STANDARD LITERATURE SERIES
TALES OF
THE ALHAMBRA
BY
WASHINGTON IRVING
SELECTED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS. WITH AN
INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
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NEW YORK AND NEW ORLEANS
UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY
1901
COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY
UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY
*** 2414
Press of J. J. T.ittle & Co.
Astor Place, New York
HISTORY OF SPAIN TO THE FALL OF
GRANADA.
10 Longitude
SeAnT^e&S? * ' 6
8CALC OF MILES
a
ALMOST nothing is known of the early history of the great peninsula
which forms the southwestern extremity of Europe. The Greeks called it
Iberia, but they had little real knowledge of the country. To them it
was the end of the world, the land of the setting sun, and many wonder
ful stories and myths were connected with it. One of these myths was
that Hercules had hollowed out the strait that connects the Mediterranean
with the Atlantic, and hence the bold, rocky cliffs that rise on either
side of the narrow strait were called the Pillars of Hercules.
Phoenician merchants and traders certainly visited the peninsula in
early times, and made settlements along the coasts. As the years passed,
it gradually came more and more under Carthaginian influence, and
228071
HISPANIA,
about two hundred and thirty-seven years before Christ, a Carthaginian
army under Hamilcar Barca occupied the southern part of the country,
some of the tribes submitting quietly, others being conquered. His son
Hannibal, who had married a Spanish woman, extended the Carthaginian
power to the Pyrenees Mountains in the north, and, in 218 B.C., led his
army from this peninsula over the mountains to Italy.
Their wars with Carthage had first brought the attention of the Ro
mans to the peninsula, which they called Hispania, a name since contracted
by the Spaniards into Espana, and by the English into Spain. While
Hannibal was still in Italy, the Romans invaded Hispania, defeated the
Carthaginians, and conquered the southern portion of the peninsula, thus
cutting off Hannibal's supplies and reinforcements. After the power of
Carthage was crushed, the Romans retained their conquests in Hispania,
and our first accurate knowledge of the country comes from them. They
found it occupied by many different tribes more civilized than the Gauls,
and so brave that more than two hundred years passed before the entire
peninsula was finally subjugated by the Emperor Augustus Caesar. The
country then became entirely Roman. The natives acquired the Latin
language and the Latin civilization. For more than four hundred years
the country remained a part of the Roman Empire, and became famous in
literature, arts, and science. Trajan the emperor, and Quintilian, Sen
eca, and Martial, the most distinguished Latin authors of the silver age,
were Spaniards. The Castilian Spanish of to-day very closely resembles
the old Latin language. As a part of the Roman Empire, Spain embraced
Christianity, and the Spanish bishops were leaders in the Roman Church.
With the decline of the Western Roman Empire (A.D. 409), Spain
was overrun by the Vandals and other German tribes, the Spaniards
offering very little resistance to the invaders. Four or five years later
the Visigoths (Western Goths) occupied the country, and in time expelled
the Vandals, and in A.D. 573 established a Visigothic Empire. The
Visigoths ruled Spain until the death of Roderick, the last Visigothic
king, A.D. 711.
^ Across the Mediterranean, in Northern Africa, lay the Roman province
of Mauritania, inhabited by a dark-skinned people whom the Romans
called Mauri, from which our word Moor is derived. The Mauri were
converted to Christianity with the rest of the Roman Empire. They
called themselves Berbers. After the rise of Mohammedanism, Mauri
tania was overrun and conquered by the Arabs, or Saracens, and the
Moors all embraced the Mohammedan faith. In A.D. 7.11, a mixed
army, made up of Arabs, Moors, Egyptians, and Syrians, under the com
mand of Tarik, an Arab, crossed the narrow strait to the Spanish side.
THE ARABS CONQUER SPAIN. 5
They called the rock on which they landed Gebel el Tarik (meaning
Rock of Tarik), which has been shortened into Gribralter, the name it
bears to-day. The strait has taken its name from the rock.
The country fell an easy prey. By the year 714 the Arabs had con
quered the whole of Spain, which now became a part of the Moslem
Empire, governed by the Caliphs of Damascus. The ruling Caliph of
Damascus was overthrown, and all the members of his family poisoned
except Abdurrahman, who in 767 escaped to Spain on the invitation of
the Arab governors, and established the Caliphate of Cordova. This
embraced all of Spain, except Asturias, and was independent of the
Caliphs of Bagdad. It was governed by Abdurrahman's successor for
two hundred and fifty years. The Moors during all this time were sub
ordinate. The reigning family and all the officers were Arabs.
=?«.. The conquest of Spain by the Arabs was at first simply a change of
rulers, not of population. The masses of the people were not disturbed
in their property or in their business. They paid taxes which supported
the Arab rulers and the army of Arabs and Moors. All religions were
tolerated. The Arabs were an intellectual race, and by association
acquired the culture and civilization of the people whom they had con
quered and with whom they lived. For two hundred and fifty years
Spain under Arab rulers surpassed every other European nation in
architecture, literature, science, manufactures, and agriculture.
The Christian princes had been driven into the mountains of Northern
Spain. One of these princes established the petty kingdom of Asturias
in the mountains of the north, seven years after the landing of the Arabs.
His successors drove the Arabs from Galicia and from Leon, and in the
tenth century became kings of Leon. Later on, Navarre, Aragon, Castile,
and Portugal, successively threw off the Arab control. Each became an
independent kingdom, at first very small, but gradually pushing its
boundaries southward. In 997, Almansor, the chief minister of the
Arab ruler, regained most of the lost ground, but it was lost again in a
great battle in 1002, after which Arab rule never extended north of the
river Tagtis. A few years later the Arab empire in Spain was broken up
into a number of independent principalities, under Emirs (commanders).
In 1085 Alfonso VI. of Leon and Castile captured the city of Toledo,
and was pushing still farther south. The Emir of Seville sought the
help of the Moors of Northern Africa. Vnsuf of Morocco, although then
eighty years of age, promptly responded, and in 1086 came with his
Moors to the assistance of the Emir. In October of the same year he
defeated the combined forces of Castile, Aragon, and Barcelona, but was
recalled to Africa. He returned four years later. Instead of fighting
6 THE MOORS IN SPAIN.
the Christians, however, he turned against the Arab Emirs, and united
all their possessions in an empire which covered practically the southern
half of the peninsula. For the first time, the Moorish element in the
population became dominant. In 1118, Alfonso VII. of Castile captured
Saragossa, and Alfonso VIII. extended the borders of Castile to the Sierra
Morena Mountains. In 1146, Abd al mii'min, leader of a new religious
sect, united the Slavs (or slaves) and the Moors in an insurrection against
the grandson of Yusuf, and established himself as sovereign. His suc
cessor defeated the Christian kings, who were quarrelling among them
selves, and recovered some of the lost territory. Under the rule of this
family, the Arab element disappeared, and from this time the Mohamme
dans of Spain were distinctly Moors.
In 1336 Cordova, the capital, was captured by Castile, and the next
year the Moorish Empire was again broken up into independent districts
under Emirs. The most powerful of these, ^Alhamar, the builder of the
Alhambra, Emir of Granada, in 1246 put himself under the protection
of Castile, and paid tribute to that kingdom. All the other Moorish
districts were, within the next twenty years, conquered by the Christian
kings of the peninsula. Granada became a place of refuge for those
Moors who were driven out of the other parts of Spain by the persecution
of the Christians ; and the Moors in Granada, following the example of
the Christians, expelled all, except Mohammedans, from their territory.
As a consequence, the population of Granada became almost entirely
Moorish. This added greatly to their strength. The mountainous
character of Granada made it easy to defend, and in this country, with a
united population, the Moors were enabled to hold their ground for two
hundred years longer.
The marriage of Ferdinand, King of Aragon ;md Navarre, with
Isabella, Queen of Leon and Castile, united the Christian armies of
Spain, and in 1481 these monarchs began the conquest of Granada, which
ended successfully in 1492.
The Moors rebelled in 1500, and after that time only those who em
braced Christianity were permitted to remain in Spain. Though out
wardly Christians, the "Moriscos" were secretly Mohammedans. Fi
nally, in 1609, they were all expelled from Spain, and that country has
never recovered from the loss of this large industrial element.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
IN the annals of American literature no name is brighter or more
warmly cherished than that of Washington Irving. He was one of the
earliest and most distinguished of American writers. lie was born in
New York City in 1783, just at the close of the Revolutionary War, and
was given the name at that time dearest to American hearts. He was
educated for the legal profession ; but his tastes were in the direction of
literature, and as early as 180:3 his "Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle "
appeared in the Morning Chronicle.
Irving's first publications of note were his contributions to Salma
gundi, a semi-monthly publication in imitation of the Spectator, con
ducted by himself, his brother William, and James K. Paulding. His
sketches of Dutch character in his "Knickerbocker's History of New
York," which made its appearance in 1809, proved him possessed of
quaint and genial humor to a high degree. It was everywhere read and
admired. Walter Scott, "his sides sore from laughing," praised it
warmly. The "Sketch-Book" was completed in 1820. It was received
in the United States with universal delight, and with most cordial favor
in England. It has a peculiar charm for its delicate touch and purity of
style. It was the first production in the United States of a work of the
highest literary excellence, and won for Irving a name as one of the chief
founders of American literature. The "short story," now so popular,
recognizes him as its first great master. The Royal Society of Literature
bestowed on him one of the two fifty-guinea gold medals awarded an
nually, and the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of LL.D.
"Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.," " Bracebridge Hall " (1822), and " Tales of
a Traveller" (1824) followed. I In 1826 he went to Spain and began the
long and arduous studies which were the foundation of his more impor
tant serious works: "The Life and Voyages of Columbus" (18~8),
" Conquest of Granada " (1829), " Voyages of the Companions of Colum
bus" (1831), "The Alhambra" (1832), "Legends of. the Conquest of
Spain" (1835), " Mahomet and His Successors " (1850). f For nearly three
months he lived at Granada, in the old Moorish palace, the Alhambra,
while gathering material for the work which bears that name.
In 1842 he was appointed United States Minister to Spain. He re
turned to New York in 1846, and spent the remainder of his life at his
residence, Sunnyside, near Tarry town, on the Hudson, where he died
8 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
November 28, 1859. His last work was the " Life of George Washing
ton "(5 vols., 1855-1859).
America has produced no writer of higher literary fame than Irving.
" Diedrich Knickerbocker," " Sleepy Hollow," " Rip Van Winkle," "Ich-
abod Crane," have become most familiar names. Sentiment and abun
dant humor characterize his writings, and he had the power to seize the
attention of cultivated readers by his keen observation, his graphic
touches of description, and his clear and musical style.
As a man, Irving was — to quote from Thackeray's graceful tribute to
his character — " in his family gentle, generous, good-humored, affection
ate, self-denying ; in society a delightful example of complete gentle-
manhood ; quite unspoiled by prosperity ; never obsequious to the great,
or, worse still, to the base and mean, as some public men are forced to
be ; eager to acknowledge every contemporary's merit ; always kind and
affable with the young members of his calling ; in his professional bar
gains and mercantile dealings delicately honest and grateful. He was, at
the same time, doubly dear to men of letters, not for his wit and genius
merely, but as an exemplar of goodness, probity, and a pure life."
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA.1
To the traveller imbued 2 with a feeling for the historical
and poetical, so inseparably intertwined jn_ jthe^annals 3 of
romantic Spain, the Alhambra is as much an object of devo
tion as is the Caaba4 to all true Moslems.6 How many legends
and traditions, true and fabulous; how many songs and bal
lads, Arabian and Spanish, of love and war and chivalry,6 are
associated with this Oriental pile! It was the royal abode of
the Moorish kings, where, surrounded with the splendors and
refinements of Asiatic luxury, they held dominion over what
they vaunted 7 as a terrestrial 8 paradise, and made their last
stand for empire in Spain. The rpyal palace forms but a part
of a fortress, the walls of which, studded with towers, stretch
irregularly round the whole crest of a hill, a spur of the Sierra
Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, and overlook the city; exter
nally it is a rude congregation of towers and battlements, with
no regularity of plan nor grace of architecture,9 and giving
little promise of the grace and beauty which prevail within.
In the time of the Moors the fortress was capable of con
taining within its outward precincts an army of forty thousand
men, and served occasionally as a stronghold of the sover
eigns against their rebellious subjects. After the kingdom had
passed into the hands of the Christians, the Alhambra con-
1 (ahl-hahm'brah.) Note these leading as nifio (nee' -nyo) ; e final forms a separate
peculiarities of pronunciation of Spanish syllable, as Calle (kahl-lay).
names : a, long like a in far, short like a 5 filled. * histories,
in fast ; e, long like a in ale, short like ein * (kah-ah'bahj, the temple at Mecca.
met ; i long like e in me, short like i in pin ; 6 followers of Mohammed.
o as in English; ^ like oo ,'(7 before e and ?, 'deeds of knights who fought for the
and .7 and x before every vowel, like a gut- weak and the oppressed. 7 boasted,
tural h ; n combines the sounds of n and y, 8 earthly. • art or science of building.
10 PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
tinned to be a royal demesne,1 and was occasionally inhabited
by the Castilian monarchs. The emperor Charles V. com
menced a sumptuous palace within its walls, but was deterred 2
from completing it by repeated shocks of earthquakes. The
last royal residents were Philip V. and his beautiful queen,
E]izabetta of Parma, early in the eighteenth century. Great
preparations were made for their reception. The palace and
gardens were placed in a state of repair, and a new suite 3 of
apartments erected, and decorated by artists brought from
Italy. The sojourn of the sovereigns was transient,4 and after
their departure the palace once more became desolate. Still
the place was maintained with some military state. The gov
ernor held it immediately from the crown; its jurisdiction
extended down into the suburbs of the city, and was inde
pendent of the captain-general of Granada.
The desertion of the court, however, was a fatal blow to the
Alhambra. Its beautiful halls became desolate, and some of
them fell to ruin; the gardens were destroyed, and the foun
tains ceased to play. By degrees the dwellings became filled
with a loose and lawless population — contrabandistas,5 who
availed themselves of its independent jurisdiction 6 to carry on
a wide and daring course of smuggling ; and thieves and
rogues of all sorts, who made this their place of refuge whence
they might depredate 7 upon Granada and its vicinity. \ The
strong arm of government at length interfered; the whole
community was thoroughly sifted; none were suffered to
remain but such as were of honest character, and had legiti
mate right to a residence; the greater part of the houses were
demolished,8 and a mere hamlet left, with the parochial9
church and the Franciscan convent. During the recent
troubles in Spain, when Granada was in the hands of the
French, the Alhambra was garrisoned by their troops, and the
1 possession. * brief ; lasting only a short time. 7 prey,
'hindered. 'smugglers. 8 destroyed,
•connected set or series. 6 legal authority. 9 parish.
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 11
palace was occasionally inhabited by the French commander.
With that enlightened taste which has ever distinguished the
French nation in their conquests, this monument of Moorish
elegance and grandeur was rescued from the absolute ruin and
desolation that were overwhelming it. The roofs were repaired,
the saloons and galleries protected from the weather, the gar
dens cultivated, the watercourses restored, the fountains once
more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and Spain
may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most
beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments.
On the departure of the French they blew up several towers
of the outer wall, and left the fortifications scarcely tenable.1
Since that time the military importance of the post is at an
end. The garrison is a handful of invalid soldiers, whose
principal duty is to guard some of the outer towers, which
serve occasionally as a prison of state; and the governor,
abandoning the lofty hill of the Alhambra, resides in the
centre of Granada, for the more convenient despatch of his
official duties.
Our first object, of course, on the morning after our arrival,
was a visit to this time-honored edifice.
Leaving our posada,2 and traversing the renowned square of
4he Vivarrambla, once the scene of Moorish jousts 3 and tour
naments/ now a crowded market-place, we proceeded along the
Zacatin, the main street of what, in the time of the Moors,
was the Great Bazaar, and where small shops and narrow alleys
still retain the Oriental character. Crossing an open place in
front of the palace of the captain-general, we ascended a con
fined and winding street, the name of which reminded us of
the chivalric days of Granada. It is called the Calle, or street,
of the Gomeres, from a Moorish family famous in chronicle"
and song. This street led up to the Puerta de las Granadas,
1 capable of being held. a inn. 4 uiock tight or military sport.
3 mock encounters on horseback as a * record, history,
trial of skill.
12 PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
a massive gateway of Grecian architecture, built by Charles
V., forming the entrance to the domains of the Alhambra.
'At the gate were two or three ragged, superannuated sol
diers, dozing on a stone bench, while a tall, meagre l varlet,2
whose rusty-brown cloak was evidently intended to conceal the
ragged state of his nether garments, was lounging in the sun
shine and gossiping with an ancient sentinel on duty. He
joined us as we entered the gate, and oifered his services to
show us the fortress.
I have a traveller's dislike to officious ciceroni,3 and did not
altogether like the garb of the applicant.
" You are well acquainted with the place, I presume ? "
" Nobody better; in fact, sir, I am a son of the Alhambra! "
The common Spaniards have certainly a most poetical way of
expressing themselves. ' ' A son of the Alhambra ! ' ' The appel
lation 4 caught me at once ; the very tattered garb of my new
acquaintance assumed a dignity in my eyes. It was emblem
atic 5 of the fortunes of the place, and befitted the progeny °
of a ruin.
I put some further questions to him, and found that his
title was legitimate.7 His family had lived in the fortress
from generation to generation ever since the time of the con
quest. His name was Mateo Ximenes. "Then, perhaps,"
said I, "you may be a descendant from the great Cardinal
Ximenes?" "God knows, seflor! It may be so. We are
the oldest family in the Alhambra." There is not any Span
iard, however poor, but has some claim to high pedigree/
The first title of this ragged worthy, however, had completely
captivated9 me, so I gladly accepted the services of the "son
of the Alhambra."
We now found ourselves in a deep, narrow ravine, filled with
beautiful groves, with a steep avenue and various footpaths
1 thin, lean. 2 low fellow. 6 offspring ; descendants.
1 (chee-cha-ro'nee) guides (Italian). 7 in accordance with law.
4 name. 8 line of ancestors ; descent.
6 suggestive by similarity. » pleased ; charmed.
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 13
winding through it, bordered with stone seats, and ornamented
with fountains. To our left, we beheld the towers of the
Alhambra beetling1 above us; to our right, on the opposite
side of the ravine, we were equally dominated 2 by rival towers
on a rocky eminence. These, we were told, were the Torres
Vermejos, or vermilion towers, so called from their ruddy hue.
No one knows their origin. Ascending the steep and shady
avenue, we arrived at the foot of a huge square Moorish tower,
forming a kind of barbican,3 through which passed the main
entrance to the fortress. Within the barbican was another
group of veteran invalids, one mounting guard at the portal,
while the rest, wrapped in their tattered cloaks, slept on the
stone benches. This portal is called the Gate of Justice, from
the tribunal held within its porch during the Moslem domina
tion, for the immediate trial of petty causes — a custom com
mon to the Oriental nations, and occasionally alluded to in the
sacred Scriptures. " Judges and officers shalt thou make thee
in all tliy gates, and they shall judge the people with just
judgment."
The great vestibule, or porch, of the gate is formed by an
immense Arabian arch, of the horseshoe form, which springs to
half the height of the tower. On the keystone of this arch is
engraven a gigantic hand. Within the .vestibule, on the key
stone of the portal, is sculptured in like manner a gigantic
key. Those who pretend to some knowledge of Mohammedan
symbols, affirm that the hand is the emblem of doctrine; the
five fingers designating the five principal commandments of
the creed of Islam — fasting', pilgrimage, alms-giving, ablution,4
and war against infidels. The key, say they, is the emblem of
the faith or of power; the key of Daoud or David, transmitted 5
to the prophet. " And the key of the house of David will I lay
upon his shoulder; so he shall open and none shall shut, and
he shall shut and none shall open" (Isaiah xxii. 22). The
1 jutting out. 9 seemingly controlled or threatened. « washing.
8 gateway. 5 handed down.
14 PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
key, we are told, was emblazoned ' on the standard of the
Moslems in opposition to the Christian emblem of the cross,
when they subdued Spain, or Andalusia. It betokened the
conquering power invested3 in the prophet. " He that hath
the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth ; and
shutteth and no man openeth" (Rev. iii. 7).
A different explanation of these emblems, however, was
given by the legitimate son of the Alhambra, and one more in
unison 3 with the notions of the common people, who attach
something of mystery and magic to every thing Moorish, and
have all kind of superstitions connected with this old Moslem
fortress. According to Mateo, it was a tradition handed down
from the oldest inhabitants, and which he had from his father
and grandfather, that the hand and key were magical de
vices on which the fate of the Alhambra depended. The
Moorish king who built it was a great magician, or, as some
believed, had sold himself to the devil, and had laid the whole
fortress under a magic spell. By this means it had remained
standing for several hundred years, in defiance of storms and
earthquakes, while almost all other buildings of the Moors
had fallen to ruin, and disappeared. This spell, the tradition
went on to say, would last until the hand on the outer arch
should reach down and grasp the key, when the whole pile
would tumble to pieces, and all the treasures buried beneath it
by the Moors would be revealed.
Notwithstanding this ominous4 prediction, we ventured to
pass through the spell-bound gateway.
After passing through the barbican, we ascended a narrow
lane, winding between walls, and came on an open esplanade ;>
within the fortress, called the Plaza de los Algibes, or Place of
the Cisterns, from great reservoirs which undermine it, cut in
the living rocks by the Moors to receive the water brought by
conduits from the Darro/ for the supply of the fortress. Here,
1 depicted ; represented. * harmony ; agreement. * level place.
3 given to ; put upon. * threatening. • a small tributary of the Xenil.
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 15
also, is a well of immense depth, furnishing the purest and
coldest of water; another monument of the delicate taste of
the Moors, who were indefatigable ' in the exertions to obtain
that element in its purity.
In front of this esplanade is the splendid j)ile commenced
by Charles V., and intended, it is said, to eclipse the residence
of the Moorish kings. Much of the Oriental edifice intended
for the winter season was demolished2 to make way for this
massive pile. The grand entrance was blocked up, so that the
present entrance to the Moorish palace is through a simple
and almost humble portal in a corner. With all the massive
grandeur and architectural merit of the palace of Charles V.,
we regarded it as an arrogant 3 intruder, and, passing by it with
a fe'eling almost of scorn, rang at the Moslem portal.
While waiting for admittance, our self-imposed cicerone,
Mateo Ximenes, informed us that the royal palace was intrusted
to the care of a worthy old maiden dame called Dona Antonia
Molina, but who, according to Spanish custom, went by the
more neighborly appellation of Tia Antonia (Aunt Antonia),
who maintained the Moorish halls and gardens in order and
showed them to strangers. While we were talking, the door
was opened by a plump little black-eyed Andalusian damsel,
whom Mateo addressed as Dolores,4 but who, from her bright
looks and cheerful disposition, evidently merited a merrier
' name. Mateo informed me in a whisper that she was the
niece of Tia Antonia, and I found she was the good fairy who
was to conduct us through the enchanted palace. Under her
guidance we crossed the threshold, and were at once trans
ported,5 as if by magic wand, into other times and an Oriental
realm, and were treading the scenes of Arabian story. Noth
ing could be in greater contrast than the unpromising ex
terior of the pile with the scene now before us. We found
ourselves in a vast patio, or court, one hundred and fifty feet in
1 tireless. * destroyed. * meaning sorrowful.
* assuming ; haughty. 6 carried.
16 PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
length, and upwards of eighty feet in breadth, paved with
white marble, and decorated at each end with light Moorish
peristyles,1 one of which supported an elegant gallery of fretted
architecture. Along the mouldings of the cornices2 and on
various parts of the walls were escutcheons 3 and ciphers, and
cufic4 and Arabic characters in high relief, repeating the
pious mottoes of the Moslem monarchs, the builders of the
Alhambra, or extolling their grandeur and munificence.5
Along the centre of the court extended an immense basin,
or tank, a hundred and twenty-four feet in length, twenty-
seven in breadth, and five in depth, receiving its water from
two marble vases. Hence it is called the Court of the
Alberca, the Arabic for a pond or tank. Great numbers of
gold-fish were to be seen gleaming through the waters of the
basin, and it was bordered by hedges of roses.
Passing from the court of the Alberca, under a Moorish arch
way, we entered the renowned Court of Lions. No part of
the edifice gives a more complete idea of its original beauty
than this, for none has suffered so little from the ravages H of
time. In the centre stands the fountain famous in song and
story. The alabaster 7 basins still shed their diamond drops; the
twelve lions which support them, and give the court its name,
still cast forth crystal streams as in the days of Boabdil.8 The
lions, however, are unworthy of their fame, being of miserable
sculpture ; the work, probably, of some Christian captive. The
court is laid out in flower-beds, instead of its ancient and
appropriate pavement of tiles and marble; the alteration, an
instance .of bad taste, was made by the French when in posses
sion of Granada. Round the four sides of the court are light
Arabian arcades of open filigree 9 work supported by slender
pillars of white marble, which it is supposed were originally
1 ranges of columns. 4 pertaining to the older characters of the
9 moulded projections finishing the part Arabic language.
to which they are attached. * bounty ; liberality. * wastes ; inroada
3 shields on which are coats of arms. T a tine white variety of gypsum.
8 last Moorish king of Granada. • ornamental network.
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 17
gilded. The architecture, like that in most parts of the
interior of the palace, is characterized by elegance, rather than
grandeur; bespeaking a delicate and graceful taste, and a dis
position to indolent ' enjoyment. When one looks upon the
fairy traces of the peristyles, and the apparently fragile fret
work of the walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has
survived the wear and tear of centuries, the shocks of earth
quakes, the violence of war, and the quiet, though no less
baneful,2 pilferings of the tasteful traveller; it is almost suffi
cient to excuse the popular tradition that the whole is
tected by a magic charm.
On one side of the court a rich portal opens into the Hall of
the Abencerrages, so called from the gallant cavaliers of that
illustrious line who were here perfidiously 3 massacred. There
are some who doubt the whole story; but our humble cicerone
Mateo pointed out the very wicket of the portal through
which they were introduced one by one into the Court of Lions,
and the white marble fountain in the centre of the hall, beside
which they were beheaded. He showed us also certain broad
,ruddy stains on the pavement, traces of their blood, which,
according to popular belief, can never be effaced.
