Tales of the Alhambra

Tales of the Alhambra
by Washington Irving

Table of Contents
Preface to the Revised Edition.
The Journey.
Palace of the Alhambra.
Note on Morisco Architecture
Important Negotiations. The Author Succeeds to the Throne of Boabdil.
Inhabitants of the Alhambra.
The Hall of Ambassadors.
The Jesuits Library.
Alhamar. The Founder of the Alhambra.
Yusef Abul Hagig. The Finisher of the Alhambra.
The Mysterious Chambers.
Panorama from the Tower of Comares.
The Truant.
The Balcony.
The Adventure of the Mason.
The Court of Lions.
The Abencerrages.
Mementos of Boabdil.
Public Fetes of Granada.
Local Traditions.
The House of the Weathercock.
Legend of the Arabian Astrologer.
Note to "The Arabian Astrologer"
Visitors to the Alhambra.
Relics and Genealogies.
The Generalife.
Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel, or, The Pilgrim of Love.
A Ramble Among the Hills.
Legend of the Moors Legacy.
The Tower of Las Infantas.
Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses.
Legend of the Rose of the Alhambra.
The Veteran.
The Governor and the Notary.
Governor Manco and the Soldier.
A Fete in the Alhambra.
Legend of the Two Discreet Statues.
The Crusade of the Grand Master of Alcantara.
Spanish Romance.
Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa.
Poets and Poetry of Moslem Andalus.
An Expedition in Quest of a Diploma.
The Legend of the Enchanted Soldier.
Notes to "The Enchanted Soldier".
The Author's Farewell to Granada.

Preface to the Revised Edition.
Rough draughts of some of the following tales and essays were actually written during a residence in the Alhambra; others were subsequently added, founded on notes and observations made there. Care was taken to maintain local coloring and verisimilitude; so that the whole might present a faithful and living picture of that microcosm, that singular little world into which I had been fortuitously thrown; and about which the external world had a very imperfect idea. It was my endeavor scrupulously to depict its half Spanish, half Oriental character; its mixture of the heroic, the poetic, and the grotesque; to revive the traces of grace and beauty fast fading from its walls; to record the regal and chivalrous traditions concerning those who once trod its courts; and the whimsical and superstitious legends of the motley race now burrowing among its ruins.
The papers thus roughly sketched out lay for three or four years in my portfolio, until I found myself in London, in 1832, on the eve of returning to the United States. I then endeavored to arrange them for the press, but the preparations for departure did not allow sufficient leisure. Several were thrown aside as incomplete; the rest were put together somewhat hastily and in rather a crude and chaotic manner.
In the present edition I have revised and re-arranged the whole work, enlarged some parts, and added others, including the papers originally omitted; and have thus endeavored to render it more complete and more worthy of the indulgent reception with which it has been favored.
W. I.
Sunnyside, 1851.

The Journey.
IN THE spring of 1829, the author of this work, whom curiosity had brought into Spain, made a rambling expedition from Seville to Granada in company with a friend, a member of the Russian Embassy at Madrid. Accident had thrown us together from distant regions of the globe, and a similarity of taste led us to wander together among the romantic mountains of Andalusia. Should these pages meet his eye, wherever thrown by the duties of his station, whether mingling in the pageantry of courts, or meditating on the truer glories of nature, may they recall the scenes of our adventurous companionship, and with them the recollection of one, in whom neither time nor distance will obliterate the remembrance of his gentleness and worth.
And here, before setting forth, let me indulge in a few previous remarks on Spanish scenery and Spanish travelling. Many are apt to picture Spain to their imaginations as a soft southern region, decked out with the luxuriant charms of voluptuous Italy. On the contrary, though there are exceptions in some of the maritime provinces, yet, for the greater part, it is a stern, melancholy country, with rugged mountains, and long sweeping plains, destitute of trees, and indescribably silent and lonesome, partaking of the savage and solitary character of Africa. What adds to this silence and loneliness, is the absence of singing birds, a natural consequence of the want of groves and hedges. The vulture and the eagle are seen wheeling about the mountain-cliffs, and soaring over the plains, and groups of shy bustards stalk about the heaths; but the myriads of smaller birds, which animate the whole face of other countries, are met with in but few provinces in Spain, and in those chiefly among the orchards and gardens which surround the habitations of man.
In the interior provinces the traveller occasionally traverses great tracts cultivated with grain as far as the eye can reach, waving at times with verdure, at other times naked and sunburnt, but he looks round in vain for the hand that has tilled the soil. At length, he perceives some village on a steep hill, or rugged crag, with mouldering battlements and ruined watchtower;