Spain as converts and such as had fled from persecution and carried to the
populations of the north of Africa the hatred of the Spanish Christians.
Thus we find among the popular literature of the Magreb the same legends,
but edited in Arabic. Only a small number has been published.[6] Whether in
one language or the other, editing does not offer anything remarkable. The
stories have been developed, after the traditions of the Mussulmans, by the
_demi-litterateurs,_ and by that means they have become easier and
more accessible to the multitude.

[6] R. Basset. Les Aventures Merveilleuses de Tunis et Dais. Rome, 1891, en
8vo. L'expedition du Chateau d'or, et la combat d'Ali et du dragon. Rome,
1893, en 8vo. M'lle Florence Groff. Les sept dormants, La ville de Tram, et
l'excursion contre la Makke, Alger, 1891, en 8vo.

It is thus that a literature in Spain sadly ends which, during seven
centuries, had counted historians and poets, philologists, philosophers and
savants, and which the Christian literature replacing it can possibly equal
in some points, but never surpass.[7]

[Illustration (Signature Facsimile): Rene Basset]

[7] M. Basset's "Special Introduction" was written in French; the English
translation was made by Robert Arnot.

PREFACE

The Moorish ballads which appear in this volume are selected from a unique
department of European literature. They are found in the Spanish language,
but their character is oriental; their inspiration comes from the Mahometan
conquerors of northern Africa, and while they exhibit a blending of Spanish
earnestness and chivalry with the wild and dashing spirit of the Arab, they
present a type of literature which is quite unparalleled in the Latin and
Teutonic countries of the Mediterranean basin.

Spain is especially rich in ballad literature, infinitely richer than any
other civilized nation. These ballads take various forms. By Cervantes and
his countrymen they are styled romances, and the romance generally consists
in a poem which describes the character, sufferings, or exploits of a
single individual. The language is simple; the versification, often artless
though melodious, is seldom elaborated into complexity of rhyme. But the
heroic Moor is set before us in the most vivid colors. The hues and
material of his cloak, his housings, his caftan, and his plumes are given,
and quite a vocabulary is exhausted in depicting the color, sex, and breed
of his war-horse. His weapo