Immediately opposite the Hall of the Abencerrages a portal,
richly adorned, leads into a hall of less tragical associations.
It is light and lofty, exquisitely graceful in its architecture,
paved with white marble, and bears the suggestive name of the
Hall of the Two Sisters. Some destroy the romance of the
name by attributing it to two enormous slabs of alabaster
which lie side by side, and form a great part of the pavement;
an opinion strongly supported by Mateo Ximenes. Others are
disposed to give the name a more poetical significance, as the
vague memorial of Moorish beauties who once graced this hall,
which was evidently a part of the royal harem.4 This opinion
I was happy to find entertained by our little bright-eyed guide
1 lazy ; idle. * injurious ; destructive. 4 portion of the house allotted to females
8 treacherously. in large dwellings of the East.
2
18 PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
Dolores,, who pointed to a balcony over an inner porch, which
gallery, she had been told, belonged to the women's apartment.
" You see, seflor," said she, " it is all grated and latticed, like
the gallery in a convent chapel where the nuns hear mass; for
the Moorish kings," said she, indignantly, "shut up their
wives just like nuns."
The latticed "jalousies," l in fact, still remain, whence the
dark-eyed beauties of the harem might gaze unseen upon the
zambras and other dances and entertainments of the hall below.
On each side of this hall are recesses or alcoves for ottomans
and couches, on which the voluptuous 2 lords of the Alhambra
indulged in that dreamy repose so dear to the Orientalists. A
cupola or lantern admits a tempered light from above, and a
free circulation of air; while on one side is heard the refresh
ing sound of waters from the Fountain of the Lions, and on
the other side the soft plash from the basin in the Garden of
Lindaraxa.
It is impossible to comtemplate this scene so perfectly
Oriental without feeling the early associations of Arabian
romance, and almost expecting to see the white arm of some
mysterious princess beckoning from the gallery, or some dark
eye sparkling through the lattice. The abode of beauty is
here, as if it had been inhabited but yesterday ; but where are
the two sisters ? Where the Zoraydas and Lindaraxas ?
An abundant supply of water, brought from the mountains
by old Moorish aqueducts, circulates throughout the palace,
supplying its baths and fish -pools, sparkling in jets within its
halls, or murmuring in channels along the marble pavements.
When it has paid its tribute to the royal pile, and visited its
gardens and parterres,3 it flows down the long avenue leading
to the city, tinkling in rills, gushing in fountains, and main
taining a perpetual verdure in those groves that embower and
beautify the whole hill of the Alhambra.
1 slatted window blinds. 8 ornamental arrangement of flower-beds,
2 given to sensual pleasure. with walks between.
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 19
Those only who have sojourned in the ardent climates of the
South can appreciate the delights of an abode combining the
breezy coolness of the mountain with the freshness and verdure
of the valley. While the city below pants with the noontide
heat, and the parched Vega * trembles to the eye, the delicate
airs from the Sierra Nevada play through these lofty halls,
bringing with them the sweetness of the surrounding gardens.
Every thing invites to that indolent repose, the bliss of south
ern climes; and while the half-shut eye looks out from shaded
balconies upon the glittering landscape, the ear is lulled by the
rustling of groves and the murmur of running streams.
I forbear, for the present, however, to describe the other
delightful apartments of the palace. My object is merely to
give the reader a general introduction into an abode where,
if so disposed, he may linger and loiter with me day by day
until we gradually become familiar with all its localities.
i (vay'gah), valley.
ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA.
THE Moors of Granada regarded the Alhambra as a miracle
of art, and had a tradition that the king who founded it dealt
in magic, or at least in alchemy/ by means whereof he pro
cured the immense sums of gold expended in its erection. A
brief view of his reign will show the secret of his wealth.
He is known in Arabian history as Muhamed Ibii-1-Ahmar;
but his name in general is written simply Alhamar, and was
given to him, we are told, on account of his ruddy complexion.
He was of the noble and opulent 2 line of the Beni Nasar,
or tribe of Nasar, and was born in Arjona, in the year of the
Hegira8 592 (A.D. 1195). At his birth the astrologers, we are
told, cast his horoscope,4 according to Oriental custom, and
pronounced it highly auspicious ; and a santon 5 predicted f or
him a glorious career. No expense was spared in fitting him
for the high destinies prognosticated.6 Before he attained the
full years of manhood, the famous battle of the Navas (or
plains) of Tolosa shattered the Moorish empire, and eventually
severed the Moslems of Spain from the Moslems of Africa.
Factions soon arose among the former, headed by warlike
chiefs, ambitious of grasping the sovereignty 7 of the Penin
sula. Alhamar became engaged in these wars ; he was the gen
eral and leader of the Beni Nasar, and, as such, he opposed
and thwarted the ambition of Aben Hud, who had raised his
standard among the warlike mountains of the Alpuxaras,8 and
1 an ancient science which aimed to change at the time of one's birth to foretell the
base metals into gold. events of his life.
3 wealthy. 6 a Turkish saint. « foretold.
8 the flight of Mohammed from Mecca, 7 right to exercise supreme power.
July 16, 622, from which date time is 8 (ahl-poo-hah'rahs), mountain range par-
reckoned by his followers. allel to the Sierra Nevada from Motril to the
* observation of the aspect of the heavens river Almeria.
ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA. 21
been proclaimed king of Murcia ' and Granada. Many con
flicts took place between these warring chieftains; Alhamar
dispossessed his rival of several important places, and was pro
claimed king of Jaen3 by his soldiery; but he aspired to the
sovereignty of the whole of Andalusia, for he was of a san
guine 3 spirit and lofty ambition. His valor and generosity
went hand in hand; what he gained by the one he secured by
the other; and at the death of Aben Hud (A.D. 1238), he
became sovereign of all the territories which owned allegiance
to that powerful chief. He made his formal entry into Gra
nada in the same year, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the mul
titude, who hailed him as the only one capable of uniting the
various factions which prevailed, and which threatened to lay
the empire at the mercy of the Christian princes.
Alhamar established his court in Granada; he was the first
of the illustrious4 line of Nasar that sat upon a throne. He
took immediate measures to put his little kingdom in a post
ure of defence against the assaults to be expected from his
Christian neighbors, repairing and strengthening the frontier
posts and fortifying the capital. Not content with the pro
visions of the Moslem law, by which every man is made a
soldier, he raised a regular army to garrison his strongholds,
allowing every soldier stationed on the frontier a portion of
land for the support of himself, his horse, and his family; thus
interesting him in the defence of the soil in which he had
a property. These wise precautions were justified by events.
The Christians, profiting by the dismemberment of the Mos
lem power, were rapidly regaining their ancient territories.
James the Conqueror had subjected all Valencia, and Ferdi
nand5 the Saint sat down in person before Jaen, the bul
wark of Granada. Alhamar ventured to oppose him in open
field, but met with a signal defeat, and retired discomfited to
1 province in southeast of Spain, sur- 3 bloody, with desire for war and blood-
rounded by Granada, Andalusia, La Mane ha, shed,
and Valencia. * noted.
9 province fifty miles north of Granada. * He founded the University of Salamanca.
22 ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA.
his capital. Jaen still held out, and kept the enemy at bay
during an entire winter; but Ferdinand swore not to raise his
camp until he had gained possession of the place. Alhamar
found it impossible to throw reinforcements into the besieged
city; he saw that its fall must be followed by the investment '
of his capital, and was conscious of the insufficiency of his
means to cope with the potent sovereign of Castile. Taking
a sudden resolution, therefore, he repaired privately to the
Christian camp, made his unexpected appearance in the pres
ence of King Ferdinand, and frankly announced himself as
the king of Granada. " I come," said he, " confiding in your
good faith, to put myself under your protection. Take all T
possess and receive me as your vassal; " 2 so saying, he knelt
and kissed the king's hand in token of allegiance.
Ferdinand was won by this instance of confiding faith, and
determined not to be outdone in generosity. He raised his late
enemy from the earth, embraced him as a friend, and, refus
ing the wealth he offered, left him sovereign of his dominions,
under the feudal tenure of a yearly tribute, attendance at the
Cortes as one of the nobles of the empire, and service in war
with a certain number of horsemen. He, moreover, conferred
on him the honor of knighthood, and armed him with his own
hands.
It was not long after this that Alhamar was called upon for
his military services, to aid King Ferdinand in his famous siege
of Seville.3 The Moorish king sallied forth with five hundred
chosen horsemen of Granada, than whom none in the world
knew better how to manage the steed or wield the lance. It
was a humiliating 4 service, however, for they had to draw the
sword against their brethren of the faith.
Alhamar gained a melancholy distinction by his prowess in
this renowned conquest, but more true honor by the humanity
1 surrounding. 3 city on left bank of Guadalquiver, eighty
2 subject ; slave. miles from its mouth,
* humbling.
ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA. 23
which he prevailed upon Ferdinand to introduce into the
usages of war. When in 1248 the famous city of Seville sur
rendered to the Castilian monarch, Alhamar returned sad and
full of care to his dominions. He saw the gathering ills that
menaced the Moslem cause, and uttered an ejaculation often
used by him in moments of anxiety and trouble: "How
straightened and wretched would be our life, if our hope were
not so spacious and extensive."
As he approached Granada, on his return, he beheld arches
of triumph which had been erected in honor of his martial
exploits. The people thronged forth to see him with impatient
joy, for his benignant ' rule had won all hearts. Wherever he
passed he was hailed with acclamations as " The Conqueror."
Alhamar gave a melancholy shake of the head on hearing the
appellation. "There is no conqueror but God!" exclaimed
he. FromMhat time forward this exclamation became his
motto, and the motto of his descendants, and appears to
this day emblazoned on his escutcheons in the halls of the
Alhambra.
Alhamar had purchased peace by submission to the Christian
yoke; but he was conscious that, with elements so discordant,2
and motives for hostility so deep and ancient, it could not be
permanent. Acting, therefore, upon the old maxim,, " Arm
thyself in peace, and clothe thyself in summer," he improved
the present interval of tranquillity 3 by fortifying his dominions,
replenishing his arsenals,4 and promoting those useful arts
which give wealth and real power. He confided the command
of his various cities to such as had distinguished themselves by
valor and prudence, and who seemed most acceptable to the
people. He organized a vigilant police, and established rigid
rules for the administration of justice. The poor and the dis
tressed always found ready admission to his presence, and he
attended personally to their assistance and redress. He erected
1 kind ; mild. 3 freedom from disturbing influences.
8 inharmonious ; contradictory. * storehouses for weapons of war.
24 ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBEA.
hospitals for the blind, the aged, and infirm, and all those in
capable Of labor, and visited them frequently ; not on set days,
with pomp and form, so as to give time for every thing to be
put in order, and every abuse concealed ; but suddenly and un
expectedly, informing himself, by actual observation and close
inquiry, of the treatment of the sick and the conduct of those
appointed to administer to their relief. He founded schools
and colleges, which he visited in the same manner, inspecting
personally the instruction of the youth. He established
butcheries and public ovens, that the people might be furnished
with wholesome provisions at just and regular prices. He
introduced abundant streams of water into the city, erecting
baths and fountains, and constructing aqueducts and canals
to irrigate l and fertilize the Vega. By these means prosperity
and abundance prevailed in this beautiful city, its gates were
thronged with commerce, and its warehouses filled with luxu
ries and merchandise of every clime and country.
He, moreover, gave premiums and privileges to the best arti
sans;2 improved the breed of horses and other domestic ani
mals ; encouraged husbandry ; 3 and increased the natural
fertility of the soil twofold by his protection, making the lovely
valleys of his kingdom to bloom like gardens. He fostered
also the growth and fabrication 4 of silk, until the looms of
Granada surpassed even those of Syria5 in the fineness and
beauty of their productions. He, moreover, caused the mines
of gold and silver and other metals, found in the mountainous
regions of his dominions, to be diligently worked, and was the
first king of Granada who struck money of gold and silver
with his name, taking great care that the coins should be
skilfully executed.
It was towards the middle of the thirteenth century, and
just after his return from the siege of Seville, that he com-
1 distribute water over. « making.
3 skilled workmen. 6 territory of Asiatic Turkey, bordering on
» farming. Mediterranean Sea.
ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA. 25
menced the splendid palace of the Alhambra, superintending
the building of it in person, mingling frequently among the
artists and workmen, and directing their labors.
Though thus magnificent in his works and great in his enter
prises, he was simple in his person and moderate in his enjoy
ments. His dress was not merely void of splendor, but so
plain as not to distinguish him from his subjects. His harem
boasted but few beauties, and these he visited but seldom,
though they were entertained with great magnificence. His
wives were daughters of the principal nobles, and were treated
by him as friends and rational companions. What is more,
he managed to make them live in friendship with one another.
He passed much of his time in his gardens, especially in those
of the Alhambra, which he had stored with the rarest plants
and the most beautiful and aromatic ' flowers. Here he
delighted himself in reading histories, or in causing them to
be read and related to him, and sometimes, in intervals of leis
ure, employed himself in the instruction of his three sons, for
whom he had provided the most learned and virtuous masters.
As he had frankly and voluntarily offered himself a tribu
tary vassal to Ferdinand, so he always remained loyal to his
word, giving him repeated proofs of fidelity and attachment.
When that renowned monarch died in Seville in 1254, Alha-
mar sent ambassadors to condole with his successor, Alonzo X.,
and with them a gallant train of a hundred Moorish cavaliers
of distinguished rank, who were to attend round the royal bier
during the funeral ceremonies, each bearing a lighted taper.
This grand testimonial of respect was repeated by the Moslem
monarch during the remainder of his life, on each anniversary
of the death of King Ferdinand el Santo, when the hundred
Moorish knights repaired from Granada to Seville, and took
their stations, with lighted tapers, in the centre of the sumptu
ous cathedral, round the cenotaph a of the illustrious deceased.
Alhamar retained his faculties and vigor to an advanced age.
> fragrant. 8 empty tomb erected in honor of some one buried elsewhere.
26 ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA.
In his seventy-ninth year (A.D. 1272) he took the field on
horseback, accompanied by the flower of his chivalry, to resist
an invasion of his territories. As the army sallied forth from
Granada, one of the principal adalides, or guides, who rode
in advance, accidentally broke his lance against the arch of the
gate. The councillors of the king, alarmed by this circum
stance, which was considered an evil omen, entreated him to
return. Their supplications were in vain. The king persisted,
and at noontide the omen, say the Moorish chroniclers, was
fatally fulfilled. Alhamar was suddenly struck with illness,
and had nearly fallen from his horse. He was placed on a litter,
and borne back towards Granada, but his illness increased to
such a degree that they were obliged to pitch his tent in the
Vega. His physicians were filled with consternation,1 not
knowing what remedy to prescribe. In a few hours he died,
vomiting blood, and in violent convulsions. The Castilian
prince Don Philip, brother of Alonzo X., was by his side
when he expired. His body was embalmed, enclosed in a
silver coffin, and buried in the Alhambra, in a sepulchre of
precious marble, amidst the unfeigned lamentations of his sub
jects, who bewailed him as a parent.
I have said that he was the first of the illustrious line of
Nasar that sat upon a throne. I may add that he was the
founder of a brilliant kingdom, which will ever be famous in
history and romance as the last rallying place of Moslem
power and splendor in the Peninsula. Though his undertak
ings were vast, and his expenditures immense, yet his treasury
was always full; and this seeming contradiction gave rise to
the story that he was versed in magic art, and possessed of the
secret for transmuting baser metals into gold. Those who have
attended to his domestic policy, as here set forth, will easily
understand the natural magic and simple alchemy which
made his ample treasury to overflow.
1 sudden alarm confusing the mind.
YUSEF ABUL HAGIG,
THE FINISHER OF THE ALHAMBRA.
To the foregoing particulars, concerning the Moslem princes
who once reigned in these halls, I shall add a brief notice of
the monarch who completed and embellished 1 the Alhambra.
Yusef Abul Hagig (or, as it is sometimes written, Haxis) was
another prince of the noble line of Nasar. He ascended the
throne of Granada in the year of grace 1333, and is described
by Moslem writers as having a noble presence, great bodily
strength, and a fair complexion, and the majesty of his coun
tenance increased, say they, by suffering his beard to grow to
a dignified length and dyeing it black. His manners were
gentle, affable, and urbane;2 he carried the benignity3 of his
nature into warfare, prohibiting all wanton4 cruelty, and
enjoining mercy and protection towards women and children,
the aged and infirm, and all friars and other persons of holy
and recluse life. But though he possessed the courage com
mon to generous spirits, the bent of his genius was more for
peace than war; and though repeatedly obliged by circum
stances to take up arms, he was generally unfortunate.
Among other ill-starred enterprises, he undertook a great
campaign, in conjunction with the King of Morocco, against
the Kings of Castile and Portugal, but was defeated in the
memorable battle of Salado,5 which had nearly proved a death
blow to the Moslem power in Spain.
Yiisef obtained a long truce after this defeat, and now his
character shone forth in its true lustre. He had an excellent
1 ornamented 4 unrestrained ; reckless.
» polite. * small river in province of Cadiz.
* kindness.
28 YUSEF ABUL HAGIG.
memory, and had stored his mind with science and erudition; l
his taste was altogether elegant and refined, and he was
accounted the best poet of his time. Devoting himself to the
instruction of his people and the improvement of their morals
and manners, he established schools in all the villages, with
simple and uniform systems of education; he obliged every
hamlet of more than twelve houses to have a mosque,2 and
purified the ceremonies of religion, and the festivals and pop
ular amusements, from various abuses and indecorums 3 which
had crept into them. He attended vigilantly to the police
of the city, establishing nocturnal 4 guards and patrols, and
superintending all municipal concerns. His attention was
also directed towards finishing the great architectural works
commenced by his predecessors, and erecting others on his
own plans. The Alhambra, which had been founded by the
good Alhamar, was now completed. Yusef constructed the
beautiful Gate of Justice, forming the grand entrance to the for
tress, which he finished in 1348. He likewise adorned many
of the courts and halls of the palace, as may be seen by the
inscriptions on the walls, in which his name repeatedly occurs.
He built also the noble Alcazar or citadel of Malaga, now
unfortunately a mere mass of crumbling ruins, but which
most probably exhibited in its interior similar elegance and
magnificence with the Alhambra.
The genius of a sovereign stamps a character upon his time.
The nobles of Granada, imitating the elegant and graceful
taste of Yusef, soon filled the city of Granada with magnifi
cent palaces, the halls of which were paved with mosaic; the
walls and ceilings wrought in fretwork, and delicately gilded
and painted with azure, vermilion, and other brilliant colors,
or minutely inlaid with cedar and other precious woods;
specimens of which have survived, in all their lustre, the
lapse of several centuries. Many of the houses had fountains,
1 very great learning. 3 improprieties of behavior.
2 Mohammedan place of worship. * nightly.
YUSEF ABUL HAGIG. 29
which threw up jets of water to refresh and cool the air. They
had lofty towers, also, of wood or stone, curiously carved and
ornamented, and covered with plates of metal that glittered
in the sun. Such was the refined and delicate taste in archi
tecture that prevailed among this elegant people; insomuch
that, to use the beautiful simile of an Arabian writer, " Gra
nada, in the days of Yusef, was as a silver vase filled with em
eralds and jacinths."
One anecdote will be sufficient to show the magnanimity l
of this generous prince. The long truce which had succeeded
the battle of Salado was at an end, and every effort of Yusef
to renew it was in vain. His deadly foe, Alfonzo XI. of Cas
tile, took the field with great force, and laid siege to Gibraltar.
Yusef reluctantly took up arms, and sent troops to the relief
of the place. In the midst of his anxiety, he received tidings
that his dreaded foe had suddenly fallen a victim to the plague.
Instead of manifesting exultation on the occasion, Yusef
called to mind the great qualities of the deceased, and was
touched with a noble sorrow. " Alas ! " cried he, " the world
has lost one of its most excellent princes; a sovereign who
knew how to honor merit, whether in friend or foe! "
The Spanish chroniclers themselves bear witness to this
magnanimity. According to their accounts, the Moorish cava
liers partook of the sentiment of their king, and put on
mourning for the death of Alfonzo. Even those of Gibraltar,
who had been so closely invested, when they knew that the
hostile monarch lay dead in his camp, determined among
themselves that no hostile movement should be made against
the Christians. The day on which the camp was broken up,
and the army departed, bearing the corpse of Alfonzo, the
Moors issued in multitudes from Gibraltar, and stood mute
and melancholy, watching the mournful pageant.2 The same
reverence for the deceased was observed by all the Moorish
commanders on the frontiers, who suffered the funeral train to
1 greatness of mind. 3 showy spectacle or procession.
SO YUSEF ABIJL HAGIG.
pass in safety, bearing the corpse of the Christian sovereign
from Gibraltar to Seville.
Yusef did not long survive the enemy he had so generously
deplored. In the year 1354, as he was one day praying in the
royal mosque of the Alhambra, a maniac rushed suddenly
from behind, and plunged a dagger in his side. The cries of
the king brought his guards and courtiers to his assistance.
They found him weltering in his blood. He made some signs
as if to speak, but his words were unintelligible. They bore
him senseless to the royal apartments, where he expired almost
immediately. The murderer was cut to pieces, and his limbs
burnt in public, to gratify the fury of the populace.
The body of the king was interred in a superb sepulchre of
white marble; a long epitaph, in letters of gold upon an azure
ground, recorded his virtues. " Here lies a king and martyr,
of an illustrious line, gentle, learned, and virtuous; renowned
for the graces of his person and his manners ; whose clemency, l
piety, and benevolence were extolled throughout the kingdom
of Granada. He was a great prince, an illustrious captain, a
sharp sword of the Moslems, a valiant standard-bearer among
the most potent monarchs," etc.
The mosque still exists which once resounded with the dying
cries of Yusef, but the monument which recorded his virtues
has long since disappeared. His name, however, remains
inscribed among the delicate and graceful ornaments of the
Alhambra, and will be perpetuated 2 in connection with this
renowned pile, which it was his pride and delight to beautify.
1 mildness. s made lasting.
PANORAMA1 FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES.
IT is a serene and beautiful morning; the sun has not gained
sufficient power to destroy the freshness of the night. What
a morning to mount to the summit of the Tower of Comares,
and take a bird's-eye view of Granada and its environs!
Come, then, worthy reader and comrade, follow my steps into
this vestibule, ornamented with rich tracery, which opens into
the Hall of Ambassadors. We will not enter the hall, how
ever, but turn to this small door opening into the wall. Have
a care! Here are steep, winding steps and but scanty light;
yet up this narrow, obscure> and spiral staircase the proud
monarchs of Granada and their queens have often ascended to
the battlements to watch the approach of invading armies, or
gaze, with anxious hearts, on the battles in the Vega.
At length we have reached the terraced roof, and may take
breath for a moment, while we cast a general eye over the
splendid panorama of city and country; of rocky mountain,
verdant valley, and fertile plain; of castle, cathedral, Moorish
towers and Gothic domes, crumbling ruins and blooming
groves. Let us approach the battlements, and cast our eyes
immediately below. See, on this side we have the whole plain
of the Alhambra laid open to us, and can look down into its
courts and gardens. At the foot of the tower is the Court of
the Alberca, with its great tank or fish-pool bordered with
flowers; and yonder is the Court of Lions, with its famous
fountain and its light Moorish arcades;2 and in the centre of
the pile is the little garden of Lindaraxa, buried in the heart of
the building, with its roses and citrons, and shrubbery of em
erald green.
That belt of battlements, studded with square towers, strag-
complete view. 2a series of arches supported by columns.
32 PAKORAMA FROM THE T )WER OF COMARES.
gling round the whole brow of the hill, is the outer boundary
of the fortress. Some of the towers, you may perceive, are
in ruins, and their massive fragments buried among vines, fig-
trees, and aloes.
Let us look on this northern side of the tower. It is a giddy
height; the very foundations of the tower rise above the
groves of the steep hillside. And see ! a long fissure 1 in the
massive walls shows that the tower has been rent by some of
the earthquakes which from time to time have thrown Gra
nada into consternation, and which, sooner or later, must
reduce this crumbling pile to a mere mass of ruin. The deep,
narrow glen below us, which gradually widens as it opens from
the mountains, is the valley of the Darro; you see the little
river winding its way under embowered terraces, and' among
orchards and flower gardens. It is a stream famous in old
times for yielding gold, and its sands are still sifted occasion
ally, in search of the precious ore. Some of those white pavil
ions,2 which here and there gleam from among groves and
vineyards, were rustic retreats of the Moors, to enjoy the
refreshment of their gardens. Well have they been compared
by one of their poets- to so many pearls set in a bed of emer
alds.
The airy palace, with its tall white towers and long arcades,
which breasts yon mountain, among pompous groves and hang
ing gardens, is the Generalife,3 a summer palace of the Moorish
kings, to which they resorted during the sultry months to
enjoy a still more breezy region than that of the Alhambra.
The naked summit of the height above it, where you behold
some shapeless ruins, is the Silla del Moro, or Seat of the
Moor, so called from having been a retreat of the unfortunate
Boabdil during the time of an insurrection, where he seated
himself, and looked down mournfully upon his rebellious city.
A murmuring sound of water now and then rises from the
1 opening ; cleft. 3 on the side of the mountain, high above
2 summer-housee. the Alhambra.
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OP COMARES. 33
valley. It is from the aqueduct of you Moorish mill, nearly at
the foot of the hill. The avenue of trees beyond is the Ala-
meda, along the bank of the Darro, a favorite resort in even*
ings, and a rendezvous of lovers in the summer nights, when
the guitar may be heard at a late hour from the benches along
its walks. At present you see none but a few loitering monks
there, and a group of water-carriers. The latter are burdened
with water-jars of ancient Oriental construction, such as were
used by the Moors. They have been filled at the cold and
limpid spring called the Fountain of Avellanos. Yon moun
tain path leads to the fountain, a favorite resort of Moslems, as
well as Christians; for this is said to be the Adinamar (Aynu-
1-adamar), the "Fountain of Tears," mentioned by Ibn Bat-
uta the traveller, and celebrated in the histories and romances
of the Moors.
