused no more sound than if
they had been shod with 196
felt,
and the riders
were
all as
pale as death.
a beautiful lady, with a
Among them rode crowned head and
long yellow hair entwined with pearls.
The
housings of her palfrey were crimson velvet
and swept the earth; but she rode
all dis-
consolate, looking ever at the ground.
Then came a train of men belonging to the court. They were arrayed in robes and turbans of divers colours. With them rode KingBoabdil. His royal mantle was covered with jewels, and he wore a crown sparkling with diamonds.
Sanchica
knew him by
his
yellow beard, for she had often seen his portrait in
the picture gallery of the Generalife.
She gazed
in
wonder
as they passed
the trees, but though she
knew
among
they were
enchanted, yet she looked on with a brave heart, for the talisman
When
gave her courage.
they had passed by, she rose and
followed them to the great gate which stood
wide open. The old men who watched there
were sound asleep on the stone benches. 197
The
train
swept by them noiselessly, with
banners flaunting. Sanchica would have
lowed them, but opening
to her surprise she
found steps
hewn
here and there
lit
way, and
little
in the rock,
up by a
saw an
down beneath
in the earth leading
the tower. She entered for a
fol-
and a passage
silver
lamp which
diffused besides light a grateful fragrance.
Going
on, she
came
at last to a great hall
in the heart of the mountain. It was furnished in
Moorish
style,
crystal lamps.
and lighted by
Here
sat
an old
silver
man
ish dress, with a long white beard,
and dozing.
seemed ever
Near him
He to
had a staff
in his
wearing a crown. She was a silver lyre. Sanchica
Moor-
nodding
hand which
be slipping from
sat a lady in ancient
in
and
his grasp.
Spanish dress,
softly playing
now remembered
on a
story she had heard about a Spanish princess
who was
imprisoned
in
the centre of the
mountain by an old Arab
whom
she kept
bound up in magic sleep by the power of music. 198
The "Is
lady paused at seeing Sanchica. the eve of the blessed St.
it
John?"
said she.
"It "
is,"
Then
Come
replied Sanchica. for one night the
charm
and fear
hither, child,
is
broken.
not.
I
am
a
Touch my chain with
Christian like yourself.
the talisman which hangs about your neck,
and for
this night I shall
be
free."
Sanchica touched a broad golden chain that fastened her to the earth, as the lady
had
At
the
told her,
and
it
the ground.
fell to
sound the old man woke and began
to
rub his
but the lady ran her fingers over the
eyes
:
lyre
and again he
fell
asleep.
"Now," said the lady, "touch his staff." The child did so, and as it fell from his grasp, he sank into a deep, deep sleep. The lady laid the silver lyre beside him.
"Now
follow me,
my
child," said she,
" and you shall behold the
was
in the
days of
its
Alhambra
glory."
199
as
it
'taU^ from
t^t
^f^amfim
Sanchica followed her and they passed up
through the entrance
in the cavern.
Everywhere were Moorish floating banners,
soldiers with
and here and there were
No
royal guards and rows of African slaves.
one spoke a word, and Sanchica passed on fearlessly, following the lady.
up
all
most
The moon
the halls and courts and gardens, al-
as
if it
ferent from
were day. The scene was far
what she was used to
seeing.
dif-
The
walls were no longer stained and old. stead of cobwebs, they rich silks,
were now hung with
fresh.
The
halls
were
out with divans and ottomans of rare all
In-
and the gildings and paintings
looked bright and
and
lit
set
stuffs,
the fountains in the courts and gar-
dens were playing.
Cooks were busy
in the kitchens,
and
ser-
vants were hurrying to and fro with silver dishes heaped up with dainties, preparing a
banquet.
The Court
of
Lions was thronged
with guards and courtiers, and 200
at the
upper
end
sat
was
to
Boabdil on his throne. Not a sound
be heard except the splashing
of the
fountains.
