In the
cities the ladies throng the balconies of curling iron-work or crowd the
plaza where the joust or bull-fight is to be witnessed, or steal at
nightfall to the edge of the _vega_ to meet a lover, and sometimes to
die in his arms at the hands of bandits.
There is a dramatic power in these ballads which is one of their most
remarkable features. They are sometimes mere sketches, but oftener the
story is told with consummate art, with strict economy of word and phrase,
and the _denouement_ comes with a point and power which show that the
Moorish minstrel was an artist of no mean skill and address.
The authors of the Moorish romances, songs, and ballads are unknown. They
have probably assumed their present literary form after being part of the
_repertoire_ of successive minstrels, and some of the incidents appear
in more than one version. The most ancient of them are often the shortest,
but they belong to the period when southern Spain under Mahometan rule was
at the height of its prosperity, and Arabian learning, art, and literature
made her rank among the first countries in Europe.
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