There
every thing was devised to soothe her melancholy; and the monarch,
more and more enamored, sought to make her his queen. The Spanish maid
at first repulsed his addresses- he was an infidel- he was the open
foe of her country- what was worse, he was stricken in years!
The monarch, finding his assiduities of no avail, determined to
enlist in his favor the duenna, who had been captured with the lady.
She was an Andalusian by birth, whose Christian name is forgotten,
being mentioned in Moorish legends by no other appellation than that
of the discreet Kadiga- and discreet in truth she was, as her whole
history makes evident. No sooner had the Moorish king held a little
private conversation with her, than she saw at once the cogency of his
reasoning, and undertook his cause with her young mistress.
"Go to, now!" cried she; "what is there in all this to weep and wail
about? Is it not better to be mistress of this beautiful palace,
with all its gardens and fountains, than to be shut up within your
father's old frontier tower? As to this Mohamed being an infidel, what
is that to the purpose? You marry him, not his religion: and if he
is waxing a little old, the sooner will you be a widow, and mistress
of yourself; at any rate, you are in his power, and must either be a
queen or a slave. When in the hands of a robber, it is better to
sell one's merchandise for a fair price, than to have it taken by main
force.
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