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King Don Juan [1]
One day riding
Saw on the mountain
Granada of Spain;
He said to her suddenly:
Darling city,
My heart I give you
With my hand.
I shall marry you,
Then bring
As gifts to your city
Cordoba and Seville.
Splendid garments
And fine pearls
I destine for you
For our loves.
Granada replies:
Great king of León,
To the Moor bound,
I am married.
Keep your presents:
I have for adornment
Rich belt
And beautiful children.
Thus you spoke;
Thus you lied.
O mortal insult!
Granada is forsworn!
An accursed Christian
Of Abencerrage
Holds the heritage:
It was written!
Never does the camel
Bring to the tomb,
Near the pool,
The hadji of Medina.
An accursed Christian
Of Abencerrage
Holds the heritage:
It was written!
O beautiful Alhambra!
O palace of Allah!
City of fountains!
River of green plains!
An accursed Christian
Of Abencerrage
Holds the heritage:
It was written!
1. Crossing a mountainous landscape between Algeciras and Cadiz, I stopped at a venta situated in the middle of a wood. I found there only a little boy of fourteen or fifteen and a little girl about the same age, brother and sister, weaving rushes by the fire. They were singing a romance whose words I did not understand, but whose air was simple and artless. The weather was dreadful; I stayed two hours at the venta. My young hosts repeated the couplets of their romance so long that it was easy for me to learn the air by heart. It is to this air that I composed the romance of the Abencerrage. Perhaps Aben-Hamet was mentioned in the song of my two little Spaniards. Moreover, the dialogue of Granada and the King of León is imitated from a Spanish romance.
Chateaubriand
Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.
Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-ballad-of-the-abencerrage-francois-rene-de-chateaubriand/