Harifa and Abindarráez secretly marry

Jarifa and Abindarráez secretly marry while her father is away from Coín, turning a long-standing mutual attachment into a commitment they make on their own terms. Their union joins a private promise to the public pressures of family authority, social standing, and Abindarráez’s obligation to return to Rodrigo de Narváez as a prisoner. The episode is recounted by Felismena as a story within the larger narrative.

Background and Separation

Abindarráez and Jarifa’s love had already been tested by a move imposed from above. Jarifa’s father, the governor of Cártama, was ordered by the king of Granada to leave that fortress for Coín. The lovers were separated when Jarifa remained in Cártama under the authority of the new governor, while Abindarráez stayed behind. Before they parted, Jarifa promised that she would send for him when an opportunity arose, so that their planned marriage could go forward.

That opportunity comes when her father is summoned to Granada by the king. Jarifa sends a trusted maid to call Abindarráez, and he sets out at night, dressed as gallantly as he can to meet the occasion. On the road, however, Rodrigo de Narváez and his men intercept him. After Abindarráez is wounded and captured, he tells Narváez that he is travelling to Jarifa to see her and marry her. Moved by his account, Narváez grants him two days’ freedom on his sworn promise to return to Álora.

The Secret Marriage

Abindarráez reaches Coín and enters by a concealed door, using the signal Jarifa’s maid had given him. Jarifa has been waiting anxiously; when they meet, their joy is so great that they embrace before either can speak. She then explains why she summoned him: she wants him to experience how a lover keeps her word, and she has arranged for him to become her prisoner just as she is his. By making him her husband, she says, she can place herself and her father’s property in his hands without violating her standing or his honor.

Jarifa understands that her father would oppose the match, since he does not know Abindarráez’s worth as she does and would prefer a wealthier husband for his daughter. She nevertheless regards Abindarráez’s character and the knowledge she has of him as greater riches than wealth. Her choice is neither a casual defiance nor a promise left indefinitely in the future: she makes the marriage the condition under which their love can be acknowledged and lived without compromising the honor they both invoke. Abindarráez accepts her as his wife and gives himself to her in return; the narrative describes their embrace and their loving exchange, while leaving the details of their intimacy aside.

Love and Obligation

The scene’s language of captivity reverses the political situation around the couple. Abindarráez has just been captured by Narváez, yet Jarifa presents herself as his captive and offers him mastery over her and her father’s estate through marriage. The metaphor expresses their mutual devotion, but it also makes the union a practical answer to the constraints placed on them: they are separated by their fathers’ positions and by the king’s command, and Jarifa’s father has not consented to the match.

Their private happiness is immediately shadowed by Abindarráez’s promise to return to Álora. After the couple have embraced, he suddenly grows sorrowful because he must leave Jarifa again. When she asks what troubles him, he explains that his distress comes not from regret over their marriage, but from the separation his pledged return will require. Jarifa’s response is to accompany him: their secret union becomes a shared decision to face the consequences together.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

Abindarráez and Jarifa return to Narváez’s custody, where Abindarráez identifies her as his wife and explains that fear of her father’s reaction kept her from remaining in Coín. He asks Narváez to intercede with the king of Granada so that Jarifa’s father will forgive them. Narváez’s later letter presents the marriage as a mutual act undertaken without the father’s permission and asks that the lovers be pardoned. The secret union therefore moves from a private declaration to a matter requiring public and royal recognition.

Told by Felismena at the house of Felicia, the episode places the lovers’ consent beside the authority they cannot simply ignore. Jarifa acts decisively in choosing her husband, but the couple’s freedom remains conditional: they must return to Narváez, and their future depends on forgiveness from Jarifa’s father. The marriage is at once a fulfilment of their promise and the beginning of a further appeal for family and political acceptance.