vy mora con ossadía
passear por la rivera.
Sola va, sin compannera,
en garnachas de un contray.
Yo le dixe: ‘Alá çulay.’—
‘Calema,’ me respondiera.
But, in the first place, a serranilla is not a romance; and, in the second place, a more probable counter-theory derives the serranilla form from the Portuguese-Galician lyrics which are themselves of French origin. Beyond this very disputable relation, there is no basis for Conde’s theory. Dozy has shown conclusively that nothing could be more unlike than the elaborately learned conventions of Arabic verse and [81] the untutored methods of the Spanish romances, the artless expression of spontaneous popular poetry. It may be taken as established that there is no trace of Arabic influence in the romances, and there is no sound reason for thinking that any existing romance is of remote antiquity. So far from there being many extant specimens dating from before the time of Don Juan Manuel, there are none. What some have believed to be the oldest known romance—
Alburquerque, Alburquerque, bien mereces ser honrado[10]—
refers to an incident which occurred in 1430, almost a century after Don Juan Manuel’s death; and even if we take for granted that one of the romances fronterizos or border-ballads—
Cercada tiene á Baeza ese arráez Audalla Mir[11]—