El Abencerraje - Cervantes & Co. Spanish Classics Anonymous Spanish edition

Although the renowned author of "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was not describing El Abencerraje specifically, he certainly could have been, for the attractive exoticism he found in Spain's history and literature is one of the reasons for the Moorish novel's popularity. El Abencerraje, an anonymous, sixteenth-century tale, describes the relationship between a gallant Moor and a heroic Christian that develops toward the end of the reconquista. The story progresses from their initial encounter as enemies on the battlefield to their vow to remain eternal friends in the end. The brevity of this masterpiece of Spanish literature should not detract from its importance as the first novela morisca or Moorish novel and as a literary artifact of Spanish history.