Rio verde, rio verde, Y tus ondas cristalinas De roxa sangre se esmaltan : Murieron Duques y Condes, De la nobleza de España. En ti murio don Alonso, Que de Aguilar se llamaba; El valeroso Urdiales, Con don Alonso acababa. Por un ladera arriba El buen Sayavedra marcha; Naturel es de Sevilla, De la gente mas granada. Tras el iba un Renegado, Desta manera le habla ; "Date, date, Sayavedra, No huyas de la Batalla. GENTLE river, gentle river, Lo, thy streams are stain'd with gore! All beside thy limpid waters, All beside thy sands so bright, Moorish Chiefs and Christian Warriors Join'd in fierce and mortal fight. Lords, and dukes, and noble princes On thy fatal banks were slain : Fatal banks that gave to slaughter All the pride and flower of Spain. There the hero, brave Alonzo Full of wounds and glory died: There the fearless Urdiales Fell a victim by his side. Lo! where yonder Don Saavedra Thro' their squadrons slow retires; Proud Seville, his native city, Proud Seville his worth admires. Close behind a Renegado Loudly shouts with taunting cry; Well I know thee, haughty Christian, Oft I've in the lists of glory Seen thee win the prize of proof. Well I know thy aged parents, Seven years of pain and woe. May our prophet grant my wishes, Haughty chief, thou shalt be mine: Thou shalt drink that cup of sorrow, Which I drank when I was thine." Sayavedra que lo oyera, Hiriole Sayavedra De una herida muy mala : De mucha Mora canalla, Y el cavallo le avian muerto, Que mal le hieren y tratan : Al fin, al fin cayo muerto 40 45 50 55 60 Like a lion turns the warrior, Sent a deep and mortal wound : Mute and lifeless on the ground. With a thousand Moors surrounded, Near him fighting great Alonzo Where yon rock the plain o'ershadows * In the Spanish original of the foregoing ballad, follow a few more stanzas, but being of inferior merit were not translated. "Renegado" properly signifies an apostate; but it is sometimes used to express an infidel in general; as it seems to do above in ver. 21, &c. The image of the "Lion," &c. in ver. 37, is taken from the other Spanish copy, the rhymes of which end in ia, viz. "Sayavedra, que lo oyera, Como un leon rebolbia." XVII. ALCANZOR AND ZAYDA, A Moorish Tale, IMITATED FROM THE SPANISH. THE foregoing version was rendered as literal as the nature of the two languages would admit. In the following a wider compass hath been taken. The Spanish poem that was chiefly had in view, is preserved in the same history of the Civil wars of Granada, f. 22, and begins with these lines. "Por la calle de su dama SOFTLY blow the evening breezes, In yon palace lives fair Zaida, Waiting for the appointed minute, Stopping now, now moving forwards, Hope and fear alternate teize him, Lovely seems the moon's fair lustre 5 10 15 |