The Alhambra 1

The Alhambra 1

The Alhambra

 

Author: Washington Irving

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION

 

 

Rough draughts of some of the following tales and essays were actually

written during a residence in the Alhambra; others were subsequently

added, founded on notes and observations made there. Care was taken to

maintain local coloring and verisimilitude; so that the whole might

present a faithful and living picture of that microcosm, that singular

little world into which I had been fortuitously thrown; and about which

the external world had a very imperfect idea. It was my endeavor

scrupulously to depict its half Spanish, half Oriental character; its

mixture of the heroic, the poetic, and the grotesque; to revive the

traces of grace and beauty fast fading from its walls; to record the

regal and chivalrous traditions concerning those who once trod its

courts; and the whimsical and superstitious legends of the motley race

now burrowing among its ruins.

 

The papers thus roughly sketched out lay for three or four years in my

portfolio, until I found myself in London, in 1832, on the eve of

returning to the United States. I then endeavored to arrange them for

the press, but the preparations for departure did not allow sufficient

leisure. Several were thrown aside as incomplete; the rest were put

together somewhat hastily and in rather a crude and chaotic manner.

 

In the present edition I have revised and rearranged the whole work,

enlarged some parts, and added others, including the papers originally

omitted; and have thus endeavored to render it more complete and more

worthy of the indulgent reception with which it has been favored.

 

W. I.

 

SUNNYSIDE 1851.

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

PAGE

 

THE JOURNEY 1

 

PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 33

 

IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS.--THE AUTHOR SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE OF BOABDIL 47

 

INHABITANTS OF THE ALHAMBRA 54

 

THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS 58

 

THE JESUITS’ LIBRARY 64

 

ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA 65

 

YUSEF ABUL HAGIG, THE FINISHER OF THE ALHAMBRA 72

 

THE MYSTERIOUS CHAMBERS 76

 

PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES 85

 

THE TRUANT 92

 

THE BALCONY 95

 

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MASON 101

 

THE COURT OF LIONS 105

 

THE ABENCERRAGES 112

 

MEMENTOS OF BOABDIL 124

 

PUBLIC FÊTES OF GRANADA 129

 

LOCAL TRADITIONS 137

 

THE HOUSE OF THE WEATHERCOCK 139

 

LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 142

 

VISITORS OF THE ALHAMBRA 162

 

RELICS AND GENEALOGIES 167

 

THE GENERALIFE 170

 

LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL; OR, THE PILGRIM OF LOVE 172

 

A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 205

 

LEGEND OF THE MOOR’S LEGACY 214

 

THE TOWER OF LAS INFANTAS 236

 

LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 237

 

LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 262

 

THE VETERAN 279

 

THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY 281

 

GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 288

 

A FÊTE IN THE ALHAMBRA 306

 

LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 311

 

THE CRUSADE OF THE GRAND MASTER OF ALCANTRA 330

 

SPANISH ROMANCE 338

 

LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCO DE HINOJOSA 341

 

POETS AND POETRY OF MOSLEM ANDALUS 347

 

AN EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF A DIPLOMA 355

 

THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 358

 

THE AUTHOR’S FAREWELL TO GRANADA 373

 

 

 

 

THE ALHAMBRA

 

 

 

 

THE JOURNEY

 

 

In the spring of 1829, the author of this work, whom curiosity had

brought into Spain, made a rambling expedition from Seville to Granada

in company with a friend, a member of the Russian Embassy at Madrid.

Accident had thrown us together from distant regions of the globe and a

similarity of taste led us to wander together among the romantic

mountains of Andalusia. Should these pages meet his eye, wherever thrown

by the duties of his station, whether mingling in the pageantry of

courts, or meditating on the truer glories of nature, may they recall

the scenes of our adventurous companionship, and with them the

recollection of one, in whom neither time nor distance will obliterate

the remembrance of his gentleness and worth.[1]

 

And here, before setting forth, let me indulge in a few previous remarks

on Spanish scenery and Spanish travelling. Many are apt to picture Spain

to their imaginations as a soft southern region, decked out with the

luxuriant charms of voluptuous Italy. On the contrary, though there are

exceptions in some of the maritime provinces, yet, for the greater part,

it is a stern, melancholy country, with rugged mountains, and long

sweeping plains, destitute of trees, and indescribably silent and

lonesome, partaking of the savage and solitary character of Africa. What

adds to this silence and loneliness, is the absence of singing-birds, a

natural consequence of the want of groves and hedges. The vulture and

the eagle are seen wheeling about the mountain-cliffs, and soaring over

the plains, and groups of shy bustards stalk about the heaths; but the

myriads of smaller birds, which animate the whole face of other

countries, are met with in but few provinces in Spain, and in those

chiefly among the orchards and gardens which surround the habitations of

man.

 

In the interior provinces the traveller occasionally traverses great

tracts cultivated with grain as far as the eye can reach, waving at

times with verdure, at other times naked and sunburnt, but he looks

round in vain for the hand that has tilled the soil. At length he

perceives some village on a steep hill, or rugged crag, with mouldering

battlements and ruined watchtower: a stronghold, in old times, against

civil war, or Moorish inroad; for the custom among the peasantry of

congregating together for mutual protection is still kept up in most

parts of Spain, in consequence of the maraudings of roving freebooters.