Pedro the Cruel
Their talk is interrupted by the return of Don Enriquez and the arrival of a secret agent of his from a mission whose object was to destroy Albuquerque, and gain the King's good graces through an alliance with the Padillas. The Count asks his agent what is thought of Don Pedro in the South. The answer is:
Sir, the common people
Begin already to distinguish him.
They fancy that already they perceive
Advancing on the path which he ascends
The shadow of a hero.
Enri. And his tastes,
His fancies, day-dreams, what are they? which way
Point they? or have they any bent as yet?
Gon. I can judge little, yet thus much I gather
From what I see and hear; he is more learned
In Moorish chronicles and Arab tales
Than in church legends, takes much greater joy
In Simuel Levi's talk than in a bishop's:
Sings ballads of the Cid with kindling cheek,
Then curses him for a rebel; frankly jests
With artisan and peasant, and repays
Flattery of ricos-hombres with a sneer.
Begin already to distinguish him.
They fancy that already they perceive
Advancing on the path which he ascends
The shadow of a hero.
Enri. And his tastes,
His fancies, day-dreams, what are they? which way
Point they? or have they any bent as yet?
Gon. I can judge little, yet thus much I gather
From what I see and hear; he is more learned
In Moorish chronicles and Arab tales
Than in church legends, takes much greater joy
In Simuel Levi's talk than in a bishop's:
Sings ballads of the Cid with kindling cheek,
Then curses him for a rebel; frankly jests
With artisan and peasant, and repays
Flattery of ricos-hombres with a sneer.
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