My mule so bonny I bestrode, To Portugal I’d flee, And as I o’er the water rode A man came suddenly; And he his love and kindness show’d By setting his dog on me. Unless within a fortnight’s space Thy face, O maid, I see; Flamenca, of Egyptian race, My lady love shall be. Flamenca, of Egyptian race, If thou wert only mine, Within a bonny crystal case For life I’d thee enshrine. Sire nor mother me caress, For I have none on earth; One little brother I possess, And he’s a fool by birth. Thy sire and mother wrath and hate Have vow’d against me, love! The first, first night that from the gate We two together rove. Come to the window, sweet love, do, And I will whisper there, In Rommany, a word or two, And thee far off will bear. A Gypsy stripling’s sparkling eye Has pierced my bosom’s core, A feat no eye beneath the sky Could e’er effect before. Dost bid me from the land begone, And thou with child by me? Each time I come, the little one, I’ll greet in Rommany. With such an ugly, loathly wife The Lord has punish’d me; I dare not take her for my life Where’er the Spaniards be. O, I am not of gentle clan, I’m sprung from Gypsy tree; And I will be no gentleman, But an Egyptian free. On high arose the moon so fair, The Gypsy ’gan to sing: I see a Spaniard coming there, I must be on the wing. This house of harlotry doth smell, I flee as from the pest; Your mother likes my sire too well; To hie me home is best. The girl I love more dear than life, Should other gallant woo, I’d straight unsheath my dudgeon knife And cut his weasand through; Or he, the conqueror in the strife, The same to me should do. Loud sang the Spanish cavalier, And thus his ditty ran: God send the Gypsy lassie here, And not the Gypsy man. At midnight, when the moon began To show her silver flame, There came to him no Gypsy man, The Gypsy lassie came. CHAPTER II THE Gitános, abject and vile as they have ever been, have nevertheless found admirers in Spain, individuals who have taken pleasure in their phraseology, pronunciation, and way of life; but above all, in the songs and dances of the females. This desire for cultivating their acquaintance is chiefly prevalent in Andalusia, where, indeed, they most abound; and more especially in the town of Seville, the capital of the province, where, in the barrio or Faubourg of Triana, a large Gitáno colon has long flourished, with the denizens of which it is at all times easy to have intercourse, especially to those who are free of their money, and are willing to purchase such a gratification at the expense of dollars and pesetas.