The Alcayde of the castle, with many of the
people of Denia, was one day on his knees in
the chapel, imploring the Virgin to allay a tempest
which was strewing the coast with wrecks,
when a centinel brought word that a Moorish
cruiser was standing for the land. The Alcayde
gave orders to ring the alarm bells, light signal
fires on the hill tops, and rouse the country, for
the coast was subject to cruel maraudings from
the Barbary cruisers.

In a little while the horsemen of the neighbourhood
were seen pricking along the beach, armed
with such weapons as they could find, and the
Alcayde and his scanty garrison descended from
the hill. In the mean time the Moorish bark came
rolling and pitching towards the land. As it
drew near, the rich carving and gilding with
which it was decorated, its silken bandaroles
and banks of crimson oars, showed it to be no
warlike vessel, but a sumptuous galiot destined
for state and ceremony. It bore the marks of
the tempest; the masts were broken, the oars
shattered, and fragments of snowy sails and
silken awnings were fluttering in the blast.

As the galiot grounded upon the sand, the impatient
rabble rushed into the surf to capture
and make spoil; but were awed into admiration
and respect by the appearance of the illustrious
company on board. There were Moors of both

[figure description] Page 026.[end figure description]

sexes sumptuously arrayed, and adorned with
precious jewels, bearing the demeanour of persons
of lofty rank. Among them shone conspicuous
a youthful beauty, magnificently attired, to whom
all seemed to pay reverence.

Several of the Moors surrounded her with
drawn swords, threatening death to any that
approached; others sprang from the bark, and
throwing themselves on their knees before the
Alcayde, implored him, by his honour and courtesy
as a knight, to protect a royal virgin from
injury and insult.

“You behold before you,” said they, “the only
daughter of the king of Algiers, the betrothed
bride of the son of the king of Tunis. We were
conducting her to the court of her expecting
bridegroom, when a tempest drove us from our
course, and compelled us to take refuge on your
coast. Be not more cruel than the tempest, but
deal nobly with that which even sea and storm
have spared.”

The Alcayde listened to their prayers. He
conducted the princess and her train to the castle,
where every honour due to her rank was
paid her. Some of her ancient attendants interceded
for her liberation, promising countless
sums to be paid by her father for her ransom;
but the Alcayde turned a deaf ear to all
their golden offers. “She is a royal captive,”

[figure description] Page 027.[end figure description]

said he, “it belongs to my sovereign alone to
dispose of her.” After she had reposed, therefore,
for some days at the castle, and recovered
from the fatigue and terror of the seas, he caused
her to be conducted, with all her train, in magnificent
state to the court of Don Roderick.

The beautiful Elyata[6] entered Toledo more
like a triumphant sovereign than a captive. A
chosen band of christian horsemen, splendidly
armed, appeared to wait upon her as a mere
guard of honour. She was surrounded by the
Moorish damsels of her train, and followed by
her own moslem guards, all attired with the
magnificence that had been intended to grace
her arrival at the court of Tunis. The princess
was arrayed in bridal robes, woven in the most
costly looms of the orient; her diadem sparkled
with diamonds, and was decorated with the
rarest plumes of the bird of paradise, and even
the silken trappings of her palfry, which swept
the ground, were covered with pearls and precious
stones. As this brilliant cavalcade crossed
the bridge of the Tagus, all Toledo poured
forth to behold it, and nothing was heard throughout
the city but praises of the wonderful beauty
of the princess of Algiers. King Roderick came
forth, attended by the chivalry of his court, to

[figure description] Page 028.[end figure description]

receive the royal captive. His recent voluptuous
life had disposed him for tender and amorous
affections, and at the first sight of the beautiful
Elyata he was enraptured with her charms.
Seeing her face clouded with sorrow and anxiety,
he soothed her with gentle and courteous
words, and conducting her to a royal palace,
“behold,” said he, “thy habitation, where no one
shall molest thee: consider thyself at home in
the mansion of thy father, and dispose of any
thing according to thy will.”

Here the princess passed her time, with the
female attendants who had accompanied her
from Algiers; and no one but the king was permitted
to visit her, who daily became more and
more enamoured of his lovely captive, and sought
by tender assiduity, to gain her affections. The
distress of the princess at her captivity was
soothed by this gentle treatment. She was of
an age when sorrow cannot long hold sway over
the heart. Accompanied by her youthful attendants,
she ranged the spacious apartments of
the palace, and sported among the groves and
alleys of its garden. Every day the remembrance
of the paternal home grew less and less
painful, and the king became more and more
amiable in her eyes, and when, at length, he
offered to share his heart and throne with her,

[figure description] Page 029.[end figure description]

she listened with downcast looks and kindling
blushes, but with an air of resignation.

One obstacle remained to the complete fruition
of the monarch's wishes, and this was the religion
of the princess. Roderick forthwith employed
the archbishop of Toledo to instruct the
beautiful Elyata in the mysteries of the christian
faith. The female intellect is quick in perceiving
the merits of new doctrines; the archbishop,
therefore, soon succeeded in converting, not
merely the princess, but most of her attendants,
and a day was appointed for their public baptism.
The ceremony was performed with great
pomp and solemnity, in the presence of all the
nobility and chivalry of the court. The princess
and her damsels, clad in white, walked on foot
to the cathedral, while numerous beautiful children,
arrayed as angels, strewed their path with
flowers; and the archbishop meeting them at the
portal, received them, as it were, into the bosom
of the church. The princess abandoned her
Moorish appellation of Elyata, and was baptised
by the name of Exilona, by which she was
thenceforth called, and has generally been known
in history.

The nuptials of Roderick and the beautiful
convert took place shortly afterwards, and were
celebrated with great magnificence. There were
jousts, and tourneys, and banquets, and other

[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

rejoicings, which lasted twenty days and were
attended by the principal nobles from all parts
of Spain. After these were over, such of the
attendants of the princess as refused to embrace
christianity and desired to return to Africa, were
dismissed with munificent presents; and an embassy
was sent to the king of Algiers, to inform
him of the nuptials of his daughter, and to proffer
him the friendship of King Roderick.[7]

eaf221v3.n5

[5] Perdida de España por Abulcacim Tarif Abentarique,
lib. 1.

eaf221v3.dag1

† Lope de Vega.

eaf221v3.n6

[6] By some she is called Zara.

eaf221v3.n7

[7] “Como esta Infanta era muy hermosa, y el Rey [Don Rodrigo
] dispuesta y gentil hombre, entro por medio el amor y
aficion, y junto con el regalo con que la avia mandado hospedar
y servir ful causa que el rey persuadio esta Infanta, que
si se tornava a su ley de christiano la tomaria por muger, y
que la haria señora de sus Reynos. Con esta persuasion ella
fue contenta, y aviendose vuelto christiana, se caso con ella,
y se celebraron sus bodas con muchas fiestas y regozijos, como
era razon.”—Abulcassim, conq'st de Espan, cap. 3.

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