CHAPTER III.
DOMESTIC FEUDS IN THE ALHAMBRA--RIVAL SULTANAS--PREDICTIONS CONCERNING BOABDIL, THE HEIR TO THE THRONE--HOW FERDINAND MEDITATES WAR AGAINST GRANADA, AND HOW HE IS ANTICIPATED.
Though Muley Abul Hassan was at peace in his external relations, a civil war raged in his harem, which it is proper to notice, as it had a fatal effect upon the fortunes of the kingdom.

Though cruel by nature, he was uxorious and somewhat prone to be managed by his wives.

Early in life he had married his kinswoman, Ayxa (or Ayesha), daughter of his great-uncle, the sultan Mohammed VII., surnamed El Hayzari, or the Left-handed.

She was a woman of almost masculine spirit and energy, and of such immaculate and inaccessible virtue that she was generally called La Horra, or the Chaste.

By her he had a son, Abu Abdallah, or, as he is commonly named by historians, Boabdil.