It's impossible to think of the Alhambra and the Palacio del Generalife without recalling Irving, and even those who haven't read 'Cuentos de la Alhambra' have heard of them or have smelled their sweet aroma via other channels: by osmosis or, as Rubén Darío, a great admirer of the Nasrid enclave, would say, by unconscious reflection. A book can profoundly change our perception of a place and make it impossible to ever be the same for us. This is what 'Cuentos de la Alhambra' does. Irving doesn't simply reproduce (no doubt embellishing them considerably) the stories and legends he heard from his friend Mateo Jiménez, legitimate son of the Alhambra, and others, but rather he transmits to us what he gradually discovers for himself. Anyone reading these stories for the first time and with a spirit of adventure will not be disappointed.