You start! 'Tis nothing but a hawk that we have frightened
from his nest. This old tower is a complete breeding-place for
vagrant birds; the swallow and martlet l abound in every chink
and cranny, and circle about it the whole day long; while at
night, when all other birds have gone to rest, the moping owl
comes out of its lurking-place, and utters its boding 2 cry from
the battlements. See how the hawk we have dislodged sweeps
away below us, skimming over the tops of the trees, and sail
ing up to the ruins above the Generalife.
I see you raise your eyes to the snowy summit of yon pile of
mountains, shining like a white summer cloud in the blue sky.
It is the Sierra Nevada, the pride and delight of Granada; the
source of her cooling breezes and perpetual verdure; of her
gushing fountains and perennial 3 streams. It is this glorious
pile of mountains which gives to Granada that combination of
delights so rare in a southern city — the fresh vegetation and
temperate airs of a northern climate, with the vivifying 4 ardor
of a tropical sun, and the cloudless azure of a southern sky.
1 a kind of swallow. 3 through the year ; unfailing.
8 foreshowing or threatening ill. * animating ; enduing with life.
3
84 PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES.
It is this aerial treasury of snow, which, melting in proportion
to the increase of the summer heat, sends down rivulets and
streams through every glen and gorge of the Alpuxaras, dif
fusing emerald verdure and fertility throughout a chain of
happy and sequestered ' valleys.
Those mountains may be well called the glory of Granada.
They dominate the whole extent of Andalusia, and may be
seen from its most distant parts. The muleteer hails them,
as he views their frosty peaks from the sultry level of the
plain; and the Spanish mariner, on the deck of his bark, far,
far off on the bosom of the blue Mediterranean, watches them
with a pensive eye, thinks of delightful Granada, and chants,
in low voice, some old romance about the Moors.
See to the south, at the foot of those mountains, a line of
arid 3 hills, down which a long train of mules is slowly moving.
Here was the closing scene of Moslem domination. From the
summit of one of those hills the unfortunate Boabdil cast
back his last look upon Granada, and gave vent to the agony
of his soul. It is the spot famous in song and story, "The
last sigh of the Moor."
Farther this way these arid hills slope down into the luxu
rious Vega, from which he had just emerged — a blooming wil
derness of grove and garden and teeming orchard, with the
Xenil winding through it in silver links, and feeding innu
merable rills; which, conducted through ancient Moorish
channels, maintain the landscape in perpetual verdure. Here
were the beloved bowers and gardens and rural pavilions, for
which the unfortunate Moors fought with such desperate valor.
The very hovels and rude granges,3 now inhabited by boors,4
show, by the remains of arabesques & and other tasteful deco
ration, that they were elegant residences in the days of the
Moslems. Behold, in the very centre of this eventful plain,
1 secluded ; hidden. 4 peasants ; rustics.
3 parched with heat 6 decorations after the manner of the
3 farm-houses. Arabians.
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES. i?7
a place which in a manner links the history of the Old World
with that of the New. Yon line of walls and towers gleaming
in the morning sun is the city of Santa Fe, built by the Catho
lic sovereigns during the siege of Granada, after a conflagra
tion had destroyed their camp. It was to these walls Columbus
was called back by the heroic queen,1 and within them the
treaty was concluded which led to the discovery of the West
ern world. Behind yon promontory, to the west, is the Bridge
of Pinos, renowned for many a bloody fight between Moors
and Christians. At this bridge the messenger overtook Co
lumbus when, despairing of success with the Spanish sover
eigns, he was departing to carry his project of discovery to
the court of France.
Above the bridge a range of mountains bounds the Vega to
the west — the ancient barrier between Granada and the Chris
tian territories. Among their heights you may still discern
warrior towns, their gray walls and battlements seeming of a
piece with the rocks on which they are built. Here and there
a solitary atalaya, or watch-tower, perched on a mountain
peak, looks down, as it were from the sky, into the valley on
either side. How often have these atalayas given notice, by
fire at night or smoke by day, of an approaching foe! It was
down a cragged defile of these mountains, called the Pass of
Lope, that the Christian armies descended into the Vega.
Round the base of yon gray and naked mountain (the Moun
tain of Elvira), stretching its bold, rocky promontory into the
bosom of the plain, the invading squadron would come burst
ing into view, with flaunting banners and clangor of drum and
trumpet.
Five hundred years have elapsed since Ismael ben Ferrag,
a Moorish king in Granada, beheld from this very tower an
invasion of the kind, and an insulting ravage of the Vega;
on which occasion he displayed an instance of chivalrous mag
nanimity, often witnessed in the Moslem princes, "whose
> Isabella.
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES.
history," says an Arabian writer, "abounds in generous
actions and noble deeds that will last through all succeeding
ages, and live forever in the memory of man." — But let us
sit down on this parapet, and I will relate the anecdote.
It was in the year of Grace 1319 that Ismael ben Ferrag
beheld from this tower a Christian camp whitening the skirts
of yon Mountain of Elvira. The royal princes Don Juan and
Don Pedro, regents of Castile during the minority of Alfonzo
XL, had already laid waste the country from Alcaudete1 to
Alcala la Real,2 capturing the castle of Illora, and setting fire
to its suburbs, and they now carried their insulting ravages to
the very gates of Granada, defying the king to sally forth and
give them battle.
Ismael, though a young and intrepid prince, hesitated to
accept the challenge. He had not sufficient force at hand,
and awaited the arrival of troops summoned from the neigh
boring towns. The Christian princes, mistaking his motives,
gave up all hope of drawing him forth, and, having glutted
themselves with ravage, struck their tents and began their
homeward march. Don Pedro led the van, and Don Juan
brought up the rear; but their march was confused and irreg
ular, the army being greatly encumbered by the spoils and
captives they had taken.
By this time King Ismael had received his expected re
sources, and putting them under the command of Osmyn, one
of the bravest of his generals, sent them forth in hot pur
suit of the enemy. The Christians were overtaken in the
defiles of the mountains. A panic seized them; they were
completely routed, and driven with great slaughter across the
borders. Both of the princes lost their lives. The body of
Don Pedro was carried off by his soldiers, but that of Don
Juan was lost in the darkness of the night* His son wrote to
the Moorish king, entreating that the body of his father might
1 town in Andalusia, twenty-four miles 2 town in Andalusia, thirty miles eouth-
southwest of Jaen. west of Jaen.
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES. 37
be sought and honorably treated. Ismael forgot in a moment
that Don Juan was an enemy, who had carried ravage and
insult to the very gate of his capital; he only thought of him
as a gallant cavalier and a royal prince. By his command
diligent search was made for the body. It was found in a
barranco ' and brought to Granada. There Ismael caused it
to be laid out in state on a lofty bier, surrounded by torches
and tapers, in one of these halls of the Alhambra. Osmyn
and other of the noblest cavaliers were appointed as a guard
of honor, and Christian captives were assembled to pray
around it.
In the mean time Ismael wrote to the son of Prince Juan
to send a convoy for the body, assuring him it should be
safely delivered up. In due time a band of Christian cava
liers arrived for the purpose. They were honorably received
and entertained by Ismael, and, on their departure with the
body, the guard of honor of Moslem cavaliers escorted the
funeral train to the frontier.
But enough; the sun is high above the mountains, and
pours his full fervor on our heads. Already the terraced roof
is hot beneath our feet; let us abandon it, and refresh our
selves under the arcades by the Fountain of the Lions.
1 slope of steep bank.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY.
JUST within the fortress of the Alhambra, in front of the
royal palace, is a broad open esplanade, called the Place or
Square of the Cisterns, so called from being undermined by
reservoirs of water, hidden from sight, and which have existed
from the time of the Moors. At one corner of this esplanade
is a Moorish well, cut through the living rock to a great depth,
the water of which is cold as ice and clear as crystal. The
wells made by the Moors are always in repute, for it is well
known what pains they took to penetrate to the purest and
sweetest springs and fountains. The one of which we now
speak is famous throughout Granada, insomuch that water-
carriers, some bearing great water- jars on their shoulders,
others driving asses before them laden with earthen vessels, are
ascending and descending the steep woody avenues of the
Alhambra, from early dawn until a late hour of the night.
Fountains and wells, ever since the scriptural days, have
been noted gossiping places in hot climates; and at the well
in question there is a kind of perpetual club kept up during
the livelong day, by the invalids, old women, and other curi
ous do-nothing folk of the fortress, who sit here on the stone
benches, under an awning spread over the well to shelter the
toll-gatherer from the sun, 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 every thing
they hear and see. Not an hour of the day but loitering
housewives and idle maid-servants may he seen, lingering with
pitcher on head or in hand, to hear the last, of the endless
tattle of these worthies.
Among the water-carriers Avho once resorted to this well,
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 39
there was a sturdy, strong-backed,, bandy-legged little fellow,
named Pedro Gil, but called Peregil for shortness. Being a
water-carrier, he was a Gallego, or native of Galicia,1 of course.
Nature seems to have formed races of men, as she has of ani
mals, for different kinds of drudgery. In France the shoe
blacks are all Savoyards,2 the porters of hotels all Swiss, and
in the days of hoops and hair-powder in England, no man
could give the regular swing to a sedan-chair but a bog-trot
ting Irishman. So in Spain, the carriers of water and bearers
of burdens are all sturdy little natives of Galicia. No man
says, " Get me a porter," but, " Call a Gallego."
To return from this digression,3 Peregil the Gallego had
begun business with merely a great earthen jar which he car
ried upon his shoulder; by degrees he rose in the world, and
was enabled to purchase an assistant of a correspondent class
of animals, being a stout shaggy-haired donkey. On each
side of this his long-eared aid-de-camp,4 in a kind of pannier,5
were slung his water-jars, covered with fig-leaves to protect
them from the sun. There was not a more industrious water-
carrier in all Granada, nor one more merry withal. The
streets rang with his cheerful voice as he trudged after his
donkey, singing forth the usual summer note that resounds
through the Spanish towns: " Who wants water — water colder
than snow ? Who wants water from the well of the Alhambra,
cold as ice and clear as crystal?" When he served a cus
tomer with a sparkling glass, it was always with a pleasant
word that caused a smile; and if, perchance, it was a comely
dame or dimpling damsel, it was always with a sly leer and a
compliment to her beauty that was irresistible. Thus Peregil
the Gallego was noted throughout all Granada for being one
of the civilest, pleasantest, and happiest of mortals. Yet it is
not he who sings loudest and jokes most that has the lightest
1 province in northwest of Spain. « (aid-de-kong), assistant. (In the army, a
a natives of Savoy, a department of France general's confidential subordinate officer.)
adjoining Switzerland. 6 wicker basket nsed for carrying bread,
' wandering from the subject. fruit, etc., upon a horse.
tfcO LEGEND OF THE MOORS LEGACY.
heart. Under all this air of merriment, honest Peregil had
his cares and troubles. He had a large family of ragged chil
dren to support, who were hungry and clamorous x as a nest of
young swallows, and beset him with their outcries for food
whenever he came home of an evening. He had a helpmate,
too, who was anything but a help to him. She had been a
village beauty before marriage, noted for her skill at dancing
the bolero2 and rattling the castanets; 3 and she still retained
her early propensities,4 spending the hard earnings of honest
Peregil in frippery, and laying the very donkey under requisi
tion for junketing5 parties into the country on Sundays, and
saints' days, and those innumerable holidays which are rather
more numerous in Spain than the days of the week. With all
this she was a little of a slattern,6 something more of a lie-abed,
and, above all, a gossip of the first water; neglecting house,
household, and every thing else, to loiter slipshod in the houses
of her gossip neighbors.
He, however, who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,
accommodates the yoke of matrimony to the submissive neck.
Peregil bore all 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 loved his children, too, even as an owl loves its owlets,
seeing in them his own image multiplied and perpetuated ; for
they were a sturdy, long-backed, bandy-legged little brood.
The great pleasure of honest Peregil was, whenever he could
afford himself a scanty holiday, and had a handful of mara-
vedis 7 to spare, to take the whole litter forth with him, some
in his arms, some tugging at his skirts, and some trudging at
1 noisy. beaten together with the middle finger, as
2 (from bola, ball), a favorite dance in an accompaniment to dancing.
Spain. 4 inclinations.
3 two small, concave shells of ivory or 6 merry excursion.
hard wood, fastened to the thumb, and 6 woman negligent of dress or house.
7 small copper coins, each worth three mills American money.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 41
his heels, and to treat them to a gambol ' among the orchards
of the Vega, while his wife was dancing with her holiday
friends in the Angosturas2 of the Darro.
It was a late hour one summer night, and most of the water-
carriers had desisted from their toils. The day had been
uncommonly sultry ; the night was one of those delicious moon
lights, which tempt the inhabitants of southern climes to
indemnify3 themselves for the heat and inaction of the day,
by lingering in the open air, and enjoying its tempered sweet
ness until after midnight. Customers for water were there
fore still abroad. Peregil, like a considerate, painstaking
father, thought of his hungry children.
"One more journey to the well," said he to himself, "to
earn a Sunday's puchero4 for the little ones." So saying, he
trudged manfully up the steep avenue of the Alhambra, sing
ing as he went, and now and then bestowing a hearty thwack
with a cudgel on the flanks of his donkey, either by way of
cadence5 to the song, or refreshment to the animal; for dry
blows serve in lieu of provender in Spain for all beasts of
burden.
When arrived at the well, he found it deserted by every one,
except a solitary stranger in Moorish garb seated on a stone
bench in the moonlight. Peregil paused at first and regarded
him with surprise, not unmixed with awe, but the Moor feebly
beckoned him to approach. ''I am faint and ill," said he;
"aid me to return to the city, and I will pay thee double
what tliou couldst gain by thy jars of water."
The honest heart of the little water-carrier was touched with
compassion6 at the appeal of the stranger. "God forbid,"
said he, "that I should ask fee or reward fordoing a com
mon act of humanity." He accordingly helped the Moor on
his donkey, and set off slowly for Granada, the poor Moslem
1 frolic. * regular daily dinner.
2 narrow valleys. 6 regular modulation of sound.
3 compensate for harm or loss. * pity.
42 LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY.
being so weak that it was necessary to hold him on the ani
mal to keep him from falling to the earth.
When they entered the city, the water-carrier demanded
whither he should conduct him. " Alas ! " said the Moor,
faintly, " I have neither home nor habitation; I am a stranger
in the land. Suffer me to lay my head this night beneath thy
roof, and thou shalt 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 Moor to his dwelling. The children, who had sallied forth
open-mouthed, as usual, on hearing the tramp of the donkey,
ran back with affright, when they beheld the turbaned
stranger, and hid themselves behind their mother. The latter
stepped forth intrepidly, like a ruffling hen before her brood
when a vagrant dog approaches.
"What infidel companion," cried she, "is this you have
brought home at this late hour, to draw upon us the eyes of
the inquisition ? "
" Be quiet, wife," replied the Gallego; " here is a poor sick
stranger, without friend or home; wouldst thou 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, for once was stiff-
necked, and refused to bend beneath the yoke. He assisted
the poor Moslem to alight, and spread a mat and a sheep-skin
for him on the ground in the coolest part of the house, being
the only kind of bed that his poverty afforded.
In a little while the Moor was seized with violent convul
sions, which defied all the ministering skill of the simple water-
carrier. The eye of the poor patient acknowledged his kind
ness. During an interval of his fits he called him to his side,
and addressing him in alow voice, "My end," said he, "1
i court established for punishment of heretics,
LEGEND OF THE MOORS LEGACY. 3
fear, is at hand. If I die, I bequeath you this box as a reward
for your charity: " so saying, he opened his albornoz, or cloak;
and showed a small box of sandal-wood strapped round his
body. "God grant, my friend," replied the worthy little
Gallego, " that you may live many years to en joy your treasure,
whatever it may be." The Moor shook his head; he laid his
hand upon the box, and would have said something more con
cerning it, but his convulsions returned with increasing vio
lence, and in a little while he expired.
The water-carrier's wife was now as one distracted.1 " This
comes," said she, "of your foolish good nature, always run
ning into scrapes to oblige others. What will become of us
when this corpse is found in our house ? We shall be sent to
prison as murderers; and if we escape with our lives, shall be
ruined by notaries and alguazils."2
Poor Peregil was in equal tribulation, and almost repented
himself of having done a good deed. At length a thought
struck him. "It is not yet day," said he; "I can convey
the dead body out of the city, and bury it in the sands on the
banks of the Xenil. 3 No one saw the Moor enter our dwel
ling, and no one will know anything of his death."
So said, so done. The wife aided him; they rolled the body
of the unfortunate Moslem in the mat on which he had expired,
laid it across the ass, and Peregil set out with it for the banks
of the river.
As ill luck would have it, there lived opposite to the water-
carrier a barber named Pedrillo Pedrugo, one of the most pry
ing, tattling, and mischief-making of his gossip tribe. He
was a weasel-faced, spider-legged varlet, supple and insinuat
ing; the famous barber of Seville could not surpass him for his
universal knowledge of the affairs of others, and he had no
more power of retention 4 thun a sieve. It was said that he
slept but with one eye at a time, and kept one ear uncovered,
1 crazed. J a southern branch of the Guadalquivir,
* those authorized to make arrests. 4 keeping or holding.
44 LEGEND OF THE MOOlVs LEGACY.
so that, even in his sleep, he might see and hear all that was
going on. Certain it is, he was a sort of scandalous chronicle
for the quid-nuncs ' of Granada, and had more customers than
all the rest of his fraternity. a
This meddlesome barber heard Peregil arrive at an unusual
hour at night, and the exclamations. of his wife and children.
His head was instantly popped out of a little window which
served him as a look-out, and he saw his neighbor 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 at his loophole, watching the lights
that gleamed through the chinks of his neighbor's door, and
before daylight he beheld Peregil sally forth with his donkey
unusually laden.
The inquisitive3 barber was in a fidget; he slipped on his
clothes, and, stealing forth silently, followed the water-carrier
at a distance, until he saw him dig a hole in the sandy bank
of the Xenil, and bury something that had the appearance of a
dead body.
The barber hied him home, and fidgeted about his shop,
setting every thing upside down, until sunrise. He then took
a basin under his arm, and sallied forth to the house of his
daily customer the alcalde.4
The alcalde was just risen. Pedrillo Pedrugo seated him in
a chair, threw a napkin round his neck, put a basin of hot
water under his chin, and began to mollify 5 his beard with
his fingers.
"Strange doings!" said Pedrugo, who played barber and
newsmonger at the same time — " Strange doings ! Robbery,
and murder, and burial all in one night ! "
" Hey! — how! — 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 dignitary, for a Spanish barber dis-
1 busybodys ; gossips. 3 inquiring ; curious.
2 brotherhood. 4 judge. 5 rub so as to soften.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 4f>
dains to employ a brush — " I say that Peregil the Gallego has
robbed and murdered a Moorish Mussulman, and buried him.
this blessed night. Accursed be the night for the same! "
" But how do you know all this? " demanded the alcalde.
" Be patient, seflor, and you shall hear all about it," replied
Pedrillo, taking him by the nose and sliding a razor over his
cheek. He then recounted all that he had seen, going through
both operations at the same time, shaving his beard, washing
his chin, and wiping him dry with a dirty napkin, while he
was robbing, murdering, and burying the Moslem.
Now it so happened that this alcalde was one of the most
overbearing, and at the same time most griping and corrupt
curmudgeons ' in all Granada. It could not be denied, how
ever, that he set a high value upon justice, for he sold it
at its weight in gold. He presumed the case in point to be
one of murder and robbery; doubtless there must be a rich
spoil; how was it to be secured into the legitimate11 hands of
the law ? For as to merely entrapping the delinquent 3 — that
would be feeding the gallows; but entrapping the booty — that
would be enriching the judge, and such, according to his creed,
was the great end of justice. So thinking, he summoned to
his presence his trustiest alguazil, a gaunt, hungry-looking
varlet, clad, according to the custom of his order, in the
ancient Spanish garb — a broad black beaver turned up at its
sides; a quaint ruff; a small black cloak dangling from his
shoulders; rusty black under-clothes that set off his spare, wiry
frame, while in his hand he bore a slender white wand, the
dreaded insignia of his office. Such was the legal bloodhound
of the ancient Spanish breed, that he put upon the traces of
the unlucky water-carrier, and such was his speed and cer
tainty that he was upon the haunches of poor Peregil before
he had returned to his dwelling, and brought both him and his
donkey before the dispenser of justice.
The alcalde bent upon him one of the most terrific frowns.
1 (corruption of corn merchant), misers. * lawful. 3 offender ; transgressor.
4:6 LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACV.
"Hark ye, culprit I1' roared he, in a voice that made the
knees of the little Gallego smite together — " hark ye, culprit!
there is no need of denying thy guilt; every thing is known to
me. A gallows is the proper reward for the crime thou hast
committed, but I am merciful, and readily listen to reason.
The man that has been murdered in thy house was a Moor, an
infidel, the enemy of our faith. It was doubtless in a fit of
religious zeal that thou hast slain him. I will be indulgent,
therefore; render up the property of which thou hast robbed
him, and we will hush the matter up."
The poor water-carrier called upon all the saints to witness
his innocence. Alas ! not one of them appeared ; and if they
had, the alcalde would have disbelieved the whole calendar.
The water-carrier related the whole story of the dying Moor
with the straightforward simplicity of truth, but it was all in
vain. "Wilt thou persist in saying," demanded the judge,
"that this Moslem had neither gold nor jewels which were
the object of thy cupidity ? " !
" As I hope to be saved, your worship, ' ' replied the water-
carrier, " he had nothing but a small box of sandal-wood which
he bequeathed to me in reward for my services."
"A box of sandal- wood! a box of sandal- wood! " exclaimed
the alcalde, his eyes sparkling at the idea of precious jewels.
" And where is this box ? Where have you concealed it ? "
"An' it please your grace," replied the water-carrier, "it
is in one of the panniers of my mule, and heartily at the ser
vice of your worship."
He had hardly spoken the words when the keen alguazil
darted oil, and reappeared in an instant with the mysterious
box of sandal-wood. The alcalde opened it with an eager and
trembling hand; all pressed forward to gaze upon the treasure
it was expected to contain; when, to their disappointment,
nothing appeared within, but a parchment scroll, covered with
Arabic characters, and an end of a waxen taper.
J eager desire.
LEGEND OP THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 47
When there is nothing to be gained by the conviction of a
prisoner, justice, even in Spain, is apt to be impartial. The
alcalde, having recovered from his disappointment, and found
that there was really no booty in the case, now listened dispas
sionately to the explanation of the water-carrier, which was
corroborated by the testimony of his wife. Being convinced,
therefore, of his innocence, he discharged him from arrest;
nay, more, he permitted him to carry off the Moor's legacy, the
box of sandal-wood and its contents, as the well-merited reward
of his humanity; but he retained his donkey in payment of
costs and charges.
Behold the unfortunate little Gallego reduced once more to
the necessity of being his own water-carrier, and trudging up
to the well of the Alhambra with a great earthen jar upon his
shoulder.
As he toiled up the hill in the heat of the summer noon,
his usual good humor forsook him. "Dog of an alcalde!"
wrould he cry, "to rob a poor man of the means of his sub
sistence, of the best friend he had in the world! " And then
at the remembrance of the beloved companion of his labors,
all the kindness of his nature would break forth. " Ah, don
key of my heart! " would he exclaim, resting his burden on a
stone, and wiping the sweat from his brow — " Ah, donkey of
my heart ! I warrant me thou thinkest of thy old master ! I
warrant me thou missest the water- jars — poor beast! "
To add to his afflictions, his wife received him, on his return
home, with whimperings and repinings; she had clearly the
vantage-ground of him, having warned him not to commit the
egregious1 act of hospitality which had brought on him all
these misfortunes; and, like a knowing woman, she took every
occasion to throw her superior sagacity 2 in his teeth. If her
children lacked food, or needed a new garment, she could
answer with a sneer: " Go to your father; he is heir to king
1 remarkable ; extraordinary. The word 2 wisdom ; shrewdness,
is, generally used in an ironical sense.
48 LEGEND OF THE MODE'S LEGACY.
Chico of the Alhambra; ask him to help you out of tlio Moor\s
strong box."
Was ever poor mortal so soundly punished for having done
a good action ? The unlucky Peregil was grieved in flesh and
spirit, but still he bore meekly with the railings of his spouse.
At length, one evening, when, after a hot day's toil, she
taunted him in the usual manner, he lost all patience. He
did not venture to retort upon her, but his eye rested upon
the box of sandal-wood, which lay on a shelf, with lid half open,
as if laughing in mockery at his vexation. Seizing it up, he
dashed it with indignation to the floor. "Unlucky was the
day that I ever set eyes on thee," he cried, " or sheltered thy
master beneath my roof ! "
As the box struck the floor, the lid flew wide open, and the
parchment scroll rolled forth.
Peregil sat regarding the scroll for some time in moody
silence. At length rallying his ideas, " Who knows," thought
he, "but this writing may be of some importance, as the Moor
seems to have guarded it with such care?" Picking it up,
therefore, he put it in his bosom, and the next morning, as ne
was crying water through the streets, he stopped at the shop of
a Moor, a native of Tangier,1 who sold trinkets and perfumery
in the Zacatin, and asked him to explain the contents.
The Moor read the scroll attentively, then stroked his beard
and smiled. "This manuscript," said he, " is a form of
incantation for the recovery of hidden treasure that is under
the power of enchantment. It is said to have such virtue
that the strongest bolts and bars, nay the adamantine 2 rock
itself, will yield before it ! "
" Bah ! " cried the little Gallego, " what is all that to me ?
I am no enchanter, and know nothing of buried treasure."
So saying, he shouldered his water-jar, left the scroll in
1 seaport town of Morocco, in Northern 2 hard as adamant, an extremely hard
Africa, near the west entrance of Strait of mineral.
Gibraltar.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 49
the hands of the Moor,, and trudged forward on his daily
rounds.
That evening, however, as he rested himself about twilight
at the well of the Alhambra, he found a number of gossips
assembled at the place, and their conversation, as is not unusual
at that shadowy hour, turned upon old tales and traditions of a
supernatural nature. Being all poor as rats, they dwelt with
peculiar fondness upon the popular theme of enchanted riches
left by the Moors in various parts of the Alhambra. Above
all, they concurred in the belief that there were great treas
ures buried deep in the earth under the tower of the seven
floors.
These stories made an unusual impression on the mind of
the honest Peregil, and they sank deeper and deeper into his
thoughts as he returned alone down the darkling avenues.
" If, after all, there should be treasure hid beneath that
tower, and if the scroll I left with the Moor should enable me
to get at it ! " In the sudden ecstasy of the thought he had
well-nigh let fall his water-jar.
That night he tumbled and tossed, and could scarcely get a
wink of sleep for the thoughts that were bewildering his brain.
Bright and early he repaired to the shop of the Moor, and told
him all that was passing in his mind. " You can read
Arabic," said he; " suppose we go together to the tower, and
try the effect of the charm ; if it fails we are no worse off than
before; but if it succeeds, we will share equally all the treasure
we may discover."
" Hold," replied the Moslem; " this writing is not sufficient
of itself; it must be read at midnight, by the light of a taper
singularly compounded and prepared, the ingredients ' of
which are not within my reach. Without such a taper the
scroll is of no avail."
" Say no more! " cried the little Gallego; " I have such a
taper at hand, and will bring it here in a moment." So saying
1 elements entering into a compound.
50 LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY.
he hastened home, and soon returned with the end of a yellow
wax taper that he had found in the box of sandal-wood.
The Moor felt it and smelt of it. " Here are rare and costly
perfumes," said he, " combined with this yellow wax. This
is the kind of taper specified in the scroll. While this burns,
the strongest walls and most secret caverns will remain open.
Woe to him, however, who lingers within until it be extin
guished. He will remain enchanted with the treasure."
It was now agreed between them to try the charm that very
night. At a late hour, therefore, when nothing was stirring
but bats and owls, they ascended the woody hill of the Alham-
bra, and approached that awful tower, shrouded by trees and
rendered formidable by so many traditionary tales. By the
light of a lantern, they groped their way through bushes,
and over fallen stones, to the door of a vault beneath the tower.
With fear and trembling they descended a flight of steps cut
into the rock. It led to an empty chamber, damp and drear,
from which another flight of steps led to a deeper vault. In
this way they descended four several flights, leading into as
many vaults, one below the other, but the floor of the fourth
was solid ; and though, according to tradition, there remained
three vaults still below, it was said to be impossible to pene
trate further, the residue being shut up by strong enchantment.
The air of this vault was damp and chilly, and had an earthy
smell, and the light scarce cast forth any rays. They paused
here for a time in breathless suspense, until they faintly heard
the clock of the watch-tpwer strike midnight; upon this they
lit the waxen taper, which diffused an odor of myrrh 1 and
frankincense2 and storax.3 •
The Moor began to read in a hurried voice. He had scarce
finished when there was a noise as of subterraneous thunder.
The earth shook, and the floor, yawning open, disclosed a
1 transparent gum resin, from Arabia, 2 a fragrant, aromatic resin, often burned
valued for its odor and medicinal proper- as an incense in religious services,
ties. 3 fragrant resin of reddish-brown color.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 51
flight of steps. Trembling with awe they descended, and by
the light of the lantern found themselves in another vault,
covered with Arabic inscriptions. In the centre stood a great
chest, secured with seven bands of steel, at each end of which
sat an enchanted Moor in armor, but motionless as a statue,
being controlled by the power of the incantation. Before the
chest were several jars filled with gold and silver and precious
stones. In the largest of these they thrust their arms up to the
elbow, and at every dip hauled forth handf uls of broad yellow
pieces of Moorish gold, or bracelets and ornaments of the same
precious metal, while occasionally a necklace of Oriental
pearl would stick to their fingers. Still they trembled and
breathed short while cramming their pockets with the spoils,
and cast many a fearful glance at the two enchanted Moors,
who sat grim and motionless, glaring upon them with unwink
ing eyes. At length, struck with a sudden panic at some
fancied noise, they both rushed up the staircase, tumbled over
one another into the upper apartment, overturned and extin
guished the waxen taper, and the pavement again closed with
a thundering sound.
Filled with dismay, they did not pause until they had groped
their way out of the tower, and beheld the stars shining
through the trees. Then seating themselves upon the grass,
they divided the spoil, determining to content themselves for
the present with this mere skimming of the jars, but to return
on some future night and drain them to the bottom. To
make sure of each other's good faith, also, they divided the
talismans between them, one retaining the scroll and the other
the taper; this done, they set off with light hearts and well-
lined pockets for Granada.
As they wended their way down the hill, the shrewd Moor
whispered a word of counsel in the ear of the simple little
water-carrier.
"Friend Peregil," said he, "all this affair must be kept a
profound secret until we have secured the treasure, and con-
52 LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY.
veyed it out of harm's way. If a whisper of it gets to the ear
of the alcalde,, we are undone ! "
"Certainly," replied the Gallego; "nothing can be more
true."
" Friend Peregil," said the Moor, " you area discreet man,
and I make no doubt can keep a secret; but you have a wife."
" She shall not know a word of it," replied the little water-
carrier, sturdily.
" Enough," said the Moor, " I depend upon thy discretion
and thy promise."
Never was promise more positive and sincere ; but, alas ! what
man can keep a secret from his wife ? Certainly not such a
one as Peregil the water-carrier, who was one of the most lov
ing and tractable of husbands. On his return home, he found
his wife moping in a corner. " Mighty well," cried she as he
entered, ''you've come at last, after rambling about until this
hour of the night. I wonder you have not brought home
another Moor as a house-mate." Then bursting into tears,
she began to wring her hands and smite her breast : ' ' Unhappy
woman that I am! " exclaimed she, " what will become of me ?
My house stripped and plundered by lawyers and algnazils;
my husband a do-no-good, that no longer brings home bread
to his family, but goes rambling about day and night, with
infidel Moors! 0 my children ! my children! What will
become of us.? We shall all have to beg in the streets ! "
Honest Peregil was so moved by the distress of his spouse,
that he could not help whimpering also. His heart was as full
as his pocket, and not to be restrained. Thrusting his hand
into the latter he hauled forth three or four broad gold pieces,
and slipped them into her bosom. The poor woman stared
with astonishment, and could not understand the meaning of
this golden shower. Before she could recover her surprise,
the little Gallego drew forth a chain of gold and dangled it
before her, capering with exultation, his mouth distended
from ear to ear.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 53
" Holy Virgin, protect us ! " exclaimed the wife. " What
hast thou been doing, Peregil ? Surely thou hast not been
committing murder and robbery ! "
The idea scarce entered the brain of the poor woman, than it
became a certainty with her. She saw a prison and a gallows
in the distance, and a little bandy-legged Gallego hanging
pendent1 from it; and, overcome by the horrors conjured up
by her imagination, fell into violent hysterics.
What could the poor man do ? He had no other means of
pacifying his wife, and dispelling the phantoms of her fancy,
than by relating the whole story of his good fortune. This,
however, he did not do until he had exacted from her the
most solemn promise to keep it a profound secret from every
living being.
To describe her joy would be impossible. She flung her
arms round the neck of her husband, and almost strangled
him with her caresses. "Now, wife," exclaimed the little
man with honest exultation, " what say you now to the Moor's
legacy? Henceforth never abuse me for helping a fellow-
creature in distress."
The honest Gallego retired to his sheep-skin mat, and slept
as soundly as if on a bed of down. Not so his wife; she
emptied the whole contents of his pockets upon the mat, and
sat counting gold pieces of Arabic coin, trying on necklaces
and earrings, arid fancying the figure she should one day make
when permitted to enjoy her riches.
On the following morning the honest Gallego took a broad
golden coin, and repaired with it to a jeweller's shop in the
Zacatin to offer it for sale, pretending to have found it aniong
the ruins of the Alhambra. The jeweller saw that it had an
Arabic inscription, and was of the purest gold; he offered,
however, but a third of its value, with which the water-carrier
was perfectly content. Peregil now bought new clothes for
his little flock, and all kinds of toys, together with ample provi-
1 suspended.
5-i LEGEND OF THE MOORS LEGACY.
sions for a hearty meal, and returning to his dwelling, set all
his children dancing around him, while he capered in the
midst, the happiest of fathers.
The wife of the water-carrier kept her promise of secrecy
with surprising strictness. For a whole day and a half she
went about with a look of mystery and a heart, swelling almost
to bursting, yet she held her peace, though surrounded by her
gossips. It is true, she could not help giving herself a few
airs, apologized, for her ragged dress, and talked of ordering a
new basquifia ' all trimmed with gold lace and bugles,2 and
a new lace mantilla.3 She 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. In fact she thought they
should all retire to the country for the summer, that the chil
dren might have the benefit of the mountain air, for there was
no living in the city in this sultry season.
The neighbors stared at each other, and thought the poor
woman had lost her wits; and her airs and graces and elegant
pretensions were the theme of universal scoffing and merriment
among her friends, the moment her back was turned.
If she restrained herself abroad, however, she indemnified
herself at home, and putting a string of rich oriental pearls
round her neck, Moorish bracelets on her arms, and an
aigrette4 of diamonds on her head, sailed backwards and for
wards in her slattern rags about the room, now and then stop
ping to admire herself in a broken mirror. Nay, in the
impulse of her simple vanity, she could not resist, on one
occasion, showing herself at the window, to enjoy the effect of
her finery on the passers-by.
As the fates would have it, Pedrillo Pedrugo, the meddle
some barber, was at this moment sitting idly in his shop on
the opposite side of the street, when his ever-watchful eye
1 part of lady's drees, resembling a jacket 3 lady's cloak or cape of silk, velvet, etc.
with a short skirt. 4 plume for the head, of feathers or pre-
« long glass beads. cious stones, in the form of a heron's crest,
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 55
caught the sparkle of a diamond. In an instant he was at
his loophole reconnoitering the slattern spouse of the water-
carrier, decorated with the splendor of an eastern bride. No
sooner had he taken an accurate inventory l of her ornaments,
than he posted off with all speed to the alcalde. In a little
while the hungry alguazil was again on the scent, and before
the day was over the unfortunate Peregil was once more
dragged into the presence of the judge.
" How is this, villain ! " cried the alcalde, in a furious
voice. " You told me that the infidel who died in your house
left nothing behind but an empty coffer, and now I hear of
your wife flaunting in her rags decked out with pearls and
diamonds. Wretch that thou art! prepare to render up the
spoils of thy miserable victim, and to swing on the gallows
that is already tired of waiting for thee."
The terrified water-carrier fell on his knees, and made a full
relation of the marvellous manner in which he had gained his
wealth. The alcalde, the alguazil, and the inquisitive barber
listened with greedy ears to this Arabian tale of enchanted
treasure. The alguazil was despatched to bring the Moor who
had assisted in the incantation. The Moslem entered half
frightened out of his wits at finding himself in the hands of
the harpies2 of the law. When he beheld the water-carrier
standing with sheepish looks and downcast countenance, he
comprehended the whole matter. "Miserable animal," said
he, as he passed near him, " did I not warn thee against bab
bling to thy wife?"
The story of the Moor coincided exactly with that of his
colleague; but the alcalde affected to be slow of belief, and
threw out menaces of imprisonment and rigorous 3 investiga
tion.
"Softly, good Sefior Alcalde," said the Mussulman, who
by this time had recovered his usual shrewdness and self-pos
session. '; Let us not mar fortune's favors in the scramble
1 list of articles. 3 plunderers ; robbers. 3 strict ; severe.
56 LEGEND OF THE HOOK'S LEGACY.
for them. Nobody knows anything of this matter but our
selves; let us keep the secret. There is wealth enough in
the cave to enrich us all. Promise a fair division, and all
shall be produced; refuse, and the cave shall remain forever
closed."
The alcalde consulted apart with the alguazil. The latter
was an old fox in his profession. " Promise any thing," said
he, " until you get possession of the treasure. You may then
seize upon the whole, and if he and his accomplice dare to
murmur, threaten them with the fagot and the stake as infidels
and sorcerers."
The alcalde relished the advice. Smoothing his brow and
turning to the Moor, " This is a strange story," said he, " and
may be true, but I must have ocular 1 proof of it. This very
night you must repeat the incantation in my presence. If
there be really such treasure, we will share it amicably between
us, and say nothing further of the matter; if ye have deceived
me, expect no mercy at my hands. In the mean time you
must remain in custody."
The Moor and the water-carrier cheerfully agreed to these
conditions, satisfied that the event would prove the truth of
their words.
Towards midnight the alcalde sallied forth secretly, attended
by the alguazil and the meddlesome barber, all strongly armed.
They conducted the Moor and the water-carrier as prisoners,
and were provided with the stout donkey of the latter to bear
off the expected treasure. They arrived at the tower without
being observed, and tying the donkey to a fig-tree, descended
into the fourth vault of the tower.
The scroll was produced, the yellow waxen taper lighted,
and the Moor read the form of incantation. The earth
trembled as before, and the pavement opened with a thunder
ing sound, disclosing the narrow flight of steps* The alcalde,
the alguazil, and the barber were struck aghast, and could not
1 received by actual sight.
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY. 57
summon courage to descend. The Moor and the water-carrier
entered the lower vault, and found the two Moors seated as
before, silent and motionless. They removed two of the great
jars, filled with golden coin and precious stones. The water-
carrier bore them up one by one upon his shoulders, but
though a strong-backed little man, and accustomed to carry
burdens, he staggered beneath their weight, and found, when
slung on each side of his donkey, they were as much as the
animal could bear.
" Let us be content for the present," said the Moor; "here
is as much treasure as we can carry off without being perceived,
and enough to make us all wealthy to our heart's desire."
" Is there more treasure remaining behind ? " demanded the
alcalde.
" The greatest prize of all," said the Moor, "a huge coffer
bound with bands of steel, and filled with pearls and precious
stones."
%i Let us have up the coffer by all means," cried the grasp
ing alcalde.
*'I will descend for no more," said the Moor, doggedly;
"enough is enough for a reasonable man — more is super
fluous."
*" 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 up the coffer, and its contents shall be divided between
us." So saying, he descended the steps, followed with trem
bling reluctance by the alguazil and the barber.
No sooner did the Moor behold them fairly earthed than
he extinguished the yellow taper; the pavement closed with its
usual crash, and the three worthies remained buried in the
tomb.
He then hastened up the different flights of steps, nor
1 more than enough.
58 LEGEND OF THE MOOR^S LEGACY.
stopped until in the open air. The little water-carrier fol
lowed him as fast as his short legs would permit.
" What hast thou done ? " cried Peregil, as soon as he could
recover breath. " The alcalde and the other two are shut up
in the vault."
" It is the will of Allah! " said the Moor, devoutly.
" And will you not release them ? " demanded the Gallego.
"Allah forbid !" replied the Moor, smoothing his beard.
"It is written in the book of fate that they shall remain
enchanted until some future adventurer arrive to break the
charm. The will of God be done ! " So saying, he hurled the
end of the waxen taper far among the gloomy thickets of the
glen.
There was now no remedy, so the Moor and the water-carrier
proceeded with the richly-laden donkey toward the city, nor
could honest Peregil refrain from hugging and kissing his
long-eared fellow-laborer, thus restored to him from the
clutches of the law; and in fact it is doubtful which gave the
simple-hearted little man most joy at the moment, the gaining
of the treasure or the recovery of the donkey.
The two partners in good luck divided their spoil amicably
and fairly, except that the Moor, who had a little taste for
trinketry, made out to get into his heap the most of the pearls
and precious stones and other baubles, but then he always
gave the water-carrier in lieu magnificent jewels of massy
gold, of five times the size, with which the latter was heartily
content. They took care not to linger within reach of acci
dents, but made off to enjoy their wealth undisturbed in other
countries. The Moor returned to Africa, to his native city of
Tangier, and the Gallego, with his wife, his children, and his
donkey, made the best of his way to Portugal. Here, under
the admonition ! and tuition of his wife, he became a person
age of some consequence; for she made the worthy little man
array his long body and short legs in doublet and hose, with a
1 warning ; advice.
LEGEND OF THE MOOtt'S LEGACY. 59
feather in his hat and a sword by his side, and laying aside
his familiar appellation of Peregil, assume the more sonorous
title of Don Pedro Gil. His progeny grew up a thriving and
merry-hearted, though short and bandy-legged generation,
while Sefiora Gil, befringed, belaced, and betasselled from her
head to her heels, with glittering rings on every finger, became
a model of slattern 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 spellbound at the present day. Whenever there shall
be a lack in Spain of pimping barbers, sharking alguazils, and
corrupt alcaldes, they may be sought after; but if they have
to wait until such time for their deliverance, there is danger
of their enchantment enduring until doomsday.
LEGEND OF THE KOSE OF THE ALIIAMBRA.
FOR some time after the surrender of Granada by the
Moors, that delightful city was a frequent and favorite resi
dence of the Spanish sovereigns, until they were frightened
away by successive shocks of earthquakes, which toppled down
various houses, and made the old Moslem towers rock to their
foundation.
Many, many years then rolled away, during which Granada
was rarely honored by a royal guest. The palaces of the nobil
ity remained silent and shut up; and the Alhambra, like a
slighted beauty, sat in mournful desolation among her neg
lected gardens. The Tower of the Infantas, once the residence
of the three beautiful Moorish princesses, partook of the gen
eral desolation ; the spider spun her web athwart 1 the gilded
vault, and bats and owls nestled in those chambers that had
been graced by the presence of Zayda, Zorayda, and Zorahayda.
The neglect of this tower may partly have been owing to some
superstitious notions of the neighbors. It was rumored that
the spirit of the youthful Zorahayda, who had perished in tlmt
tower, was often seen by moonlight, seated beside the fountain
in the hall, or moaning about the battlements, and that the
notes of her silver lute would be heard at midnight by way
farers passing along the glen.
At length the city of Granada was once more welcomed by
the royal presence. All the world knows that Philip V.2 was
the first Bourbon that swayed the Spanish sceptre. All the
world knows that he married, in second nuptials,3 Elizabeth)
or Isabella (for they are the same), the beautiful princess of
Parma; 4 and all the world knows that by this chain of contin-
1 sidewise ; obliquely ; across. 4 province in Italy between the Apennines
8 1683-1746, 3 marriage ceremonies, and the Po river.
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 61
gencies ' a French prince and an Italian princess were seated
together on the Spanish throne. For a visit of this illustrious
pair, the Alhambra was repaired and fitted up with all possible
expedition. The arrival of the court changed the whole aspect
of the lately deserted palace. The clangor of drum and trum
pet, the tramp of steed about the avenues and outer court,
the glitter of arms and display of banners about barbican and
battlement, recalled the ancient and warlike glories of the for
tress. A softer spirit, however, reigned within the royal palace.
There was the rustling of robes and the cautious tread and
murmuring voice of reverential courtiers about the ante
chambers; a loitering of pages and maids of honor about the
gardens, and the sound of music stealing from open casements.
Among those who attended in the train of the monarchs
was a favorite page of the queen, named Ruyz de Alarcon. To
say that he was a favorite page of the queen was at once to
speak his eulogium,2 for every one in the suite of the stately
Elizabetta was chosen for grace and beauty and accomplish
ments. He was just turned of eighteen, light and lithe of
form, and graceful as a young Antinous.3 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, which overlook the grounds of the
Alhambra. He had taken with him for his amusement a
favorite gerfalcon of the queen. In the course of his rambles,
seeing a bird rising from a thicket, he unhooded the hawk and
let him fly. The falcon towered high in the air, made a swoop
at his quarry, but missing it, soared away, regardless of the
calls of the page. The latter followed the truant bird with
his eye, in its capricious 4 flight, until he saw it alight upon
the battlements of a remote and lonely tower, in the outer wall
1 unforeseen events. emperor Hadrian ; drowned in the Nile :
a praise. deified.
1 (au-tin'o-us), page and favorite of the 4 uncertain ; changeable.
f>2 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
of the Alhambra, built on the edge of a ravine that separated
the royal fortress from the grounds of the Generalife. It was
in fact the " Tower of the Princesses."
The page descended into the ravine and approached the
tower, but it had no entrance from the glen, and its lofty
height rendered any attempt to scale it fruitless. Seeking
"one of the gates of the fortress, therefore, he made a wide cir
cuit to that side of the tower facing within the walls.
A small garden, inclosed by a trellis-work of reeds over
hung with myrtle, lay before the tower. Opening a wicket,
the page passed between beds of flowers and thickets of roses
to the door. It was closed and bolted. A crevice in the door
gave him a peep into the interior. There was a small Moor
ish hall with fretted walls, light marble columns, and an
alabaster fountain surrounded with flowers. In the centre
hung a gilt cage containing a singing-bird ; beneath it, on a
chair, lay a tortoise-shell cat among reels of silk and other
articles of female labor; and a guitar decorated with ribbons
leaned against the fountain.
Ruyz de Alarcon was struck with these traces of female taste
and elegance in a lonely, and, as he had supposed, deserted
tower. They reminded him of the tales of enchanted halls
current in the Alhambra; and the tortoise-shell cat might be
some spellbound princess.
He knocked gently at the door. A beautiful face peeped
out from a little window above, but was instantly withdrawn.
He waited, expecting that the door would be opened, but he
waited in vain; no footstep was to be heard within; all was
silent. Had his senses deceived him, or was this beautiful
apparition the fairy of the tower? He knocked again, and
more loudly. After a little while the beaming face once more
peeped forth ; it was that of a blooming damsel of fifteen.
The page immediately doffed his plumed bonnet, and
entreated in the most courteous accents to be permitted to
ascend the tower in pursuit of his falcon.
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 63
" I dare not open the door, seiior," replied the little damsel,
blushing; " my aunt has forbidden it."
' ' I do beseech you, fair maid ; it is the favorite falcon of
the queen; I dare not return to the palace without it."
" Are you, then, one of the cavaliers of the court ? "
" I am, fair maid; but I shall lose the queen's favor and my
place, if I lose this hawk."
" Santa Maria! It is against you cavaliers of the court my
aunt has charged me especially to bar the door."
"Against wicked cavaliers, doubtless, but I am none of
these, but a simple, harmless page, who will be ruined and
undone, if you deny me this small request."
The heart of the little damsel was touched by the distress of
the page. It was a thousand pities he should be ruined for
the want of so trifling a boon. Surely, too, he could not be one
of those dangerous beings whom her aunt had described as a
species of cannibal, ever on the prowl to make prey of thought
less damsels; he was gentle and modest, and stood so entreat-
ingly with cap in hand, and looked so charming.
The sly page saw that the garrison began to waver, and
redoubled his entreaties in such moving terms that it was not
in the nature of mortal maiden to deny him; so the blushing
little warden of the tower descended, and opened the door
with a trembling hand; and if the page had been charmed by
a mere glimpse of her countenance from the window, he was
ravished ' by the full-length portrait now revealed to him.
Her Andalusian bodice and trim basquifla set off the round
but delicate symmetry a of her form, which was as yet scarce
verging into womanhood. Her glossy hair was parted on her
forehead with scrupulous 3 exactness, and decorated with a
fresh plucked rose, according to the universal custom of the
country. It is true her complexion was tinged by the ardor of
a southern sun, but it served to give richness to the mantling
1 carried away with delight. 3 very careful.
2 due proportion of the several parts of a body to each other.
64 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
bloom of her cheek, and to heighten the lustre of her melting
Ruyz de Alarcon beheld all this with a single glance, for it
became him not to tarry ; he merely murmured his acknowledg
ments, and then bounded lightly up the spiral staircase in
quest of his falcon.
He soon returned with the truant bird upon his fist. The
damsel, in the mean time, had seated herself by the fountain
in the hall, and was winding silk ; but in her agitation ' she
let fall the reel upon the pavement. The page sprang and
picked it up, then, dropping gracefully on one knee, pre
sented it to her; but seizing the hand extended to receive it,
imprinted on it a kiss more fervent and devout than he had
ever imprinted on the fair hand of his sovereign.
" Ave Maria,2 seflor! " exclaimed the damsel, blushing still
deeper with confusion and surprise, for never before had she
received such a salutation.
The modest page made a thousand apologies, assuring her it
was the way, at court, of expressing the most profound hom
age and respect.
Her anger, if anger she felt, was easily pacified, but her
agitation and embarrassment continued; and she sat blushing
deeper and deeper, with her eyes cast down upon her work,
entangling the silk which she attempted to wind.
The cunning page saw the confusion in the opposite camp,
and would fain have profited by it, but the fine speeches he
would have uttered died upon his lips; his attempts at gal
lantry were awkward and ineffectual ; and to his surprise, the
adroit 3 page, who had figured with such grace and effrontery 4
among the most knowing and experienced ladies of the court,
found himself awed and abashed in the presence of a simple
damsel of fifteen.
In fact, the artless maiden, in her own modesty and inno
1 excitement ; emotion. 3 skilful ; expert.
2 (ah'va mah'ree-ah sa'nyor) Hail Mary, sir. 4 boldness ; impudence.
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBHA. 65
ceiice, had guardians more effectual than the bolts and bars
prescribed by her vigilant aunt.
The diffidence l of the page, though genuine, was short
lived, and he was recovering his usual ease and confidence,
when a shrill voice was heard at a distance.
"My aunt is returning from mass! " gried the damsel in
affright. "I pray you, sefior, depart."
" Not until you grant me that rose from your hair as a
remembrance."
She hastily untwisted the rose from her raven locks. " Take
it," cried she, agitated and blushing, "but pray begone."
The page took the rose, and at the same time covered with
kisses the fair hand that gave it. Then, placing the flower in
his bonnet, and taking the falcon upon his fist, he bounded off
through the garden, bearing away with him the heart of the
gentle Jacinta.
When the vigilant aunt arrived at the tower, she remarked the
agitation of her neice, and an air of confusion in the hall ; but
a word of explanation sufficed. " A gerfalcon had pursued
his prey into the hall."
" Mercy on us ! to think of a falcon flying into the tower.
Did ever one hear of so saucy a hawk ? Why, the very bird in
the cage is not safe ! "
The vigilant Fredegonda was one of the most wary of
ancient spinsters.
