| | 1 | Author: | Irving
Washington
1783-1859 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Alhambra  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The common people of Spain have an oriental
passion for story-telling and are fond of the marvellous.
They will gather round the doors of
their cottages in summer evenings, or in the
great cavernous chimney corners of their ventas
in the winter, and listen with insatiable delight
to miraculous legends of saints, perilous adventures
of travellers, and daring exploits of robbers
and contrabandistas. The wild and solitary nature
of a great part of Spain; the imperfect state
of knowledge; the scantiness of general topics
of conversation, and the romantic, adventurous
life that every one leads in a land where travelling
is yet in its primitive state, all contribute
to cherish this love of oral narration, and to produce
a strong expression of the extravagant and
wonderful. There is no theme, however, more
prevalent or popular than that of treasures buried
by the Moors. It pervades the whole country.
In traversing the wild Sierras, the scenes of ancient
prey and exploit, you cannot see a Moorish
atalaya or watch-tower perched among the cliffs,
or beetling above its rock-built village, but your
muleteer, on being closely questioned, will suspend
the smoking of his cigarillo to tell some tale
of Moslem gold buried beneath its foundations;
nor is there a ruined alcazar in a city, but has
its golden tradition, handed down, from generation
to generation, among the poor people of the
neighbourhood. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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