History Isn't That Dry

(Pun intended.)

The following is a quote from the book entitled The Quest for El Cid, one of the books I am using as a source for my 15 page paper (due Thursday before 9am... let the countdown begin!)

Irrigation in medieval Spain was of two sorts. The simpler was gravitational: the downward flow of water from its source in river or cistern was also controlled by means of a network of canals and sluices. The more complext was powered: water was raised artificially from its source by means of a wheel fitted with scoops or buckets, and then distributed as required. This was the mode of irrigation celebrated by, among others, the poet Ibn Waddah of Murcia (d. 1136) in his poem 'Waterwheel':

Oh the one weeping while the garden laughs
Whenever it spills o'er it is flowing tears:
What startles one who looks at it is this:
The lion's roar and the writhing of serpents!
It fashions silver ingots from the water of the pond,
And makes them grow in the gardens in the shape of dirhems!

Rarely if ever has market-gardening been so eloquently celebrated.