But the god of
these ballads is Allah, and they sometimes reveal a trace of ferocity which
seems to be derived from religious fanaticism. Nor can the reader fail to
be struck by the profound pathos which many of them express so well. The
dirges are supremely beautiful, their language simple and direct, but
perfect in descriptive touches and in the cadence of the reiterated burden.
Beside the ballads of warlike and amorous adventures, there are sea-songs,
songs of captivity, and songs of the galley slave. The Spanish Moor is
seized by some African pirate and carried away to toil in the mill of his
master on some foreign shore, or he is chained to the rowing-bench of the
Berber galley, thence to be taken and sold when the voyage is over to some
master who leaves him to weep in solitary toil in the farm or garden.
Sometimes he wins the love of his mistress, who releases him and flies in
his company.
All these ballads have vivid descriptions of scenery. The towers of Baeza,
the walls of Granada, the green _vegas_ that spread outside every
city, the valley of the Guadalquivir, and the rushing waters of the Tagus,
the high cliffs of Cadiz, the Pillars of Hercules, and the blue waves of
the Mediterranean make a life-like background to every incident.
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