[8], 2. ciudad. On the subject of the locality, Alarcón tells us in the omitted portions of the preface already referred to, that the different ballads assign different places to the action; the one published in Durán's Romancero bears the title El Molinero de Arcos, and the scene is laid at Arcos de la Frontera; another, a romance de ciego this, puts it at Jerez de la Frontera, as does also a third, repeated to Alarcón by Hartzenbusch; and he says that the peasant folk of Estremadura, among whom also the story is current, locate the action at Plasencia, Cáceres, and other towns of that province. He concludes, after having told us that Repela's version mentions no names: "En tal situación, y considerando que Repela nació, vivió y murió en la provincia de Granada; que su versión parece la auténtica y fidedigna, y que aquella es la tierra que mejor conocemos nosotros, nos hemos tomado la licencia de figurar que sucedió el caso en una ciudad, que no nombremos, del antiguo reino granadino."
Bonilla, in the article referred to in the introduction to this book, publishes still another ballad which begins "En cierto lugar de España," and makes no nearer reference to the place.
Enough has been said to make it clear that the story is widely known in various parts of Spain, as part of local rhyme; and, indeed, we have Alarcón's word in his preface, that this is so; we may properly make an effort towards a nearer identification of the place he had in his mind when he wrote. To this end, compare with what has just been said the paragraph beginning with line 18 of page 24, remembering that Alarcón was born in Guadix; and, read in connection with this last-named passage, the following, taken from page 273 of De Madrid a Nápoles: "Guadix fue una de las más importantes colonias de los romanos; después, en poder de los moros, llegó a ser hasta capital de un reino; verificada su reconquista por los Reyes Católicos, aún conservó durante tres siglos sus aires señoriles, y allá por el año de 8, cuando la invasión francesa, los graves señores que eran regidores perpetuos vestían sendas capas de grana, ceñían espadín y se cubrían con sombrero de tres picos.—¡Yo he alcanzado a conocer esta vestimenta de mi abuelo, que se conservaba en mi casa como una reliquia, y que nosotros, los hijos de 1833, irreverentes a fuer de despreocupados, dedicamos a mil profanaciones en nuestros juegos infantiles!" Wherefrom we may safely conclude, without pushing matters at all to extremes, that it was Guadix that surely furnished most of the local coloring for our story.
[8], 5. día de precepto. Holy days of obligation are certain days independent of Sundays and feasts that may fall on them, on which it is required to hear mass, and to abstain from servile work. Those universally observed are: The Circumcision of Our Lord (January 1st); Ascension Day (forty days after Easter); the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (15th August); All Saints' Day (1st November); the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas Day); and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8th December); in Spain there are numerous others.
[8], 5. The meals of the Spanish household order as indicated here are the almuerzo, breakfast; comida, dinner; cena, supper. The chocolate of line 11 is the irregular luncheon more generally called merienda. The more usual arrangement in the household economy of the larger cities of Spain to-day includes the desayuno at rising, usually simply a cup of chocolate; almuerzo, the second breakfast, or luncheon, at from ten o'clock to one; the merienda, if taken, after the siesta, at four or five o'clock; and the comida at eight or after in the evening. This late comida is also sometimes called cena; though often the real cena is served, a very late supper. In view of this rather formidable list, it should be said that the Spaniard generally is not a heavy eater, and that he is usually more than common sober in the matter of drinking.
[8], 10. Rosario. The saying of the prayers of the Rosary is an entirely private devotion, and as such may be done at any hour (compare [117], 14); the present passage would indicate that twilight was the usual season chosen to this use by the people of the Ciudad.
[8], 12. tertulia. This word is almost as difficult to translate as pícaro, though quite in another way. A tertulia is a social gathering, of regular recurrence, for conversation or other amusement, very informal in its character, and laying the very smallest amount of social responsibility on the host. There is usually also a large measure of uniformity in the personnel of the attendance. In short, the word covers the ground from the afternoon meeting of friends for gossip in a Madrid bookshop, to the reception day of an embassador. Party, reception, gathering, club, conversazione, levee, are some of the words used frequently in translation; but no one of them quite covers the whole ground, which is perhaps not surprising, as the thing in itself is peculiarly Spanish.
[8], 14. Ánimas. Seven o'clock in the evening, when the De profundis is recited for the souls of the dead.
[8], 16. guisado, "cooked," pp. of guisar, used as substantive, and by antonomasia for stew, fricassee.
[9], 4. entremés, sainete, auto sacramental. The entremés is a very short dramatic interlude of very light character, rarely more than a few minutes in the acting, which was performed between the acts of the heavier plays: the sainete (dim. of saín: the tit-bit—bit of brain or flesh from the quarry, given the hawk by the falconer) was a similar postlude. The latter name has been generalized in Spanish and French literature (French la saynète), to mean a very short comedy or farce, with two or at most three or four characters. The auto sacramental was a religious play often of allegorical or mystical character, written for the feast of Corpus Christi, and performed under the auspices of the church on that day or the days immediately following. See Ticknor, II, pp. 449-450, and on the auto sacramental, II, pp. 348 sqq.; Casiano Pellicer, Tratado histórico sobre el origen y progresos del histrionismo en España, Madrid, 1804, pp. 18 sqq., 189 sqq., and for a good account of the performance of the auto, 257 sqq.