Tales from the Lands of Nuts and Grapes Part 3

Every morning the king would ask the barber if any young lady had ventured on looking into the mirror; but the answer was always the same-that many watched his shop to see if others went there, but none had ventured in.

"Ah, Granada, Granada!" exclaimed the king; "hast thou no daughter to offer thy king? In this Alhambra did my predecessors enjoy the company of their wives; and am I to be denied this natural comfort?"

"Royal master," said the barber, "in those days the magic mirror was unknown and not so much required. Men then only studied the arts, but now is science added to their studies."

"You mean, then," asked the king, "that an increase in knowledge has done no good?"

"I mean more than that," continued the barber; "I mean that people are worse than they used to be."

"'G.o.d is great!' is what these walls proclaim; to know is to be wise,"

urged the king.

"Not always, sir," said the barber; "for the majority of men and women in the present know too much and are not too wise, although some deem them wise for being cunning. There is as great a distance between wisdom and cunning as there is between the heavens and the earth."

"Barber," shouted the king, "thou shalt get me a wife bright as the day, pure as dew, and good as gold-one who shall not be afraid to look into thy magic mirror!"

"Sir," replied the barber, "the only magic about my mirror is that which the evil consciences of the ladies of Granada conjure up. The simple shepherdess on the mountain side would brave the magic power of any mirror, strong in the consciousness of innocence; but would you marry such a lowly one?"

"Such a woman is worthy to be a queen, for she is a pearl without price," answered the king. "Go, bid her come here; and, in the presence of my a.s.sembled court, let the gentle shepherdess look into the mirror, after thou hast told her of the danger of so doing."

The barber was not long in bringing the shepherdess to court with him; and it having been proclaimed throughout the city that the trial was going to be made, the princ.i.p.al hall was soon filled with all the grand ladies and knights of the king's household.

When the shepherdess entered the royal presence she felt very shy at being surrounded by so much grandeur; but she knew enough about her own s.e.x to understand that they inwardly considered her not quite so ugly as they audibly expressed her to be.

The king was very much pleased with her appearance, and received her very kindly, telling her that if she desired to be his wife she would have to gaze into the magic mirror, and if she had done aught which was not consistent with her maidenly character, the mirror would show as many stains on its surface as there might be blemishes on her heart.

"Sir," replied the maiden, "we are all sinners in the sight of G.o.d, they say; but I am a poor shepherdess, and surrounded by my flock. I have known what it is to be loved, for, when the sheep have perceived danger, they have come to me for protection. The wild flowers have been my only ornament, the sky almost my only roof, and G.o.d my truest and best friend. Therefore, I fear not to look into that magic mirror; for although I have no ambition to become queen, yet am I not lacking in that pride which is born of the desire to be good."

Saying which, she walked up to the mirror and gazed into it, blushing slightly, perhaps at the sight of her own beauty, which before she had only seen portrayed in the still brook.

The court ladies surrounded her; and when they saw that the magic mirror showed no stains on its surface, they s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her, and exclaimed-

"There is no magic in it-a cheat has been put on us!"

But the king said-

"No, ladies; you have only yourselves to thank. Had you been as innocent as this shepherdess, who is going to be my queen, you would not have dreaded looking into the mirror."

After the marriage the barber was heard to say, that as the magic mirror had now lost its virtue, who could tell but what this charm might be restored to Granada?

THE BLACK SLAVE.

There was once a princess who had a black man slave.

"Princess," said the black slave one day, "I know that you love the good Count of Yanno very much; but you cannot marry him, for he is already married. Why not, then, marry me?"

"I love, as you say, the Count of Yanno, and I know that he is married; but my father is a very powerful king, and he can render his marriage void. As for you," continued the princess, "I would rather marry the lowest born man of my own race than a n.i.g.g.e.r!"

"Remember, princess, for how many years I have been your true slave-how I used to look after you when you were a child. Did I not once save you from the fangs of a wolf?"

"You need not tell me," answered the princess, "that you love me as slaves love their superiors; but should you ever speak again about marrying me, I will tell my royal father."

"If you mention the love that slaves generally have to their owners, I will not contradict you; but I think that sometimes masters are more unworthy the love of their slaves than the slaves are ent.i.tled to the love of their masters," said the slave.

