described from the hat to the boots.--At a tournament the Moorish knight Ganzul enters the lists on a fiery steed; the beautiful Zayda, who has been unfaithful to him, once more yields up her heart to her lover, and confesses to the Moorish ladies who surround her the emotion she experiences.[62]--The Moorish hero Abenzulema, who has filled the prisons with Christian knights,[63] being exiled by his jealous prince, takes leave of his beloved Balaja.[64] Such is the nature of a countless number of these ballads. In general, the ornaments of the armour, and the device of the knight, which must harmonize with these ornaments, are minutely described. Were an artist of genius to study these interesting situations, he would open to himself a new field for historical painting. There is a kind of mythological romance in which the heroes of Greece appear in Spanish costume, which may be regarded as an imitation of the species already described. The history of the siege of Troy, having been clothed in the garb of a chivalric romance, it followed, as a matter of course, that the Grecian heroes should be exhibited as knights-errant in the poetic romances. It is obvious, on examination, that most of these mythological romances are very old.[65] Even christianity is made to contribute to this kind of composition, and anecdotes from the bible are related in the favourite romance form; as, for example, the lamentation of king David on the death of his son Absalom.[66] CASTILIAN POETRY IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES.