VIVA EL REY!
ALL Granada was in a flutter! It was the brightest of October days,
and the sun seemed to be trying to be as bright as the people, or the
people to be as gay as the sunshine. Fernando and Juanita hopped out
of bed and ran to the window the first minute they were awake, and
squealed with delight when they saw that the day was fair.
"Oh, mamma!" cried Fernando. "Is it not glorious? The fête will be a
success!" and Juanita echoed her brother, "Is it not wonderfully fair!"
"Come and have your chocolate quickly, like good children," returned
their mother, "for you must be ready early."
As soon as the children were breakfasted, they were dressed in their
best clothes, Juanita all in white, with a gay sash, and Fernando in a
sailor suit of blue, and they waited impatiently for their parents to
be ready to start for the fête.
It was a great day for Granada, for the king was coming to visit
the city, and it had been many years since royalty had honoured the
Andalusian town. Spaniards are nearly always devoted to their king, and
in Andalusia there are very few who are not fond and proud of the young
King Alphonso.
In Northern Spain there are many who are called Carlists, and who
believe that the descendants of Don Carlos are the lawful kings of
Spain, and these have often gotten up revolutions and tried to set
their own favourites up as kings.
In Barcelona and some of the eastern provinces there are many who
like neither King Alphonso nor Don Carlos, and these are anarchists;
but Granada was heart and soul for the king, and all the people were
overjoyed at his coming.
Every balcony in the city was covered with flowers; flags and banners
floated everywhere. The Alameda was ablaze with decorations, and every
face wore a smile of welcome. The programme for the day was a simple
one. The king was to be met at the station by a delegation, a band, and
a mounted escort, witness a military review on the Alameda, and depart
by an afternoon train. All Granada must see him, and Fernando and
Juanita with it.
It had been decided that the best time for the children to have a good
look at the king was when he drove to the Alhambra, and Manuel and
Dolores started early to take them to meet Antonio, who had promised to
provide places within the Alhambra grounds, where the general multitude
would be less likely to go, and where the children would have a finer
view. Pablo went with them, for he was still at home, and he walked
beside Babieca to see that Juanita did not fall off, on her long ride
up-hill.
"See there, little sister," he said. "Is not that an easy way to get
milk for the day?"
The goatherd was passing at the head of his procession of goats,
looking neither to the right nor to the left, expecting his herd to
follow him as gravely as he walked; but a peasant woman stole out of
her door, and quietly milked one of the little beasts, who seemed not
to object in the least, and took it so calmly that Pablo added, "That
is not the first time there has been stolen milk for breakfast, I'm
sure."
"See the poor beggar; do give him something, Pablo," said Juanita,
touched by a wretched specimen of humanity who sat with blind eyes
peering up at them as they passed. Pablo threw a _perro chico_ into the
beggar's outstretched hand, but he said:
"You must not be too sad for all the beggars, _niña_; there is an old
rhyme:
"'The armless man has written a letter,
The blind man finds the writing clear;
The mute is reading it aloud,
And the deaf man runs to hear.'
They are not all so sad as they look, but one must give for fear one
may slight the really needy."
"Oh, Pablo, may we have some _horchata_?" cried Fernando, and his
brother stopped to purchase some of the snowy, chilly, puckery stuff,
and they enjoyed it greatly. Fernando ate too hastily, and his brother
said:
"_Quita, quita!_ You must not act so! You are as bad as the king when
he was a baby and put his knife in his mouth. His governess said to
him, 'Kings do not eat with their knives,' and he haughtily replied,
'This king does!'"
"Indeed," said Fernando, pertly, "the king is my cousin, so it says in
my history book that all Spaniards may say."
"He is your cousin, that is, you must love him as your own blood;
but say, rather, 'All equal below the king,' and put him ever first.
Remember that your fathers have died for the Kings of Spain, and we may
have a chance to show our loyalty yet," and Pablo's bright face clouded
a moment.
"Listen to the music; there goes the military salute! The king has
come, and by the time we reach the Alhambra he will be on his way
hither. Get up, Babieca," and he hurried the little donkey along until
they reached the top of the hill and found Antonio waiting for them,
his face flushed and eager.
"He will pass here," he cried, "beneath the Gate of Justice, and my
father says we may stand just behind the guard upon the wall; there
could not be a better place."
"How nice that will be!" cried Juanita. "And where is Pepita?"
"There, awaiting you," Antonio answered. "I will take care of Babieca
and return," and he led the donkey away, coming back in a few moments,
and they all waited impatiently.
Spaniards all love a spectacle, and the young folk could hardly
restrain themselves as they heard the strains of music coming nearer
and nearer. At last the cavalcade came in sight,--first a troop of
soldiers, then a band playing the _Marcha Real_, then a mounted guard
keeping close to His Majesty's carriage. There he sat, the young king,
a tall, slight youth, with a pale, proud face and great black eyes,
sad, yet merry and tender; a patrician face in every feature, yet a
lovable one, and one to arouse all of love and loyalty in his subjects,
as the character of Alphonso XIII. arouses their respect and affection.
As the carriage paused at the entrance gate, the king looked up at the
eager little group upon the wall and smiled. Juanita and Pepita flung
into his carriage their huge bouquets of flowers and to the girls he
threw a kiss; but Fernando and Antonio stood up very straight and
saluted gravely, and with a smile in his eyes, but with grave lips,
the young king raised his hand to his hat and gave them in return the
military salute. Then his carriage passed on, and bore him out of
sight, but a shout went up from every voice, "_Viva el rey!_"
"When I grow up I shall be a nun and pray all the time for the king!"
said Pepita.
"I shall be a soldier and fight for him," said Fernando, proudly.
"And I," said Juanita, "shall marry and have many children to fight and
pray for him and for Spain!"
"Indeed, little sister, perhaps thou hast chosen the better part," said
Pablo, laughing heartily.
"See!" cried Antonio, "there goes the carriage again, and hear how the
people shout!" and as the bravas rent the air, the children shouted,
too:
"_Viva Espagna! Viva el rey! Dios guarda usted!_"[20]
THE END.
FOOTNOTE:
[20] "Long live Spain! Long live the king! God guard your Grace!"
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=A Little Daughter of Liberty.=
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* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page xi, "bodiess wayed" changed to "bodies swayed" (bodies swayed to
and fro)
Page 86, "mada" changed to "nada" (ha vista nada)
End of Project Gutenberg's Our Little Spanish Cousin, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet