[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, TOLEDO]
ROMANTIC LEGENDS
OF SPAIN
_By_
GUSTAVO ADOLFO BECQUER
TRANSLATED BY
CORNELIA FRANCES BATES
AND
KATHARINE LEE BATES
NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1909
BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY
DEDICATED
TO
A SHINING MEMORY
PREFACE
A word regarding the circumstances under which this translation was made
will be pardoned by all children of dear mothers.
Mrs. Cornelia Frances Bates (1826-1908), a graduate of Mount Holyoke in
the days of Mary Lyon and the widow of a Congregational minister, took
up the study of Spanish at the age of seventy-one. Until her death ten
years later, the proverbial ten years of “labor and sorrow,” her Spanish
readings and translations were a keen intellectual delight. Her Spanish
Bible, from which she had committed many passages to memory, was found
at her death no less worn than her English one. Even a few hours before
dying, she repeated in Spanish, without the failure of a syllable, the
Shepherd’s Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer.
So youthful was her spirit that, of the various modern Spanish works
with which she became acquainted, nothing fascinated her so much as
Becquer’s strange, romantic tales. The wilder they were, the brighter
would be the eager face, under its soft white cap, bent over the
familiar little green volumes and the great red dictionary. Seeing the
pleasure she took in these legends and learning that no complete English
translation existed, I suggested that we unite in a “Becquer Book.” Her
full share of the work was promptly done; mine was delayed; and the
volume--which we had meant to inscribe to my sister--becomes her own
memorial.
Gratitude for helpful suggestions is due to the late Mr. Frederick
Gulick of Auburndale, Mass., formerly of San Sebastian, and to Señorita
Carolina Marcial, formerly of Seville and now of Wellesley College.
Especial and most cordial acknowledgment is made of the critical reading
given the entire manuscript by Miss Alice H. Bushée of the _Colegio
Internacional_, Madrid.