Washington Irving’s Rooms

Oh, what a scandal it was, habibi! These are the room of that American man! What was his name…? That’s it: Irving, Washington Irving. This is where he slept, the rascal! I remember him well!
All the legends, the tales and the secrets of the Alhambra... He published them all, and he became famous thanks to me, Hamed, the good, humble Hamed from the Medina. I, who am nothing but a spirit…. Oh, if only I had blood, it would be boiling! When I think of all those stories I told him back then, around 1829, while he was here in Granada… If I could lay my hands on him! Ah well…

As a matter of fact he was a very nice, kind man. He was a professional diplomat. He would listen with great interest to everything any of us told him about the Alhambra. And in those days, I have to say, the Alhambra was a bit of a mess… practically in ruins, in fact. Who knows: maybe, if it hadn’t been for him and his book, Tales from the Alhambra, which sold like hot cakes, maybe the Sabika hill would be nothing more today than a mound, dotted with large red stones.

He was a good man, that American. I always liked him. What are you looking at me like that for? Come on, let’s move on!



(c) (R) 2013, MUSMon com S.L.
Text (a) Carlos Madrid (2012)

Picture:
Source: Own work
Author: Julián Hernández Martínez (2013)