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part10-第2部分
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with wounds; but refused to leave the field。 The Christians at
length gave way; and the king was hardly pressed; and in danger of
being captured。
Don Munio called upon his cavaliers to follow him to the rescue。
〃Now is the time;〃 cried he; 〃to prove your loyalty。 Fall to; like
brave men! We fight for the true faith; and if we lose our lives here;
we gain a better life hereafter。〃
Rushing with his men between the king and his pursuers; they checked
the latter in their career; and gave time for their monarch to escape;
but they fell victims to their loyalty。 They all fought to the last
gasp。 Don Munio was singled out by a powerful Moorish knight; but
having been wounded in the right arm; he fought to disadvantage; and
was slain。 The battle being over; the Moor paused to possess himself
of the spoils of this redoubtable Christian warrior。 When he unlaced
the helmet; however; and beheld the countenance of Don Munio; he
gave a great cry; and smote his breast。 〃Woe is me!〃 cried he; 〃I have
slain my benefactor! The flower of knightly virtue! the most
magnanimous of cavaliers!〃
While the battle had been raging on the plain of Salmanara; Dona
Maria Palacin remained in her castle; a prey to the keenest anxiety。
Her eyes were ever fixed on the road that led from the country of
the Moors; and often she asked the watchman of the tower; 〃What
seest thou?〃
One evening; at the shadowy hour of twilight; the warden sounded his
horn。 〃I see;〃 cried he; 〃a numerous train winding up the valley。
There are mingled Moors and Christians。 The banner of my lord is in
the advance。 Joyful tidings!〃 exclaimed the old seneschal: 〃my lord
returns in triumph; and brings captives!〃 Then the castle courts
rang with shouts of joy; and the standard was displayed; and the
trumpets were sounded; and the draw…bridge was lowered; and Dona Maria
went forth with her ladies; and her knights; and her pages; and her
minstrels; to welcome her lord from the wars。 But as the train drew
nigh; she beheld a sumptuous bier; covered with black velvet; and on
it lay a warrior; as if taking his repose: he lay in his armor; with
his helmet on his head; and his sword in his hand; as one who had
never been conquered; and around the bier were the escutcheons of
the house of Hinojosa。
A number of Moorish cavaliers attended the bier; with emblems of
mourning; and with dejected countenances; and their leader cast
himself at the feet of Dona Maria; and hid his face in his hands。
She beheld in him the gallant Abadil; whom she had once welcomed
with his bride to her castle; but who now came with the body of her
lord; whom he had unknowingly slain in battle I
The sepulchre erected in the cloisters of the convent of San
Domingo; was achieved at the expense of the Moor Abadil; as a feeble
testimony of his grief for the death of the good knight Don Munio; and
his reverence for his memory。 The tender and faithful Dona Maria
soon followed her lord to the tomb。 On one of the stones of a small
arch; beside his sepulchre; is the following simple inscription:
〃Hic jacet Maria Palacin; uxor Munonis Sancij De Finojosa〃: 〃Here lies
Maria Palacin; wife of Munio Sancho de Hinojosa。〃
The legend of Don Munio Sancho does not conclude with his death。
On the same day on which the battle took place on the plain of
Salmanara; a chaplain of the Holy Temple at Jerusalem; while
standing at the outer gate; beheld a train of Christian cavaliers
advancing; as if in pilgrimage。 The chaplain was a native of Spain;
and as the pilgrims approached; he knew the foremost to be Don Munio
Sancho de Hinojosa; with whom he had been well acquainted in former
times。 Hastening to the patriarch; he told him of the honorable rank
of the pilgrims at the gate。 The patriarch; therefore; went forth with
a grand procession of priests and monks; and received the pilgrims
with all due honor。 There were seventy cavaliers; beside their leader;
all stark and lofty warriors。 They carried their helmets in their
hands; and their faces were deadly pale。 They greeted no one; nor
looked either to the right or to the left; but entered the chapel; and
kneeling before the sepulchre of our Saviour; performed their
orisons in silence。 When they had concluded; they rose as if to
depart; and the patriarch and his attendants advanced to speak to
them; but they were no more to be seen。 Every one marvelled what could
be the meaning of this prodigy。 The patriarch carefully noted down the
day; and sent to Castile to learn tidings of Don Munio Sancho de
Hinojosa。 He received for reply; that on the very day specified;
that worthy knight; with seventy of his followers; had been slain in
battle。 These; therefore; must have been the blessed spirits of
those Christian warriors; come to fulfil their vow of pilgrimage to
the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem。 Such was Castilian faith; in the
olden time; which kept its word; even beyond the grave。
If any one should doubt of the miraculous apparition of these
phantom knights; let him consult the History of the Kings of Castile
and Leon; by the learned and pious Fray Prudencio de Sandoval;
bishop of Pamplona; where he will find it recorded in the History of
King Don Alonzo VI; on the hundred and second page。 It is too precious
a legend; to be lightly abandoned to the doubter。
Poets and Poetry of Moslem Andalus。
DURING the latter part of my sojourn in the Alhambra I was more than
once visited by the Moor of Tetuan; with whom I took great pleasure in
rambling through the halls and courts; and getting him to explain to
me the Arabic inscriptions。 He endeavored to do so faithfully; but;
though he succeeded in giving me the thought; he despaired of
imparting an idea of the grace and beauty of the language。 The aroma
of the poetry; said he; is all lost in translation。 Enough was
imparted; however; to increase the stock of my delightful associations
with this extraordinary pile。 Perhaps there never was a monument
more characteristic of an age and people than the Alhambra; a rugged
fortress without; a voluptuous palace within; war frowning from its
battlements; poetry breathing throughout the fairy architecture of its
halls。 One is irresistibly transported in imagination to those times
when Moslem Spain was a region of light amid Christian; yet
benighted Europe… externally a warrior power fighting for existence;
internally a realm devoted to literature; science; and the arts; where
philosophy was cultivated with passion; though wrought up into
subtleties and refinements; and where the luxuries of sense were
transcended by those of thought and imagination。
Arab poetry; we are told; arrived at its highest splendor under
the Ommiades of Spain; who for a long time centred the power and
splendor of the Western Caliphat at Cordova。 Most of the sovereigns of
that brilliant line were themselves poets。 One of the last of them was
Mahomed ben Abderahman。 He led the life of a sybarite in the famo
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