Word: swords
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...well-night canonize for conquests far bloodier than Pizarro's. At the winter fiestas you see them, these modern conquistadors. Slim young daredevils from the bullrings of Spain, they strike attitudes of high insolence before holiday crowds, exacting homage for a flick of a cloak and a deft, scornful sword-jab. They scoop in gold fortunes that would dwarf Pizarro's little pilferings. They laugh aloud at the rich sport of it. They wave gay adieux as they are feted to their ships...
...haughty man of the hour turns his back on the bull, receives his sword and muleta (a brilliant scarlet cloth hung from a short stick) and addresses himself to the president of the fight. He asks permission to commit tauricide and, that received, next dedicates the animal to a portion of the arena, or to a lady, or to a wealthy patron, by tossing his hat into the stand. When the hat comes back, its owner is confident of finding therein some costly gift...
...flourish, a bow, and the hat is swept on again. A cool survey of the arena, and the hero steps jauntily towards his victim. He arranges his muleta as he goes, balancing his sword ' above it with arch precision. Grace is everything. The watching thousands bate their breath to see such bravery in a mincing mayfly. He makes it seem the merest trifle to approach a snorting, bloody-eyed monster where it stands at bay, to halt six paces off and pose a second, waiting for the animal to come into position; to rise on tiptoe and make a dainty...
...inner courtyard of Buckingham Palace eight beautiful horses champed impatiently at their bits. The royal state coach?the magnificent guilded vehicle, built in 1761, with its red plush lining and its three genii of England, Scotland and Ireland supporting the imperial crown and holding the sword of state, the sceptre and the emblems of knighthood?stood under the portecochère. Postilions were mounted, and the twelve powdered footmen, dressed in the royal livery, were at their posts. A sudden bustle, the opening of doors, the trampling of many feet, and down the red-carpeted stairs came King George and Queen...
...unlikely that this busy little state will allow the Balkans, to relapse from the front page. Other states may fall in line with the humdrum task of self-government and industrial development, but Albania will always stand by the ancient and honored ideal of self-determination by the sword. The new-fangled ideas of democracy and representative government may vitiate the national character of neighboring countries, but Albania is resolved to uphold to the last man the Balkan ideal of confusion, poverty, and anarchy...