Is it
possible she can be singing? Yes, in the wildest style of her
people; and here is a snatch of the song, in the language of Roma,
which she occasionally screams -
'En los sastos de yesque plai me diquelo,
Doscusanas de sonacai terelo, -
Corojai diquelo abillar,
Y ne asislo chapescar, chapescar.'
'On the top of a mountain I stand,
With a crown of red gold in my hand, -
Wild Moors came trooping o'er the lea,
O how from their fury shall I flee, flee, flee?
O how from their fury shall I flee?'
Such was the Gitana in the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, and much
the same is she now in the days of Isabel and Christina.
Of the Gitanas and their practices I shall have much to say on a
future occasion, when speaking of those of the present time, with
many of whom I have had no little intercourse. All the ancient
Spanish authors who mention these women speak of them in unmeasured
terms of abhorrence, employing against them every abusive word
contained in the language in which they wrote. Amongst other vile
names, they have been called harlots, though perhaps no females on
earth are, and have ever been, more chaste in their own persons,
though at all times willing to encourage licentiousness in others,
from a hope of gain.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149