The niece was the orphan of an officer who had fallen in the
wars. She had been educated in a convent, and had recently
been transferred from her sacred asylum to the immediate
guardianship of her aunt, under whose overshadowing care
she vegetated in obscurity,* like an opening rose blooming
beneath a brier. Nor indeed is this comparison entirely acci
dental; for, to tell the truth, her fresh and dawning beauty
had caught the public eye, even in her seclusion, and, with
that poetical turn common to the people of Andalusia, the
1 timidity ; want of confidence. 2 seclusion from society.
66 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
peasantry of the neighborhood had given her the appellation
of " the Hose of the Alhambra."
The wary aunt continued to keep a faithful watch over her
tempting little niece as long as the court continued at Granada,
and flattered herself that her vigilance had been successful.
At length King Philip cut short his sojourn at Granada, and
suddenly departed with all his train. The vigilant Frede-
gonda watched the royal pageant as it issued forth from the
Gate of Justice, and descended the great avenue leading to the
city. When the last banner disappeared from her sight, she
returned exulting to her tower, for all her cares were over.
To her surprise, a light Arabian steed pawed the ground at the
wicket-gate of the garden; to her horror, she saw through
the thickets of roses a youth, in gayly-embroidered dress, at
the feet of her niece. At the sound of her footsteps he gave a
tender adieu, bounded lightly over the barrier of reeds and
myrtles, sprang upon his horse, and was out of sight in an
instant.
The tender Jacinta, in the agony of her grief, lost all
thought of her aunt's displeasure. Throwing herself into her
arms, she broke forth into sobs and tears.
" Ay de mi!"1 cried she; "he's gone! — he's gone! — he's
gone! and I shall never see him more ! "
" Gone! — who is gone? — what youth is that I saw at your
feet?"
" A queen's page, aunt, who came to bid me farewell."
" A queen's page, child! " echoed the vigilant Fredegonda,
faintly; "and when did you become acquainted with the
queen's page? "
4 ' The morning that the gerfalcon came into the tower. It
was the queen's gerfalcon, and he came in pursuit of it."
" Ah, silly, silly girl ! know that there are no gerfalcons half
so dangerous as these young prankling pages, and it is precisely
such simple birds as thee that they pounce upon."
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 67
Days, weeks, months elapsed, and nothing more was heard
of the page. The pomegranate ' ripened, the vine yielded up
its fruit, the autumnal rains descended in torrents from the
mountains; the Sierra Nevada became covered with a snowy
mantle, and wintry blasts howled through the halls of the
Alhambra; still he came not. The winter passed away.
Again the genial spring burst forth with song and blossom and
balmy zephyr; the snows melted from the mountains, until
none remained but on the lofty summit of Nevada, glistening
through the sultry summer air. Still nothing was heard of
the forgetful page.
In the mean time, the poor little Jacinta grew pale and
thoughtful. Her former occupations and amusements were
abandoned, her silk lay entangled, her guitar unstrung, her
flowers were neglected, the notes of her bird unheeded, and
her eyes, once so bright, were dimmed with secret weeping.
If any solitude could be devised to foster the passion of a
love-lorn damsel, it would be such a place as the Alhambra,
where every thing seems disposed to produce tender and ro
mantic reveries. It is a very paradise for lovers. How hard
then to be alone in such a paradise — and not merely alone,
but forsaken !
" Alas, silly child! " would the staid and immaculate Frede-
gonda say, when she found her niece in one of her desponding
moods, " did I not warn thee against the wiles and deceptions2
of these men ? What couldst thou expect, too, from one of a
haughty and aspiring family — thou an orphan, the descendant
of a fallen and impoverished line ? Be assured, if the youth
were true, his father, who is one of the proudest nobles about
the court, would prohibit his union with one so humble and
portionless as thou. Pluck up thy resolution, therefore, and
drive these idle notions from thy mind."
The words of the immaculate Fredegonda only served to
1 fruit as large ae an orange, with hard J acts which deceive,
rind, soft pulp, and numerous seeds.
68 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
increase the melancholy of her niece, but she sought to indulge
it in private. At a late hour one midsummer night, after her
aunt had retired to rest, she remained alone in the hall of the
tower, seated beside the alabaster fountain. It was here that
the faithless page had first knelt and kissed her hand ; it was
here that he had often vowed eternal fidelity. The poor little
damsel's heart was overladen with sad and tender recollections,
her tears began to flow, and slowly fell drop by drop into the
fountain. By degrees the crystal water became agitated, and
—bubble — bubble — bubble — boiled up and was tossed about,
until a female figure, richly clad in Moorish robes, slowly rose
to view.
Jacinta was so frightened that she fled from the hall, and
did not venture to return. The next morning she related what
she had seen to her aunt, but the good lady treated it as a
phantasy ' of her troubled mind, or supposed she had fallen
asleep and dreamt beside the fountain. " Thou hast been
thinking of the story of the three Moorish princesses that once
inhabited this tower," continued she, "and it has entered
into thy dreams."
" What story, aunt ? I know nothing of it."
" Thou hast certainly heard of the three princesses, Zayda,
Zorayda, and Zorahayda, who were confined in this tower by
the king their father, and agreed to fly with three Christian
cavaliers. The first two accomplished their escape, but the
third failed in her resolution, and, it is said, died in this
tower."
"I now recollect to have heard of it," said Jacinta, "and
to have wept over the fate of the gentle Zorahayda."
' ' Thou mayest well weep over her fate, ' ' continued the
aunt, "for the lover of Zorahayda was thy ancestor. He
long bemoaned his Moorish love; but time cured him of his
grief, and he married a Spanish lady, from whom thou art
descended."
1 fancy ; illusion.
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 69
Jacinta ruminated upon these words. " That what I have
seen is no phantasy of the brain," said she to herself, "I am
confident. If indeed it be the spirit of the gentle Zorahayda,
which I have heard lingers about this tower, of what should I
be afraid ? I'll watch by the fountain to-night; perhaps the
visit will be repeated."
Towards midnight, when every thing was quiet, she again
took her seat in the hall. As the bell in the distant watch-
tower of the Alhambra struck the midnight hour, the fountain
was again agitated; and bubble — bubble — bubble — it tossed
about the waters until the Moorish female again rose to view.
She was young and beautiful; her dress was rich with jewels,
and in her hand she held a silver lute. Jacinta trembled and
was faint, but was reassured by the soft and plaintive voice of
the apparition, and the sweet expression of her pale, melan
choly countenance.
" Daughter of mortality," said she, "what aileth thee?
Why do thy tears trouble my fountain, and thy sighs and
plaints disturb the quiet watches of the night ? ' '
" I weep because of the faithlessness of man, and I bemoan
my solitary and forsaken state."
' Take comfort; thy sorrows may yet have an end. Thou
beholdest a Moorish princess, "who, like thee, was unhappy in
her love. A Christian knight, thy ancestor, won my heart, and
would have borne me to his native land and to the bosom of
his church. I was a convert in my heart, but I lacked courage
equal to my faith, and lingered till too late. For this the evil
genii are permitted to have power over me, and I will remain
enchanted in this tower until some pure Christian deign to
break the magic spell. Wilt them undertake the task ? "
" I will," replied the damsel, trembling.
"Come hither, then, and fear not; dip thy hand in the
fountain, sprinkle the water over me, and baptize me after the
manner of thy faith; so shall the enchantment be dispelled,
and my troubled spirit have repose.7'
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
The damsel advanced with faltering steps, dipped her hand
in the fountain, collected water in the palm, and sprinkled it
over the pale face of the phantom.
The latter smiled with ineffable ' benignity.2 She dropped
her silver lute at the feet of Jacinta, crossed her white arms
upon her bosom, 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 whole appeared to
her like a distempered dream. On descending into the hall,
however, the truth of the vision was established, for beside
the fountain she beheld the silver lute glittering in the morn
ing sunshine.
She hastened to her aunt, to relate all that had befallen her,
and called her to behold the lute as a testimonial of the reality
of her story. If the good lady had any lingering doubts, they
were removed when Jacinta touched, the instrument, for she
drew forth such ravishing tones as to thaw even the frigid
bosom of the immaculate Fredegonda, that region of eternal
winter, into a genial flow. Nothing but supernatural melody
could have produced such an effect.
The extraordinary power of the lute became every day more
and more apparent. The wayfarer passing by the tower was
detained, and, as it were, spellbound, in breathless ecstasy.
The very birds gathered in the neighboring trees, and, hushing
their own strains, listened in charmed silence.
Rumor soon spread the news abroad. The inhabitants of
Granada thronged to the Alhambra to catch a few notes of
the transcendant music that flowed about the tower of Las
Infantas.
The lovely little minstrel was at length drawn forth from
her retreat. The rich and powerful of the land contended
who should entertain and do honor to her; or, rather, who
1 very great ; unspeakably great. 3 kinduees.
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 71
should secure the charms of her lute to draw fashionable
throngs to their saloons. Wherever she went, her vigilant aunt
kept a dragon watch at her elbow, awing the throngs of impas
sioned admirers, who hung in raptures on her strains. The
report of her wonderful powers spread from city to city.
Malaga, Seville, Cordova, all became successively mad on the
theme; nothing was talked of throughout Andalusia but the
beautiful minstrel of the Alhambra. How could it be other
wise among a people so musical and gallant as the Anda-
lusians, when the lute was magical in its powers, and the
minstrel inspired by love !
While all Andalusia was thus music mad, a different mood
prevailed at the court of Spain. Philip V., as is well known,
was a miserable hypochondriac,1 and subject to all kinds of
fancies. Sometimes he would keep to his bed for weeks
together, groaning under imaginary complaints. At other
times he would insist upon abdicating his throne, to the great
annoyance of his royal spouse, who had a strong relish for the
splendors of a court and the glories of a crown, and guided
the sceptre of her imbecile2 lord with an expert and steady
hand.
Nothing was found to be so efficacious 3 in dispelling the
royal megrims4 as the power of music; the queen took care,
therefore, to have the best performers, both vocal and instru
mental, at hand, and retained the famous Italian singer Fari-
nelli about the court as a kind of royal physician.
At the moment we treat of, however, a freak had come over
the mind of this sapient and illustrious Bourbon that surpassed
all former vagaries.5 After a long spell of imaginary illness,
which set all the strains of Farinelli and the consolations of
a whole orchestra of court fiddlers at defiance, the monarch
fairly, in idea, gave up the ghost, and considered himself
absolutely dead.
1 one affected with low spirits. 3 effectual ; powerful. * fancies ; freaks.
*weak; feebleminded. 5 (vny-gay'riz), wild freaks; whims.
72 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
This would have been harmless enough, and even convenient
both to his queen and courtiers, had he been content to remain
in the quietude befitting a dead man; but to their annoyance
he insisted upon having the funeral ceremonies performed over
him, and, to their inexpressible perplexity, began to grow
impatient, and to revile bitterly at them for negligence and
disrespect in leaving him unburied. What was to be done ?
To disobey the king's positive commands was monstrous in the
eyes of the obsequious courtiers of a punctilious court — but to
obey him, and bury him alive, would be downright regicide. *
In the midst of this fearful dilemma2 a rumor reached the
court, of the female minstrel who was turning the brains of
all Andalusia. The queen despatched missions in all haste to
summon her to St. Ildefonso, where the court at that time
resided.
Within a few days, as the queen with her maids of honor
was walking in those stately gardens, intended, with their
avenues and terraces and fountains, to eclipse the glories of
Versailles,3 the far-famed minstrel was conducted into her
presence. The imperial Elizabetta gazed with surprise at the
youthful and unpretending appearance of the little being that
had set the world madding. She was in her picturesque An-
dalusian dress, her silver lute in hand, and stood with modest
and downcast eyes, but with a simplicity and freshness of
beauty that still bespoke her " the Eose of the Alhambra."
As usual, she was accompanied by her ever- vigilant Frede-
gonda, who gave the whole history of her parentage and descent
to the inquiring queen. If the stately Elizabetta had been
interested by the appearance of Jacinta, she was still more
pleased when she learnt that she was of a meritorious though
impoverished 4 line, and that her father had bravely fallen in
the service of the crown. " If thy powers equal their renown,"
1 murder of a king. containing the famous royal palace built by
2 perplexity how to decide. Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.
8 eleven miles west southwest of Paris, «poor.
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBKA. 73
said she, "and thou canst cast forth this evil spirit that pos
sesses thy sovereign, thy fortunes shall henceforth be my care,
and honors and wealth attend thee. "
Impatient to make trial of her skill, she led the way at once
to the apartment of the moody monarch.
Jacinta followed, with downcast eyes, through files of guards
and crowds of courtiers. They arrived at length at a great
chamber hung with black. The windows were closed to
exclude the light of day; a number of yellow wax tapers in
silver sconces ' diffused a lugubrious 2 light, and dimly revealed
the figures of mutes in mourning dresses, and courtiers who
glided about with noiseless step and woebegone visage. In the
midst of a funeral bed or bier, his hands folded on his breast,
and the tip of his nose just visible, lay extended this would-be
buried monarch.
The queen entered the chamber in silence, and pointing to a
footstool in an obscure corner, beckoned to Jacinta to sit down
and commence.
At first she touched her lute with a faltering hand, but
gathering confidence and animation as she proceeded, drew
forth such soft aerial 3 harmony that all present could scarce
believe it mortal. As to the monarch, who had already con
sidered himself in the world of spirits, he set it down for
some angelic melody or the music of the spheres.4 By degrees
the theme was varied, and the voice of the minstrel accom
panied the instrument. She poured forth one of the legendary
ballads treating of the ancient glories of the Alhambra and
the achievements of the Moors. Her whole soul entered into
the theme, for with the recollections of the Alhambra was
associated the story of her love. The funeral chamber
resounded with the animating strain. It entered into the
gloomy heart of the monarch. He raised his head and gazed
1 lanterns. 4 the harmony supposed by the ancients
ij mournful. to be produced by the accordant movements
* high ; lofty. of the celestial bodies.
74 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA.
around ; he sat up on his couch ; his eye began to kindle ; at
length, leaping upon the floor, he called for sword and buckler.
The triumph of music, or, rather, of the enchanted lute, was
complete; 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 bosom of Kuyz de Alarcon.
The nuptials of the happy couple were celebrated soon
afterward with great splendor. "But hold — not so fast," I
hear the reader exclaim; "this is jumping to the end of a
story at a furious rate! First let us know how the Ruyz de
Alarcon managed to account to Jacinta for his long neglect."
Nothing more easy; the venerable, time-honored excuse, the
opposition to his wishes by a proud, pragmatical 1 old father;
besides, young people who really like one another soon come
to the amicable understanding, and bury all past grievances
when once they meet.
But how was the proud, pragmatical old father reconciled to
the match ? Oh! as to that, his scruples were easily overcome
by a word or two from the queen. Besides, the lute of
Jacinta, you know, possessed a magic power, and could con
trol the most stubborn head and hardest breast.
And what came of the enchanted lute ?
Oh, that is the most curious matter of all, and plainly proves
the truth of the whole story. That lute remained for some
time in the family, but was purloined 2 and carried off, as was
supposed, by the great singer Farinelli, in pure jealousy. At
his death it passed into other hands in Italy, who were ignorant
of its mystic powers, and, melting down the silver, transferred
the strings to an old Cremona 3 fiddle. The strings still retain
something of their magic virtues. A word in the reader's
ear, but let it go no further — that fiddle is now bewitching the
whole world; it is the fiddle of Paganini! 4
1 meddlesome (so regarded). 4 (pah-gah-nee'nee), celebrated Italian vi-
2 stolen. olinist, 1784-1840.
* fortified city of Italy, forty-eight miles southeast of Milan.
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY.
IN former times there ruled, as governor of the Alhambra,
a doughty ' old cavalier, who, from having lost one arm in the
wars, was commonly known by the name of el Gobernador
Manco, or "the one-armed governor." He, in fact, prided
himself upon being an old soldier, wore his mustaches curled up
to his eyes, a pair of campaigning boots, and a Toledo 2 as long
as a spit,3 with his pocket-handkerchief in the basket hilt.4
He was, moreover, exceedingly proud and punctilious, and
tenacious 5 of all his privileges and dignities. Under his sway
the immunities6 of the Alhambra as a royal residence and
domain were rigidly exacted. No one was permitted to enter
the fortress with firearms, or even with a sword or staff, unless
he were of a certain rank ; and every horseman was obliged to
dismount at the gate, and lead his horse by the bridle. Now
as the hill of the Alhambra rises from the very midst of the
city of Granada, being, as it were, an excrescence 7 of the capital,
it must at all times be somewhat irksome 8 to the captain-gen
eral, who commands the province, to have thus an imperium
in imperio* a petty, independent post, in the very centre of his
domains. It was rendered the more galling, in the present
instance, from the irritable jealousy of the old governor, that
took fire on the least question of authority and jurisdiction;
and from the loose, vagrant character of the people who had
gradually nestled themselves within the fortress, as in a sanc
tuary, and thence carried on a system of roguery and depreda
tion at the expense of the honest inhabitants of the city.
1 strong ; valiant. 6 keeping firm hold.
2 sword made at Toledo. • special privileges or exemptions.
3 long, pointed iron rod for roasting meat. » an irregular growth.
« cover for hand around the handle or hilt 8 tiresome ; annoying.
of a sword. * empire within an empire.
76 THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY.
Thus there was a perpetual feud and heart-burning between
the captain-general and the governor, the more virulent on
the part of the latter, inasmuch as the smaller of two neigh
boring potentates is always the most captious about his dignity.
The stately palace of the captain-general stood in the Plaza
Nueva, immediately at the foot of the hill of the Alhambra,
and here was always a bustle and parade of guards and do
mestics and city functionaries.1 A beetling bastion2 of the
fortress overlooked the palace and public square in front of it;
and on this bastion the old governor would occasionally strut
backwards and forwards, with his Toledo girded by his side,
keeping a wary eye down upon his rival, like a hawk recon-
noitering his quarry 3 from his nest in a dry tree.
Whenever he descended into the city it was in grand parade,
on horseback, surrounded by his guards, or in his state coach,
an ancient and unwieldy Spanish edifice of carved timber and
gilt leather, drawn by eight mules, with running footmen,
outriders, and lackey; on which occasions he flattered himself
he impressed every beholder with awe and admiration as vice
gerent of the king; though the wits of Granada, particularly
those who loitered about the palace of the captain-general,
were apt to sneer at his petty parade, and, in allusion to the
vagrant character of his subjects, to greet him with the appel
lation "the king of the beggars. " One of the most fruitful
sources of dispute between these two doughty rivals was the
right claimed by the governor to have all things passed free of
duty through the city, that were intended for the use of him
self or his garrison. By degrees the privilege had given rise to
extensive smuggling. A nest of contraband istas took up their
abode in the hovels of the fortress and the numerous caves in
its vicinity, and drove a thriving business under the conni
vance of the soldiers of the garrison.
The vigilance of the captain -general was aroused. He con-
1 persons holding office ; officers, 3 animal hunted for.
2 projecting portion of fort.
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY. 77
suited his legal adviser and factotum,, a shrewd, meddlesome
escribano, or notary, who rejoiced in an opportunity of per
plexing the old potentate of the Alhambra, and involving him
in a maze of legal subtil ties.1 He advised the captain-general
to insist upon the right of examining every convoy 2 passing
through the gates of his city, and penned a long letter for him
in vindication of the right. Governor Manco was a straight
forward, cut-and-thrust old soldier, who hated an escribano
worse than the devil, and this one in particular worse than all
other escribanos.
" What! " said he, curling up his mustaches fiercely, " does
the captain-general set his man of the pen to practise confu
sions upon me? I'll let him see an old soldier is not to be
baffled by schoolcraf t. "
He seized his pen and scrawled a short letter in a crabbed
hand, in which, without deigning3 to enter into argument, he
insisted on the right of transit free of search, and denounced
vengeance on any custom-house officer who should lay his
unhallowed hand on any convoy protected by the flag of the
Alhambra. While this question was agitated between the
two pragmatical potentates, it so happened that a mule laden
with supplies for the fortress arrived one day at the gate of
Xenil, by which it was to traverse a suburb of the city, on
its way to the Alhambra. The convoy was headed by a testy
old corporal, who had long served under the governor, and
was a man after his own heart; as rusty and stanch as an old
Toledo blade.
As they approached the gate of the city, the corporal placed
the banner of the Alhambra on the pack-saddle of the mule,
and, drawing himself up to a perfect perpendicular, advanced
with his head dressed to the front, but with the wary side-
glance of a cur passing through hostile ground, and ready for
a snap and a snarl.
1 tricks ; artifices. • stooping ; condescending.
* train of wagons engaged in transportation, having an armed escort.
78 THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY.
" Who goes there ? " said the sentinel at the gate.
"Soldier of the Alhambra ! " said the corporal, without
turning his head.
" What have you in charge ? "
" Provisions for the garrison."
"Proceed."
The corporal marched straight forward, followed by the con
voy, but had not advanced many paces before a posse1 of
custom-house officers rushed out of a small toll-house.
" Hallo there ! " cried the leader. " Muleteer, halt, and open
those packages."
The corporal wheeled round, and drew himself up in battle
array. " Eespect the flag of the Alhambra," said he; " these
things are for the governor."
" A fig for the governor, and a fig for his flag. Muleteer,
halt, I say."
" Stop the convoy at your peril! " cried the corporal, cocking
his musket. " Muleteer, proceed."
The muleteer gave his beast a hearty thwack ; the custom
house officer sprang forward and seized the halter; whereupon
the corporal levelled his piece, and shot him dead.
The street was immediately in an uproar.
The old corporal was seized, and after undergoing sundry
kicks and cuffs and cudgellings, which are generally given
impromptu 2 by the mob in Spain, as a foretaste of the after
penalties of the law, he was loaded with irons, and conducted
to the city prison; while his comrades were permitted to pro
ceed with the convoy, after it had been well rummaged, to the
Alhambra.
The old governor was in a towering passion when he heard
of this insult to his flag and capture of his corporal. For
a time he stormed about the Moorish halls, and vapored
about the bastions, and looked down fire and sword upon the
palace of the captain-general. Having vented the first ebulli-
1 number ; group ; squad. 2 off-hand ; without previous arrangement.
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY. 70
tion ' of his wrath, lie despatched a message demanding the sur
render of the corporal, as to him alone belonged the right of
sitting in judgment on the offences of those under his com
mand. The captain-general, aided by the pen of the delighted
escribano, replied at great length, arguing that as the offence
had been committed within the walls of his city, and against one
of his civil officers, it was clearly within his proper jurisdic
tion. The governor rejoined by a repetition of his demand;
the captain-general gave a sur-re joinder 2 of still greater length
and legal acumen;3 the governor became hotter and more
peremptory in his demands, and the captain-general cooler and
more copious in his replies; until the old lion-hearted soldier
absolutely roared with fury at being thus entangled in the
meshes of legal controversy.
While the subtle escribano was thus amusing himself at the
expense of the governor, he was conducting the trial of the
corporal, who, mewed up in a narrow dungeon of the prison,
had merely a small grated window at which to show his iron-
bound visage, and receive the consolations of his friends.
A mountain of written testimony was diligently heaped up,
according to Spanish form, by the indefatigable4 escribano;
the corporal was completely overwhelmed by it. He was con
victed of murder, and sentenced to be hanged.
It was in vain the governor sent down remonstrance and
menace from the Alhambra. The fatal day was at hand, and
the corporal was put in capilla, that is to say, in the chapel of
the prison, as is always done with culprits the day before
execution, that they may meditate on their approaching end
and repent them of their sins.
Seeing things drawing to extremity, the old governor deter
mined to attend to the affair in person. For this purpose he
ordered out his carriage of state, and, surrounded by his
guards, rumbled down the avenue of the Alhambra into the
1 violent display ; sudden outburst. s shrewdness ; keenness.
2 answer to a rejoinder. 4 tireless.
BO THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY.
city. Driving to the house of the escribano, he summoned
him to the portal.
The eye of the old governor gleamed like a coal at beholding
the smirking man of the law advancing with an air of exulta
tion.1
" What is this I bear," cried he, " that you are about to put
to death one of my soldiers ? ' '
"All according to law; all in strict form of justice," said
the self-sufficient escribano, chuckling and rubbing his hands.
' * I can show your excellency the written testimony in the
case. ' '
' ' Fetch it hither, ' ' said the governor. The escribano bustled
into his office, delighted with having another opportunity of
displaying his ingenuity a at the expense of the hard-headed
veteran.
He returned with a satchel full of papers, and began to read
a long deposition with professional volubility. By this time a
crowd had collected, listening with outstretched necks and
gaping mouths.
' ' Prithee, man, get into the carriage, out of this pestilent
throng, that I may the better hear thee," said the governor.
The escribano entered the carriage, when, in a twinkling,
the door was closed; the coachman smacked his whip; mules,
carriage, guards and all dashed off at a thundering rate, leav
ing the crowd in gaping wonderment; nor did the governor
pause until he had lodged his prey in one of the strongest
dungeons of the Alhambra.
He then sent down a flag of truce in military style, proposing
a cartel or exchange of prisoners — the corporal for the notary.
The pride of the captain-general was piqued; he returned a
contemptuous 3 refusal, and forthwith caused a gallows, tall and
strong, to be erected in the centre of the Plaza Nueva, for the
execution of the corporal.
" Oho ! Is that the game ? " said Governor Manco. He gave
» triumph. » power of ready invention. » scornful.
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY. . 81
orders, and immediately a gibbet was reared cm the verge of
the great beetling bastion that overlooked the Plaza. " Now,"
said he in a message to the captain-general, "hang my soldier
when you please; but at the same time that he is swung off in the
square, look up to see your escribano dangling against the sky."
The captain-general was inflexible ; 1 troops were paraded in
the square; the drums beat; the bell tolled. An immense mul
titude of amateurs gathered together to behold the execution.
On the other hand, the governor paraded his garrison on the
bastion, and tolled the funeral dirge of the notary from the
Torre de la Campana, or Tower of the Bell.
The notary's wife pressed through the crowd with a whole
progeny of little embryo escribanos at her heels, and throwing
herself at the feet of the captain-general, implored him not to
sacrifice the life of her husband, and the welfare of herself
and her numerous little ones, to a point of pride. " For you
know the old governor too well," said she, "to doubt that he
will put his threat in execution, if you hang the soldier."
