Do you like the legends of Granada? We suggest you one of the stories written by Washington Irving: the legend of “La Rosa de la Alhambra”. Reading it you will enjoy even more your walks in Granada.
The King Mohamed “The southpaw” was strolling through the Sierra, when he met a detachment with prisoners. Among them, a young girl, Cristina, who cried with her handmaid, caught his attention. Stunned by her beauty, the monarch commanded to take her to the Palace to ask her for marriage.
Without having a choice, the young girl became Queen and lived with her former maid, who received the name Kadiga. In a year, the monarchs had three girls and, as marked the tradition, the King consulted to the astrologers the destination of the fate of the small one.
They warned Mohammed that, when they will be married, they should be cautious. When the Queen died he sent themas a precaution to the Royal Castle of Salobrena. There they lived alongside with Kadiga with luxuries and comforts.
The oldest, Zaida, was restless. The middle, Zoraida, spent hours contemplating her beauty, and the youngest, Zorahaida, was scared and sweet. One morning, after the blinds, they arrived to a galley with several captive Christians.
The princesses noticed three handsome knights. Since then, the melancholy took hold of them. Kadiga, who knew them well, warned the King that the time had come. The monarch wanted to protect them and took them back to his side, straight to the Tower of the Princesses. As the destiny had it, during their journey, they crossed with the three young captives, condemned to work in the Bermeja Tower.
Their love was doing nothing than increase. Sad and dejected, his father did not know what to do to meet them and entrusted this task to Kadiga. Despite knowing that it wouldn’t be of the pleasure of the monarch, Kadiga hatched a plan to bring to them three young each afternoon to the other side of the Tower, so she could listen to their songs. Thus grew the passion between the captives and princesses.
Once paid the ransom by their families and liberated Christians, the cunning Kadiga betrayed the King. With the approval of the princesses, the three young men returned to Granada to take them to Córdoba and convert them to their wives. But at the last moment, Zorahaida felt fear and pity for her father and she could not leave the Palace. The princess was locked forever, so as her maid Kadiga. According to the legend, she died young, alone and sad. She was buried in the gardens of the tower, where she grew up a Rosebush with a single rose: the rose of Alhambra.
If you want to know more stories like this, follow us and get into this walk of legends by the city of Granada.