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For the purposes of the new edition, every poem has been assigned a unique short title. The original short titles, taken eclectically from a number of sources, are retained as alternative short titles.
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CSM Number : 103
Short name: The Monk who Listened to a Bird’s Song for Three Hundred Years Alternative: Monk listens to bird's song for 300 years
Incipit: Quen a Virgen ben servirá 
Refrain: Quena Virgen ben servirá/ a Parayso irá .
Summary of narrative
View Options: (Narrative Miniature Narrative & Miniature Miniature & Caption Narrative, Miniature & Both Captions )
Setting: unspecified Protagonist(s): a monk

A monk entered a garden and discovered a beautiful fountain. He sat down beside it and prayed to the Virgin to give him a foretaste of Paradise.

A bird began to sing such a beautiful song that the monk was enchanted.

He stayed in the garden, listening to the bird for three hundred years, although it seemed as if he had only been there for a little while.

When the bird stopped singing, the monk got up to join the others for a meal.

He saw a large gate that he had never seen before and realised that this was not his monastery. He entered the church, but did not find his abbot, prior or fellow friars. Instead others had taken their place.

He told them what had happened and they praised the Virgin for the miracle.

Metrical data
Stanza: 15 15 16 Refrain: 8 7
No. of Stanzas: 13
Rhyme scheme: AA | bba Zejel: Yes
MS locations:
T103, E103, To93
Poncelet reference
None
Keywords
abbot, birdsong, fountain, garden, heaven, monks, song
Discography
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
BITAGAP ID
3820
Bibliography
Doctrina teológica y leyendas pías en las Cantigas de Santa Maria de Alfonso X, el Sabio
Alcalá, Ángel
Antología
Alfonso X
Cantigas de Santa Maria do rei don Alfonso
Alfonso X , o Sábio
Sobre a Cantiga CIII de Alfonso X
Alonso Monteiro, Xesús
Escolma de poesía galega. I: Escola medieval galego-portuguesa
Álvarez Blázquez, José María
Escolma da poesía medieval: 1198-1354
Álvarez Blázquez, José María
Cantiga 103
Anon.
The Oxford Book of Portuguese Verse
Bell, Aubrey F. G.
La funzione ‘tempo’ nelle raccolte miracolistiche mariane
Bertolucci Pizzorusso, Valeria
’La Arquitectura desde la Miniatura’, una aproximación desde la Baja Edad Media castellana
Chico Picaza, María Victoria
Textos Portugueses Medievais (3 ciclo dos liceus)
Correa de Oliveira, A. A., and Saavedra Machado
El Tiempo en las Cantigas
Devoto, Daniel
Sermons. Volum Primer, a cura di Josep Sanchis Sivera
Ferrer, Saint Vincent
Afonso X e Galicia, e unha escolma de cantigas
Filgueira Valverde, José
Cantigas d’El-Rey Sabio localizadas en Galicia, San Ero d’Armenteira
Filgueira Valverde, José
Cantigas d’El-Rey Sabio localizadas en Galicia, San Ero d’Armenteira
Filgueira Valverde, José
A lénda d’Armenteira (notas de folk-lore)
Filgueira Valverde, José
La cantiga CIII: noción del tiempo y gozo eterno en la narrativa medieval
Filgueira Valverde, José
Tiempo y gozo eterno en la narrativa medieval: la Cantiga CIII
Filgueira Valverde, José
L’efflorescence salvatrice du jardin marial dans le Códice Rico des Cantigas de Santa María d’Alphonse le Sage
Fournès, Ghislaine
Anthologie der geistigen kultur auf der Pyraenhalbinsel (mittelalter)
Giese, Wilhelm
’El canto del ave’: música y éxtasis en la Cantiga de Santa María 103
Girón Negrón, Luis Manuel
El rey Alfonso y las Cantigas de Santa María (Conferencia leída en el Centro Gallego el 7 de diciembre de 1929)
Ibarbourou, Juana de
Poésie galaïco-portugaise du Moyen Âge
Marey, J.
Cantigas de Santa Maria e cancioneiros galaico-portugueses
Martins, Mário
Em torno de ’O monge e o passarinho’
Melo, Gladstone Chaves de
Valle-Inclán y el milagro del monje de Heisterbach
Mille y Giménez, Juan
Afonso X e as Cantigas de Santa Maria localizadas en Galicia
Negri, Manuel
Uma lenda medieval: O monge e o passarinho
Nunes, José Joaquim
Crestomatia arcaica: excertos da literatura portuguesa, desde o que mais antigo se conhece até ao século XVI
Nunes, José Joaquim
Antologia de textos medievais
Pereira Tavares, J.
Antologia da poesia portuguesa, vol. I: séculos XII-XVI
Pinheiro Torres, Alexandre
An Anthology of Old Portuguese
Roberts, Kimberley S.
Textos de literatura portuguesa. I: Afonso X, o Sábio
Rodrigues Lapa, Manuel
Tres ensayos sobre el arte en las Cantigas de Santa Maria de Alfonso el Sabio
Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier
A Selected and Annotated Discography of Recordings of Music from the Middle Ages in Spain
Tinnell, Roger D.
Las Cantigas del Rey Sabio
Valera, Juan
Cantigas de Santa Maria de Afonso X, O Sábio: aspectos culturais e literários
Vaz Leão, Angela
113 Galician-Portuguese Troubadour Poems
Zenith, Richard