The captain-general was overpowered by her tears and
lamentations, and the clamors of her callow brood. The cor
poral was sent up to the Alhambra, under a guard, in his
gallows garb, like hooded friar, but with head erect and a face
of iron. The escribano was demanded in exchange, according
to the cartel. The once bustling and self-sufficient man of the
law was drawn forth from his dungeon more dead than alive.
All his flippancy and conceit had evaporated;2 his hair, it is
said, had nearly turned gray with affright, and he had a down
cast, dogged look, as if he still felt the halter round his neck.
The old governor stuck his one arm akimbo, and for a
moment surveyed him with an iron smile. " Henceforth, my
friend," said he, " moderate your zeal in hurrying others to
the gallows; be not too certain of your safety, even though you
should have the law on your side; and above all, take care how
you play off your schoolcraft another time upon an old soldier. "
1 unbending ; determined. • disappeared (literally in vapor).
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER.
WHILE Governor Manco, or "the one-armed," kept up a
show of military state in the Alhambra, he became nettled at
the reproaches continually cast upon his fortress, of being a
nestling place of rogues and contrabandistas. On a sudden,
the old potentate determined on reform, and, setting vigor
ously to work, ejected whole nests of vagabonds out of the
fortress and the gypsy caves with which the surrounding hills
are honeycombed. He sent out soldiers, also, to patrol the
avenues and footpaths, with orders to take up all suspicious
persons.
One bright summer morning, a patrol, consisting of the testy
old corporal who had distinguished himself in the affair of the
notary, a trumpeter and two privates, was seated under the
garden wall of the Generalife, beside the road which leads
down, from the mountain of the sun, when they heard the
tramp of a horse, and a male voice singing in rough, though
not unmusical tones, an old Castilian campaigning song.
Presently they beheld a sturdy, sunburnt fellow, clad in the
ragged garb of a foot-soldier, leading a powerful Arabian horse,
caparisoned in the ancient Moresco fashion.
Astonished at the sight of a strange soldier descending, steed
in hand, from that solitary mountain, the corporal stepped
forth and challenged him.
" Who goes there?"
"A friend."
" Who and what are you ? "
"A poor soldier just from the wars, with a cracked crown
and empty purse for a reward."
By this time they were enabled to view him more narrowly.
He had a black patch across his forehead, which, with a grizzled
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 83
beard, added to a certain dare-devil cast of countenance,, while
a slight squint threw into the whole an occasional gleam of
roguish good humor.
Having answered the questions of the patrol,, the soldier
seemed to consider himself entitled to make others in return.
* ' May I ask, ' ' said he, ' i what city is that which I see at the
foot of the hill?"
''What city?" cried the trumpeter. "Come, that's too
bad. Here's a fellow lurking about the mountain of the sun,
and demands the name of the great city of Granada! "
' i Granada ! can it be possible ? ' '
''Perhaps not!" rejoined the trumpeter; "and perhaps
you have no idea that yonder are the towers of the Alham-
bra."
"Son of a trumpet," replied the stranger, "do not trifle
with me ; if this be indeed the Alhambra, I have some strange
matters to reveal to the governor."
" You will have an opportunity," said the corporal, " for we
mean to take you before him." By this time the trumpeter
had seized the bridle of the steed, the two privates had each
secured an arm of the soldier, the corporal put himself in
front, gave the word, "Forward — march!" and away they
marched for the Alhambra.
The sight of a ragged foot-soldier and a fine Arabian horse,
brought in captive by the patrol, attracted the attention of
all the idlers of the fortress, and of those gossip groups that
generally assemble about wells and fountains at early dawn.
The wheel of the cistern paused in its rotations, and the slip
shod servant-maid stood gaping, with pitcher in hand, as the
corporal passed by with his prize. A motley train gradually
gathered in the rear of the escort.
Knowing nods and winks and conjectures passed from one
to another. "It is a deserter," said one; "a contraband-
ista," said another; "a bandalero,"1 said the third; until
1 highway robber.
84 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER,
it was affirmed that the captain of a desperate band of robbers
had been captured by the prowess ' of the corporal and his
patrol. ' * Well, well, ' ' said the old crones, one to another,
" captain or not, let him get out of the grasp of old Governor
Manco if he can, though he is but one-handed."
Governor Manco was seated in one of the inner halls of the
Alhambra, taking his morning's cup of chocolate in company
with his confessor, a fat Franciscan 2 friar from the neighboring
convent. A derau re, dark- eyed damsel of Malaga,3 the daughter
of his housekeeper, was attending upon him. The world
hinted that the damsel had found out a soft spot in the iron
heart of the old governor, and held complete control over him.
When word was brought that a suspicious stranger had been
taken lurking about the fortress, and was actually in the outer
court, in durance 4 of the corporal, waiting the pleasure of his
excellency, the pride and stateliness of office swelled the bosom
of the governor. Giving back his chocolate cup into the hands
of the demure damsel, he called for his basket-hilted sword,
girded it to his side, twirled up his mustaches, took his seat
in a large high-backed chair, assumed a bitter and forbidding
aspect, and ordered the prisoner into his presence. The soldier
was brought in, still closely pinioned 5 by his captors, and
guarded by the corporal. He maintained, however, a resolute
self-confident air, and returned the sharp, scrutinizing 6 look
of the governor with an easy squint, which by no means
pleased the punctilious 7 old potentate.
" Well, culprit," said the governor, after he had regarded
him for a moment in silence, " what have you to say for your
self — who are you ? "
1 gallantry ; fearlessness of danger. 3 seaport city on a bay of the Mediter-
9 the religious order of the Franciscans ranean, sixty-five miles east northeast of
was founded in 1210 by Francis of Assissi, Gibraltar.
a celebrated Italian monk and preacher. 4 custody ; guarding.
After a serious illness in his youth, he 8 with arms bound to the body.
turned to a life of ascetic devotion. He 6 examining very carefully.
died October 4, 1226. He was canonized 7 yiven to nicety or exactness in forms of
by Gregory IX. in 1228. conduct.
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 85
" A soldier, just from the wars, who has brought away
nothing but scars and bruises."
"A soldier? Humph! A foot-soldier by your garb. I under
stand you have a fine Arabian horse. I presume you brought
him too from the wars, besides your scars and bruises."
" May it please your excellency, I have something strange
to tell about that horse. Indeed I have one of the most won
derful things to relate. Something, too, that concerns the
security of this fortress, indeed of all Granada. But it is a
matter to be imparted only to your private ear, or in the pres
ence of such only as are in your confidence."
The governor considered for a moment, and then directed
the corporal and his men to withdraw, but to post themselves
outside of the door, and be ready at a call. " This holy
friar," said he, "is my confessor; you may say anything in
his presence; and this damsel," nodding towards the hand
maid, who had loitered with an air of great curiosity — "this
damsel is of great secrecy and discretion, and to be trusted
with anything."
The soldier gave a glance between a squint and a leer at the
demure handmaid. "I am perfectly willing," said he, " that
the damsel should remain."
AVhen all the rest had withdrawn, the soldier commenced
his story. He was a fluent, smooth-tongued varlet, and had
a command of language above his apparent rank.
"May it please your excellency," said he, "I am, as I
before observed, a soldier, and have seen some hard service;
but my term of enlistment being expired, I was discharged,
not long since, from the army at Valladolid,1 and set out on
foot for my native village in Andalusia. Yesterday evening
the sun went down as I was traversing a great dry plain of Old
Castile."
" Hold ! " cried the governor. " What is this you say ? Old
Castile is some two or three hundred miles from this."
> city of Spam, one hundred miles northwest of Madrid. Columbus died here in 1506.
86 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER.
" Even so," replied the soldier, coolly; " I told your excel
lency I had strange things to relate; but not more strange
than true; as your excellency will find, if you will deign me a
patient hearing."
" Proceed, culprit," said the governor, twirling up his mus
taches.
"As the sun went down," continued the soldier, "least
my eyes about in search of quarters for the night, but as far
as my sight could reach, there were no signs of habitation. I
saw that I should have to make my bed on the naked plain,
with my knapsack for a pillow; but your excellency is an old
soldier, and knows that, to one who has been in the wars, such
a night's lodging is 110 great hardship."
The governor nodded assent, as he drew his pocket-handker
chief out of the basket hilt, to drive away a fly that buzzed
about his nose.
" Well, to make a long story short," continued the soldier,
" I trudged forward for several miles until I came to a bridge
over a deep ravine, through which ran a little thread of water,
almost dried up by the summer heat. At one end of the
bridge was a Moorish tower, the upper end all in ruins, but
a vault in the foundation quite entire. Here, thinks I, is a
good place to make a halt; so I went down to the stream,
took a hearty drink, for the water was pure and sweet, and I
was parched with thirst; then, opening my wallet, I took out
an onion and a few crusts, which were all my provisions, and
seating myself on a stone on the margin of the stream, began
to make my supper, intending afterwards to quarter myself
for the night in the vault of the tower; and capital quarters
they would have been for a campaigner just from the wars, as
your excellency, who is an old soldier, may suppose."
"I have put up gladly with worse in my time," said the
governor, returning his pocket-handkerchief into the hilt of
his sword.
"While I was quietly crunching my crust," pursued the
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER. 87
soldier, " I heard something stir within the vault. I listened;
it was the tramp of a horse. By and by a man came forth
from a door in the foundation of the tower, close by the
water's edge, leading a powerful horse by the bridle. I could
not well make out what he was by the starlight. It had a
suspicious look to be lurking among the ruins of a tower, in
that wild, solitary place. He might be a mere wayfarer, like
myself; he might be a contrabandista ; he might be a banda-
lero! What of that? Thank heaven and my poverty, I had
nothing to lose; so I sat still and crunched my crust.
" He led his horse to the water, close by where I was sitting,
so that I had a fair opportunity of reconnoitering him. To
my surprise he was dressed in a Moorish garb, with a cuirass of
steel, and a polished skull-cap that I distinguished by the
reflection of the stars upon it. His horse, too, was harnessed
in the Moresco fashion, with great shovel stirrups. He led
him, as I said, to the side of the stream, into which the ani
mal plunged his head almost to the eyes, and drank until I
thought he would have burst.
'•'Comrade,' said I, 'your steed drinks well; it's a good
sign when a horse plunges his muzzle bravely into the water. '
" 'He may well drink,' said the stranger, speaking with a
Moorish accent; ' it is a good year since he had his last
draught.'
" ' By Santiago,' ' said I, ( that beats even the camels I have
seen in Africa. But come, you seem to be something of a
soldier; will you sit down and take part of a soldier's fare?'
In fact, I felt the want of a companion in this lonely place,
and was willing to put up with an infidel. Besides, as your
excellency well knows, a soldier is never very particular about
the faith of his company, and soldiers of all countries are
comrades on peaceable ground."
The governor again nodded assent.
" Well, as I was saying, I invited him to share my supper,
1 Saint Jago (Saint James).
88 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER.
such as it was, for I could not do less in common hospitality.
' I have no time to pause for meat or drink,' said he; ' I have
a long journey to make before morning. '
" ' In which direction ? ' said I.
" ' Andalusia/ said he.
" ' Exactly my route,,' said I; 'so, as you won't stop and eat
with me, perhaps you will let me mount and ride with you. I
see your horse is of a powerful frame, I'll warrant he'll carry
double. '
"'Agreed,' said the trooper; and it would not have been
civil and soldierlike to refuse, especially as I had offered to
share my supper with him. So up he mounted, and up I
mounted behind him.
" ' Hold fast,' said he; ' my steed goes like the wind.'
" ' Never fear me,' said I, and so off we set.
" From a walk the horse soon passed to a trot, from a trot
to a gallop, and from a gallop to a harum-scarum scamper. It
seemed as if rocks, trees, houses, every thing, flew hurry-
scurry behind us.
" ' What town is this ? ' said I.
" 'Segovia,' 1 said he; and before the word was out of his
mouth, the towers of Segovia were out of sight. We swept
up the Guadarama 2 Mountains, and down by the Escurial; 3
and we skirted the walls of Madrid,4 and we scoured away
across the plains of La Mancha. In this way we went up hill
and down dale, by towers and cities, all buried in deep sleep,
and across mountains and plains and rivers just glimmering
in the starlight.
" To make a long story short, and not to fatigue your excel
lency, the trooper suddenly pulled up on the side of a moun-
J in Old Castile, forty-five miles northwest a magnificent mausoleum for the members
of Madrid. of the royal family, and an extensive collec-
2 name of mountains northwest of Madrid, tionof rare paintings, books, etc. It was
3 name of town and province northwest set on fire by lightning and partially de-
of Madrid. Remarkable for the celebrated stroyed in 1872.
monastery and palace of the Escurial in its 4 capital of Spain, in central part, on Man-
vicinity, built by Philip II., which contains zanares River,
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 89
tain. ' Here we are, ' said he, ' at the end of our journey. ' I
looked about, but could see no signs of habitation; nothing
but the mouth of a cavern. "While I looked, I saw multitudes
of people in Moorish dresses, some on horseback, some on
foot, arriving*, as if borne by the wind, from all points of the
compass, and hurrying into the mouth of the cavern like bees
into a hive. Before I could ask a question, the trooper struck
his long Moorish spurs into the horse's flanks, and dashed in
with the throng. We passed along a steep winding way that
descended into the very bowels of the mountain. As we
pushed on, a light began to glimmer up, by little and little,
like the first glimmerings of day; but what caused it I could
not discern. It grew stronger and stronger, and enabled me
to see every thing around. I now noticed, as we passed along,
great caverns, opening to the right and left, like halls in an
arsenal. In some there were shields and helmets and cui
rasses and lances and cimeters, hanging against the walls; in
others were great heaps of warlike munitions and camp
equipage lying upon the ground.
" It would have done your excellency's heart good, being an
old soldier, to have seen such grand provision for war. Then,
in other caverns, there were long rows of horsemen armed to
the teeth, with lances raised and banners unfurled, all ready
for the field; but they all sat motionless in their saddles, like
so many statues. In other halls were warriors sleeping on the
ground beside their horses, and foot-soldiers in groups ready
to fall into the ranks. All were in old-fashioned Moorish
dresses and armor.
" Well, your excellency, to cut a long story short, we at
length entered an immense cavern, or I may say palace, of
grotto work, the walls of which seemed to be veined with
gold and silver, and to sparkle with diamonds and sapphires
and all kinds of precious stones. At the upper end sat a
Moorish king on a golden throne, with his nobles on each side,
and a guard of African blacks with drawn cimeters. All the
90 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER.
crowd that continued to flock in, and amounted to thousands
and thousands,, passed one by one before his throne, each pay
ing homage as he passed. Some of the multitude were dressed
in magnificent robes, without stain or blemish, and sparkling
with jewels; others in burnished and enamelled armor; while
others were in mouldered and mildewed garments, and in
armor all battered and dented, and covered with rust.
"I had hitherto held my tongue, for your excellency well
knows it is not for a soldier to ask many questions when on
duty, but I could keep silent no longer.
" ' Prithee, comrade,' said I, 'what is the meaning of all
this?'
" ' This,' said the trooper, ' is a great and fearful mystery.
Know, 0 Christian, that you see before you the court and
army of Boabdil, the last king of Granada. '
" ' What is this you tell me ? ' cried I. ' Boabdil and his
court were exiled from the land hundreds of years agone, and
all died in Africa. '
"'So it is recorded in your lying chronicles,' replied the
Moor; 'but know that Boabdil and the warriors who made
the last struggle for Granada were all shut up in the mountain
by powerful enchantment. As for the king and army that
marched forth from Granada at the time of the surrender,
they were a mere phantom train of spirits and demons, per
mitted to assume those shapes to deceive the Christian sover
eigns. And, furthermore, let me tell you, friend, that all Spain
is a country under the power of enchantment. There is not
a mountain cave, not a lonely watch-tower in the plains, nor
ruined castle on the hills, but has some spellbound warriors
sleeping from age to age within its vaults, until the sins are
expiated for which Allah permitted the dominion to pass for a
time out of the hands of the faithful. Once every year, on the
eve of St. John, they are released from enchantment, from sun
set to sunrise, and permitted to repair here to pay homage to
their sovereign ; and the crowds which you beheld swarming
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 91
into the cavern are Moslem warriors from their haunts in all
parts of Spain. For my part, you saw the ruined tower of the
bridge in Old Castile, where I have now wintered and sum
mered for many hundred years, and where I must be back
again by daybreak. As to the battalions of horse and foot
which you beheld drawn up in array in the neighboring cav
erns, they are the spellbound warriors of Granada. It is
written in the book of fate, that, when the enchantment is
broken, Boabdil will descend from the mountain, at the head
of this army, resume his throne in the Alhambra, and his sway
of Granada, and, gathering together the enchanted warriors,
from all parts of Spain, will reconquer the Peninsula ' and
restore it to Moslem rule. '
" ' And when shall this happen ? ' said I.
'' " Allah alone knows. We had hoped that the day of deliv
erance was at hand; but there reigns at present a vigilant
governor in the Alhambra, a stanch old soldier, well known as
Governor Manco. While such a warrior holds command of
the very outpost, and stands ready to check the first irruption
from the mountain, I fear Boabdil and his soldiery must be
content to rest upon their arms.' "
Here the governor raised himself somewhat perpendicularly,
adjusted his sword, and twirled up his mustaches.
" To make a long story short, and not to fatigue your excel
lency, the trooper, having given me this account, dismounted
from his steed.
" ' Tarry here, ' said he, 'and guard my steed while I go
and bow the knee to Boabdil.' So saying, he strode away
among the throng that pressed forward to the throne.
"'What's to be done?' thought I, when thus left to
myself; 'shall I wait here until this infidel returns to whisk
me of! on his goblin steed, the Lord knows where; or shall I
make the most of my time and beat a retreat from this hob
goblin community ? ' A soldier's mind is soon made up, as
1 Spain and Portugal.
92 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER
your excellency well knows. As to the horse, he belonged to
an avowed enemy of the faith and the realm, and was a fair
prize according to the rules of war. So hoisting myself from
the crupper ' into the saddle, I turned the reins, struck the
Moorish stirrups into the sides of the steed, and put him to
make the best of his way out of the passage by which he had
entered. As we scoured by the halls where the Moslem horse
men sat in motionless battalions, I thought I heard the clang
of armor and a hollow murmur of voices. I gave the steed
another taste of the stirrups and doubled my speed. There
was now a sound behind me like a rushing blast; I heard the
clatter of a thousand hoofs; a countless throng overtook me.
I was borne along in the press, and hurled forth from the
mouth of the cavern, while thousands of shadowy forms were
swept off in every direction by the four winds of heaven.
" In the whirl and confusion of the scene I was thrown
senseless to the earth. When I came to myself I was lying
on the brow of a hill, with the Arabian steed standing beside
me; for in falling, my arm had slipped within the bridle,
which, I presume, prevented his whisking off to Old Castile.
" Your excellency may easily judge of my surprise, on look
ing round, to behold hedges of aloes and Indian figs and other
proofs of a southern climate, and to see a great city below me,
with towers and palaces and a grand cathedral.
"I descended the hill cautiously, leading my steed, for I
was afraid to mount him again, lest he should play me some
slippery trick. As I descended, I met with your patrol, who
let me into the secret that it was Granada that lay before me,
and that I was actually under the walls of the Alhambra, the
fortress of the redoubted Governor Manco, the terror of all
enchanted Moslems. When I heard this, I determined at
once to seek your excellency, to inform you of all that I had
seen, and to warn you of the perils that surround and under
mine you, that you may take measures in time to guard your
1 strap of leather passing under a horse's tail, to prevent the saddle from slipping.
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 93
fortress, aiid the kingdom itself, from this intestine army that
lurks in the very bowels of the land."
" And prithee, friend, you who are a veteran campaigner,
and have seen so much service," said the governor, "how
would you advise me to proceed, in order to prevent this
evil?"
"It is not for a humble private of the ranks," said the
soldier, modestly, "to pretend to instruct a commander of
your excellency's sagacity, but it appears to me that your
excellency might cause all the caves and entrances into the
mountains to be walled up with solid mason work, so that
Boabdil and his army might be completely corked up in their
subterranean habitation. If the good father, too," added the
soldier, reverently bowing to the friar, and devoutly crossing
himself, " would consecrate the barricadoes with his blessing,
and put up a few crosses, and relics and images of saints, I
think they might withstand all the power of infidel enchant
ments. ' '
" They doubtless would be of great avail," said the friar.
The governor now placed his arm akimbo, with his hand
resting on the hilt of his Toledo, fixed his eye upon the sol
dier, and gently wagging his head from one side to the other,
"So, friend," said he, "then you really suppose I am to be
gulled with this cock-and-bull story about enchanted moun
tains and enchanted Moors? Hark ye, culprit! Not another
word. An old soldier you may be, but you'll find you have
an older soldier to deal with, and one not easily outgeneralled.
Ho! guards there! Put this fellow in irons. "
The demure handmaid would have put in a word in favor
of the prisoner, but the governor silenced her with a look.
As they were pinioning the soldier, one of the guards felt
something of bulk in his pocket, and drawing it forth, found
a long leathern purse that appeared to be well filled. Holding
it by one corner, he turned out the contents upon the table
before the governor, and never did freebooter's bag make more
94 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER.
gorgeous delivery. Out tumbled rings and jewels, and rosaries
of pearls, and sparkling diamond crosses, and a profusion of
ancient golden coin, some of which fell jingling to the floor,
and rolled away to the uttermost parts of the chamber.
For a time the functions of justice were suspended ; there
was a universal scramble after the glittering fugitives. The
governor alone, who was imbued with true Spanish pride,
maintained his stately decorum,1 though his eye betrayed a
little anxiety until the last coin and jewel was restored to the
sack.
The friar was not so calm; his whole face glowed like a fur
nace, and his eyes twinkled and flashed at sight of the rosaries
and crosses.
" Sacrilegious a wretch that thou art! " exclaimed he; " what
church or sanctuary hast thou been plundering of these sacred
relics?"
" Neither one nor the other, holy father. If they be sacri
legious spoils, they must have been taken, in times long past,
by the infidel trooper I have mentioned. I was just going to
tell his excellency, when he interrupted me, that on taking pos
session of the trooper's horse, I unhooked a leathern sack which
hung at the saddle-bow, and which I presume contained the
plunder of his campaignings in days of old, when the Moors
overran the country."
" Mighty well! At present you will make up your mind to
take up your quarters in a chamber of the Vermilion Towers,
which, though not under a magic spell, will hold you as safe
as any cave of your enchanted Moors."
" Your excellency will do as you think proper," said the pris
oner, coolly. " I shall be thankful to your excellency for any
accommodation in the fortress. A soldier who has been in
the wars, as your excellency well knows, is not particular
about his lodgings. Provided I have a snug dungeon, and
regular rations, I shall manage to make myself comfortable. I
1 propriety of manner or conduct. 2 profane ; impious.
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 95
would only entreat that while your excellency is so careful
about me, you would have an eye to your fortress, and think
on the hint I dropped about stopping up the entrances to the
mountain."
Here ended the scene. The prisoner was conducted to a
strong dungeon in the Vermilion Towers, the Arabian steed
was led to his excellency's stable, and the trooper's sack was
deposited in his excellency's strong box. To the latter, it is
true, the friar made some demur, questioning whether the
sacred relics, which were evidently sacrilegious spoils, should
not be placed in custody of the Church; but as the governor
was peremptory on the subject, and was absolute lord in the
Alhambra, the friar discreetly dropped the discussion, but
determined to convey intelligence of the fact to the church
dignitaries in Granada.
To explain these prompt and rigid measures on the part of
old Governor Manco, it is proper to observe, that about this
time the Alpuxaras Mountains in the neighborhood of Gra
nada were terribly infested by a gang of robbers under the
command of a daring chief named Manuel Borasco, who were
accustomed to prowl about the country, and even to enter the
city in various disguises, to gain intelligence of the depart
ure of convoys of merchandise, or travellers with well-lined
purses, whom they took care to waylay in distant and solitary
passes of the road. These repeated and daring outrages had
awakened the attention of government, and the commanders
of the various posts had received instructions to be on the alert,
and to take up all suspicious stragglers. Governor Manco
was particularly zealous in consequence of the various stigmas
that had been cast upon his fortress, and he now doubted not
lie had entrapped some formidable desperado of this gang.
In the mean time the story took wind, and became the talk,
not merely of the fortress, but of the whole city of Granada.
It was said that the noted robber Manuel Borasco, the terror
of the Alpuxaras, had fallen into the clutches of old Gov-
96 GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER.
ernor Mauco, and been cooped up by him in a dungeon of the
Vermilion Towers; and every one who had been robbed by him
flocked to recognize the marauder. The Vermilion Towers, as
is well known, stand apart from the Alhambra, on a sister
hill, separated from the main fortress by the ravine down
which passes the main avenue. There were no outer walls,
but a sentinel patrolled before the tower. The window of the
chamber in which the soldier was confined was strongly grated,
and looked upon a small esplanade. Here the good folks of
Granada repaired to gaze at him, as they would at a laughing
hyena, grinning through the cage of a menagerie. Xobody,
however, recognized him for Manuel Borasco, for that terrible
robber was noted for a ferocious physiognomy,1 and had by
no means the good-humored squint of the prisoner. Visitors
came not merely from the city, but from all parts of the
country; but nobody knew him, and there began to be doubts
in the minds of the common people whether there might not
be some truth in his story. That Boabdil and his army were
shut up in the mountain, was an old tradition which many
of the ancient inhabitants had heard from their fathers.
Numbers went up to the mountain of the sun in search of the
cave mentioned by the soldier; and saw and peeped into the
deep dark pit, descending, no one knows how far, into the
mountain, and which remains there to this day, the fabled
entrance to the subterranean abode of Boabdil.
By degrees the soldier became popular with the common
people. A freebooter of the mountains is by no means the
opprobrious character in Spain that a robber is in any other
country; on the contrary, he is a kind of chivalrous personage
in the eyes of the lower classes. There is always a disposi
tion, also, to cavil 2 at the conduct of those in command, and
many began to murmur at the high-handed measures of old
Governor Manco, and to look upon the prisoner in the light
of a martyr.
