ABDALLAH TELLS THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ARABS.—MIRACLES AT THE BIRTH OF MOHAMMED.—THE ANGEL, GABRIEL, WRITES THE KORAN UPON PALM LEAVES.—TEN DECISIVE YEARS IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION.—BEAUTIFUL ZELICA.—ARAB-MOORS CHECKED IN THEIR CONQUEST.—QUARREL BETWEEN KING RODERICK AND COUNT JULIEN, FATHER OF THE INSULTED FLORINDA.—JEWS ALLY WITH THE WRONGED FATHER.—ANDALUSIA CONQUERED.

In a beautiful valley on the banks of the Guadalquivir, about five miles from Cordova, within sight of the Caliph's magnificent palace of Medina-al-Zohar (town of the flower) stands the picturesque residence of the Moorish poet, Abdallah Ibn Xamri. Dunash ben Labrat, the distinguished Jewish poet, our new found friend and guide, has no need for a formal announcement. A massive bronze gate opens into a beautifully paved court yard, from the center of which issues the never-failing fountain jet to a dazzling height, diffusing refreshing coolness and making a pleasant patter of the falling drops into the basin. A gallery encircles this court, supported by slender columns of alabaster, from which spring numbers of graceful horseshoe arches. The interspaces above the arches are filled with arabesques, interwreathing striking texts from the Koran in brilliant red and blue and gold. Above these are the latticed windows which light the seraglio.

From this luxurious court we pass through a double archway into another, abounding with tropical plants. Here within the concealment of the densest shade trees, is a very long oblong marble basin, supplied with artificially cooled water. Here, in the early morning and in the evening twilight, the indolent, the warm, the weary bathe in luxurious languor. Here the women meet to disport themselves, while the entrances are guarded by eunuchs against intrusion. From this private court a postern leads into a beautiful garden with mazy walks and blooming parterres, replete with artificial grottoes and kiosks of stained glass, and terraces of polished marbles, and balustrades supported by guilded columns, and ponds filled with gold and silver fishes.

"Here we shall find Abdallah Ibn Xamri," says Dunash ben Labrat; "he delights to take his siesta within yonder pavilion, which is well provided with books and musical instruments. There his beautiful daughter Zelica tunes the lyre as he courts the muses, and her melodious voice has inspired his most wondrous lyric gems."

Abdallah recognizes Dunash's voice, and bids him enter. We obey the summons. Surprise is visible in Abdallah's countenance as he gazes upon our strange faces. Before us stands a typical Moor. His person is well formed. He has an oval face, aquiline nose, long and arched eyebrow, nearly meeting, large restless black eyes, smooth skin, clear olive complexion, full dark hair and beard, and an elastic springy step. His head is covered with a green woolen cap of cylindrical form from which hangs a blue tassel. Over a long straight robe of light cloth, he wears a shorter tunic, elaborately embroidered. Sandals are tied to his feet with strings of twisted silver and gold.

We exchange Salams. Our friend introduces us. In measured rhyme he states that he had brought us to Cordova's distinguished son of the muses to learn from the most authentic source the "History of the entrance of the Arab-Moors into Spain." Abdallah receives us cordially, asks us to recline upon the divan—the cushioned seats running along the walls of the pavilion—he takes his reclining position opposite us, and after a few introductory remarks he speaks as follows:

"The great peninsula, formed by the Red Sea, by the Euphrates, by the Gulf of Persia and by the Indian ocean, and known by the name of Arabia, is the birthplace of our creed. It was peopled soon after the deluge by the children of Shem, the son of Noah. In course of time the brave Yarab established the kingdom of Yemen, whence the Arabs derive the names of themselves and their country. During a long succession of ages, extending from the earliest period of recorded history down to the seventh century, Arabia remained unchanged and unaffected by the events which convulsed the rest of Asia and shook Europe and Africa to their very center. The occupations of the people were trade and agriculture. The former had ports along the coasts, and carried on foreign trade by means of ships and caravans. The nomadic Arabs were the more numerous of the two. The necessity of being always on the alert to defend their flocks and herds made these familiar from their infancy, with the exercise of arms. No one could excel them in the use of the bow, the lance and the scimitar, and the adroit and graceful management of the horse. They were more at home on horseback than on foot. The horse was their friend and companion. They lived and talked with him and lavished upon him their dearest affection, and both were capable of sustaining great fatigue and hardship. The Arabs possessed in an eminent degree the intellectual attributes of the Shemitic race. Penetrating sagacity, subtle wit, a ready conception, a brilliant imagination, a proud and daring spirit were stamped upon their sallow visage, and flashed from their dark and kindling eye. Our language, naturally poetic, made them poets and the most eloquent of men. They were generous and hospitable. Their deadliest foe, having once broken bread with them, could repose securely beneath the inviolable sanctity of their tent. Their religion originally consisted of a belief in the unity of God, in future life, in the necessity of prayer and virtue. This was the creed of Abraham and was brought to them by Ishmael and Hagar. In the course of time it became contaminated with Sabean star worship and Magian idolatry."

