Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/438

294 THE SPANISH ARABS. PART to Granada to settle their affairs of honor, by per- '- sonal rencounter, in the presence of its sovereign. The disaffected nobles of Castile, among whom Mariana especially notices the Velas and the Cas- tros, often sought an asylum there, and served under the Moslem banner. With this interchange of social courtesy between the two nations, it could not but happen that each should contract somewhat of the peculiarities natural to the other. The Spaniard acquired something of the gravity and magnificence of demeanor proper to the Arabian ; and the latter relaxed his habitual reserve, and above all, the jealousy and gross sensuality, which characterize the nations of the east.^^ klntT'" °'' Indeed, if we were to rely on the pictures pre- sented to us in the Spanish ballads or romances, we should admit as unreserved an intercourse between the sexes to have existed among the Spanish Arabs, as with any other people of Europe. The Moorish lady is represented there as an undisguised spec- tator of the public festivals; while her knight, bear- ing an embroidered mantle or scarf, or some other token of her favor, contends openly in her presence for the prize of valor, mingles with her in the graceful dance of the Zambra, or sighs away his soul in moonlight serenades under her balcony. ^° 29 Conde, Dominacion de los Aguilar, failing to keep his en- Arabes, torn. iii. cap. 28. — Henri- gagement, the other rode round quez del Castillo (Cronica, cap. the lists in triumph, with his ad- 138,) gives an account of an in- versary's portrait contemptuously tended duel between two Castilian fastened to the tail of his horse, nobles, in the presence of the king 30 It must be admitted, that these of Granada, as late as 1470. One ballads, as far as facts are con- of the parties, Don Alfonso de cerned, are too inexact to furnish