The three princesses, by Wahington Irving

http://schoolsanmiguel.blogspot.com.es/

THE THREE PRINCESSES

BY WASHINGTON IRVING ADAPTION BY YOLANDA EGEA AND ROCIO FLORES

SAN MIGUEL SCHOOL – ARMILLA – SPAIN

1

http://schoolsanmiguel.blogspot.com.es/

The Three Princesses Characters- The King, The Queen, Soliders, The Captain, Kadiga, The Princesses, Hussein Baba In ancient times in the city of Granada, there reigned a Muslim king named Mohammed the Zurdo. One day walking through the Sierra Elvira, he saw cavalry returning from a battle in a Christian country. With them there was a beautiful maiden. The Sultan fell in love with her and she became his wife.

She was not very happy because the king was old and she missed her Christian traditions and family. Time passed and they had three daughters, three lovely princesses, the king was not so pleased as he had wanted sons, not daughters.

The King- Congratulations wife of mine! Our three daughters are precious.

The Queen- Thank you King Mohammed. What should we name our daughters?

The King- Zayda, Zorayda and Zorahayda.

When the girls were young, the king was warned of danger by an astrologer who predicted the future. He told him that his daughters would leave Granada and travel faraway from him when they were older. The king wanted to prevent this, so he took the princesses and a servant named Kadiga away from the palace.

The King- I must take my daughters to a secure place where no one will harm them. I will take them to our castle near the beach in Salobrena but they will not be allowed to leave the castle.

The King- Kadiga! You will look after my daughters in the castle and when they are grown up and are beautiful women, you will let me know so that I can take them home with me. This way they will never leave me.

The princesses had everything in the castle, food, water fountains, gardens. Despite this they felt lonely and sad because they were locked up and could never go out.

One day Zayda looked out the window from the castle and saw a boat. The boat

2

http://schoolsanmiguel.blogspot.com.es/

was full of Muslim, soldiers, that were disembarking three young and handsome Christian Spaniards.

Soldiers- Move! Move forward prisoners! We are going to Granada! Giddy up horse, Giddy up!

It was love at first sight for the princesses; they fell in love with the three Spanish prisoners instantly.

The princesses were very sad that these Spanish men were prisoners and had been trapped by the Moroccan army.

Meanwhile after watching the princesses grow up through the many years that had passed, Kadiga contacted Mohammed and the king went immediately to Salobrena to get them.

The King- Daughters of mine, it’s been ten years since I last saw you. The three of you are beautiful and so grown up. You all have to go back with me to Granada. We will go there today.

And they left for Granada with the King and his soldiers, the princesses went on horseback, their faces were hidden behind veils because the King did not want anyone to see them.

Along the way, they saw the cavalry that had the prisoners. The three Spanish prisoners made eye contact with the princesses without saying a word. They were all starring at each other, the king saw them looking at the princesses.

The King- What are you looking at insolents? You dare stare at my daughters? I will punish you for this!

The king got out his ‘cimitarra, a type of sword that Arabic people used and as he was about to kill them, he heard a voice. The voice was that of the Captain of the Muslim cavalry.

Capitan- Please your majesty, do not kill them. If they die, it will cause us many problems. They are Spanish royalty that have been bravely fighting.

3

http://schoolsanmiguel.blogspot.com.es/

We expect to obtain a lot of money when we return them to their city.

King- I will not kill them but I will not pardon them either, take them to the Towers of Bermejas. There they will be given strenuous work to complete.

They all returned to Granada. The princesses went to live in the Tower of the Alhambra where they could see the high wall and the hill. They once again had everything they needed, fountains, gardens, birds singing but they were still sad because of everything that had happened. This made the king worried.

The king- Kadiga, what is wrong with my daughters? Every day they seem more troubled and saddened. Figure out what is wrong with them and inform me at once.

Kadiga- Yes your majesty. When I find out I will let you know.

One night while the princesses were resting, they heard music. It was the Spanish princes playing their guitars near the Towers of Bermejas. The princesses got closer to the window being careful that the princes would not see them.

Zorayda- Oh they can sing so well! They are great! I want to hear these songs every day.

Zayda and Zorahayda- Yes, they are fabulous!

Kadiga saw that the princesses were happy and she had an idea, she went to speak with Hussein Baba, the solider that guarded the prisoners and he gave him coins.

Kadiga- Take these solider, with these coins, let us make a deal. The princesses have been sad for a long time but today they heard the Spanish nobles sing and this made them happy. What I ask of you is that you take the prisoners to the foot of the tower so they can sing beautiful songs to the princesses.

Hussein Baba- I will do it gladly after receiving so many gold coins from you.

From then onwards, every night the princesses listened to the prisoners. They were deeply in love. Soon after, they received bad news followed by a surprise.

4

http://schoolsanmiguel.blogspot.com.es/

Kadiga- Oh my girls, the young Spaniards have been rescued! And in a few hours they will leave this place forever! I have spoken with them and they want you all to go with them to Cordoba and to marry them!! Your father will kill them if he finds out!

The three princesses were shocked, their tears and saddness turned to happiness.

They now had to be careful about their next move, knowing this, Kadiga spoke with Hussein Baba again, she gave him more gold coins so that he could help the princesses escape safely.

Kadiga- You need to take the princesses from the Alhambra safely, no danger must come to them.

Hussein Baba- You can count on me, we will use the secret passages at the foot of the mountain.

This is how the princesses escaped, Hussein arrived at the tower and he put a ladder at the window for the princesses to climb down.

Kadiga- Quickly my girls, climb down the tower!

The two oldest girls climbed down, Zorahayda did not. She was incapable of leaving the tower.

Her sisters, Kadiga and Hussein Baba- Hurry Zorahayda come down! Don’t miss this opportunity to escape!

Zorahayda- No sisters, go without me! I cannot abandon the Alhambra! I am staying here.

They all started crying but they could not wait any longer for fear they would be discovered. The Spanish soldiers left the Alhambra as fast as they could with their princesses. Kadiga went with them also, she could no longer stay at the palace, the king would cut her head off for helping his beloved daughters flee.

The princesses married their princes and lived happily ever after in Cordoba.

Meanwhile, Zorahayda stayed in Granada, alone and sad, as she did not want to escape.

Legend says that you can still hear the cries of Zorahayda and the music she played at the Alhambra. The instrument she played was called the lute, she played it to forget all she had lost, her sisters and her true love.

The end 5