"You belong to us by purchase or by inheritance," continued the princess, "and we do not belong to you. The white man gains the love of the lady of his choice by deeds of arms; he bears on his lance the banner embroidered by his lady-love, and, as a true knight, he makes verses in her honour."

"Chivalry, as you understand it, is to me a fable; for if one of your pale-faced knights risk his life, it is on behalf of his family pride, although he may mention his lady-love's name with his dying breath; but if a slave lay down his life for his master or mistress, it is only reckoned a part of his duty," urged the slave.

"I command you not to speak to me again like this," said the princess, "or I will have you severely punished."

The poor slave was very sorrowful when he heard the princess, whom he loved so dearly, threaten to have him punished. "Death is the leveller of all ranks and of all races," said he; "the dust of the dead white man and of the n.i.g.g.e.r are alike; in death, the king is no more than the beggar. I will run away from this palace and seek refuge in the northern provinces, where, if the climate be colder, they say the hearts of the people are warmer."

That very night did Mobarec-for that was the name of the slave-leave the palace of his lady-love, the beautiful banks of the Guadalquivir, and his favourite orange-groves. During the daytime he hid in the caves on the mountain-sides, and as soon as night set in he would continue his journey.

When he had been travelling like this for some weeks, and as he was making his way through a dark forest, he saw a brilliant light in the distance; and as he was very hungry, he hoped that it might be from some house where he might get food and rest. As he walked on he discovered that the light was not from a house, but that it was caused by a large bonfire, around which some men and women were seated.

Fearing that he might be in the neighbourhood of robbers, he took the precaution of approaching by hiding behind the trees; and when he got near enough to the group to see them plainly, he observed that close to the fire there was a very old woman standing with her arms over the fire, and holding a child which screamed as if it were being burned.

Mobarec thought that the child was going to be roasted, and did not know that what he saw was simply the act of disenchantment, which was being carried out by the wise woman of the village on a child born with the evil eye.

Approaching still nearer, he heard the crone mutter some words, which Mobarec imagined to be used in order to stifle the piteous cries of the child.

The crone suddenly commenced shrieking and jumping over the fire, while the men and women who surrounded her beat the air with big sticks, which is done when the evil one is supposed to be leaving the body of the child.

Just at this moment Mobarec happened to show himself from behind the tree, when he was immediately observed by the wise woman, who directed all eyes to him; and their horror can be easily imagined when it is said that Mobarec was the first n.i.g.g.e.r who had ever visited the northern parts of Spain.

Mobarec, on perceiving that he was seen, thought he would smile, in order to show them that he was a friend; but this made him look all the more terrible by the glare of the fire, and, thinking that he was the evil one that had just left the body of the child, they first of all crossed themselves and then ran towards Mobarec with their bludgeons, who, without more ado, took to his feet and was soon lost in the darkness of the forest.

Having baffled his pursuers, Mobarec sat down to rest and to think over what he had seen.

"I suppose," said he to himself, "that these people were trying to make a king by burning a white child until he became black, for I could see that they were not going to eat it. I have been told that in some parts they will only have black kings, and I am certainly in one of these parts."

Musing over this idea for a long time, he at last fell asleep, and dreamt that he had arrived at a large city, where the people had crowded to meet him, and that he was placed on a magnificent throne, crowned king, and had married his dear princess.

Then he thought he was in a magnificent bed-chamber, and that the sheets of his bed were fringed with fine lace; but purposing to raise the richly embroidered clothes a little higher, as he felt cold, he placed his hands on some stinging nettles, which made him wake and look around.

The day was already commencing; the timid rabbit was lurking about the dew-spangled leaves; the linnets were hopping about from branch to branch, and the wheels of some market carts were heard creaking in the distance.

Mobarec got up, and looking at himself in the waters of a pa.s.sing stream, he was surprised to see that he had a golden crown on his head.

It was, however, but the morning sun shining through the thick foliage above him.

"I was a slave last night," exclaimed Mobarec; "this morning I am a king."

He noticed the direction from which the noise of the cart wheels proceeded, and hurrying thither, he soon came within sight of some people who were carrying their wares to market.