En la ciudad de Toledo

Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y 5540/8       
Referenced and notated in: Moroccan Sephardic Romancero, pg. 151, Gaon Books, House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak.

The romance, which tells of a couple's love despite opposition from her father, already appears in a 17th-century broadsheet and, although it is also found in Asturias and the Canary Islands, it is particularly widespread among the Sephardic Jews of Morocco, among whom it was one of the best-known romances. 

Text:
En la ciudad de Toledo       y en la ciudad de Granada,
y ahí se ha criado un mancebo    que Diego León se llama.
Y él era alto de cuerpo,    morenito de su cara,
y estrechito de cintura,   mozo criado entre damas.
De una tal se enamoró,     de una muy linda muchacha:
se miran por una reja     y también por una ventana.
Y el día que no se ven     no les aprovecha nada:
ni les aprovecha el pan,    ni el agua de la mañana,
ni les aprovecha el dinero    con que León negociaba.
Y un día se vieron juntos,    dijo León a su dama:
- Mañana te he de pedir,    no vaya ser en hora mala.
Lo que la dama responde,   lo que a León le agradaba.
Otro día a la mañana       con don Pedro se encontrara,
con el sombrero en la mano   los buenos días le daba:
- Don Pedro, deme a su hija,   y a su hija doña Juana.
- Mi hija no es de casar     y aún es chiquita y muchacha.
Por hacer burla del caso     y a su casa lo contara:
- Hija, León te ha pedido,   no vayas en hora mala;
y el que mi yerno ha de ser   y ha de menester que traiga
de caudal cien mil ducados   y otros tantos de oro y plata,
y otros tantos le daré,     hija mía y de mi alma.
- Padre, casísme con él,    aunque nunca me deis nada,
que los bienes de este mundo   Dio los daba y los llevaba.
Y d'allí supo su padre    que de amor está tocada.
Cerróla en un aposento    para que con León no hablara.
Mandara cuatro valientes,   los mayores de la plaza,
que mataran a León      y le trajeran su alma.
León a los tres mató     y el uno herido estaba.
Tres días no eran pasados,   León en la plaza estaba:
cogió tres chinas del suelo    y a la ventana arrojara.
- Mi dama que no arresponde,   de sea que está trocada.
- No 'stoy trocada, Len,    qu' aún sigo yo en mi palabra.
Bajara las escaleras      comío una leona brava,
tres días no eran pasados,    las ricas bodas se arman.

Translation:
In the city of Toledo and in the city of Granada,
there grew up a young man named Diego León.
He was tall, with a dark complexion,
a narrow waist, a young man raised among ladies.
He fell in love with a very pretty girl:
they looked at each other through a latice and also a window.
And the day they don't see each other is of no use to them:
neither bread nor water is of any use to them,
nor is the money that León traded with.
And one day they saw each other, and León said to his lady:
- Tomorrow I will ask you, lest it be at an inopportune hour.
The lady replied, and León was pleased.
Another day in the morning, he met Don Pedro,
with hat in hand, he greeted him with a good day:
- Don Pedro, give me your daughter, your daughter Doña Juana.
- My daughter is not of marriageable age, she is still a young girl.
To make fun of the situation, he told her at home:
- Daughter, Leon has asked for your hand, don't go at a bad time
and the man who is to be my son-in-law must bring
a dowry of one hundred thousand ducats and as many in gold and silver,
and I will give him as much, my daughter and my soul.
- Father, marry me to him,    even if you give me nothing,
for the goods of this world   God gives and takes away.
And from this his father knew    that she was touched by love.
He locked her in a room    so that she could not speak to Leon.
He sent four brave men,   the best of the town,
to kill León      and bring him his soul.
León killed three of them     and wounded the fourth.
Three days had not passed,   when León was in the town square:
he picked up three pebbles from the ground    and threw them at the window.
- My lady does not respond,   she must have changed her mind.
- I have not changed my mind, Leon,    I still stand by my word.
She went down the stairs      like a fierce lioness,
and within three days,    the lavish wedding was prepared.