Sanchica followed the lady about the palace
came to an opening beneath
until they
On
tower.
figure of a ter.
each side of the portal
nymph wrought
sat the
out of alabas-
Their heads were turned aside and they
seemed
to
the vault.
be looking
The
at the
will reveal to
same spot within
lady paused.
" Here," said she, " I
a great
you
is
in
a great secret,
reward
for
which
your
faith
and courage. These discreet statues watch over a treasure hidden long ago by an old
Moorish king. Tell your father to search the spot on which their eyes are fixed, and he will find
what will make him richer than any
man in Granada. Your hands alone, however, gifted as
move
you are with the talisman, can
re-
the treasure."
When
the lady had spoken these words,
she led Sanchica to the
little
20I
garden hard by.
â&#x201A;Ź(xkB from t^t (^t^cm&xci
The moon trembled upon
the waters of the
fountain, and shed a tender light
upon the
orange and citron trees. The lady picked a
branch
head
of
myrtle and wreathed
round the
of the child.
"Let
this
told you.
be a memento of what
My hour
the enchanted hall. evil befall I
it
you
is
come.
Do
Then
must return to
me lest Remember what
not follow
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; farewell.
have said and pray for
I
have
I
my
freedom."
the lady entered a dark passage lead-
ing beneath the tower and was no longer seen.
The
faint
crowing
of a
cock was
now
heard from the cottages in the valley, and a pale streak of light began to appear above
the eastern mountains. there
was a sound
A
slight
wind
arose,
like the rustling of
dry
leaves through the courts, and door after door
shut to with a jarring sound.
Sanchica returned to the place where she
had so
lately
beheld a throng, but Boabdil 202
t^^ two ÂŽx$mtt and into
his court
empty
^t(X(nt&
were gone. The moon shone
halls stained
with cobwebs. Bats
by time and hung about and frogs
flitted
croaked from the fish-pond. Sanchica made her way to the staircase
which led up
The door
to the place
as usual
where she
was open,
for
lived.
Lope San-
chez was too poor to need bolt or bar. She crept quietly to bed, and putting the myrtle
wreath under her pillow, soon In the morning she related fallen her to her father. it
all
fell
that
went
to his
work
not been there long
came running
had be-
Lope Sanchez thought
was a mere dream and laughed
He
asleep.
at the child.
in the garden,
when
his little
but had
daughter
to him.
"Father! father!" cried she, "see the myrtle wreath which the lady bound round
my
head
!
Lope Sanchez looked with wonder, for the stalk was pure gold, and every leaf was a sparkling emerald!
He
203
then went to the
where the two
place
that they both
statues stood
seemed
same spot on the
to
cret
and went away.
be looking
He drew a
wall.
the eyes of the statues, wall,
and found
made
a
at the
from
line
mark on
He feared
the
that the se-
might be found out and trembled when
any one went near the place.
He wished that
he might turn their heads, forgetting that they had looked precisely in the same direction
for
some hundreds
of years,
without
any person being the wiser.
"A
plague upon them," he would say to
himself, " they '11 betray
hear of such a
And steal
if
way
to
all.
Did ever mortal
guard a secret?"
he heard any one coming, he would
away, then return, peeping from a
tance to see
if all
was
dis-
secure.
" There they stand," he would say, " always
looking and looking, just where they should not.
They
are just like
have not tongues to sure to do
it
all
their sex:
tattle with,
with their eyes." 204
if
they
they
'11
be
At
last,
sound it
was
When
the long day
drew
was no longer heard and
of footsteps
quiet in the halls of the
the night
two
Alhambra.
was well advanced, Lope
Sanchez went with hall of the
The
to a close.
his little
statues.
He
daughter to the
found the place
on the wall which he had marked and it
laid
open. In the recess stood two great jars of
porcelain.
He
to
tried
they could not be
moved
touched by the hands aid he
draw them
of Sanchica.
to his great joy, that they
but
they were
until
drew them from the
out,
With her
niche, and found
were
filled
Moorish gold, and jewels and precious
with
stones.
