“Alas for thee, Toledo! in former
times they said
That they called thee for vengeance upon
a traitor’s head.
But now ’tis not on traitors, but
on loyal men and true
That they call to thee for vengeance,
which to caitiff hearts are due.
And Tagus gently murmurs in his billows
fresh and free
And hastens from Toledo to reach the mighty
sea.”
E’er she said more, they seized
the dame, and led her to the gate,
Where the warden of the castle in solemn
judgment sate.
THE LOVERS OF ANTEQUERA
The brave Hamete reined his steed and
from the crupper bent,
To greet fair Tartagona, who saw him with
content,
The daughter of Zulema, who had many a
foe repelled
From the castle on the hill, which he
in Archidora held;
For six-and-thirty years he kept the Christian
host at bay,
A watchful warden, fearless of the stoutest
foes’ array.
And now adown the well-known path, a secret
path and sure,
Led by the noble lady, hurried the gallant
Moor.
The sentinels beneath the wall were careless,
or they slept;
They heeded not Hamete as down the slope
he crept.
And when he reached the level plain, full
twenty feet away,
He hobbled fast his courser, lest he should
farther stray.
Then to the Moorish lady he turned, as
if to speak,
Around her waist he flung his arms and
kissed her on the cheek.
“O goddess of my heart,” he
said, “by actions I will prove,
If thou wilt name some high emprise, how
faithful is my love!
And in Granada I am great, and have much
honored been,
Both by the King Fernando and Isabel his
Queen.
My name is high, my lineage long, yet
none of all my line
Have reached the pitch of glory which
men allow is mine.
Narvarez is a knight of name, in love
and arms adept,
In Antequera’s castle he well the
marches kept.
Jarifa was a captive maid, he loved Jarifa
well,
And oft the maiden visited within her
prison cell.
And, if the thing with honor and virtuous
heart may be,
What he did with Jarifa, that would I
do with thee.”
A star was shining overhead upon the breast
of night,
The warrior turned his course, and led
the lady by its light.
They reached the foot of one tall rock,
and stood within the shade,
Where thousand thousand ivy leaves a bower
of beauty made.
They heard the genet browsing and stamping
as he fed,
And smiling Love his pinions over the
lovers spread.
But ere they reached the pleasant bower,
they saw before them stand,
Armed to the teeth, with frowning face,
a strange and savage band.
Yes, seventy men with sword in hand surrounded
dame and knight,
The robbers of the mountain, and they
trembled at the sight!
With one accord these freebooters upon
Hamete fell,
Like hounds that on the stag at bay rush
at the hunter’s call,