CHAPTER XXI.
Return of Boabdil from captivity.
In the month of August, a noble Moor,
of the race of the Abencerrages, arrived
with a splendid retinue at the city of
Cordova, bringing with him the son of
Boabdil el Chico, and other of the noble
youths of Granada, as hostages for the
fulfilment of the terms of ransom. When
the Moorish king beheld his son, his only
child, who was to remain in his stead, a
sort of captive in a hostile land, he folded
him in his arms, and wept over him.
"Wo the day that I was born!" exclaimed
he, "and evil the star that presided
at my birth! well was I called El
Zogoybi, or `the unlucky:' for sorrow
is heaped upon me by my father, and
sorrow do I transmit to my son!"
The afflicted heart of Boabdil, however,
was soothed by the kindness of the
Christian sovereigns, who received the
hostage prince with a tenderness suited
to his age, and a distinction worthy of his
rank.
They delivered him in charge to the
worthy alcayde Martin de Alarcon, who
had treated his father with such courtesy,
during his confinement in the castle of
Porcuna; giving orders, that, after the
departure of the latter, his son should
be entertained with great honour and
princely attention in the same fortress.
On the 2d of September, a guard of
honour assembled at the gate of the mansion
of Boabdil to escort him to the frontiers
of his kingdom. He pressed his
child to his heart at parting; but he
uttered not a word, for there were many
Christian eyes to behold his emotion.
He mounted his steed, and never turned
his head to look again upon the youth!
but those who were near him observed
the vehement struggle that shook his
frame, wherein the anguish of the father
had well nigh subdued the studied equanimity
of the king.
Boabdil el Chico and King Ferdinand
sallied forth, side by side, from Cordova,
amidst the acclamations of a prodigious
multitude. When they were a short
distance from the city, they separated,
with many gracious expressions on the
part of the Castilian monarch, and many
thankful acknowledgments from his late
captive, whose heart had been humbled
by adversity. Ferdinand departed for
Guadalupe, and Boabdil for Granada.
The latter was accompanied by a guard
of honour; and the viceroys of Andalusia,
and the generals on the frontier,
were ordered to furnish him with escorts,
and to show him all possible honour on
his journey. In this way, he was conducted,
in royal state, through the country
he had entered to ravage, and was
placed in safety in his own dominions.
He was met on the frontier, by the
principal nobles and cavaliers of his
court, who had been secretly sent by his
mother, the sultana Ayxa, to escort him
to the capital.
The heart of Boabdil was lifted up for
a moment, when he found himself in his
own territories, surrounded by Moslem
knights, with his own standards waving
over his head; and he began to doubt the
predictions of the astrologers. He soon
found cause, however, to moderate his
exultation. The loyal train, which had
come to welcome him, was but scanty in
number; and he missed many of his most
zealous and obsequious courtiers. He
had returned, indeed, to his kingdom;
but it was no longer the devoted kingdom
he had left. The story of his
vassalage to the Christian sovereigns had
been made use of by his father to ruin
him with his people. He had been represented
as a traitor to his country, a
renegado to his faith, and as leagued
with the enemies of both to subdue the
Moslems of Spain to the yoke of Christian
bondage. In this way the mind of
the public had been turned from him.
The greater part of the nobility had
thronged round the throne of his father
in the Alhambra; and his mother, the
resolute sultana Ayxa, with difficulty
maintained her faction in the opposite
towers of the alcazaba.
Such was the melancholy picture of
affairs given to Boabdil by the courtiers
who had come forth to meet him. They
even informed him, that it would be an
enterprise of difficulty and danger to
make his way back to the capital, and
regain a little court which still remained
faithful to him in the heart of the city.
The old tiger, Muley Aben Hassan, lay
couched within the Alhambra, and the
walls and gates of the city were strongly
guarded by his troops. Boabdil shook
his head at these tidings. He called to
mind the ill omen of his breaking his
lance against the gate of Elvira, when
issuing forth so vaingloriously with his
army, which he now saw clearly foreboded
the destruction of that army, on which he
had so confidently relied. "Henceforth,"
said he, "let no man have the impiety to
scoff at omens."
