Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Matthias Grammel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK _by arrangement with the A. Flanagan Company_
MY "PARISIAN" SISTER, HER "RUMANIAN" HUSBAND, AND THE MEMORY OF THE "RUSSIAN" BALLET DANCING WHICH SHE USED TO DO IN "AMERICA" WHEN SHE WAS THE AGE OF LITTLE "SPANISH" PILAR!
The photographs in this book were taken in Spain by the author. The character of "The Little Spanish Dancer" is portrayed by Pilar Herrera, of Seville, a charming little girl, whom we wish to thank for helping to decorate this book.
Chapter III In Old Cadiz (A Legend of the Castanets) 32
Chapter V In Old Granada (A Legend of the Castanets) 61
Chapter IX The Mystery of the Young Prince 100
Chapter XI Dance of the Six (A Legend of the Castanets) 123
Chapter XII Pilar's Grandfather Remembers 134
Chapter XIII Bullfight in Madrid (A Legend of the Castanets) 138
PARK IN MADRID, STATUE OF KING ALFONSO 107
TOMBS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, GRANADA CATHEDRAL 114
_From a Painting by Goya_ DOÑA ISABEL CORBO DE PORCEL 147
[Illustration: THE LITTLE SPANISH DANCER]
Pilar was dancing in the Murillo (m[+u]-r[)i]l´[=o]) Garden. It was a beautiful public garden named after the great Spanish painter, Murillo, who died in a house near by.
Pilar had been born ten years ago in this old city of Seville (s[+e]-v[)i]l´). If you had asked Pilar, "Where is New York?" she would doubtless have laughed with her lovely dark eyes and inquired, "Is it in Seville?" Because, to Pilar, as to most of her friends, there was only one world, and that world was Seville.
Now a terrible thing was happening at Pilar's home this evening. But Pilar did not know it because she was dancing in the garden. Every night, after her grandfather went to bed, she ran off and danced with her friends to the music of a hurdy-gurdy.
But tonight, after Pilar had left, her grandfather had been taken very ill. The neighbors had sent for a doctor, who shook his head gravely over the poor old man.
Pilar knew nothing about this as she clicked her castanets and whirled about in the dance they call the Sevillana.
She was one of the best dancers in her group. And why not? Her mother had been a dancer; her grandmother, too, yes, and her great-grandmother and her great-great--oh, ever so many great-grandmothers! They had all been dancers.