Verhalen over het gebouwencomplex in Granada, dat eigendom was van de laatste islamitische vorsten in Spanje.
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
accidents, but made off to enjoy their wealth undisturbed in other
countries. The Moor returned to Africa, to his native city of Tangiers,
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 personage of some consequence, for she made the
worthy little man array his long body and short legs in doublet and
hose, with a 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 Señora
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 spell-bound 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.
THE TOWER OF LAS INFANTAS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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