Ballads, Spanish; Legends -- Spain; Spanish literature -- History and criticism
The Moor gladly availed himself of his captor's indulgence, gave
Narvaez the required assurance, and that same night reached the castle
wherein his lady dwelt. Entering the garden, he gave the signal by
which he usually signified his presence there, and she immediately
came to the trysting-place agreed upon between them. She at once
expressed the greatest surprise that he had not arrived at the time
he had promised to be with her, and he explained the circumstances
which had attended his delay. On hearing what had occurred the lady
was cast into the deepest grief, and as her lover was attempting to
console her by every means in his power the hour of dawn reminded him
of his pledge to Narvaez, and how he had given his word as a soldier
and a cavalier to return to his captivity.
"There is nothing left but that I should return," he said. "I have
lost my own liberty, and God forbid that, loving you as I do, I should
bear you to a place where yours also would be in danger. We must wait
patiently until the time when I can obtain my ransom, when I shall
immediately return to you."
"Before this hour," replied the lady, "you have given me many proofs
that you truly love me, but now you show your attachment more plainly
than ever in your desire for my safety, and for that very reason
I should be most ungrateful if I did not go with you to share your
captivity. Therefore I shall accompany you to the Christian prison for
which you are destined. If you must be a slave, so also shall I be."
The lady then commanded her waiting damsel to bring her jewel-case,
and when this had been done she mounted behind her lover. All
night they rode, and in the morning they arrived at Antequara,
where they presented themselves to Narvaez, who was no less struck
with the constancy of the lady than with the honour and fidelity of
the young Moorish cavalier. He immediately gave both their liberty,
and, loading them with presents and other marks of honour, accorded
them permission to return to their own land, providing an escort of
troops to accompany them until they had reached a place of safety.
This adventure, the love of the lady, the loyalty of the Moor, and more
than all the generosity of the high-souled Christian commander, were
greatly celebrated and applauded by the noble Saracens of Granada, and
were sung in the lays of their most distinguished poets and chronicled
by their annalists. And although this story in every way partakes of
the nature of romance, it has the additional merit of being true.
The Dream of King Alfonso
A mysterious story indeed is that which tells of the manner in which
Don Alfonso, King of Galicia, one of the Christian states which
held out against the Moors, was haunted by a dream which came to him
again and again in the watches of the night, and which no one might
interpret, until at last he was forced to call to his aid the occult
science of those very enemies against whom the vision warned him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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