THE BRIDE OF THE LAST SPRING

The Lion Fountain went dry in the night, and the court read it as proof that the water-master's house had sold Granada's water to the enemy. To clear her name, Zulaykha is bound by old water law to a wounded Castilian prisoner: if he escapes, or dies of his wound, or lies before the basin, her house answers for all three. Then he speaks, and instead of pleading he gives her a measurement – the northern water stands seven handspans lower than anyone thinks. Seven handspans do not mean drought. They mean someone upstream has already taken it.