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Cantiga 185 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X

The Woman whose Mother-in-law Plotted her Death
[CSM 186 on the Oxford database.]
A woman lived in her husband’s house. Her mother-in-law despised her and plotted her death.
One day when the woman was sleeping alone, the mother-in-law ordered one of her Moorish servants to lie down beside her.
Then she summoned her son and showed him his sleeping wife. The husband wanted to kill his wife, but his mother advised him to report the affair to the magistrate.
The magistrate and many other witnesses saw the woman in bed with the Moor. They seized them and led them to the town square.
The people lit a fire and cast the pair into the flames. The Moor was burnt to death, but the people saw a lady protecting the woman in the midst of the fire.
When the woman came out of the fire, she told the people that the Virgin had delivered her.



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