"When Palestine was ravaged by the Romans, and the city of Jerusalem taken and sacked, many of the Jews took refuge among them, and gradually many of the tenets of the Jewish faith and practices of the Jewish worship were again insensibly adopted by them. The same refuge Arabia offered later to many Christians who were fleeing from the persecutions of Rome, and these also engrafted gradually, some of their rites and ceremonies and beliefs upon the people. The result was a mixture of religious beliefs, the highest religious principles alternating with the most degrading idolatries. There was no accepted creed, no unified faith."

A great reformer was needed, and the great Allah sent his prophet, Mohammed, to establish the only true faith: Islamism. His birth was accompanied by signs and portents, announcing a child of wonder.[6] At the moment of his coming into the world, a celestial light, illuminated the surrounding country, and the new-born child, raising his eyes to heaven, exclaimed "God is great! There is no God but God, and I am his Prophet." Heaven and earth were agitated at his advent. Palaces, and temples and mountains toppled to the earth. The fires, sacred to Zoroaster, which had burned, without interruption for upwards of a thousand years, were suddenly extinguished, and all the idols in the world fell down. Though his true Messiahship was thus made evident at his birth, and in his youth, he still waited to the age of fully ripened manhood before he made the attempt of establishing the creed, which the angel Gabriel had written down for him upon palm leaves. But when the time had come for raising his own nation from fetichism, from the adoration of a meteoric stone, and from the basest idol worship, he awakened his people out of their religious and political torpor, kindled the fire of enthusiasm among them, and they thirsted after opportunities for contest and conquests.

When death took the sword from his hand ten years later, the whole world trembled at the very mention of his name.

Here Abdallah pauses in his narrative. He touches a silver bell, and soon a maiden appears. This is the first time that we are permitted to gaze upon a Moorish woman's face; those we met in the streets or parks, or saw behind the latticework of the woman's gallery in the mosque, were always clothed in the mantilla, which encircled their entire form, and their faces were always hidden under the face veil, or under the horsehair vizard, which left but the eyes visible. She wears her hair braided. A light cap or cornet, adorned with gems, forms the covering for her head. The side locks are entwined with coral beads, hung loosely to chinck with every movement. Full white muslin trousers are tied at the ankle with golden strings that end in merry little silver bells. A long full white mantle of transparent muslin covers the tight-fitting vest and jacket of silk, both of brilliant colors, and embroidered and decorated with woven gold. Around her neck and arms and wrists she wears chains, necklaces and bracelets, of gold, and of coral and pearls and amber.

He whispers something in her ear, and immediately she disappears, light as an angel shape. A deep silence ensues. At that moment we think not of Mohammed, the founder of a new faith and the conqueror of the world, but of Zelica, Abdallah's daughter, that beauteous maiden, whose complexion vies with the rubies and white jasmine flowers she wears more radiant still when her dazzling eyes drooped, and when the scarlet hue of innocence mantled her face as her glance met the eyes of men and strangers.

Abdallah had ordered refreshments. Servants appear and spread an embroidered rug upon the floor. Upon it they place a low tray, set with silver and fine earthenware, and provided with the choicest of fruits, confections and sherbets flavored with violet. Low cushions are placed around it, upon which we, following the example of our host and guide, seat ourselves with our legs crossed. Before eating, a servant pours water on our hands from a basin and ewer. The meal begins with "Bismilah" for grace. A very interesting conversation, displaying great learning and much reading, is carried on between the two poets, as to whether Cordova or Bagdad leads the world in literature, art, science, and philosophy. Abdallah champions Cordova, Dunash favors Bagdad, his native home.

The delicious repast is ended. The floor is cleared, Abdallah resumes his narrative.

