La reina mora [English translation]

The Catalan kingdom is occupied

by our Christian enemies

and the only thing left is Siurana the Moor1

We'll resist, brave Muslims,

with the tallest castell2 of all

and they'll never take beautiful Siurana

But suddenly, whilst I'm serving dinner,

and my husband is fighting outside,

An arrow crosses the room and lands in the middle of the table set

An arrow crosses the room and lands in the middle of the table set

The guests start to scream,

and they all immediately flee, running

all the way to their house to take refuge

In front of me there's no more than three soldiers

who nod and make up their minds

"She is the queen, the Queen of the Moors!"

But I, the Queen of the Moors who knows how to fight

charge against those soldiers

And with the hidden sword that I carry in my dress I cut the necks of these three bandits

And with the hidden sword that I carry in my dress I cut the necks of these three bandits

Contemplating the proud bath of blood

neither my sword nor arm trembles:

"Run, my legs, in order that I might escape"

There aren't just the three of them in front of me

There's many more breastplates with red crosses.

What's a queen worth? A dead queen?

And on the back of the white horse, nothing in front of me

I decide to take the last leap

And covering the blue eyes of this poor animal, he and I fall together down the cliff

And covering the blue eyes of this poor animal, he and I fall together down the cliff

If I flee, it's because my honour

is stronger than the beating of my heart

Remember Siurana the Queen of the Moors.

1. Siurana is a town in Tarragona; it was the last town in Catalonia to fall to the Christians during the Reconquista in 11532. Catalan tradition of human pyramids