He is supposed to have
intended this effigy as a perpetual warning to the Moslems of Andaluz,
that, surrounded by foes, their safety depended upon their being
always on their guard and ready for the field.
Others, among whom is the Christian historian Marmol, affirms "Badis
Aben Habus" to have been a Moorish sultan of Granada, and that the
weathercock was intended as a perpetual admonition of the
instability of Moslem power, bearing the following words in Arabic:
"Thus Ibn Habus al Badise predicts Andalus shall one day vanish
and pass away."
Another version of this portentous inscription is given by a
Moslem historian, on the authority of Sidi Hasan, a faquir who
flourished about the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, and who was
present at the taking down of the weathercock, when the old Kassaba
was undergoing repairs.
"I saw it," says the venerable faquir, "with my own eyes; it was
of a heptagonal shape, and had the following inscription in verse:
The palace at fair Granada presents a talisman.
The horseman, though a solid body, turns with every wind.
This to a wise man reveals a mystery: In a little while comes a
calamity to ruin both the palace and its owner."
In effect it was not long after this meddling with the portentous
weathercock that the following event occurred. As old Muley Abul
Hassan, the king of Granada, was seated under a sumptuous pavilion,
reviewing his troops who paraded before him in armor of polished
steel, and gorgeous silken robes, mounted on fleet steeds, and
equipped with swords, spears and shields, embossed with gold and
silver; suddenly a tempest was seen hurrying from the south-west.
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