Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Carcayona: Aljamía Legend
The music is Morisco music, found on Iberian Garden, Vol. 1 by
Altramar. The piece is Muwashshah: Mā li-l-muwallah, 1113-1198.
This music takes place at the beautiful gardens along the Guadalquiver, near Cordoba.
This is during the "convivencia" under Alfonso X (El Sabio - The Wise), the time
before Granda fell: when Christians, Moslems and Jews lived at peace with each
other. Muwashshah are songs in poetic form, with instrumental interludes in the
form of Ibn Bājja (Avempace): 1470-1520. This is Morisco art.
"Carcayona" is an Aljamía fairy tale. Aljamía
is Castilian Spanish, but written in Arabic letters, from right to left.
Aljamía was used by Moriscos, and as it could be used by the
Inquisition, was an underground language. Such writing was hidden under
floor boards, in walls, etc. Later, as buildings were demolished, such
writings were discovered. Carcayona is one such writing. Carcayona is
also known in variants, as "The Handless Bride", "The Orchard",
"Silver Hands", etc.
"Carcayona is the beautiful daughter of a king of
the 'rromanos' (Gypsies, Roma, Gitano, Zigeuner)
in ancient India. Her mother died in childbirth. As Carcayona grew into
puberty, her father made incestuous advances to her. When he 'demanded her
body,' the young girl asked, 'Well, O father, why do you want to begin
something that could shame you all the days of your life and then of your
death? Have you heard of any king who did this with his daughter?' Without
replying, her father left in shame.
One day as Carcayona is praying to a bejeweled and golden idol that her
father has given her, an angel in the form of a golden dove flies in and
alights first on her head and then on that of the idol. She marvels at the
sight 'because the dove was of yellow gold, and its tail of vermillion peals,
and its feet of silver, and its beak of white pearls, enameled with seed
pearls.' Declaring the idol worthless, the dove tells her of the true God,
Allah. In a long dialogue as the maiden asks to learn more 'of those words
so good that their sweetness has entered my heart,' the dove summarizes
all the basic beliefs of Islam. Describing all of creation as the work of
Allah, the dove tells the maiden of a paradise of seven beautiful castles
that awaits the faithful and, for those who disobey Allah, a hell where
'they neither die nor live, and each day for them pain upon pain grows in
the fire.'
After the dove leaves, Carcayona repeats its message to her father, who
tries to convince her that she is mistaken and that she must contiue to
worship the idol. She replies that he is the one who is wrong. As she
persists in worsipping only Allah, her father fears that her disobedience
will cause him to lose his kingdom. 'O daughter!' he says, 'Return to who
you are, or I will do what I have to.' Yet Carcayona does not flinch: 'O
father!' although you cut off my hands and burn me with fire, I will not
stop serving Allah, my lord.' Finally her father orders that her hands be
cut off and that she be abandoned on a mountain. She cries aloud to Allah,
'and the angels wept for her and prayed to Allah for her.' Wounded and
afraid in the wilderness, Carcayona prays to Allah, who leads her to a
sheltering cave. Here she finds many fierce wild beasts, but they do not
attack her. 'Rejoice that the piety of Allah is on you,' they tell her,
bringing her food, and playing with her 'as the dog with its master.'
At the same time, the king of Antioch comes hunting in the area. He follows
a doe who leads him to the cave where he finds the beautiful maiden, Carcayona.
Falling in love with her, he converts to her religion and takes her home as his
wife. They also take the doe with them. Soon the new wife is pregnant, but her
husband is called away to battle in a distant place. Once he has gone and a
baby boy is born to Carcayona, a letter comes to her mother-in-law supposedly
from her son, the king. 'Dear mother,' the letter begins, 'when this letter
arrives, throw the witch out of my castle and my kingdom, for she has bewitched
everyone, and has made us abandon our law, for that son that she gave birth to
is not mine; and if you do not do what I command, you will never see me again.'
Sorrowfully, the queen mother sends off to the wilderness her daughter-in-law,
her grandchild, and the doe that had first led the king to rescue Carcayona.
Once more in the wilderness, Carcayona cries out to Allah. The golden dove
appears and tells Carcayona that Allah is with her and will have pity on her. It
directs her to pray to Allah for the restoration of her hands, urging her to ask
this favor so that Allah will not be denied his power of goodness. As Carcayona
prays, she falls asleep and later awakens to find her hands miraculously restored.
Delighted, she gathers up branches to construct a shelter where she and the child
and the doe can live.
Meanwhile, the king of antioch has returned home to find that his wife, son, and
the doe have been banished. Realizing that some women of 'great envy' have forged
the letter to his mother, he sets out to find Carcayona again. Allah guides him
to the shelter she has built. The king calls 'with his loudest voice,' but
Carcayona 'did not want to respond, because he had betrayed her and ordered her
thrown out of his house.' He convinces her that he did not write the letter
ordering her banishment, and he rejoices in the miracle of her restored hands.
'O my love,' he says to her, 'let us go to our kingdom.' But she replies, 'I will
not return to the place of such evil people.' As the storyteller recounts, 'the
king did not stop from entreting her, and telling her that there would be a new
city, where the religion of Allah could be taught.' They agree that together they
will build a new city on the banks of the Euphrates. 'And it was populated then
in a short time and they called it the city Carcayona
("la cibdad de Carcaisiyona" 1)
and they taught in it the religion of Allah, may he be glorified.'
The story then concludes with Arabic words and the affirmation 'There is no force
or power, but in God, the high, the great.' " 2
The multiple tortures and threats found in this tail parallel in fact, the multiple
attacks made by Iberian Catholics upon Muslims, the use of punishments of burnings
to death, accusations of witchcraft, enslavery, creation of ghettos, spying,
conversion of mosques into churches, reneging of the "Capitulations" at the time of
the fall of Grenada, actually inflicted historically upon Moriscos signal deceit.
The father figure of the king clearly represents the Catholic kings. Catholic icons
of idolotry such as statues of Jesus, Mary, saints clearly are opposed to the anti-idolatry
of Moslems, Jews, and Lutherans. Catholic views of the trinity were opposed to the
monotheism of Moslems, Jews, and Lutherans. Among the Moslems, the "word"
of God represented by Aljamía writings is significant,
thus opposition to these writings is a direct affront to not only Moslems, Jews, Lutherans,
but even to Catholicism. 3, 4
It is claimed that in fact, "La leyenda de la doncella Carcayona" in the Morisco
version has been incorporated into one of the best-known episodes of Don Quijote,
dealing with pirates, renegades, Muslims and Christians found in the "Captive's Tale"!
The significance of this interpretation modifies views about literature (Don Quijote as
Europe's first modern novel), and nascent capitalism during the Colonialist adventures in
Africa and the New World. 5
1
"Handless Maidens, Modern Texts: A New Reading of Cervantes's The Captive's Tale",
by Mary B. Quinn, Modern Language Notes, Vol. 123, No. 2, Hispanic Issue, 2008, pp. 213-229,
p. 216
2
"The Handless Maiden: Moriscos and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Spain",
by Mary Elizabeth Perry, pp. 27-30
3
ibid., pp. 32-34
4
"Handless Maidens, Modern Texts: A New Reading of Cervantes's The Captive's Tale",
by Mary B. Quinn, Modern Language Notes, Vol. 123, No. 2, Hispanic Issue, 2008, pp. 213-229,
footnote 6, p. 215
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