Light
after light gradually twinkles forth; here a taper from a balconied
window; there a votive lamp before the image of a Saint. Thus, by
degrees, the city emerges from the pervading gloom, and sparkles
with scattered lights, like the starry firmament. Now break forth from
court and garden, and street and lane, the tinkling of innumerable
guitars, and the clicking of castanets; blending, at this lofty
height, in a faint but general concert. "Enjoy the moment," is the
creed of the gay and amorous Andalusian, and at no time does he
practise it more zealously than in the balmy nights of summer,
wooing his mistress with the dance, the love ditty, and the passionate
serenade.
I was one evening seated in the balcony, enjoying the light breeze
that came rustling along the side of the hill, among the tree-tops,
when my humble historiographer Mateo, who was at my elbow, pointed out
a spacious house, in an obscure street of the Albaycin, about which he
related, as nearly as I can recollect, the following anecdote.
The Adventure of the Mason.
THERE WAS once upon a time a poor mason, or bricklayer, in
Granada, who kept all the saints' days and holidays, and Saint
Monday into the bargain, and yet, with all his devotion, he grew
poorer and poorer, and could scarcely earn bread for his numerous
family. One night he was roused from his first sleep by a knocking
at his door.
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