li Atar; before her lay the road to Loxa, by which Boabdil had
departed, in martial state, surrounded by the chivalry of Granada. Ever
and anon she would burst into an agony of grief. "Alas! my father!" she
would exclaim; "the river runs smiling before me that covers thy mangled
remains; who will gather them to an honored tomb in the land of the
unbeliever? And thou, O Boabdil, light of my eyes! joy of my heart! life
of my life! woe the day and woe the hour that I saw thee depart from
these walls! The road by which thou hast departed is solitary; never
will it be gladdened by thy return: the mountain thou hast traversed
lies like a cloud in the distance, and all beyond is darkness."

The royal minstrels were summoned to assuage her sorrows: they attuned
their instruments to cheerful strains, but in a little while the anguish
of their hearts prevailed and turned their songs to lamentations.

"Beautiful Granada!" exclaimed they, "how is thy glory faded! The flower
of thy chivalry lies low in the land of the stranger; no longer does the
Vivarrambla echo to the tramp of steed and sound of trumpet; no longer
is it crowded with thy youthful nobles gloriously arrayed for the tilt
and tourney. Beautiful Granada! the soft note of the lute no longer
floats through thy moonlit streets; the serenade is no more heard
beneath thy balconies; the lively castanet is silent upon thy hills;
the graceful dance of the Zambra is no more seen beneath thy bowers!
Beautiful Granada! why is the Alhambra so lorn and desolate? The orange
and myrtle still breathe their perfumes into its silken chambers; the
nightingale still sings within its groves; its marble halls are still
refreshed with the plash of fountains and the gush of limpid rills.
Alas! alas! the countenance of the king no longer shines within those
halls! The light of the Alhambra is set for ever!"

Thus all Granada, say the Arabian chroniclers, gave itself up to
lamentation; there was nothing but the voice of wailing from the palace
to the cottage. All joined to deplore their youthful monarch, cut
down in the freshness and promise of his youth; many feared that the
prediction of the astrologers was about to be fulfilled, and that the
downfall of the kingdom would follow the death of Boabdil; while all
declared that had he survived he was the very sovereign calculated to
restore the realm to its ancient prosperity and glory.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOW MULEY ABUL HASSAN PROFITED BY TH