I. Un hijo de la Alhambra
. .
«¿ , ?», . « ».
«¿ ?», .
« », . « ».
. . . . , , .
An A2 adaptation of Irving’s Moorish legends
Tales of the Alhambra Cuentos de la Alhambra
Washington Irving
This is a retelling of Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra in simple Spanish, not the original text: a MovaReader adaptation for readers who already know the past tenses and want a whole book of Moorish legends. In the catalog it is A2: about 5,500 words, 9 words per sentence on average. Ten chapters lead from the author’s stay in the empty palace to five legends he heard there, from the astrologer’s magic gate to the silver lute of the Rose of the Alhambra.
- A2
- 5 465 words
- 1-2 hours
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 the past tenses will stop you: the narration runs in the pretérito indefinido and imperfecto (llegó, dijo, vivía, tenía), at 9 words per sentence on average, where the A1 books in the catalog have 5-7.
A1A2
This text
You can manage it at A2: sentences are short, the story stays in the past tenses you know, and words like hechizo or aguador are clear from the scene.
Check this passageB1
With room to spare
At B1 the adaptation reads with room to spare, almost without translation: in 1-2 hours you finish a whole book before turning to the B1 retellings in the catalog, which run 11-12 words per sentence. The complete Tales of the Alhambra is not in the catalog; its English text is free at Project Gutenberg.
Start readingThe average sentence has 9 words: the story is told in the past, with events in the pretérito indefinido and background in the imperfecto, and about a fifth of the words are the characters’ lines in quotation marks. A word of 9 letters or more comes up about once in 43 words, 2.3% of the text, and some of those are names, like Zorahayda. Other A2 books with 9 words per sentence have 1.6-3.1% long words. A1 books run 5-7 words per sentence, B1 books 11-12 words and 3.7-4.8% long words. The difficulty is even: each of the 10 chapters averages 9-10 words per sentence. Hence A2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 5 465
- words
- 9
- words in an average sentence
- 1-2
- hours of reading
MovaReader. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
An American writer settles in the empty Alhambra palace in Granada. Tía Antonia and her niece Dolores look after him, and a ragged guide who calls himself “a son of the Alhambra” follows him everywhere. In the evenings the writer collects their legends. A peace-loving Moorish king trusts a very old wise man with a bronze horseman and a table of wooden soldiers, and pays a high price for a quiet life. A prince raised in a locked tower asks the birds what love is. A water-carrier helps a dying Moor and receives a box with a candle and a scroll. A king guards three daughters who fall in love with the singing of three prisoners. A page chases a falcon into a tower and meets a girl with a rose in her hair. How the legends end is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Cuentos de la Alhambra
V. El peregrino del amor
. , .
, . « ». . , . . . , .
Choose an underlined word.
Speech in «...», then dijo
Spanish marks speech with «comillas» instead of dashes: «¿Conoce bien la Alhambra?», le dije. The comma comes after the closing mark, and the verb of speaking follows: preguntó, contestó, dijo. Desde hacía siglos: with desde hacía and a period of time Spanish uses the imperfecto, so su familia vivía en la colina desde hacía siglos means “had lived on the hill for centuries”. Hijo de la Alhambra is the guide’s boast, “a son of the Alhambra”.
One-off acts and things that go on
Ahmed lo tocó con la lanza mágica, y el príncipe cayó: tocó and cayó are the pretérito indefinido, single actions that begin and end. Pero el caballo y la lanza no se detenían is the imperfecto: an action that goes on and on without an end in view. Corrían and tiraban work the same way. Se rio de él means “laughed at him”. In hasta el rey cayó, hasta means “even”: “even the king fell”.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader translates whole sentences, and here that helps most with Spanish politeness, as when the governor offers the palace: Si no le importa comer poco, el palacio de los reyes moros es suyo.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
A learner adaptation, not the original: MovaReader retold Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra, which first came out in 1832, in simple Spanish. The language and length have changed: modern Spanish in the past tenses, 9 words per sentence on average, 10 chapters and about 5,500 words. The first chapter and the short links between the legends keep the author’s own stay in the Alhambra with Tía Antonia, Dolores and the guide Mateo Ximénez, and the other nine chapters retell five legends: the astrologer, Prince Ahmed al Kamel, the Moor’s legacy, the three beautiful princesses and the Rose of the Alhambra. Irving’s long descriptions of the palace, his historical essays and the other legends are left out. The complete book is not in the catalog; its English text is free at Project Gutenberg.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no audio version of this adaptation: MovaReader gives you the text, not a recording. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears next to it; here that will mostly be words from the Moorish legends, such as hechizo, aguador or lanza.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
The Reader plan translates whole sentences. Here they are short, 9 words on average, so you will seldom need one: mostly polite formulas and jokes, like Si no le importa comer poco, el palacio de los reyes moros es suyo. The free plan also translates single words, up to a daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole adaptation takes 1-2 hours at the pace of someone who still translates new words. A chapter averages about 550 words, or 6-9 minutes of reading, so one evening easily covers several chapters.
Where does the text get easier?
The difficulty is even: each of the 10 chapters averages 9-10 words per sentence, so there is no easy stretch. Only long words vary: in chapter II, the astrologer’s legend, one word in 260 has 9 letters or more, and in chapter VII, about the three princesses, one in 24, mostly Zorahayda and words about the prisoners (prisionera, prisioneros).
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes, once you sign in: the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so next time you carry on from there. The contents on this page also take you straight to any chapter, say VI, “El legado del moro”, the water-carrier’s story.