AT THE ALHAMBRA
"_Mi madre_," cried Fernando, rushing into the house one day in
October, "to-day is the feast-day of the head master, and we have a
holiday. May I have permission to go to the hill to see Antonio?"
"Not by yourself, my son," replied his mother, and Fernando said,
hastily, "Oh, no, _madre mia_, Manuel says that he will take me if
you will permit me, and, if Juanita's nurse could be spared, we could
take the _niña_, as she has never been there, and that would give her
pleasure."
"Let me see," his mother paused a moment, "the day is fine. This
morning I am busy, but after luncheon I will drive thither with the
little one, and leave you for an hour while I go on to the villa of the
Señora Sanchez; but you must be a good boy, and mind Manuel."
"Yes, mother, and you will see Antonio, whom I like best of all the
boys at school," said Fernando, and he hastened away to make ready for
the great treat. A drive with his mother in school hours was a pleasure
seldom indulged in, and a visit to the great hill which crowns Granada
was treat enough, but to take Juanita,--these were things so pleasant
that he said to himself, "I think my guardian angel must have whispered
in my mother's ear to give me all this pleasure."
It was about two o'clock as they drove through the narrow streets of
the city up the steep and hilly way which led to the outskirts of the
town.
"You are going to see the nicest boy in Granada, and the most wonderful
castle in Spain, _niña_," said Fernando to Juanita, and the two
children chattered merrily as the carriage went slowly up the hill.
"Here is a riddle I heard at school, _niña_, see if you can guess it,--
"'Guarded in a prison strait,
Ivory gaolers round her wait,
Venomous snake of sanguine hue,
Mother of all the lies that brew!'"
"I do not know," said his little sister, wonderingly. She thought all
that Fernando said and did was perfection. "What is it, Nando?"
"Why, the tongue, of course," he said, pleased to have given a riddle
which she could not guess; and his mother said:
"That is a very good riddle, and I hope you will remember it, for it is
the tongue which makes much mischief in this world. Remember that 'a
stone and a word flung do not return.'"
"There is Mazo following us," said Juanita, and her mother said,
laughingly, "Really, Fernando, I don't see why you like that dog so
much! He is uglier than Picio."[2]
"He isn't handsome, but you have told me that handsome is as handsome
does!" said her son, and his mother laughed again.
"Oh, what is that?" cried Juanita, as the carriage made a turn, and
some splendid great towers came into view.
"That is the Alhambra," said Fernando. "It is the most wonderful castle
in Spain. Manuel said it was begun in 1238, in the reign of the Moorish
king, Ibn-l-Ahmar, and it was years and years in building. He says the
Moors used to have the castle and the city of Granada, and I read in my
history of how the Catholic king, Ferdinand, came here to conquer it.
He fought and fought, but the Moors wouldn't give it up. I think they
were a brave people, if they were beaten, don't you?"
"Yes, my son, they were very brave, but they did such cruel things to
the captives they took, that it is not surprising that the Spaniards
wanted to conquer them," said his mother.
"They captured Christian girls, and forced them to become their wives,
though what they wanted with them I cannot see, for they already had
many wives, and I should think one was enough for any man. Where shall
we find your friend, Fernando? If you wish I will leave you with him
for an hour, and continue my drive."
"Oh, thank you, mother, I knew you would let me stay!" cried Fernando;
and Juanita said, "Please leave me, too, mother, that I may see Antonio
and the great palace."
"Antonio lives within the palace, mamma," said Fernando. "He was born
there, and he and his sister, Pepita, have never been away. He is to go
to the English school at Gibraltar, but not until he is bigger. May we
ask some one where he is?"
"Certainly. He must be a nice boy to have lived always in such a place,
and to have you so devoted to him. There is a guard; ask him where the
apartments of the boy's father are," she said to Manuel, who sat upon
the box with the coachman. Further inquiry, however, was not necessary,
for, as the carriage made its way up the broad drive shaded with
magnificent elm-trees, which the Duke of Wellington planted, a boy came
bounding toward them.
"There he is," cried Fernando. "Antonio, come here, we have come to see
you."
The carriage stopped, and Fernando hopped out as lightly as a squirrel,
giving Antonio a good hug, for Spanish boys are never ashamed of
showing that they like their friends. Antonio's cap was off in a trice
and he smiled and bowed as Fernando presented him to his mother and
little sister. Antonio was a handsome boy, with eyes as dark and blue
as the sapphire of the Spanish skies, and fair hair tossed back from an
open brow. All Spaniards are not dark, and, in Andalusia, the province
in which Granada lies, there are many blonds.
"I will leave Fernando and Juanita with you for a visit," said the
señora, graciously. "Will you bring them here in an hour?"
"_Si_, señora," said Antonio. "But if you would so honour us, the
señora, my mother has prepared a little luncheon in the Garden of
Lindaraya at four o'clock, and she would be most happy if you would
partake of it with us."
"Thank you, then I shall allow the children to remain with you until
that time and I shall myself prolong my visit with my friends at the
villa," she replied. "When I return I shall do myself the pleasure of
meeting your mother."
[Illustration: "THEY PLAYED HIDE AND SEEK THROUGH THE MARBLE HALLS."]
So she drove off, and the children tripped happily away, followed
closely by Manuel and Dolores, for Spanish little ones of good family
are never allowed to go about alone. However, one must relax a little
sometimes, and the two attendants saw a pleasant hour before them as
they sat idly about while the children played in the wonderful gardens
of the palace. Pepita, Antonio's sister, was but a year older than
Juanita, and the two little girls were quite happy together, and the
boys did not consider themselves too big to play with them. They played
hide and seek through the marble halls, and tag and chaser about the
flower beds. The little girls played house and made mud pies, although
Dolores objected to this and told Juanita that she would be as dirty as
the "_caseada de Burguillos_"[3] if she were not more careful. Juanita
thought Pepita was wonderful because she had been born in a palace,
and her father was custodian of the wonderful place, but it was Antonio
who claimed her greatest admiration. He was even more marvellous than
Fernando, she almost thought, because he was bigger, and his eyes had
such a kind and merry look, and he always carried her over the rough
places in his strong young arms, and lifted her over the walls as they
strolled through the gardens.
She had never seen such gardens as these of the Alhambra. They were
full of the most beautiful flowers, and there was the most delicious
scent in the air.
Antonio told her it was from the wallflowers, which grew here in great
profusion, and were twice as large as they were in other places. But
besides them there were great trees of purple heliotrope, the blooms as
large around as Juanita's big hat; and geranium-trees, taller than a
man, with orange-trees in bloom, late though it was, and with the ripe
fruit upon their branches also.
Then the children had a charming luncheon on the grass, for Antonio's
mother set forth for them all manner of good things,--a dainty salad
with some cold meat, thick chocolate in tiny cups, and cakes in the
daintiest of shapes. What a merry picnic it was beneath the shade of
the great orange-tree which Antonio told them had been there for over
a hundred years, and from which the great American, Washington Irving,
had picked fruit when he lived at the Alhambra! Then when the party was
over, and his mother had not come, Fernando said:
"Antonio, tell us a story. You know some about the castle, I am sure."
And little Juanita begged, "Do please tell us one, Antonio," and as
nobody could ever resist the _niña's_ wistful, brown eyes, Antonio
smilingly began the story of "The Three Sisters."
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Picio was a man so ugly that his name has passed into a proverb in
Spain.
[3] The "housewife of Burguillos," who prided herself on her neatness,
yet who was seen to spit in her frying-pan to see if it was hot enough.