--- title: The Story of Florinda. — Legends of the conquest of Spain · full text with trees description: The Story of Florinda., «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The beautiful daughter of Count Julian was received with great favour by the queen Exilona, and admitted among the noble damsels that --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / The Story of Florinda. # The Story of Florinda. The Story of Florinda. of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving: the whole text, 84 sentences and 2079 words. 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The beautiful daughter of Count Julian was received with great favour by the queen Exilona, and admitted among the noble damsels that attended upon her person.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Here she lived in honour and apparent security, and surrounded by innocent delights.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") To gratify his queen, Don Roderick had built for her rural recreation a palace without the walls of Toledo, on the banks of the Tagus.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") It stood in the midst of a garden, adorned after the luxurious style of the East.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") The air was perfumed by fragrant shrubs and flowers; the groves resounded with the song of the nightingale; while the gush of fountains and waterfalls, and the distant murmur of the Tagus, made it a delightful retreat during the sultry days of summer.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") The charm of perfect privacy also reigned throughout the place; for the garden walls were high, and numerous guards kept watch without to protect it from all intrusion.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") In this delicious abode, more befitting an oriental voluptuary than a Gothic king, Don Roderick was accustomed to while away much of that time which should have been devoted to the toilsome cares of government.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") The very security and peace which he had produced throughout his dominions, by his precautions to abolish the means and habitudes of war, had effected a disastrous change in his character.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") The hardy and heroic qualities which had conducted him to the throne, were softened in the lap of indulgence.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") Surrounded by the pleasures of an idle and effeminate court, and beguiled by the example of his degenerate nobles, he gave way to a fatal sensuality that had lain dormant in his nature during the virtuous days of his adversity.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") The mere love of female beauty had first enamoured him of Exilona; and the same passion, fostered by voluptuous idleness, now betrayed him into the commission of an act fatal to himself and Spain.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") The following is the story of his error, as gathered from an old chronicle and legend.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") In a remote part of the palace was an apartment devoted to the queen.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") It was like an eastern harem, shut up from the foot of man, and where the king himself but rarely entered.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") It had its own courts, and gardens, and fountains, where the queen was wont to recreate herself with her damsels, as she had been accustomed to do in the jealous privacy of her father’s palace.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") One sultry day, the king, instead of taking his siesta, or mid-day slumber, repaired to this apartment to seek the society of the queen.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") In passing through a small oratory, he was drawn by the sound of female voices to a casement overhung with myrtles and jessamines.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") It looked into an interior garden, or court, set out with orange trees, in the midst of which was a marble fountain, surrounded by a grassy bank, enamelled with flowers.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") It was the high noontide of a summer day, when, in sultry Spain, the landscape trembles to the eye, and all nature seeks repose, except the grasshopper, that pipes his lulling note to the herdsman as he sleeps beneath the shade.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") Around the fountain were several of the damsels of the queen, who, confident of the sacred privacy of the place, were yielding in that cool retreat to the indulgence prompted by the season and the hour.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") Some lay asleep on the flowery bank; others sat on the margin of the fountain, talking and laughing, as they bathed their feet in its limpid waters, and King Roderick beheld delicate limbs shining through the wave, that might rival the marble in whiteness.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Among the damsels was one who had come from the Barbary coast with the queen.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Her complexion had the dark tinge of Mauritania, but it was clear and transparent, and the deep rich rose blushed through the lovely brown.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Her eyes were black and full of fire, and flashed from under long silken eyelashes.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") A sportive contest arose among the maidens, as to the comparative beauty of the Spanish and Moorish forms; but the Mauritanian damsel revealed limbs of voluptuous symmetry that seemed to defy all rivalry.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") The Spanish beauties were on the point of giving up the contest, when they bethought themselves of the young Florinda, the daughter of Count Julian, who lay on the grassy bank, abandoned to a summer slumber.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") The soft glow of youth and health mantled on her cheek; her fringed eyelashes scarcely covered their sleeping orbs; her moist and ruby lips were lightly parted, just revealing a gleam of her ivory teeth; while her innocent bosom rose and fell beneath her boddice, like the gentle swelling and sinking of a tranquil sea.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") There was a breathing tenderness and beauty in the sleeping virgin, that seemed to send forth sweetness like the flowers around her.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") “Behold,” cried her companions exultingly, “the champion of Spanish beauty!”[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") In their playful eagerness they half disrobed the innocent Florinda before she was aware.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") She awoke in time, however, to escape from their busy hands; but enough of her charms had been revealed to convince the monarch that they were not to be rivalled by the rarest beauties of Mauritania.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") From this day the heart of Roderick was inflamed with a fatal passion.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") He gazed on the beautiful Florinda with fervid desire, and sought to read in her looks whether there was levity or wantonness in her bosom; but the eye of the damsel ever sunk beneath his gaze, and remained bent on the earth in virgin modesty.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") It was in vain he called to mind the sacred trust reposed in him by Count Julian, and the promise he had given to watch over his daughter with paternal care; his heart was vitiated by sensual indulgence, and the consciousness of power had rendered him selfish in his gratifications.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") Being one evening in the garden where the queen was diverting herself with her damsels, and coming to the fountain where he had beheld the innocent maidens at their sport, he could no longer restrain the passion that raged within his breast.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") Seating himself beside the fountain, he called Florinda to him to draw forth a thorn which had pierced his hand.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") The maiden knelt at his feet to examine his hand, and the touch of her slender fingers thrilled through his veins.