"It will be beautiful," sighed the little girl, for Spanish children
are always interested in the love affairs of their older brothers and
sisters, and even little girls talk about them. "How handsome Pablo
looks as he talks with her."
"They are as fair as the lovers of Teruel," said old Dolores, who was
at the party to take care of her little charges.
"Tell us about them," said Juanita, eagerly, for she dearly loved
Dolores's quaint stories; and the _aya_ began:
"In the town of Teruel there lived, many years ago, a Spanish knight,
Don Juan Diego Martinez de Marcilla, and he loved with all his heart
Doña Isabel de Segura. Alas, unhappily! for the fathers of the two
lovers were enemies, and would not listen to love between them.
"'Thou art but a second son,' said Don Pedro de Segura, the father of
Doña Isabel. 'Moreover, thou hast not a fortune equal to that of my
daughter, who possesses thirty thousand _sueldos_ in good gold, and is
my sole heiress.'
"'Full well I know that I am in no wise worthy of thy fair daughter,'
said Don Juan, 'and upon her grace have I no claim save that she loves
my unworthy self. But since this is God's truth, I pray you give me
the chance to prove my devotion, and I will furnish sufficient fortune
to equal hers. I go to the wars with my lord, King Sancho of Navarre.
Grant me five years in which to gain this fortune, and give me your
promise that for that length of time you will not force Doña Isabel to
marry another.'
"Doña Isabel was very young, and her father very fond, and by this he
could keep her with him five long years, and, moreover, marry her to
whom he pleased, for he said to himself, 'In that time both of them
will forget,' and so he smilingly said:
"'Your words have some reason. Go with God, and if you return, well and
good. My daughter shall not marry against her will for five years to
this day, but mark me, rash youth, not one day more shall she wait.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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