Note 208 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
This is evidently among the older ballads. The earliest printed copy of it that I know is to be found in the “Flor de Romances,” Novena Parte, (Madrid, 1597, 18mo, f. 45,) and the passage I have translated is very striking in the original:—
Cansadas ya las paredes De guardar en tanto tiempo A un hombre, que vieron moço Y ya le ven cano y viejo. Si ya sus culpas merecen, Que sangre sea en su descuento, Harta suya he derramado, Y toda en servicio vuestro.
It is given a little differently by Duran.