"The successors of Mohammed," says he, "followed in the footsteps of our prophet. They passed beyond the confines of Arabia, and persecuted their work of converting the world, giving to the conquered the choice between the Koran, or Tribute, or Death. In less than fifty years after the Prophet's death, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Asia Minor had accepted the religion of Mohammed. In Jerusalem a mosque stood on the site where once the temple of Solomon stood. In Alexandria the Mohammedans wrought direful vengeance on Christians for the crimes which the arrogant and fanatical St. Cyril had committed there two centuries before, by extirpating Grecian learning and by inciting his monks to murder the wise Hypatia."

The extreme northern part of Africa brought their armies to a sudden halt. Here they encounter two strong foes. First, the people called Berbers "the Noble," a tall, noble looking race of men, active, high-spirited and indomitable. They had the same patriarchal habits, the same Shemitic features, were equally skilled in the use of arms and the breeding and handling of horses, and so the Arabs believed them to be of their own race. This Northern coast of Africa has been called by the Romans, from the dark complexion of its people: Mauritania, and its people were called Mooriscos, or Moors. When the superior force of the Arabians compelled the Moors to submit at last, the conquerors and the conquered coalesced so completely, that in less than a decade the one could not be distinguished from the other.

"The second foe, however, who inhabited the Northern extremity of Almagreb, where the continent of Africa protrudes boldly to meet the continent of Europe, was not so easily overcome. The rock-built city of Ceuta was garrisoned by Spanish soldiers, and its brave commander, Count Julian, defied the valiant Amir Musa Ibn Nosseyr, the Hero of Two Continents. It seemed as if Islamism had reached its limit, that it would never set its foot upon beautiful Andalusia, at which it had so often cast its wistful eye. But Allah favored the onward march of the religion of the Prophet! The wrong done by the wicked Roderick, King of Spain, to the young and beautiful Florinda, daughter of Count Julian, the brave commander of Ceuta, opened Europe to the Arab-Moors. "By the living God," exclaimed the insulted father. "I will be revenged."

He soon found willing allies, consisting of the nobles, who could no longer endure the despotism of King Roderick, and of the Jews, who had been expelled from Spain. Encouraged by these allies Count Julian entered into negotiations with Amir Musa for the delivery of Spain into his hands. Musa accepted cheerfully.

The valiant Tarik crossed with a selected force, the strait between the Pillars of Hercules, which is now named after him "Gibr-al-Tarik" (Gibraltar), "the rock of Tarik." On the 24th of July, 711, the two armies met at the river of Guadalete, not far from Xeres, and after a three days' battle a small force of picked men, the indomitable horsemen of the desert, routed 80,000 Spaniards, amidst terrible carnage. Tarik pressed eagerly forward. Cordova, Malaga, Toledo, Merida, surrendered after little or no opposition. In six years later the Arab-Moors were complete masters of Spain, and have been so unto this day."

Abdallah has ended his narrative. Unconsciously, it seems, he takes the lute at his side, and running his fingers over the strings, he strikes a few chords and finally, as if desirious of supplementing his version of the entrance of Arab-Moors into Europe, he makes the lute accompany his recital of some of the songs and verses he had composed in commemoration of the victory of the Arab-Moors over fair Andalusia, and which have since become as popular in Bagdad and Antioch as in Cordova or Granada. We wish, but our wish is in vain, that Zelica might return to her wonted task, that her young and melodious voice might blend with the melting strains of the Moorish bard.

The heroic theme inspires Abdallah more and more. He begins to improvise. He defends Florinda, whom the Spaniards execrate, and name "La Cava"—"the Wicked." He sings of Roderick's entering the cave over which was written: "The king who opens this cave and discovers its wonders will learn both good and evil," and, how upon entering it he read this fatal inscription on the walls: "Unhappy King, thou hast entered in an evil hour. By strange nations thou shalt be dispossessed, and thy people degraded." He sings of the combat between Tarik and Roderick. He sings of the captive queen Egilona. He sings of the jealousy between Musa and Tarik, and of other themes, heroic and beautiful.

The muezzin's summons to evening prayer stops his muse, and makes our hasty departure necessary, for it is Friday evening, and the distance to the synagogue is long. We part hastily. Before leaving, however, Abdallah exacts a promise from Dunash that he will send for him whenever Chasdai ben Isaac, the distinguished Jewish Minister to the Caliph, shall tell us the History of the Entrance of the Jews into Spain.

RODERICK'S LAMENT.

A SPANISH NATIONAL BALLAD.
Translated by J. G. Lockhart.