[9.] The verbal forms in-ara and-iera were used then as now as the equivalent of the pluperfect or the preterit indicative.
[11. la:] la verdad is probably understood. Cf. p. 2, l. I.
[2.—1. diría] = diré. In the romances the conditional often replaces the future, usually to fit the assonance.
[5. relucían:] in the old ballads the imperfect indicative is often used to express loosely past time or even present time.
[6. El Alhambra:] in the language of the old ballads el, not la, is used before a feminine noun with initial-a or e-, whether the accent be on the first syllable or not.
[25. viuda] in old Spanish was pronounced viuda and assonated in í-a. This expletive que is common in Spanish: do not translate.
[27. grande] merely strengthens bien.
[3.—Fonte-frida] is a poem of erotic character, much admired for its suave melancholy. Probably it is merely an allegorical fragment of a longer poem now lost. It is one of those printed in the Cancionero general of 1511. It was well translated by Bowring. There is also a metrical version in Ticknor, I, III. This theme is found in the Physiologus, a medieval bestiary. One of these animal stories relates that the turtle-dove has but one mate and if this mate dies the dove remains faithful to its memory. Cf. Mod. Lang. Notes, June, 1904 (Turtel-Taube), and February, 1906.
[3. In avecicas] and tortolica the diminutive ending-ica seems to be quite equivalent to-ito. Cf. Knapp's Span. Gram., 760a.
[4. van tomar] = van á tomar.