A solitary window at a great height commanded a
view of the glen; and as I was regarding it, a young female looked
out, with her head adorned with flowers. She was evidently superior to
the usual class of people inhabiting the old towers of the fortress;
and this sudden and picturesque glimpse of her reminded me of the
descriptions of captive beauties in fairy tales. These fanciful
associations were increased on being informed by my attendant Mateo,
that this was the Tower of the Princesses (la Torre de las
Infantas); so called, from having been, according to tradition, the
residence of the daughters of the Moorish kings. I have since
visited the tower. It is not generally shown to strangers, though well
worthy attention, for the interior is equal, for beauty of
architecture, and delicacy of ornament, to any part of the palace. The
elegance of the central hall, with its marble fountain, its lofty
arches, and richly fretted dome; the arabesques and stucco-work of the
small but well-proportioned chambers, though injured by time and
neglect, all accord with the story of its being anciently the abode of
royal beauty.
The little old fairy queen who lives under the staircase of the
Alhambra, and frequents the evening tertulias of Dame Antonia, tells
some fanciful traditions about three Moorish princesses, who were once
shut up in this tower by their father, a tyrant king of Granada, and
were only permitted to ride out at night about the hills, when no
one was permitted to come in their way under pain of death.
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