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CSM Number : 212
Short name: The Stolen Necklace Alternative: Stolen necklace recovered
Incipit: Tod’ aquel que pola Virgen/ quiser do seu ben fazer
Refrain: Tod’ aquel que pola Virgen/ quiser do seu ben fazer/ cousa que lle faça mingua/ grande non á de perder.
Summary of narrative
Setting: Toledo Protagonist(s): a wealthy woman

In Toledo, it was the custom for wealthy women to offer gifts and favours to poor ones who were getting married. A wealthy woman was in the habit of lending a valuable necklace to poor women so that they could wear it at their weddings. Her husband rebuked her for this and forbade her to lend it.

One day a woman asked her to lend it to her daughter. Although the wealthy woman was reluctant to lend it, she did so because the woman asked her to do so for the Virgin’s sake.

When the woman and her daughter were bathing, someone stole the necklace. They raised the alarm, and a Mooress told the owner of the necklace what had happened.

The woman, terrified of her husband, went to pray in front of a statue of the Virgin.

Meanwhile, the woman who had stolen the necklace, decided to leave the city. After stopping at home, she took a shortcut through the church.

The owner of the necklace had been weeping so much that she fell asleep. Barely awake, she imagined that the woman passing through the church was concealing the necklace. She summoned her and discovered the necklace hidden in her bosom.

Metrical data
Stanza: 15 15 15 15 Refrain: 15 15
No. of Stanzas: 11
Rhyme scheme: AA | bbba Zejel: Yes
MS locations:
Poncelet reference
bathing, image (of Virgin Mary), loan, loss (of item), Muslims/Moors, necklace, thief/ thieves
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
Alcalá, Ángel
Anglés, Higinio
Old Spanish Garpios
Keller, John Esten
La criado ’que hurtó la taça o perdió el anillo’: Alfonso X, Fernando de Rojas, Lope de Rueda
Pedroso, José Manuel