In the course of one of these strolls Mateo was more than usually
communicative. It was toward sunset that we sallied forth from the
great Gate of Justice, and ascended an alley of trees until we came to
a clump of figs and pomegranates at the foot of the Tower of the Seven
Floors (de los Siete Suelos), the identical tower whence Boabdil is
said to have issued, when he surrendered his capital. Here, pointing
to a low archway in the foundation, Mateo informed me of a monstrous
sprite or hobgoblin, said to infest this tower, ever since the time of
the Moors, and to guard the treasures of a Moslem king. Sometimes it
issues forth in the dead of the night, and scours the avenues of the
Alhambra, and the streets of Granada, in the shape of a headless
horse, pursued by six dogs with terrible yells and howlings.
"But have you ever met with it yourself, Mateo, in any of your
rambles?" demanded I.
"No, senor, God be thanked! but my grandfather, the tailor, knew
several persons that had seen it, for it went about much oftener in
his time than at present; sometimes in one shape, sometimes in
another. Every body in Granada has heard of the Belludo, for the old
women and the nurses frighten the children with it when they cry. Some
say it is the spirit of a cruel Moorish king, who killed his six
sons and buried them in these vaults, and that they hunt him at nights
in revenge.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267