Aben Habuz sought the fissure in the rock, but it was again
closed. He renewed the attempt to unearth his rival, but all in
vain. The spell of the hand and key was too potent to be
counteracted by human power. As to the summit of the mountain, the
site of the promised palace and garden, it remained a naked waste;
either the boasted elysium was hidden from sight by enchantment, or
was a mere fable of the astrologer. The world charitably supposed
the latter, and some used to call the place "The King's Folly,"
while others named it "The Fool's Paradise."
To add to the chagrin of Aben Habuz, the neighbors whom he had
defied and taunted, and cut up at his leisure while master of the
talismanic horseman, finding him no longer protected by magic spell,
made inroads into his territories from all sides, and the remainder of
the life of the most pacific of monarchs was a tissue of turmoils.
At length Aben Habuz died, and was buried. Ages have since rolled
away. The Alhambra has been built on the eventful mountain, and in
some measure realizes the fabled delights of the garden of Irem. The
spell-bound gateway still exists entire, protected no doubt by the
mystic hand and key, and now forms the Gate of Justice, the grand
entrance to the fortress. Under that gateway, it is said, the old
astrologer remains in his subterranean hall, nodding on his divan,
lulled by the silver lyre of the princess.
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