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Read Leyendas (selección) in Spanish

Leyendas (selección) by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer in the original Spanish, with our English translation beside every sentence and a dictionary on every word.

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Author
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Level
B2
Original
Leyendas (selección) · 1871
Length
~29k words
Reading time
~2 h
Translation
English, sentence by sentence

The opening lines

How Leyendas (selección) begins

ES

En Sevilla, en el mismo atrio de Santa Inés, y mientras esperaba que comenzase la Misa del Gallo, oí esta tradición a una demandadera del convento.

Como era natural, después de oirla, aguarde impaciente que comenzara la ceremonia, ansioso de asistir a un prodigio.

Nada menos prodigioso, sin embargo, que el órgano de Santa Inés, ni nada más vulgar que los insulsos motetes que nos regaló su organista aquella noche.

Al salir de la Misa, no pude por menos de decirle a la demandera con aire de burla:

EN

In Seville, in the very atrium of Santa Inés, and while waiting for the Midnight Mass to begin, I heard this tradition from a convent's alms-begging nun.

Naturally, after hearing it, I waited impatiently for the ceremony to begin, eager to witness a miracle.

Nothing less miraculous, however, than the organ of Santa Inés, nor anything more vulgar than the insipid motets that its organist treated us to that night.

Upon leaving Mass, I could not help but say to the alms-woman with a mocking air:

As the reader shows it: the original Spanish and our English translation, sentence by sentence. The translation is ours — made to help you follow the Spanish, not as a literary edition.

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About the book

About Leyendas (selección)

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer's Romantic legends, told as if overheard in old Spanish towns: the organist of Santa Inés in Seville who comes back to play on Christmas Eve, a night of souls on a haunted mountain, a lake whose green eyes lure a young hunter. Written for the ear — they are at their best read aloud.

In the LangOrbit reader, Leyendas (selección) opens with the English translation alongside, a dictionary on every word and audio in a Latin American or Spanish voice. The words you save go into your daily Spanish lesson.

Leyendas (selección)

Leyendas (selección) by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer in the original Spanish, with our English translation beside every sentence and a dictionary on every word.

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