Before daylight he had conveyed them to his
house and still
the
left
two
statues with their eyes
fixed on the wall.
Lope Sanchez had man. But
thus
become a
riches, as usual, brought a
rich
world
of cares
which he had never known
before.
For the
first
he was
in fear
time in his
of robbers, so
life
he went to work and made 205
bolts
and bars for
his
windows and
doors,
but even then he could not sleep soundly.
He was
no longer merry.
in
no longer had
He became
the most
the Alhambra.
His old
a joke for his friends.
unhappy man
He
friends, observing the change, pitied
began be
to desert him, for they
falling into
him and
thought he must
want and might look
to
them
for assistance. Little did they think that his
only trouble was riches.
We
ought before
this to
have mentioned
that in all grave matters Lope's wife sought
the advice of her confessor. Fray Simon, a sturdy, broad-shouldered friar, and he
soon acquainted,
in great secrecy,
was
with the
story of the hidden treasure.
The
friar
opened
his eyes
and mouth
in
great surprise.
" Daughter of that your sin
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
The
my
soul," said he, "
know
husband has committed a double
sin against
treasure
both
was found 206
state
and church!
in the royal
domains,
and so
it
belongs to the crown. But as
it
be-
longed to the Moors, who were not Christians, it
should be devoted to the church. Bring
hither the myrtle wreath."
When
he saw the gold and emeralds, his
eyes twinkled with delight. " This," said he, " I will hang in the church
and earnestly pray that Lope may keep the remainder
wealth in peace."
of his
The friar put the wreath under his robe, and with saintly step, departed. Lope's wife was delighted to at so
make her peace with Heaven
cheap a
rate.
When Lope him what had
returned, and his wife told passed, he
was very angry,
but there was no use of complaining. secret
sand,
was
told, and, like
was not again
The next day
to
The
water spilled on the
be gathered.
the friar
came
again.
He
said to Lope's wife:
" Daughter, in the
dead
I
have earnestly prayed and
of night a saint
207
appeared to me.
â&#x201A;Źak0 *
Go to
^
crave in
fVom t^e ^t^am&xa
Lope Sanchez,'
the house of
my name
enough
said he,
Moorish
of the
gold to furnish two candlesticks for the church, and
When
let
the
him keep the rest in peace. '"
good woman heard
this she
crossed herself with awe, and going to the place where the treasure was hid, she filled
Moor-
a great leathern purse with pieces of ish gold
and gave
it
to the friar.
He
blessed
her, then slipped the purse into the sleeve of his habit
and departed.
When Lope
Sanchez heard
of this
second
donation to the church, he well-nigh lost his senses.
"What "I
shall
will
become
of
me," cried
be robbed by piecemeal:
he.
I shall
be
brought to beggary."
The
friar
kept coming from day to day for
offerings until poor spair,
to de-
and found that unless he got out
reach of this holy
make
Lope was driven friar,
of
he should have to
offerings to every saint in the calendar. 208
Therefore he made up his mind to pack what
he had
left,
and go away
in the night to an-
other part of the kingdom.
He
bought a stout mule
and sent
off his
family during the day, with
orders to wait for
When
night
for the purpose
him
at a distant village.
came he loaded
his mule,
and
down the dark avenue. Honest Lope had made his plans with the
very quietly went
utmost secrecy, telling them to no one but his faithful wife.
Fray Simon, however,
some miraculous way learned determined
to
of
them.
have one more dash
in
He
at the
treasure for the benefit of the church: and
when all the Alhambra was quiet, among the thickets of roses and lau-
that night
he hid
rels that
bordered the great avenue. Here
he remained counting the quarters as they
were sounded on the
watch-tower and listening
to
of
hours
bell of the
the
dreary
hooting of owls, and the distant barking of
dogs from the gypsy caverns. 209
At
length he heard the tramp of hoofs,
and through the gloom saw a steed coming towards him.
He
sat like a cat
watching for a mouse. Then
when
the steed
tucked up his
was
skirts
and
directly before him, he
darted forth from his leafy covert, and putting one hand on the shoulder and the other
on the crupper made a vault and alighted well-forked astride the steed.