1 face, or countenance. 2 offer frivolous objections.
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 97
The soldier, moreover, was a merry, waggish fellow, that had
a joke for every one who came near his window, and a soft
speech for every female. Hu had procured an old guitar also,
and would sit by his window and sing ballads and love-ditties,
to the delight of the women of the neighborhood, who would
assemble on the esplanade in the evening, and dance boleros to
his music. Having trimmed off his rough beard, his sun
burnt face found favor in the eyes of the fair, and the demure
handmaid of the governor declared that his squint was per
fectly irresistible. This kind-hearted damsel had from the first
evinced a deep sympathy in his fortunes, and having in vain
tried to mollify the governor, had set to work privately to
mitigate the rigor of his dispensations. Every day she brought
the prisoner some crumbs of comfort which had fallen from the
governor's table, or been abstracted from his larder, together
with, now and then, a consoling bottle of choice, rich Malaga.
While this petty treason was going on in the very centre of
the old governor's citadel, a storm of open war was brewing
up among his external foes. The circumstance of a bag of
gold and jewels having been found upon the person of the
supposed robber, had been reported, with many exaggera
tions, in Granada. A question of territorial jurisdiction was
immediately started by the governor's inveterate rival, the
captain-general. He insisted that the prisoner had been cap
tured without the precincts of the Alhambra, and within the
rules of his authority. He demanded his body, therefore, and
the spolia opima l taken with him. Due information having
been carried, likewise, by the friar to the grand inquisitor, of
the crosses and rosaries and other relics contained in the bag,
he claimed the culprit as having been guilty of sacrilege, and
insisted that his plunder was due to the Church, and his body
to the next auto da fe.2 The feuds ran high; the governor
1 rich spoils. who had been tried before the courts of the
a(aw'to dah-fS'), the public declaration Spanish Inquisition,
of the judgment passed on accused persons
98 GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER.
was furious,, and swore, rather than surrender his captive, he
would hang him up within the Alhambra, as a spy caught
within the purlieus 1 of the fortress.
The captain-general threatened to send a body of soldiers
to transfer the prisoner from the Vermilion Towers to the city.
The grand inquisitor was equally bent upon despatching a
number of the familiars of the Holy Office. Word was
brought, late at night, to the governor, of these machinations.
" Let them come," said he; " they'll find me beforehand with
them. He must rise bright and early who would take in an old
soldier." He accordingly issued orders to have the prisoner
removed, at daybreak, to the donjon keep within the walls of
the Alhambra. "And d'ye hear, child?" said he to his
demure handmaid, "tap at my door, and wake me before
cock-crowing, that I may see to the matter myself."
The day dawned, the cock crowed, but nobody tapped at
the door of the governor. The sun rose high above the
mountain tops, and glittered in at his casement, ere the gov
ernor was awakened from his morning dreams by his veteran
corporal, who stood before him with terror stamped upon his
iron visage.
" He's off! he's gone ! " cried the corporal, gasping for breath.
" Who's off— who's gone ? "
"The soldier — the robber — the devil, for aught I know.
His dungeon is empty, but the door locked. No one knows
how he has escaped out of it."
"Who saw him last?"
" Your handmaid; she brought him his supper."
" Let her be called instantly."
Here was new matter of confusion. The chamber of the
demure damsel was likewise empty, her bed had not been slept
in: she had doubtless gone off with the culprit, as she had
appeared, for some days past, to have frequent conversations
with him.
1 the outer portion ; environs.
GOVERNOR MANGO AND THE SOLDIER. 99
This was wounding the old governor in a tender part, but
lie had scarce time to wince at it, when new misfortunes broke
upon his view. On going into his cabinet he found his strong
box open, the leather purse of the trooper abstracted, and with
it, a couple of corpulent1 bags of doubloons.2
But how, and which way had the fugitives escaped ? An
old peasant who lived in a cottage by the roadside, leading up
into the Sierra, declared that he had heard the tramp of a power
ful steed just before daybreak, passing up into the mountains.
He had looked out at his casement, and could just distinguish
a horseman, with a female seated before him.
" Search the stables! " cried Governor Manco. The stables
were searched ; all the horses were in their stalls, excepting the
Arabian steed. 'In his place was a stout cudgel tied to the
manger, and on it a label bearing these words, "A gift to
Governor Manco, from an Old Soldier."
1 large ; full. a Former Spanish gold coin.
LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES.
THERE lived once, in a waste apartment of the Alhambra, a
merry little fellow named Lope Sanchez, who worked in the
gardens, and was as brisk and blithe as a grasshopper, singing
all day long. He was the life and soul of the fortress; when
his work was over, he would sit on one of the stone benches of
the esplanade, strum his guitar and sing long ditties for the
amusement of the old soldiers of the fortress, or would strike
up a merrier tune, and set the girls dancing.
* Like most little men, Lope Sanchez had a strapping buxom
dame for a wife, who could almost have put him in her pocket ;
but he lacked the usual poor man's lot — instead of ten chil
dren, he had but one. This was a little black-eyed girl about
twelve years of age, named Sanchica, who was as merry as
himself, and the delight of his heart. She played about him
as he worked in the gardens, danced to his guitar as he sat in
the shade, and ran as wild as a young fawn about the groves
and alleys and ruined halls of the Alhambra.
It was now the eve of the blessed St. John, and the holiday-
loving gossips of the Alhambra, men, women, and children,
went up at night to the mountain of the sun, which rises
above the Generalife, to keep their midsummer vigil on its
level summit. It was a bright moonlight night, and all the
mountains were gray and silvery, and the city, with its domes
and spires, lay in shadows below, and the Vega was like a
fairy land, with haunted streams gleaming among its dusky
groves. On the highest part of the mountain they lit up a
bonfire, according to an old custom of the country, handed
down from the Moors. The inhabitants of the surrounding
country were keeping a similar vigil, and bonfires, here and
there in the Vega, and along the folds of the mountains,
blazed up palely in the moonlight.
LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES. 101
The evening was gayly passed in dancing to the guitar of
Lope Sanchez, who was never so joyous as when on a holiday
revel of the kind. While the dance was going on, the little
Sanchica, with some of her playmates, sported among the ruins
of an old Moorish fort that crowns the mountain, when, in
gathering pebbles in the fosse, she found a small hand curi
ously carved of jet, the fingers closed, and the thumb firmly
clasped upon them. Overjoyed with her good fortune, she
ran to her mother with her prize. It immediately became a
subject of sage speculation,1 and was eyed by some with super
stitious distrust. " Throw it away," said one; " it's Moorish;
depend upon it, there's mischief and witchcraft in it." " By
no means, ' ' said another ; * ' you may sell it for something t J
the jewellers of the Zacatin." In the midst of this discussion
an old tawny soldier drew near, who had served in Africa, and
was as swarthy as a Moor. He examined the hand with a
knowing look. "I have seen things of this kind," said he,
" among the Moors of Barbary. It is a great virtue to guard
against the evil eye, and all kinds of spells and enchantments.
I give you joy, friend Lope; this bodes good luck to your child. "
Upon hearing this, the wife of Lope Sanchez tied the little
hand of jet to a ribbon, and hung it round the neck of her
daughter.
The sight of this talisman called up all the favorite super
stitions about the Moors. The dance was neglected, and they
sat in groups on the ground, telling old legendary tales
handed down from their ancestors. Some of their stories
turned upon the wonders of the very mountain upon which
•they were seated, which is a famous hobgoblin region. One
ancient crone gave a long account of the subterranean palace
in the bowels of that mountain where Boabdil and all his Moslem
court are said to remain enchanted. " Among yonder ruins,"
said she, pointing to some crumbling walls and mounds of earth
on a distant part of the mountain, " there is a deep black pit
1 conjecture ; mere theory.
102 LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES.
that goes down, down, into the very heart of the mountain.
For all the money in Granada I would not look down into it.
Once upon a time a poor man of the Alhambra, who tended
goats upon this mountain, scrambled down into that pit after
a kid that had fallen in. He came out again all wild and
staring, and told such things of what he had seen that every
one thought his brain was turned. He raved for a day or two
about the hobgoblin Moors that had pursued him in the cav
ern, and could hardly be persuaded to drive his goats up again
to the mountain. He did so at last, but, poor man, he never
came down again. The neighbors found his goats browsing
about the Moorish ruins, and his hat and mantle lying near
the mouth of the pit, but he was never more heard of."
The little Sanchica listened with breathless attention to this
story. She was of a curious nature, and felt immediately a
great hankering to peep into this dangerous pit. Stealing
away from her companions, she sought the distant ruins, and
after groping for some time among them, came to a small
hollow, or basin, near the brow of the mountain, where it
swept steeply down into the valley of the Darro. In the
centre of this basin yawned the mouth of the pit. Sanchica
ventured to the verge, and peeped in. All was as black as
pitch, and gave an idea of immeasurable depth. Her blood
ran cold; she drew back, then peeped in again, then would
have run away, then took another peep — the very horror of
the thing was delightful to her. At length she rolled a large
stone, and pushed it over the brink. For some time it fell in
silence; then struck some rocky projection with a violent
crash; then rebounded from side to side, rumbling and turn-*
bling, with a noise like thunder; then made a final splash into
water, far, far below; and all was again silent.
The silence, however, did not long continue. It seemed as
if something had been awakened within this dreary abyss.'
A murmuring sound gradually rose out of the pit, like the
1 a very deep place (literally, bottomless).
LEGEND OF TWO DISCKEET STATUES. 103
hum and buzz of a beehive. It grew louder and louder; there
was the confusion of voices as of a distant multitude, together
with the faint din of arms, clash of cymbals, and clangor of
trumpets, as if some army were marshalling for battle in the
very bowels of the mountain.
The child drew off with silent awe, and hastened back to
the place where she had left her parents and their compan
ions. All were gone. The bonfire was expiring, and its last
wreath of smoke curling up in the moonshine. The distant
fires that had blazed along the mountains and in the Vega
were all extinguished, and every thing seemed to have sunk to
repose. Sanchica called her parents and some of her com
panions by name, but received no reply. She ran down the
side of the mountain, and by the gardens of the Generalife,
until she arrived in the alley of trees leading to the Alham-
bra, when she seated herself on a bench of a woody recess to
recover breath. The bell from the watch-tower of the Alham-
bra tolled midnight. There was a deep tranquillity, as if all
nature slept, excepting the low tinkling sound of an unseen
stream that ran under the covert of the bushes. The breath
ing sweetness of the atmosphere was lulling her to sleep,
when her eye was caught by something glittering at a distance,
and to her surprise she beheld a long cavalcade of Moorish
warriors pouring down the mountain side and along the leafy
avenues. Some were armed with lances and shields; others
with cimeters and battle-axes, and with polished cuirasses that
flashed in the moonbeams. Their horses pranced proudly and
champed upon their bits, but their tramp caused no more sound
than if they had been shod with felt, and the riders were all
as pale as death. Among them rode a beautiful lady, with a
crowned head and long golden locks entwined with pearls.
The housings of her palfrey were of crimson velvet embroid
ered with gold, and swept the earth; but she rode all discon
solate,1 with eyes ever fixed upon the ground.
104 LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES.
Then succeeded a train of courtiers magnificently arrayed in
robes and turbans of divers colors, and amidst them, on a
cream-colored charger, rode King Boabdil el Chico, in a royal
mantle covered with jewels, and a crown sparkling with dia
monds. The little Sanchica knew him by his yellow beard,
and his resemblance to his portrait, which she had often seen
in the picture gallery of the Generalife. She gazed in wonder
and admiration at this royal pageant, as it passed glistening
among the trees; but though she knew these monarchs and
courtiers and warriors, so pale and silent, were out of the
common course of nature, and things of magic and enchant
ment, yet she looked on with a bold heart, such courage did
she derive from the mystic talisman of the hand which was
suspended about her neck.
The cavalcade having passed by, she rose and followed. It
continued on to the great Gate of Justice, which stood wide
open ; the old invalid sentinels on duty lay on the stone benches
of the barbican, buried in profound and apparently charmed
sleep, and the phantom pageant swept noiselessly by them,
with flaunting banner and triumphant state. Sanchica would
have followed, but to her surprise she beheld an opening in
the earth, within the barbican, leading down beneath the
foundations of the tower. She entered for a little distance,
and was encouraged to proceed, by finding steps rudely hewn in
the rock, and a vaulted passage here and there lit up by a
silver lamp, which, while it gave light, diffused likewise a
grateful fragrance. Venturing on, she came at last to a great
hall, wrought out of the heart of the mountain, magnificently
furnished in the Moorish style, and lighted up by silver and
crystal lamps. Here, on an ottoman, sat an old man in Moor
ish dress, with a long white beard, nodding and dozing, with
a staff in his hand, which seemed ever to be slipping from his
grasp; while at a little distance sat a beautiful lady, in ancient
Spanish dress, with a coronet all sparkling with diamonds,
and her hair entwined with pearls, who was softly playing on
LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES. 105
a silver lyre. The little Sanchica now recollected a story she
had heard among the old people of the Alhambra, concerning
a Gothic princess confined in the centre of the mountain by
an old Arabian magician, whom she kept bound up in magic
sleep by the power of music.
The lady paused with surprise at seeing a mortal in that
enchanted hall. " Is it the eve of the blessed St. John?"
said she.
"It is," replied Sanchica.
" Then for one night the magic charm is suspended. Come
hither, child, and fear not. I am a Christian like thyself,
though bound here by enchantment. Touch my fetters with
the talisman that hangs about thy neck, and for this night I
shall be free."
So saying, she opened her robes, and displayed a broad
golden band round her waist, and a golden chain that fas
tened her to the ground. The child hesitated not to apply
the little hand of jet to the golden band, and immediately the
chain fell to the earth. At the sound the old man woke,
and began to rub his eyes; but the lady ran her fingers over
the chords of the lyre, and again he fell into a slumber, and
began to nod, and his staff to falter in his hand. "Now,"
said the lady, "touch his staff with the talismanic hand of
jet." The child did so, and it fell from his grasp, and he
sank in a deep sleep on the ottoman. The lady gently laid
the silver lyre on the ottoman, leaning it against the head of
the sleeping magician; then touching the chords until they
vibrated in his ear — " 0 potent spirit of harmony," said she,
"continue thus to hold his senses in thraldom till the return
of day. Now follow me, my child," continued she, "and
thou shalt behold the Alhambra as it was in the days of its
glory, for thou hast a magic talisman that reveals all enchant
ments." Sanchica followed the lady in silence. They passed
up through the entrance of the cavern into the barbican of the
Gate of Justice, and thence to the esplanade within the fortress.
106 LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES.
This was all filled with Moorish soldiery, horse and foot,
marshalled in squadrons, with banners displayed. There were
royal guards also at the portal, and rows of African blacks
with drawn cimeters. No one spoke a word, and Sanchica
passed on fearlessly after her conductor. Her astonishment
increased on entering the royal palace, in which she had been
reared. The broad moonshine lit up all the halls and courts
and gardens almost as brightly as if it were day, but revealed
a far different scene from that to which she was accustomed.
The walls of the apartments were no longer stained and rent
by time. Instead of cobwebs, they were now hung with rich
silks of Damascus,1 and the gildings and arabesque paintings
were restored to their original brilliancy and freshness. The
halls, no longer naked and unfurnished, were set out with
divans and ottomans of the rarest stuffs, embroidered with
pearls and studded with precious gems, and all the fountains
in the courts and gardens were playing.
The kitchens were again in full operation ; cooks were busy
preparing shadowy dishes, and roasting and boiling the phan
toms of pullets and partridges; servants were hurrying to
and fro with silver dishes heaped up with dainties, and
arranging a delicious banquet. The Court of Lions was
thronged with guards and courtiers and alfaquis, as in the
old times of the Moors; and at the upper end, in the Saloon*
of Judgment, sat Boabdil on his throne, surrounded by his
court, and swaying a shadowy sceptre for the night. Not
withstanding all this throng and seeming bustle, not a voice nor
a footstep was to be heard; nothing interrupted the midnight
silence but the splashing of the fountains. The little San
chica followed her conductress in mute amazement about the
palace, until they came to a portal opening to the vaulted
passages beneath the great Tower of Comares. On each side
of the portal sat the figure of a nymph, wrought out of ala
baster. Their heads were turned aside, and their regards fixed
* celebrated city of Asiatic Turkey.
LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES. 107
upon the same spot within the vault. The enchanted lady
paused, and beckoned the child to her. " Here," said she, " is
a great secret, which I will reveal to thee in reward for thy
faith and courage. These discreet statues watch over a treas
ure hidden in old times by a Moorish king. Tell thy 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. Thy
innocent hands, alone, however, gifted as thou art also with
the talisman, can remote the treasure. Bid thy father use
it discreetly, and devote a part of it to the performance of
daily masses for my deliverance from this unholy enchant
ment." k
When the lady had spoken these words, she led the child
onward to the little Garden of Lindaraxa, which is hard by
the vault of the statues. The moon trembled upon the
waters of the solitary fountain in the centre of the garden,
and shed a tender light upon the orange and citron trees.
The beautiful lady plucked a branch of myrtle and wreathed
it round the head of the child. " Let this be a memento," ]
said she, "of what I have revealed to thee, and a testimonial
of its truth. My hour is come; I must return to the
enchanted hall; follow me not, lest evil befall thee. Farewell.
Remember what I have said, and have masses performed for
my deliverance." So saying, the lady entered a dark passage
leading beneath the Tower of Comares, and was no longer seen.
The faint crowing of a cock was now heard from the cot
tages below the Alhambra, in the valley of the Darro, and a
pale streak of light began to appear above the eastern moun
tains. A slight wind arose; there was the sound like the rus
tling of dry leaves through the courts and corridors, and door
after door shut to with a jarring sound.
Sanchica returned to the scenes she had so lately beheld
thronged with the shadowy multitude, but Boabdil and his
phantom court were gone. The moon shone into empty halls
1 reminder.
108 LEGEND OF TWO DISCEEET STATUES.
and galleries, stripped of their transient splendor,, stained
and dilapidated by time, and hung with cobwebs. The bat
flitted about in the uncertain light, and the frog croaked from
the fish-pond.
Sanchica now made the best of her way to a remote stair
case that led up to the humble apartment occupied by her
family. The door, as usual, was open, for Lope Sanchez was
too poor to need bolt or bar; she crept quietly to her pallet,
and, putting the myrtle wreath beneath her pillow, soon fell
asleep.
In the morning she related all that had befallen her to her
father. Lope Sanchez, however, treated the whole as a mere
dream, and laughed at the child for her credulity. He went
forth to his customary labors in the garden, but had not been
there long when his little daughter came running to him
almost breathless. "Father! father!" cried she, "behold
the myrtle wreath which the Moorish lady bound round my
head."
Lope Sanchez gazed with astonishment, for the stalk of the
myrtle was of pure gold, and every leaf was a sparkling emer
ald! Being not much accustomed to precious stones, he was
ignorant of the real value of the wreath, but he saw enough to
convince him that it was something more substantial than the
stuff of which dreams are generally made, and that at any rate
the child had dreamt to some purpose. His first care was to
enjoin the most absolute secrecy upon his daughter; in this
respect, however, he was secure, for she had discretion far
beyond her years or sex. He then repaired to the vault, where
stood the statues of the two alabaster nymphs. He remarked
that their heads were turned from the portal, and that the
regards of each were fixed upon the same point in the interior
of the building. Lope Sanchez could not but admire this most
discreet contrivance for guarding a secret. He drew a line
from the eyes of the statues to the point of regard, made a
private mark on the wall, aud then retired.
LEGEND OF TWO DISCREET STATUES. 109
All day, however,, the mind of Lope Sanchez was distracted
with a thousand cares. He could not help hovering within
distant view of the two statues, and became nervous from the
dread that the golden secret might be discovered. Every
footstep that approached the place made him tremble. He
would have given any thing could he but have turned the
heads of the statues, forgetting that they 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'll
betray all ; did ever mortal hear of such a mode of guarding
a secret ? " Then, on hearing any one advance, he would steal
off, as though his very lurking near the place would awaken
suspicion. Then he would return cautiously, and peep from
a distance to see if every thing was secure; but the sight of the
statues would again call forth his indignation. " Ay, there
they stand," would he say, "always looking, and looking,
and looking, just where they should not. Confound them!
They are just like all their sex. If they have not tongues to
tattle with, they'll be sure to do it with their eyes."
At length, to his relief, the long anxious day drew to a
close. The sound of footsteps was no longer heard in the
echoing halls of the Alhambra. The last stranger passed the
threshold, the great portal was barred and bolted, and the bat
and the frog and the hooting owl gradually resumed their
nightly vocations in the deserted palace.
Lope Sanchez waited, however, until the night was far
advanced before he ventured with his little daughter to the
hall of the two nymphs. He found them looking as know
ingly and mysteriously as ever at the secret place of deposit.
" By your leaves, gentle ladies," thought Lope Sanchez, as he
passed between them, " I will relieve you from this charge that
must have set so heavy in your minds for the last two or three
centuries." He accordingly went to work at the part of the
wall which he had marked, and in a little while laid open a con-
110 LEGEND OF TWO DISCEEET STATUES.
cealed recess, in which stood two great jars of porcelain. He
attempted to draw them forth, but they were immovable, until
touched by the innocent hand of his little daughter. With
her aid he dislodged them from their niche, and found, to his
great joy, that they were filled with pieces of Moorish gold,
mingled with jewels and precious stones. Before daylight he
managed to convey them to his chamber, and left the two
guardian statues with their eyes still fixed on the vacant wall.
Lope Sanchez had thus on a sudden become a rich man ; but
riches, as usual, brought a world of cares to which he had
hitherto been a stranger. How was he to convey away his
wealth with safety ? How was he even to enter upon the en
joyment of it without awakening suspicion ? Now, too, for the
first time in his life the dread of robbers entered into his mind.
He looked with terror at the insecurity of his habitation, and
went to work to barricade the doors and windows; yet after all
Ms precautions he could not sleep soundly. His usual gayety
was at an end; he had no longer a joke or a song for his
neighbors; and, in short, became the most miserable animal in
the Alhambra. He determined, therefore, to beat a secret
retreat in the night, and make off to another part of the
kingdom.
Nothing was heard of Lope Sanchez for a long time after
his disappearance from the Alhambra. Some years after
wards, one of his old companions, an invalid soldier, being
at Malaga, was knocked down and nearly run over by a coach
and six. The carriage stopped ; an old gentleman, magnifi
cently dressed, with a bag-wig and sword, stepped out to assist
the poor invalid. What was the astonishment of the latter to
behold in this grand cavalier his old friend Lope Sanchez,
who was actually celebrating the marriage of his daughter
Sanchica with one of the first grandees of the land.
LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA.
IN the cloisters of the ancient Benedictine convent of San
Domingo, at Silos, in Castile, are the mouldering yet mag
nificent monuments of the once powerful and chivalrous fam
ily of Hinojosa. Among these reclines the marble figure of a
knight, in complete armor, with the hands pressed together,
as if in prayer. On one side of his tomb is sculptured in
relief a band of Christian cavaliers, capturing a cavalcade of
male and female Moors; on the other side, the same cavaliers
are represented kneeling before an altar. The tomb, like
most of the neighboring monuments, is almost in ruins, and the
sculpture is nearly unintelligible, excepting to the keen eye of
the antiquary.1 The story connected with the sepulchre, how
ever, is still preserved in the old Spanish chronicles, and is to
the following purport :
In old times, several hundred years ago, there was a noble
Castilian cavalier, named Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa,
lord of a border castle, which had stood the brunt of many a
Moorish foray. He had seventy horsemen as his household
troops, all of the ancient Castilian proof — stark 2 warriors,
hard riders, and men of iron ; with these he scoured the Moor
ish lands, and made his name terrible throughout the borders.
His castle hall was covered with banners, cimeters, and Mos
lem helms, the trophies of his prowess. Don Munio was,
moreover, a keen huntsman, and rejoiced in hounds of all
kinds, steeds for the chase, and hawks for the towering sport
of falconry. When not engaged in warfare, his delight was to
beat up the neighboring forests; and scarcely ever did he ride
1 lover and student of ancient things. 1 strong ; rugged.
112 LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HiNOJOSA.
forth without hound and horn, a boar-spear in his hand, or
a hawk upon his fist, and an attendant train of huntsmen.
His wife, Dona Maria Palacin, was of a gentle and timid
nature, little fitted to be the spouse of so hardy and adventur
ous a knight; and many a tear did the poor lady shed when
he sallied forth upon his daring enterprises, and many a
prayer did she offer up for his safety.
As this doughty cavalier was one day hunting, he stationed
himself in a thicket, on the borders of a green glade of the
forest, and dispersed his followers to rouse the game and
drive it toward his stand. He had not been here long, when
a cavalcade of Moors, of both sexes, carne prankling ] over
the forest lawn. They were unarmed, and magnificently
dressed in robes of tissue and embroidery, rich shawls of
India, bracelets and anklets of gold, and jewels that sparkled
in the sun.
At the head of this gay cavalcade rode a youthful cavalier,
superior to the rest in dignity and loftiness of demeanor, and
in splendor of attire; beside him was a damsel whose veil,
blown aside by the breeze, displayed a face of surpassing
beauty, and eyes cast down in maiden modesty, yet beaming
with tenderness and joy.
Don Munio thanked his stars for sending him such a prize,
and exulted at the thought of bearing home to his wife the
glittering spoils of these infidels. Putting his hunting horn
to his lips, he gave a blast that rung through the forest. His
huntsmen came running from all quarters, and the astonished
Moors were surrounded and made captives.
The beautiful Moor wrung her hands in despair, and her
female attendants uttered the most piercing cries. The young
Moorish cavalier alone retained self-possession. He inquired
the name of the Christian knight who commanded this troop
of horsemen. When told that it was Don Munio Sancho de
Hinojosa, his countenance lighted up. Approaching that
1 prancing.
LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA. 113
cavalier, and kissing his hand, " Don Munio Sancho," said he,
" I have heard of your fame as a true and valiant knight,
terrible in arms, but schooled in the noble virtues of chivalry.
