Another of the plays, the story of which is also said to be true, is “El Gallardo Español,” or The Bold Spaniard.[145] Its hero, named Saavedra, and therefore, perhaps, of the old family into which that of Cervantes had long before intermarried, goes over to the Moors for a time, from a point of honor about a lady, but turns out at last a true Spaniard in every thing else, as well as in the exaggeration of his gallantry. “The Sultana” is founded on the history of a Spanish captive, who rose so high in the favor of the Grand Turk, that she is represented in the play as having become, not merely a favorite, but absolutely the Sultana, and yet as continuing to be a Christian,--a story which was readily believed in Spain, though only the first part of it is true, as Cervantes must have known, since Catharine of Oviedo, who is the heroine, was his contemporary.[146] The “Rufian Dichoso” is a Don Juan in licentiousness and crime, who is converted and becomes so extraordinary a saint, that, to redeem the soul of a dying sinner, Doña Ana de Treviño, he formally surrenders to her his own virtues and good works, and assumes her sins, beginning anew, through incredible sufferings, the career of penitence and reformation; all of which, or at least what is the most gross and revolting in it, is declared by Cervantes, as an eye-witness, to be true.[147] [145] The part we should least willingly suppose to be true--that of a droll, roistering soldier, who gets a shameful subsistence by begging for souls in Purgatory, and spending on his own gluttony the alms he receives--is particularly vouched for by Cervantes. “Esto de pedir para las ánimas es cuento verdadero, que _yo lo ví_.” How so indecent an exhibition on the stage could be permitted is the wonder. Once, for instance, when in great personal danger, he prays thus, as if he had read the “Clouds” of Aristophanes:-- Animas de Purgatorio! Favoreced me, Señoras! Que mi peligro es notorio, Si ya no estais en estas horas Durmiendo en el dormitorio. Tom. I. p. 34. At the end he says his principal intent has been-- Mezclar verdades Con fabulosos intentos. The Spanish doctrine of the play--all for love and glory--is well expressed in the two following lines from the second _jornada_:-- Que por reynar y por amor no hay culpa, Que no tenga perdon, y halle disculpa. [146] Se vino á Constantinopla, Creo el ano de seiscientos. Jor. III.