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") As she knelt, too, her amber locks fell in rich ringlets about her beautiful head, her innocent bosom palpitated beneath the crimson boddice, and her timid blushes increased the effulgence of her charms.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") Having examined the monarch’s hand in vain, she looked up in his face with artless perplexity.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") “Senior,” said she, “I can find no thorn, nor any sign of wound.”[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") Don Roderick grasped her hand and pressed it to his heart.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is here, lovely Florinda!” said he, “It is here! and thou alone canst pluck it forth!”[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") “My lord!” exclaimed the blushing and astonished maiden.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") “Florinda!” said Don Roderick, “dost thou love me?”[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") “Senior,” said she, “my father taught me to love and reverence you.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") He confided me to your care as one who would be as a parent to me, when he should be far distant, serving your majesty with life and loyalty.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") May God incline your majesty ever to protect me as a father.”[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") So saying, the maiden dropped her eyes to the ground, and continued kneeling; but her countenance had become deadly pale, and as she knelt she trembled.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") “Florinda,” said the king, “either thou dost not or thou wilt not understand me.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") I would have thee love me, not as a father, nor as a monarch, but as one who adores thee.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") Why dost thou start?[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") No one shall know our loves; and, moreover, the love of a monarch inflicts no degradation like the love of a common man—riches and honours attend upon it.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") I will advance thee to rank and dignity, and place thee above the proudest females of my court.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Thy father, too, shall be more exalted and endowed than any noble in my realm.”[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") The soft eye of Florinda kindled at these words.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") “Senior,” said she, “the line I spring from can receive no dignity by means so vile; and my father would rather die than purchase rank and power by the dishonour of his child.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") But I see,” continued she, “that your majesty speaks in this manner only to try me.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") You may have thought me light and simple, and unworthy to attend upon the queen.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") I pray your majesty to pardon me, that I have taken your pleasantry in such serious part.”[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") In this way the agitated maiden sought to evade the addresses of the monarch; but still her cheek was blanched, and her lip quivered as she spake.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") The king pressed her hand to his lips with fervour.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") “May ruin seize me,” cried he, “if I speak to prove thee\![62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") My heart, my kingdom, are at thy command.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") Only be mine, and thou shalt rule absolute mistress of myself and my domains.”[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") The damsel rose from the earth where she had hitherto knelt, and her whole countenance glowed with virtuous indignation.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") “My lord,” said she, “I am your subject, and in your power; take my life if it be your pleasure; but nothing shall tempt me to commit a crime which would be treason to the queen, disgrace to my father, agony to my mother, and perdition to myself.”[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") With these words she left the garden, and the king, for the moment, was too much awed by her indignant virtue to oppose her departure.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") We shall pass briefly over the succeeding events of the story of Florinda, about which so much has been said and sung by chronicler and bard: for the sober page of history should be carefully chastened from all scenes that might inflame a wanton imagination; leaving them to poems and romances, and such-like highly seasoned works of fantasy and recreation.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Let it suffice to say, that Don Roderick pursued his suit to the beautiful Florinda, his passion being more and more inflamed by the resistance of the virtuous damsel.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") At length, forgetting what was due to helpless beauty, to his own honour as a knight, and his word as a sovereign, he triumphed over her weakness by base and unmanly violence.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") There are not wanting those who affirm that the hapless Florinda lent a yielding ear to the solicitations of the monarch, and her name has been treated with opprobrium in several of the ancient chronicles and legendary ballads that have transmitted, from generation to generation, the story of the woes of Spain.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") In very truth, however, she appears to have been a guiltless victim, resisting, as far as helpless female could resist, the arts and intrigues of a powerful monarch, who had nought to check the indulgence of his will, and bewailing her disgrace with a poignancy that shows how dearly she had prized her honour.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") In the first paroxysm of her grief she wrote a letter to her father, blotted with her tears, and almost incoherent from her agitation.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") “Would to God, my father,” said she, “that the earth had opened and swallowed me ere I had been reduced to write these lines.[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") I blush to tell thee, what it is not proper to conceal.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") Alas, my father; thou hast intrusted thy lamb to the guardianship of the lion.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") Thy daughter has been dishonoured, the royal cradle of the Goths polluted, and our lineage insulted and disgraced.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") Hasten, my father, to rescue your child from the power of the spoiler, and to vindicate the honour of your house!”[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") When Florinda had written these lines, she summoned a youthful esquire, who had been a page in the service of her father.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") “Saddle thy steed,” said she, “and if thou dost aspire to knightly honour, or hope for lady’s grace—if thou hast fealty for thy lord, or devotion to his daughter—speed swiftly upon my errand.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") Rest not, halt not, spare not the spur; but hie thee day and night until thou reach the sea; take the first bark, and haste with sail and oar to Ceuta, nor pause until thou give this letter to the count my father.”[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") The youth put the letter in his bosom.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") “Trust me, lady,” said he, “I will neither halt nor turn aside, nor cast a look behind, until I reach Count Julian.”[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") He mounted his fleet steed, sped his way across the bridge, and soon left behind him the verdant valley of the Tagus.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Of Count Julian.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/5/) - next →: [Don Roderick Receives an Extraordinary Embassy.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/7/) - ↑ back to [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/)