Note 63 — Chapter IV · THE ROMANCERO
Reading edition
Primavera, No. 85a; Durán, No. 1064. Byron’s adaptation is entitled A Very Mournful Ballad on the Siege and Conquest of Alhama, which, in the Arabic language is to the following purport:—
The Moorish king rides up and down, Through Granada’s royal town; From Elvira’s gates to those Of Bivarambla on he goes. Woe is me, Alhama! Letters to the monarch tell, How Alhama’s city fell: In the fire the scroll he threw, And the messenger he slew. Woe is me, Alhama! etc.
Ginés Pérez de Hita states that this ballad was originally written in Arabic, and that the inhabitants of Granada were forbidden to sing it. Possibly the romance was suggested by some Arabic song on the loss of Alhama.