Such do I trust to find you. In me you behold Abadil, son of
a Moorish alcayde. I am on the way to celebrate my nuptials
with this lady. Chance has thrown us in your power, but I
confide in your magnanimity. Take all our treasure and
jewels; demand what ransom you think proper for our persons,
but suffer us not to be insulted nor dishonored."
When the good knight heard this appeal, and beheld the
beauty of the youthful pair, his heart was touched with ten
derness and courtesy. " God forbid," said he, " that I should
disturb such happy nuptials. My prisoners, in troth, shall ye
be for fifteen days, and immured within my castle, where I
claim, as conqueror, the right of celebrating your espousals."
So saying, he despatched one of his fleetest horsemen in
advance, to notify Dofia Maria Palacin of the coming of this
bridal party; while he and his huntsmen escorted the caval
cade, not as captors, but as a guard of honor. As they drew
near to the castle, the banners were hung out, and the trum
pets sounded from the battlements; and on their nearer
approach, the drawbridge was lowered, and Dofia Maria came
forth to meet them, attended by her ladies and knights, her
pages and her minstrels. She took the young bride, Allifra,
in her arms, kissed her with the tenderness of a sister, and
conducted her into the castle. In the mean time, Don Munio
sent forth missives in every direction, and had viands and
dainties of all kinds collected from the country round; and
the wedding of the Moorish lovers was celebrated with all
possible state and festivity. For fifteen days the castle was
given up to joy and revelry. There were tiltings and jousts
at the ring, and bull-fights and banquets and dances to the
sound of minstrelsy. When the fifteen days were at an end,
he made the bride and bridegroom magnificent presents, and
conducted them and their attendants safely beyond the bor-
114 LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA.
ders. Such, in old times,, were the courtesy and generosity of
a Spanish cavalier.
Several years after this event, the king of Castile summoned
his nobles to assist him in a campaign against the Moors. Don
Munio Sancho was among the first to answer to the call, with
seventy horsemen, all stanch and well-tried warriors. His
wife, Dona Maria, hung about his neck. " Alas! my lord! "
exclaimed she, "how often wilt thou tempt thy fate, and
when will thy thirst for glorj be appeased ? "
"One battle more," replied Don Munio, "one battle more
for the honor of Castile; and I here make a vow, that when
this is over, I will lay by my sword, and repair with my cavaliers
in pilgrimage to the sepulchre of our Lord at Jerusalem."
The cavaliers all joined with him in the vow, and' Dona
Maria felt in some degree soothed in spirit; still, she saw with
a heavy heart the departure of her husband, and watched his
banner with wistful eyes, until it disappeared among the trees
in the forest.
The king of Castile led his army to the Plain of Alma-
nara, where they encountered the Moorish host, near to Ucles. '
The battle was long and bloody; the Christians repeatedly
wavered, and were as often rallied by the energy of their com
manders. Don Munio was covered with wounds, but refused
to leave the field. The Christians at length gave way, and
the king was hardly pressed, and in danger of being captured.
Don Munio called upon his cavaliers to follow him to the
rescue. " Now is the time," cried he, " to prove your loyalty.
Fall to, like brave men ! We fight for the true faith, and if
we lose our lives here, we gain a better life hereafter."
Rushing with his men between the king and his pursuers,
they checked the latter in their career, and gave time for their
monarch to escape; but they fell victims to their loyalty.
They all fought to the last gasp. Don Munio was singled out
by a powerful Moorish knight, but having been wounded in
1 town about fifty miles southeast of Madrid.
LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA. 115
the right arm, he fought to disadvantage, and was slain. The
battle being over, the Moor paused to possess himself of the
spoils of this redoubtable Christian warrior. When he unlaced
the helmet, however, and beheld the countenance of Don
Munio, he gave a great cry, and smote his breast. " Woe is
me! " cried he, "I have slain my benefactor! The flower of
knightly virtue! The most magnanimous 1 of cavaliers! "
While the battle had been raging on the Plain of Almanara,
Dofta Maria Palacin remained in her castle, a prey to the keenest
anxiety. Her eyes were ever fixed on the road that led from
the country of the Moors, and often she asked the watchman
of the tower, " What seest thou? "
One evening, at the shadowy hour of twilight, the warden
sounded his horn. "I see," cried he, "a numerous train
winding up the valley. There are mingled Moors and Chris
tians. The banner of my lord is in the advance. Joyful tid
ings!" exclaimed the old seneschal.2 "My lord returns in
triumph, and brings captives! " Then the castle courts rang
with shouts of joy, and the standard was displayed, and the
trumpets were sounded, and the drawbridge was lowered, and
Dona Maria went forth with her ladies and her knights and
her pages and her minstrels, to welcome her lord from the
wars. But as the train drew nigh, she beheld a sumptuous
bier, covered with black velvet, and on it lay a warrior, as if
taking his repose. He lay in his armor, with his helmet on his
head, and his sword in his hand, as one who had never been
conquered ; and around the bier were the escutcheons of the
house of Hinojosa.
A number of Moorish cavaliers attended the bier, with
emblems of mourning, and with dejected countenances; and
their leader cast himself at the feet of Dona Maria, and hid
his face in his hands. She beheld in him the gallant Abadil,
whom she had once welcomed with his bride to her castle; but
1 great or high minded. 2 steward who had charge of the house.
116 LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA.
who now came with the body of her lord, whom he had
unknowingly slain in battle.
On one of the stones of a small arch, beside his sepulchre,
is the following simple inscription: " Here lies Maria Palacin,
wife of Munio Sancho de Hinojosa. "
The legend of Don Munio Sancho does not conclude with his
death. On the same day on which the battle took place on the
Plain of Almanara, a chaplain of the Holy Temple at Jerusa
lem, while standing at the outer gate, beheld a train of Chris
tian cavaliers advancing, as if in pilgrimage. The chaplain
was a native of Spain, and, as the pilgrims approached, he
knew the foremost to be Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa, with
whom he had been well acquainted in former times. Hasten
ing to the patriarch/ he told him of the honorable rank of
the pilgrims at the gate. The patriarch, therefore, went forth
with a grand procession of priests and monks, and received
the pilgrims with all due honor. There were seventy cava
liers, beside their leader, all stark and lofty warriors. They
carried their helmets in their hands, and their faces were
deadly pale. They greeted no one, nor looked either to the
right or to the left, but entered the chapel, and, kneeling
before the sepulchre of our Saviour, performed their orisons
in silence. When they had concluded, they rose as if to
depart, and the patriarch and his attendants advanced to speak
to them, but they were no more to be seen. Every one marvelled
what could be the meaning of this prodigy.2 The patriarch
carefully noted down the day, and sent to Castile to learn tid
ings of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa. He received for
reply, that on the very day specified, that worthy knight, with
seventy of his followers, had been slain in battle. These,
therefore, must have been the blessed spirits of those Chris
tian warriors, come to fulfil their vow of pilgrimage to the
Holy Sepulchre * at Jerusalem. Such was Castilian faith in
the olden time, which kept its word, even beyond the grave.
1 high ecclesiastical dignitary. a marvel; extraordinary occurrence.
3 the burial place of the Saviour.
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER.
EVERYBODY has heard of the Cave of St. Cyprian at Sala
manca/ where in old times judicial astronomy, necromancy,2
chiromancy/ and other dark and damnable arts were secretly
taught by an ancient sacristan; 4 or, as some will have it, by
the devil himself, in that disguise. The cave has long been
shut up and the very site of it forgotten ; though, according
to tradition, the entrance was somewhere about where the
stone cross stands in the small square of the seminary of Car-
vajal; and this tradition appears in some degree corroborated 5
by the circumstances of the following story.
There was at one time a student of Salamanca, Don Vicente
by name, of that merry but mendicant 6 class who set out on
the road to learning without a penny in pouch for the journey,
and who, during college vacations, beg from town to town, and
village to village, to raise funds to enable them to pursue
their studies through the ensuing term. He was now about
to set forth on his wanderings, and, being somewhat musical,
slung on his back a guitar with which to amuse the villagers,
and pay for a meal or a night's lodgings.
As he passed by the stone cross in the seminary square, he
pulled off his hat, and made a short invocation7 to St.
Cyprian, for good luck; when, casting his eyes upon the earth,
he perceived something glitter at the foot of the cross. On
picking it up, it proved to be a seal ring of mixed metal, in
which gold and silver appeared to be blended. The seal bore
1 a seat of learning, the Oxford of Spain ; * sexton,
northwest from Madrid, in province of Leon. B confirmed ; strengthened.
'•* art of magic. 8 begging.
3 palmistry ; art of telling fortunes by in- 7 prayer,
specting the lines of the hand.
118 THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER.
as a device two triangles crossing each other, so as to form a
star. This device is said to be a cabalistic sign, invented by
King Solomon the wise, and of mighty power in all cases of
enchantment; but the honest student, being neither sage nor
conjurer, knew nothing of the matter. He took the ring as a
present from St. Cyprian in reward of his prayer, slipped it
on his finger, made a bow to the cross, and strumming his
guitar, set off merrily on his wandering.
The life of a mendicant student in Spain is not the most
miserable in the world, especially if he has any talent at mak
ing himself agreeable. He rambles at large from village to
village, and city to city, wherever curiosity or caprice may con
duct him. The country curates, who, for the most part, have
been mendicant students in their time, give him shelter for
the night, and a comfortable meal, and often enrich him with
several quartos or half-pence in the morning. As he presents
himself from door to door in the streets of the cities, he meets
with no harsh rebuff, no chilling contempt, for there is no
disgrace attending his mendicity. 1 Many of the most learned
men in Spain having commenced their career in this manner;
but if, like the student in question, he is a good-looking varlet
and a merry companion, and, above all, if he can play the
guitar, he is sure of a hearty welcome among the peasants, and
smiles and favors from their wives and daughters.
In this way, then, did our ragged and musical son of learn
ing make his way over half the kingdom, with the fixed deter
mination to visit the famous city of Granada before his return.
Sometimes he was gathered for the night into the fold of some
village pastor; sometimes he was sheltered under the humble
but hospitable roof of the peasant. Seated at the cottage door
with his guitar, he delighted the simple folk with his ditties;
or striking up a fandango 2 or bolero, set the brown country
lads and lasses dancing in the mellow twilight. In the morn
ing he departed with kind words from host and hostess, and
i life as a beggar. > kind of dance.
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER. 119
kind looks and, peradventure, a squeeze of the hand from the
daughter.
At length he arrived at the great object of his musical vaga
bondizing, the far-famed city of Granada, and hailed with
wonder and delight its Moorish towers, its lovely Vega, and its
snowy mountains glistering through a summer atmosphere.
It is needless to say with what eager curiosity he entered its
gates and wandered through its streets, and gazed upon its
Oriental monuments. Every female face peering through a
window or beaming from a balcony was to him a Zorayda or a
Zelinda, nor could he meet a stately dame on the Alameda,1
but he was ready to fancy her a Moorish princess, and to
spread his student's robe beneath her feet.
His musical talent, his happy humor, his. youth, and his
good looks, won him a universal welcome in spite of his ragged
robes, and for several days he led a gay life in the old Moorish
capital and its environs. One of his occasional haunts was the
fountain of Avellanos, in the valley of the Darro. It is one
of the popular resorts of Granada, and has been so since the
days of the Moors; and here the student had an opportunity
of pursuing his studies of female beauty, a branch of study
to which he was a little prone.
Here he would take his seat with his guitar, improvise love-
ditties to admiring groups, or prompt with his music the ever
ready dance. He was thus engaged one evening, when he
beheld a padre a of the Church advancing, at whose approach
every one touched the hat. He was evidently a man of con
sequence; he certainly was a mirror of good, if not of holy,
living; robust and rosy-faced, and breathing at every pore,
with the warmth of the weather and the exercise of the walk.
As he passed along he would every now and then draw a mar-
avedi out of his pocket, and bestow it on a beggar, with an air
of signal beneficence. "Ah, the blessed father!" would be
the cry. " Long life to him, and may he soon be a bishop! "
1 a shaded public walk. 3 father ; priest.
120 THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER.
To aid his steps in ascending the hill, he leaned gently now
and then on the arm of a handmaid, evidently the pet lamb
of this kindest of pastors. Ah, such a damsel ! Andalus from
head to foot — from the rose in her hair, to the fairy shoe and
lace-work stocking; Andalus in every movement; in every
undulation ' of the body — ripe, melting Andalus! But then
so modest! — so shy! — ever, with downcast eyes, listening to
the words of the padre ; or if by chance she let flash a side-
glance, it was suddenly checked and her eyes once more cast to
the ground.
The good padre looked benignantly on the company about
the fountain, and took his seat with some emphasis on a stone
bench, while the handmaid hastened to bring him a glass of
sparkling water. He sipped it deliberately, and with relish,
tempering it with one of those spongy pieces of frosted eggs
and sugar so dear to Spanish epicures,8 and on returning the
glass to the hand of the damsel pinched her cheek with infi
nite loving-kindness.
"Ah, the good pastor! " whispered the student to himself.
" What a happiness would it be to be gathered into his fold
with such a pet lamb for a companion! "
But no such good fare was likely to befall him. In vain he
essayed those powers of pleasing which he had found so irre
sistible with country curates and country lasses. Xever had
he touched his guitar with such skill; never had he poured
forth more soul-moving ditties; but he had no longer a coun
try curate or country lass to deal with. The worthy priest
evidently did not relish music, and the modest damsel never
raised her eyes from the ground. They remained but a short
time at the fountain. The good padre hastened their return to
Granada. The damsel gave the student one shy glance in
retiring, but it plucked the heart out of his bosom!
He inquired about them after they had gone. Padre Tomas
was one of the saints of Granada, a model of regularity—
1 wave-like motion. * dainty eaters.
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER. 121
punctual in his hour of rising; his hour of taking a paseo '
for an appetite; his hours of eating; his hour of taking his
siesta; a his hour of playing his game of tresillo,8 of an even
ing, with some of the dames of the cathedral circle; his hour
of supping; and his hour of retiring to rest, to gather fresh
strength for another day's round of similar duties. He had
an easy, sleek mule for his riding; a matronly housekeeper,
skilled in preparing tit-bits for his table; and the pet lamb,
to bring him his chocolate.
Adieu now to the gay, thoughtless life of the student; the
side-glance of a bright eye had been the undoing of him.
Day and night he could not get the image of this most mod
est damsel out of his mind. He sought the mansion of the
padre. Alas! it was above the class of houses accessible to a
strolling student like himself. The worthy padre had no
sympathy with him; he had never been Estudiante sopista,*
obliged to sing for his supper. He blockaded the house
by day, catching a glance of the damsel now and then as she
appeared at a casement; but these glances only fed his flame
without encouraging his hope. He serenaded her balcony at
night, and at one time was flattered by the appearance of
something white at a window. Alas, it was only the nightcap
of the padre. n
Never was lover more devoted ; never damsel more shy ; the
poor student was reduced to despair. At length arrived the eve
of St. John, when the lower classes of Granada swarm into the
country, dance away the afternoon, and pass midsummer's
night on the banks of the Darro and the Xenil. Happy are
they who, on this eventful night, can wash their faces in those
waters just as the cathedral bell tells midnight; for at that
precise moment they have a beautifying power.6 The student,
having nothing to do, suffered himself to be carried away by
the holiday-seeking throng, until he found himself in the
1 walk. 8 game of cards. 6 according to the current popular belief
* nap. * a singing student. in miraculous powers.
122 THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIEK.
narrow valley of the Darro, below the lofty hill and ruddy
towers «v£ the Alhambra. The dry bed of the river, the rocks
which 1 order it, the terraced gardens which overhang it, were
alive w th variegated l groups, dancing under the vines and
fig-trees to the sound of the guitar and castanets.
The student remained for some time in doleful dumps, lean
ing against one of the huge misshapen stone pomegranates
which adorn the ends of the little bridge over the Darro. He
cast a wistful glance upon the merry scene, where every cava
lier had his dame; or, to speak more appropriately, every Jack
his Jill; sighed at his own solitary state, a victim to the black
eye of the most unapproachable of damsels, and repined at his
ragged garb, which seemed to shut the gate of hope against him.
^ 'By degrees his attention was attracted to a neighbor equally
solitary with himself. This was a tall soldier, of a stern
aspect and grizzled beard, who seemed posted as a sentry at the
opposite pomegranate. His face was bronzed by time; he was
arrayed in ancient Spanish armor, with buckler and lance, and
stood immovable as a statue. What surprised the student
was, that though thus strangely equipped, he was totally
unnoticed by the passing throng, albeit that many almost
brushed against him.
"This is a city of old-time peculiarities," thought the
student, "and doubtless this is one of them with which the
inhabitants are too familiar to be surprised." His own curi
osity, however, was awakened; and, being of a social disposi
tion, he accosted the soldier.
"A rare old suit of armor that which you wear, comrade.
May I ask what corps you belong to ? "
The soldier gasped out a reply from a pair of jaws which
seemed to have rusted on their hinges.
"The royal guard of Ferdinand a and Isabella."
" Santa Maria! Why, it is three centuries since that corps
i of different colors. 3 Ferdinand V. of Aragon, 1452-1516 ; married Isabella, 1469.
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER. 123
" And for three centuries have I been mounting guard.
Now I trust my tour of duty draws to a close. Dost thou
desire fortune? "
The student held up his tattered cloak in reply.
" I understand thee. If thou hast faith and courage, fol
low me, and thy fortune is made."
" Softly, comrade. To follow thee would require small cour
age in one who has nothing to lose but life and an old guitar,
neither of much value; but my faith is of a different matter,
and not to be put in temptation. If it be any criminal act
by which I am to mend my fortune, think not my ragged
cloak will make me undertake it."
The soldier turned on him a look of high displeasure. " My
sword," said he, "has never been drawn but in the cause of
the faith and the throne. I am a Cristiano viejo; 1 trust in
me and fear no evil."
The student followed him, wondering. He observed that no
one heeded their conversation, and that the soldier made his
way through the various groups of idlers unnoticed, as if
invisible.
Crossing the bridge, the soldier led the way by a narrow and
steep path past a Moorish mill and aqueduct, and up the
ravine which separates the domains of the Generalife from
those of the Alhambra. The last ray of the sun shone upon
the red battlements of the latter, which beetled far above; and
the convent bells were proclaiming the festival of the ensuing
day. The ravine was overshadowed by fig-trees, vines, and
myrtles, and the outer towers and walls of the fortress. It
was dark and lonely, and the twilight-loving bats began to flit
about. At length the soldier halted at a remote and ruined
tower, apparently intended to guard a Moorish aqueduct. He
struck the foundation with the butt-end of his spear. A
rumbling sound was heard, and the solid stones yawned apart,
leaving an opening as wide as a door.
» old Christian.
124 THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER.
"Enter in the name of the Holy Trinity," said the soldier,
"and fear nothing." The student's heart quaked, but he
made the sign of the cross, muttered his Ave Maria, and fol
lowed his mysterious guide into a deep vault cut out of the
solid rock under the tower, and covered with Arabic inscrip
tions. The soldier pointed to a stone seat hewn along one
side of the vault. "Behold," said he, "my couch for three
hundred years." The bewildered student tried to force
a joke. " By the blessed St. Anthony," said he, "but you
must have slept soundly, 'considering the hardness of your
couch."
" On the contrary, sleep has been a stranger to these eyes;
incessant watchfulness has been my doom. Listen to my lot.
I was one of the royal guards of Ferdinand and Isabella, but
was taken prisoner by the Moors in one of their sorties, and
confined a captive in this tower. When preparations were
made to surrender the fortress to the Christian sovereigns, I
was prevailed upon by an alfaqui, a Moorish priest, to aid him
in secreting some of the treasures of Boabdil in this vault. I
was justly punished for my fault. The alfaqui was an Afri
can necromancer,1 and by his infernal arts cast a spell upon
me, to guard his treasures. Something must have happened
to him, for he never returned, and here I have remained ever
since, buried alive. Years and years have rolled away; earth
quakes have shaken this hill; I have heard stone by stone of
the tower above tumbling to the ground, in the natural opera
tion of time; but the spellbound walls of this vault set both
time and earthquakes at defiance.
y >*~0nce every hundred years, on the festival of St. John, the
enchantment ceases to have thorough sway. I am permitted to
go forth and post myself upon the bridge of the Darro, where
you met me, waiting until some one shall arrive who may
have power to break this magic spell. I have hitherto
mounted guard there in vain. I walk as in a cloud, concealed
1 sorcerer ; wizard.
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER. 125
from mortal sight. You are the first to accost me for now
three hundred years. I behold the reason. I see on your
linger the seal ring of Solomon the wise, which is proof
against all enchantment. With you it remains to deliver me
from this awful dungeon, or to leave me to keep guard here for
another hundred years."
The student listened to this tale in mute wonderment. He
had heard many tales of treasure shut up under strong enchant
ment in the vaults of the Alhambra, but had treated them
as fables. He now felt the value of the seal ring, which had,
in a manner, been given to him by St. Cyprian. Still, though
armed by so potent a talisman, it was an awful thing to find
himself tete-a-tete ' in such a place with an enchanted soldier,
who, according to the laws of nature, ought to have been
quietly in his grave for nearly three centuries.
A personage of this kind, however, was quite out of the
ordinary run, and not to be trifled with, and he assured him
he might rely upon his friendship and good will to do every
thing in his power for his deliverance.
" I trust to a motive more powerful than friendship," said
the soldier.
He pointed to a ponderous* iron coffer, secured by locks
inscribed with Arabic characters. "That coffer," said he,
'''contains countless treasure in gold and jewels and precious
stones. Break the magic spell by which I am enthralled, and
one half of this treasure shall be thine."
"But how am I to do it?"
"The aid of a Christian priest and a Christian maid is
necessary; the priest to exorcise 3 the powers of darkness,
the damsel to touch this chest with the seal of Solomon.
This must be done at night. But have a care. This is
solemn work, and not to be effected by the carnal-minded.
The priest must be a Crist iano viejo, a model of sanctity; and
must mortify the flesh, before he comes here, by a rigorous
I.(tayt-ah-tayt), face to face. a heavy. s to drive out.
126 THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER.
fast of four-and-twenty hours; and as to the maiden, she must
be above reproach, and proof against temptation. Linger not
in finding such aid. In three days my furlough is at an end;
if not delivered before midnight of the third, I shall have to
mount guard for another century. ' '
x" Fear not," said the student; " I have in my eye the very
priest and damsel you describe ; but how am I to regain admis
sion to this tower ? ' '
" The seal of Solomon will open the way for thee."
The student issued forth from the tower much more gayly
than he had entered. The wall closed behind him, and
remained solid as before.
The next morning he repaired boldly to the mansion of the
priest, no longer a poor, strolling student, thrumminj^his w^y
with a guitar; but an ambassador from the shactowy world,
with enchanted treasures to bestow. No particulars are told
of his negotiation/ excepting that the zeal of the worthy
priest was easily kindled at the idea of rescuing an old soldier
of the faith, and a strong-box of King Chico, from the very
clutches of Satan; and then what alms might be dispensed,
what churches built, and how many poor relatives enriched
with the Moorish treasure!
As to the immaculate handmaid, she was ready to lend her
hand, which was all that was required, to the pious work; and
if a shy glance now and then might be believed, the ambassa
dor began to find favor in her modest eyes.
The greatest difficulty, however, was the fast to which the
good padre had to subject himself. Twice he attempted it, and
twice the flesh was too strong for the spirit. It was only on
the third day that he was enabled to withstand the temptations
of the cupboard ; but it was still a question whether he
would hold out until the spell was broken.
At a late hour of the night the party groped their way up
the ravine, by the light of a lantern, and bearing a basket with
1 bargaining what conditions should be agreed on.
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER. 127
provisions for exorcising the demon of hunger so soon as the
other demons should be laid in the Red Sea.1
The seal of Solomon opened their way into the tower. They
found the soldier seated on the enchanted strong-box, awaiting
their arrival. The exorcism was performed in due style. The
damsel advanced, and touched the locks of the coffer with the
seal of Solomon. The lid flew open, and such treasures of
gold and jewels and precious stones as flashed upon the eye!
''Here's cut, and come again!" cried the student, exult-
ingly, as he proceeded to cram his pockets.
"Fairly and softly," exclaimed the soldier. " Let us get
the coffer out entire, and then divide."
They accordingly went to work with might and main, but
it was a difficult task; the chest was enormously heavy, and
had been embedded there for centuries. While they were thus
employed, the good dominie drew on one side, and made a vig
orous onslaught on the basket, by way of exorcising the demon
of hunger which was raging in his entrails. In a little
while a fat capon 2 was devoured, and washed down by a deep
potation; 3 and, by way of grace after meat, he gave a kind-
hearted kiss to the pet lamb who waited on him. It was
quietly done in a corner, but the tell-tale walls babbled it forth
as if in triumph. Never was chaste salute more awful in its
effects. At the sound the soldier gave a great cry of despair;
the coffer, which was half raised, fell back in its place and
was locked once more. Priest, student, and damsel found
themselves outside of the tower, the wall of which closed
with a thundering jar. Alas! the good padre had broken
his fast too soon.
When recovered from his surprise, the student would have
reentered the tower, but learnt to his dismay that the damsel,
in her fright, had let fall the seal of Solomon; it remained
within the vault.
In a word, the cathedral bell tolled midnight; the spell
1 between Egypt and Arabia. ' chicken. » drink.
128 THE LEGEND OF THE ElsCiiSfcTED SOLDIER,
was renewed; the soldier was doomed to mount guard for
another hundred years; and there he and the treasure remain
to this day, and all because the kind-hearted padre kissed his
handmaid.
Thus ends the legend as far as it has been authenticated.1
There is a tradition, however, that the student had brought
off treasure enough in his pocket to set him up in the world ;
that he prospered in his affairs, that the worthy padre gave
him the pet lamb in marriage, by way of amends for the blun
der in the vault; that the immaculate damsel proved a pattern
for wives as she had been for handmaids.
The story of the enchanted soldier remains one of the pop
ular traditions of Granada, though told in a variety of ways;
the common people affirm that he still mounts guard on mid
summer-eve, beside the gigantic stone pomegranate on the
bridge of the Darro, but remains invisible excepting to such
lucky mortal as may possess the seal of Solomon.
/
1 established by proof.
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