Boabdil approached his capital by
stealth, and in the night, prowling about
its walls like an enemy seeking to destroy,
rather than a monarch returning to his
throne. At length he seized upon a postern-gate
of the albaycen, a part of the
city which had always been in his favour.
He passed rapidly through the streets,
before the populace were aroused from
their sleep, and reached in safety the fortress
of the alcazaba. Here he was received
into the embraces of his intrepid
mother, and his favourite wife Morayma.
The transports of the latter, on the safe
return of her husband, were mingled with
tears; for she thought of her father, Ali
Atar, who had fallen in his cause; and of
her only son, who was left a hostage in
the hands of the Christains.
The heart of Boabdil, softened by his
misfortunes, was moved by the changes
in every thing round him; but his mother
called up his spirit. "This," said she,
"is no time for tears and fondness: a king
must think of his sceptre and his throne,
and not yield to softness like common
men. Thou hast done well, my son, in
throwing thyself resolutely into Granada:
it must depend upon thyself whether thou
remain here a king or a captive."
The old king, Muley Aben Hassan,
had retired to his couch that night, in
one of the strongest towers of the Alhambra;
but his restless anxiety kept
him from repose. In the first watch of
the night, he heard a shout faintly rising
from the quarter of the albaycen, which
is on the opposite side of the deep valley
of the Darro. Shortly afterwards, horsemen
came galloping up the hill that leads
to the main gate of the Alhambra, spreading
the alarm, that Boabdil had entered
the city, and possessed himself of the
alcazaba.
In the first transports of his rage, the
old king would have struck the messenger
to earth. He hastily summoned
his counsellors and commanders, exhorting
them to stand by him in this critical
moment; and, during the night, made
every preparation to enter the albaycen,
sword in hand, in the morning.
In the mean time, the sultana Ayxa
had taken prompt and vigorous measures
to strengthen her party. The albaycen
was in the part of the city filled by the
lower orders. The return of Boabdil
was proclaimed throughout the streets,
and large sums of money were distributed
among the populace. The nobles,
assembled in the alcazaba, were promised
honours and rewards by Boabdil, as soon
as he should be firmly seated on the
throne. These well-timed measures had
the customary effect; and by daybreak
all the motley populace of the albaycen
were in arms.
A doleful day succeeded. All Granada
was a scene of tumult and horror.
Drums and trumpets resounded in every
part; all business was interrupted; the
shops were shut, and the doors barricadoed.
Armed bands paraded the streets;
some shouting for Boabdil, and some for
Muley Aben Hassan. When they encountered
each other, they fought furiously,
and without mercy; every public
square became a scene of battle. The
great mass of the lower orders was in
favour of Boabdil; but it was a multitude
without discipline or lofty spirit. Part of
the people was regularly armed; but the
greater number had sallied forth with the
implements of their trade. The troops
of the old king, among whom were
many cavaliers of pride and valour, soon
drove the populace from the squares.
They fortified themselves, however, in
the streets, and lanes, which they barricadoed.
They made fortresses of their
houses, and fought desperately from the
windows and the roofs; and many a
warrior of the highest blood of Granada
was laid low by plebeian hands, and plebeian
weapons, in this civil brawl.
It was impossible that such violent
convulsions should last long in the heart
of a city. The people soon longed for
repose, and a return to their peaceful
occupations; and the cavaliers detested
these conflicts with the multitude, in
which there were all the horrors of
war, without its laurels. By the interference
of the alfaquis, an armistice was at
length effected. Boabdil was persuaded,
that there was no dependence upon the inconstant
favour of the multitude, and was
prevailed upon to quit a capital, where
he could only maintain a precarious seat
upon his throne, by a perpetual and
bloody struggle. He fixed his court at
the city of Almeria, which was entirely
devoted to him; and which at that time
vied with Granada in splendour and importance.
This compromise of grandeur
for tranquillity, however, was sorely
against the counsel of his proud-spirited
mother, the sultana Ayxa. Granada
appeared in her eyes the only legitimate
seat of dominion; and she observed,
with a smile of disdain, that he was not
worthy of being called a monarch, who
was not master of his capital.
