What is more, he managed to make them live in friendship with one
another. He passed much of his time in his gardens; especially in
those of the Alhambra, which he had stored with the rarest plants
and the most beautiful and aromatic flowers. Here he delighted himself
in reading histories, or in causing them to be read and related to
him, and sometimes, in intervals of leisure, employed himself in the
instruction of his three sons, for whom he had provided the most
learned and virtuous masters.
As he had frankly and voluntarily offered himself a tributary vassal
to Ferdinand, so he always remained loyal to his word, giving him
repeated proofs of fidelity and attachment. When that renowned monarch
died in Seville in 1254, Alhamar sent ambassadors to condole with
his successor, Alonzo X, and with them a gallant train of a hundred
Moorish cavaliers of distinguished rank, who were to attend round
the royal bier during the funeral ceremonies, each bearing a lighted
taper. This grand testimonial of respect was repeated by the Moslem
monarch during the remainder of his life on each anniversary of the
death of King Ferdinand el Santo, when the hundred Moorish knights
repaired from Granada to Seville, and took their stations with lighted
tapers in the centre of the sumptuous cathedral round the cenotaph
of the illustrious deceased.
Alhamar retained his faculties and vigor to an advanced age.
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