" Ah, ha " said he, " we shall !
now see who
best understands the game."
He
had hardly said the words when the
mule began and then
to kick,
set off full
bounded from rock
The
friar's
habit
and
speed
rear,
and plunge,
down the
to rock
hill.
He
and bush to bush.
was torn
to ribbons
and
His head received
fluttered in the wind.
many a hard knock from the branches of the trees and many a scratch from the brambles.
To
add to
his terror,
seven hounds in then did he
know
full
he found a pack
of
cry at his heels, and
that he 2IO
was not mounted
on Lope's mule
at all, but
upon the
terrible
goblin horse which was said to scour the streets of
Away
Granada
they went
at midnight.
down
the great avenues.
Never did huntsman and hound make
a
more
furious run or greater uproar. In vain did
the friar invoke every saint in the calendar:
every time he mentioned a name of the kind the
horse
bounded
Through the
as
high as
a house.
rest of the night the
unlucky
Fray Simon was carried hither and and whither he would in his
At
not, until
thither
every bone
body ached. last
a cock
crowed. At the sound
the steed wheeled short and galloped back for his tower.
The seven dogs
barked and leaped and snapped friar.
The
first
yelled and at the
poor
streak of day had just ap-
peared as they reached the tower. Here the goblin kicked up his heels, sent the
somerset through the
air,
and plunged
the dark vault, followed by the dogs. 211
friar
a
into
Was friar
?
ever such a trick played upon a holy
A peasant going to
dawn found Fray Simon tree, so
work
at early
lying under a fig-
bruised and bedevilled that he could
neither speak nor move.
care to his
all
his
cell,
He was
taken with
and the story went that
he had been waylaid by robbers. It
his
was a day
Then
limbs.
under
or
two before he could use his first care
was
to look
where he had hidden the
his pillow
myrtle wreath and leathern pouches of gold
which dame Sanchez had given him. What
was
his
dismay
at finding the
wreath but a
withered branch of myrtle, and the pouches filled
only with sand and gravel!
Nothing was heard long time after he
of
left
Lope Sanchez
the Alhambra.
was always remembered panion, though
observed
in his
it
for a
as a
He
merry com-
was feared from the care
conduct just before
his de-
parture that poverty and distress had driven
him away. 212
Some
one
years afterwards
friends, being
at
over by a coach
of
his
old
Malaga, was nearly run
and
The
six.
carriage
stopped and an old gentleman magnificently dressed, with a to assist him.
wig and sword, stepped out
What was
the astonishment
grand cavalier
of the latter to
behold
his old friend,
Lope Sanchez, who was
in this
cel-
ebrating the marriage of his daughter San-
chica with one of the
grandees in the
first
land.
The
carriage contained the bridal party.
There was dame Sanchez, dressed out with feathers,
and jewels, and necklaces
and necklaces
of
of pearls,
diamonds, and rings on
every finger, as fine as the queen of Sheba.
The little Sanchica had now grown to be a woman, and for grace and beauty might have been mistaken for a duchess outright.
The bridegroom
rather a spindle-shanked
only proved him to
be 213
if
not a princess
sat beside
little
of
her
man, but the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
this
true-blue
The match had been
blood.
of the mother's
making.
Riches had not spoiled the heart est
Lope.
He
of
hon-
kept his old friend with him
for several days, feasted
him
like a king,
took him to plays and bull-fights, and at length sent
money
him away with a big bag
for himself,
friends of the
and another for
in
his old
Alhambra.
Lope always gave had died
out that a rich brother
America and
left
him a copper
mine, but the gossips of the Alhambra that he got his wealth
secret guarded
And
it is
of
insist
from discovering the
by the two marble nymphs.
said that these statues,
even to the
present day, stand with their eyes on the
same
spot on the wall,
which leads many
people to think that there sure hidden there.
34-77-9
is still
some
trea-