HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

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xlvii
they crouched in the dirty straw.
" Hardly twelve years old seemed the
one, the other not much older; their
faces fair and noble, but pale and wan
with sickness.
" They were all in rags, almost naked;
and their lean bodies showed wounds,
the marks of ill-usage; both of them
shivered with fever.
"They looked up at me out of the
depth of their misery; ' who,' I cried in
horror to Don Diego, ' are these pictures
of wretchedness?'
" Don Diego seemed embarrassed; he
looked round to see that no one was
listening; then he gave a deep sigh;
and at last, putting on the easy tone of
a man of the world, he said :
"'These are a pair of king's sons,
who were early left orphans; the name
of their father was King Pedro, the
name of their mother, Maria de Padilla.
"' After the great battle of Navarette,
when Henry of Transtamare had relieved
his brother, King Pedro, of the
troublesome burden of the crown,
"'And likewise of that still more
troublesome burden, which is called life,
then Don Henry's victorious magnanimity
had to deal with his brother's
children.
"' He has adopted them, as an uncle v
should; and he has given them free
quarters in his own castle.
"'The room which he has assigned
to them is certainly rather small, but