Note 189 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
The whole ballad, with a different reading of the passage here translated, is in the Cancionero de Romances, Saragossa, 1550, 12mo, Parte II. f. 188, beginning “Media noche era por hilo.” Often, however, as the adventures of the Count Claros are alluded to in the old Spanish poetry, there is no trace of them in the old chronicles. The fragment in the text begins thus, in the Cancionero General (1535, f. 106. a):—
Pesame de vos, el Conde, Porque assi os quieren matar; Porque el yerro que hezistes No fue mucho de culpar; Que los yerros por amores Dignos son de perdonar. Suplique por vos al Rey, Cos mandasse de librar; Mas el Rey, con gran enojo, No me quisiera escuchar, etc.
The beginning of this ballad in the complete copy from the Saragossa Romancero shows that it was composed before clocks were known.