ANTONIO'S STORY
"ONCE upon a time," Antonio began, "there were in the palace of
the Alhambra three princesses whose names were Zayde, Zorayde and
Zorahayda. They were daughters of the Sultan, for it was in the days
when the Moors reigned in Granada, and there were no Christians here
but captive Spaniards. The princesses were kept in a tower called
the Tower of the Infantas, one of the most beautiful towers of the
Alhambra. It was fitted up in a manner befitting the home of the king's
daughters. The walls of the room were hung with tapestries in cloth
of gold and royal blue; the divans were heaped high with pillows, the
pillars and arches which held up the roof itself, were in filigree
of softest hues,--blue, terra-cotta, and gold. The Princess Zayde's
chamber was the richest, all in cloth of gold, since she was the eldest
Infanta; that of Zorayde was hung with steel mirrors, burnished bright,
for she was most fair to look upon and loved to look upon herself;
while that of the youngest, little brown-eyed Princess Zorahayda, was
delicate in tone, as if some rare jewel lay in a dainty casket. Upon
the princesses waited the discreet Kadiga, an elderly duenna who never
let them from her sight for a moment. She watched them as a cat does
a mouse, but there was one thing she could not control, and that was
the eyes of the princesses. They would look forth from the windows,
and, indeed, this Kadiga never forbade, for it seemed to her a pity
that three such fair maidens should have so little amusement, and she
thought it could not possibly hurt them to gaze into the gardens below.
"One day, while the princesses were looking out the narrow windows,
they saw something which made them look and look again. Yes, it was
true,--could it be? it _was_! They were the very same--the three
Christian princes whom they had seen at Salobrena; but here they were
labouring as captives. At the tourney to which the princesses had been
taken, they had seen these noble knights, and had fallen in love with
them, and it was for this that their father had shut them up in a
tower, for he had said no daughter of his should marry a Christian.
"But the knights thought differently, and they had come to Granada in
the hope of finding their princesses, and had been taken captive and
were compelled to hard labour.
"'It is he!' cried Zayde. 'The knight with the scarlet tunic is the one
I saw!'
"'Yes, but the one in blue, he is mine!' cried Zorayde.
"Little Zorahayda said nothing, but she looked with all her eyes at
the third knight. And this was not the last time she saw him, for the
knights had come thither, bent on rescuing the maidens, and had bribed
their jailer to help them to escape. So one moonlight night, when the
moon was turning into silver beauty the orange-trees of the garden, and
shining in fullest light into the deep ravine below the Tower of the
Infantas, the knights awaited their lady-loves in the valley below, and
Kadiga let them down by a rope-ladder.
"All escaped in safety but little Zorahayda, and she feared to go.
"'Leave me,' she cried. 'I must not leave my father!' and at last,
since they could not persuade her to go, they rode sadly away without
her, and her little white hand waved a sad farewell to them from the
window. There she still is, so say the legends, and there are those
who, walking in these gardens at midnight, tell that they have seen a
white hand wave from the tower window, and a voice whisper through the
murmur of the fountains, '_Ay di mi Zorahayda!_'"
"Oh, Antonio! hast thou seen her?" cried Juanita, and her brother
laughed, and said:
"Little foolish one, it is but a story! But Antonio, tell us a tale of
battle, for this is but a woman's story, and there have been splendid
deeds done in this old castle."
"Splendid ones, and sorry ones as well," said Antonio, who was old for
his twelve years, and had lived so long in the atmosphere of romance
that he seemed a part of it, in speech and manners. "Shall I tell you
of the taking of the Alhambra from the Moors? It was a glorious fight,
and both sides were brave men."
Then he told them of the conquest of Granada, when Christian knight and
Moor fought valiantly for the possession of the splendid city, with its
gem, the Alhambra. He told of how the noble knight, Juan de Véga, was
sent to demand tribute from Muley ben Hassan, King of Granada, and that
fierce old monarch said:
"Return to your sovereigns, O Spaniard, and tell them that the kings
of Granada who paid tribute are all dead. My mint coins only swords!"
Brave words, but it was his son, Boabdil the Unlucky, who was forced
to surrender the castle to the victorious enemy, and who handed the
keys to the Spaniards, as he rode through the gate of the Siete Suelos,
saying: "Go, possess these fortresses which Allah has taken from me,
but grant me this one boon, that none other shall pass under this
gateway from which I have come out." And Ferdinand granted his request
and walled up the gate, so that, from that day to this, no one has
passed through that entrance.
These and other tales Antonio told them, and the afternoon passed so
quickly that the children were surprised when their mother's voice
warned them that it was time to go home.
"Oh, mamma," they cried, "must we go?" and the señora smilingly waited
a little, chatting with Antonio's mother, while he picked a huge bunch
of flowers for the children to carry away with them. Then the good-byes
were said, and they drove away crying:
"Come soon to see us, Antonio." To which he replied, in pleasant
Spanish fashion:
"Thank you well, and very much for your visit!"
"Isn't he a nice boy?" said Juanita.
"Quite a little Don," her mother answered, smiling. "Fernando, I am
glad to see that you have the sense to choose your friends so well,"
and Fernando grinned, boylike, well pleased.
"Oh, who is that?" Juanita asked, as a fantastic figure approached.
"That is the gipsy king," said her mother. "You know the gipsies live
all huddled together there, below the Alhambra, and they have a chief
whom they call king. They are a lazy set, doing little but thieving and
telling fortunes. They live in little burrows, like rabbits, set into
the hillsides, and there are pigs, goats, and dogs all living together
with the people."
"That girl with the king is very pretty," said Fernando, "with her
black hair and eyes, and her bright skirts, and the pomegranate flower
behind her ear."
"The pomegranate is the flower of Granada, you know," said his
mother, "and it does look pretty in her dark hair. Hear her call her
dogs! Gipsy dogs are all named Melampo, Cubilon, or Lubina, after
the shepherd dogs who followed the shepherds, and saw our Lord at
Bethlehem. Ah, Juanita, '_Jesus, Maria y Josef!_' You must not sneeze!
Drive faster, Diego, and Dolores, wrap the baby in that Palencian
blanket, so soft and warm. The nights grow cool quickly at this time of
year."
"Why do we always say '_Jesus, Maria y Josef!_' when people sneeze?"
asked Fernando.
"It has been the custom so long that people have almost forgotten why
it is done," replied his mother; "but I remember my grandmother saying
once that her mother told her the reason. Years and years ago, in 1580,
there was in all Andalusia a terrible plague called the _mosquillo_.
People sneezed once, and lo! they had the plague, and little could save
them, though some few recovered. So it grew to be the custom, when one
sneezed, for those who heard him to look pityingly upon him and say,
'_Dios le ayude_,'[4] or call upon the holy names to help him, saying,
'_Jesus, Maria y Josef._'"[5]
"See that ragged beggar, mamma," said Juanita. "May we not give him
something?" as a little boy came hopping along beside the carriage,
crying, lustily:
"_Una limosna por el amor de Dios,[6] señora!_"
"I have no _centimos_,"[7] said the señora, "and it is not wise to give
more to a beggar, but you can always give politeness, _niña_, and when
you have no money say, '_Perdone me, usted_,'[8] or, '_Por el amor de
Dios,_'[9] and thus you will not give offence to God's poor."
FOOTNOTES:
[4] "God help him."
[5] "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."
[6] "An alms for the love of God."
[7] Coppers.
[8] "Pardon me, your Grace."
[9] "For the love of God."