II.—GHOSTS
There is not a genuine clean-cut ghost in the entire period. In fact, such apparitions as we know them seem never to have flourished very vigorously in Spain. There are fantasmas, and sombras, etc., in abundance in a later period, but the ghost that appeals to present day observers was entirely lacking. In the time of Alfonso X, the function of the ghost, which is usually that of issuing warnings from the other world, was generally exercised by the saints or angels. In one case, it is true, a friar returns after his decease to explain to his two brethren why his corpse turned black at death and was restored to its natural color when a candle from the altar of the Virgin was placed in its hand (No. 123). But this is a very poor example; there is no element of fear recorded. The shade does not pass thru closed doors, weapons do not pierce its body without effect, etc. Emperor Julian has a rather ghostly experience when he is killed by the phantom knight,[110] but this is in reality a returned saint and not a ghost, and besides he kills with a weapon—a most unorthodox piece of behavior for a ghost.
There is only one good ghost story in the entire lot, and this claims to be no more than a narrative from Roman history, apparently told solely because it is in the old records. Emperor Caius Caligula was assassinated and his enemies half burned his body, then in haste partially buried it. Because of this his spirit could not rest in peace but tormented the keepers of the garden where the body lay, and the guardians of the place where he had been killed, until the cremation was properly performed and the ashes suitably buried. This has indeed the necessary elements of a ghost story, but as indicated above, it seems to have found its way into the literature purely by chance and makes no literary impression on the period.[111]