Maybe you heard the same version, Geoff, but delivered by a Castillian.

In the version I heard, the haughty Illian wasn't cast, but merely dropped on his head. This formerly aragon womanizer eventually recovered enough to go into a pub where he met a friend from Pisa who inquired, "How-a com-a you arrive inna da barsalona, whenna you likea da women?

This may also be the origin of Bullship

Oh, RC, I am cowed by your grasp of nautical lore!