Our Little Spanish Cousin

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 t

g 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 watche

y 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 t

to Granada in the hope of finding their princesses, and

'The knight with the scarl

in blue, he is mi

uing 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 s

but little Zorahayda,

le 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 m

her?" cried Juanita, and he

us a tale of battle, for this is but a woman's story, an

o long in the atmosphere of romance that he seemed a part of it, in speech and manners. "Shall I tell yo

ossession of the splendid city, with its gem, the Alhambra. He told of how the noble knight, Juan de Vé

nder 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 th

passed so quickly that the children were surprised when t

tting with Antonio's mother, while he picked a huge bunch of flowers for the childre

io." To which he replied, i

, and very much

nice boy?" s

o, I am glad to see that you have the sense to choose your f

nita asked, as a fanta

hey have a chief whom they call king. They are a lazy set, doing little but thieving and telling fortunes. They live in lit

ando, "with her black hair and eyes, and her bright

med 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 mu

s, Maria y Josef!' when peo

rs 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 g

y we not give him something?" as a little boy came

r el amor de Di

but you can always give politeness, ni?a, and when you have no money say, 'Perdone me, u