Historical Tales, Volume VII

Historical Tales - The Romance of Reality -?by Charles Morris

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Volume VII by Charles Morris
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Title: Historical Tales - The Romance of Reality - Volume VII
Author: Charles Morris
Release Date: October 3, 2006 [Ebook #19457]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL TALES - THE ROMANCE OF REALITY - VOLUME VII***

[Illustration: CHARLES V. AT YUSTE.]
CHARLES V. AT YUSTE.

Historical Tales - The Romance of Reality
By Charles Morris
Author of "Half-Hours with the Best American Authors," "Tales from the Dramatists," etc.
in fifteen volumes
Volume VII
London George Bell and Sons
1898

Copyright 1898, by J. B. Lippincott Company.
Copyright 1904, by J. B. Lippincott Company.
Copyright 1908, by J. B. Lippincott Company.

CONTENTS
THE GOOD KING WAMBA. THE GREEK KING'S DAUGHTER. THE ENCHANTED PALACE. THE BATTLE OF THE GUADALETE. THE TABLE OF SOLOMON. THE STORY OF QUEEN EXILONA. PELISTES, THE DEFENDER OF CORDOVA. THE STRATAGEM OF THEODOMIR. THE CAVE OF COVADONGA. THE ADVENTURES OF A FUGITIVE PRINCE. BERNARDO DEL CARPIO. RUY DIAZ, THE CID CAMPEADOR. LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA. THE KEY OF GRANADA. KING ABUL HASSAN AND THE ALCAIDE OF GIBRALTAR. THE RIVAL KINGS OF GRANADA. THE KNIGHT OF THE EXPLOITS. THE LAST SIGH OF THE MOOR. THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS. PETER THE CRUEL AND THE FREE COMPANIES. THE GREAT CAPTAIN. A KING IN CAPTIVITY. THE INVASION OF AFRICA. AN EMPEROR RETIRED FROM BUSINESS. THE FATE OF A RECKLESS PRINCE. SPAIN'S GREATEST VICTORY AT SEA. THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. THE CAUSES OF SPAIN'S DECADENCE. THE LAST OF A ROYAL RACE. HENRY MORGAN AND THE BUCCANEERS. ELIZABETH FARNESE AND ALBERONI. THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. THE FALL OF A FAVORITE. THE SIEGE OF SARAGOSSA. THE HERO OF THE CARLISTS. MANILA AND SANTIAGO.

ILLUSTRATIONS
CHARLES V. AT YUSTE. TOLEDO, WITH THE ALCAZAR. A COUNCIL OF THE VISIGOTHS. BARONIAL CASTLE IN OLD CASTILE. VALENCIA DEL CID. ALFONSO VIII. HARANGUING HIS TROOPS UPON THE EVE OF BATTLE. KING CHARLES'S WELL, ALHAMBRA. MOORISH KING PAYING HOMAGE TO THE KING OF CASTILE. RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. GONSALVO DE CORDOVA FINDING THE CORPSE OF THE DUKE OF NEMOURS. FRANCIS I. REFUSING THE DEMANDS OF THE EMPEROR. LIBERATION OF THE CAPTIVES FROM THE DUNGEON OF ORAN. CHARLES V. APPROACHING YUSTE. THE ROYAL PALACE. MADRID. THE ALHAMBRA, OVERLOOKING GRANADA. STREET IN OLD QUARTER OF PANAMA. THE CITY OF SARAGOSSA. THE ANNIHILATION OF THE SPANISH FLEET IN THE HARBOR OF MANILA.

THE GOOD KING WAMBA.
Long had the Goths been lords of Spain. Chief after chief had they chosen, king after king had they served; and, though it was young in time, Gothic Spain was growing old in years. It reached its golden age in the time of "Good King Wamba," a king of fancy as much as of fact, under whom Spain became a land of Arcady, everybody was happy, all things prospered, and the tide of evil events for a space ceased to flow.
In those days, when a king died and left no son, the Goths elected a new one, seeking their best and worthiest, and holding the election in the place where the old king had passed away. It was in the little village of Gerticos, some eight miles from the city of Valladolid, that King Recesuinto had sought health and found death. Hither came the electors,--the great nobles, the bishops, and the generals,--and here they debated who should be king, finally settling on a venerable Goth named Wamba, the one man of note in all the kingdom who throughout his life had declined to accept rank and station.
The story goes that their choice was aided by miracle. In those days miracles were "as plentiful as blackberries," but many of these seem to have been what we may speak of as "miracles made to order," designed by shrewd individuals to gain some personal or other advantage. St. Leo is said to have told the electors to seek a husbandman named Wamba, whose lands lay somewhere in the west, asserting that he did this under direction of the heavenly powers. However that be, scouts were sent through the land in search of Wamba, whom they found at length in his fields, driving his plough through the soil and asking for no higher lot. He was like Cincinnatus, the famous Roman, who was called from the plough to the sceptre.
"Leave your plough in the furrow," they said to him; "nobler work awaits you. You have been elected king of Spain."
"There is no nobler work," answered Wamba. "Seek elsewhere your monarch. I prefer to rule over my fields."
The astonished heralds knew not what to make of this. To