BOOK to go, to go, and he set forward at night toward Albarrazin, and came to the Fountain. Now that land was in peace, and the dwellers thereof kept neither watch nor ward; and his foragers slew many, and made many prisoners, and drove great flocks and herds, sheep and kine, and brood mares, and prisoners all together, and they carried away all the corn; and they sent all the spoil to Juballa, and it was so great that Valencia and Juballa and all their dependencies were rich with cattle and with other things. While the Cid lay before Albarrazin, as he one day rode forth with five of his knights to disport himself, there came twelve knights out of the town, thinking to slay him or take him. And he pricked forward against them, and encountered them so bravely that he slew twain, and other twain he overthrew, so that they were taken, and the rest were put to flight: but he remained with a wound in his throat from the push Cid. cap. of a spear, and they thought he would have died of that wound; and it was three weeks before it was healed. Chr. del 175. Chr. Gen. ff. 259. How Aben the Cid. XI. Now came true tidings to Valencia that the host of iaf sent for the Almoravides were coming, and that they were now at Lorca, and the son in law of the Miramamolin at their head, for he himself could not come, by reason that he ailed. They of Valencia took courage at these tidings, and waxed insolent, and began to devise how they should take vengeance upon Abeniaf, and upon all those who had oppressed them. And Abeniaf was in great trouble at this which was said openly concerning him, and he sent privily to the Cid, telling him to come as soon as might be. The Cid was then before Albarrazin, doing all the evil that he could, and he brake up his camp, and came with his host to Juballa; and Abeniaf and the Alcaydes of Xativa and Carchayra came unto him, and they renewed their covenant to stand by each other, and be of one voice. And they took counsel and made a letter for the leader of the army of the Almoravides, wherein they told him that the Cid had made a treaty with the King of Aragon, whereby the King bound VI. This did Chr. del himself to help him against them; and they bade him be- BOOK ware how he came towards Valencia, unless he chose to do battle with eight thousand Christian horsemen, covered with iron, and the best warriors in the world. they, thinking that he would be dismayed and turn back: 176. but the Moor did not cease to advance, notwithstanding this . 259. letter. Cid. cap. Chr. Gen. ff. Cid asked give him a XII. There was a garden nigh unto Valencia, which had How the belonged to Abenalhazis, and the Cid asked Abeniaf to Abeniaf to give it him, that he might take his pleasure there, when he garden. was disposed to solace himself. This he did cunningly, that when the Almoravides heard how this garden had been given him, which was so nigh unto the city, they should ween that the men of Valencia had given it, and that they were better pleased with his company than with theirs. Abeniaf granted it. And the Cid was wary, and would not enter it till a gateway had been opened into the garden, for the entrance was through narrow streets, and the Cid would not trust himself in those strait places: so Abeniaf ordered the gate to be made, and told the Cid that he would be his host on a day appointed. And Abeniaf bedecked the gate of this garden full richly, and spread costly carpets, and ordered the way to be strewn with rushes, and made a great feast, and expected him all the day, but he did not come. And when it was night he sent to say that he was sick, and he could not come and he prayed him to hold him excused. This he did to see whether they of Valencia would murmur against him. And the sons of Aboegib and all the people murmured greatly, and would fain in their hearts have risen against Abeniaf; but they durst not because of the Cid, with whom they would not fall out, least he should lay waste all that was without the walls. And they looked daily for the Almoravides, and one day they said, Lo! now they are coming and on the morrow they said, They are coming not. And in this manner some days past on. And the murmur which there had been concerning the gar VI. BOOK den died away; and then the Cid entered it, and took possession of the whole suburb of Alcudia round about it: and this he did peaceably, for the Moors and Christians dwelt there together. Chr. del Cid. cap. 177. 178. Chr. Gen. ff. 259. How they age because of the ap proach of the Almo ravides. XIII. Now came true tidings that the host of the Almoof Valencia ravides, which was at Lorca, was coming on through Murtook cour-cia, and that the tarriance which they had made had been by reason of their Captain, who had fallen sick, but he was now healed, and they were advancing fast. And the sons of Aboegib and great part of the people rejoiced in these tidings, and took heart: and Abeniaf was in great fear, and he began to excuse himself to the men of the town, and said unto them to pacify them, that they did him wrong to complain of him for the garden which the Cid had asked of him; inasmuch as he had only given it him to disport himself therein for some days and take his pleasure, and that he would make him leave it again whenever it should please them. Moreover he said, that seeing they were displeased with what he had done, he would take no farther trouble upon him; but would send. to break off his covenant with the Cid, and send to bid him look out for others to collect his payments, for he would have the charge no longer. This he said in his cunning, thinking that he should pacify them; but they understood his heart, and they cried aloud against him that they would not stand to his covenant, nor by his counsel, but that the sons of Aboegib should counsel them, and whatsoever they should think good, that would they do. And they gave order to fasten the gates of the town, and to keep watch upon the towers and walls. When Abeniaf saw this he ceased to do as he had been wont, for fear of the people and of the sons of Aboegib, and Chr. del took unto himself a greater company to be his guard. And Cid. cap. the war was renewed between the Cid and the people of Chr. Gen. Valencia. 178. 179. ff. 260. XIV. Now came true tidings that the host of the Almoravides was nigh unto Xativa; and the people of Valencia VI. Of the great wind which Almora were glad and rejoiced, for they thought that they were now BOOK delivered from their great misery, and from the oppression of the Cid. And when he heard these tidings he left the rain and garden and went to the place where his host was encamped, caused the which was called Xarosa, and remained there in his tents, vides to and he was at a stand what he should do, whether to abide turn back. the coming of the Almoravides, or to depart; howbeit he resolved to abide and see what would befall. And he gave order to break down the bridges and open the sluices, that the plain might be flooded, so that they could only come by one way, which was a narrow pass. Tidings now came that the host of the Almoravides was at Algezira de Xucar, and the joy of the people of Valencia increased, and they went upon the walls and upon the towers to see them come. And when night came they remained still upon the walls, for it was dark, and they saw the great fires of the camp of the Almoravides, which they had pitched near unto a place called Bacer; and they began to pray unto God, beseeching him to give them good speed against the Christians, and they resolved as soon as the Almoravides were engaged in battle with the Cid, that they would. issue forth and plunder his tents. But our Lord Jesus Christ was not pleased that it should be so, and he ordered it after another guise; for he sent such a rain that night, with such a wind and flood as no man living remembered, and when it was day the people of Valencia looked from the wall to see the banners of the Almoravides and the place where they had encamped, and behold they could see nothing: and they were full sorrowful, and knew not what they should do, and they remained in such state as a woman in her time of childing, till the hour of tierce, and then came tidings that the Almoravides had turned back, and would not come unto Valencia. For the rains and floods had dismayed them, and they thought the waters would have swept them away, and that the hand of God was against them, and therefore they turned back. And when the people of Valencia heard this VI. BOOK they held themselves for dead men, and they wandered about the streets like drunkards, so that a man knew not his neighbor, and they smeared their faces with black like unto pitch, and they lost all thought like one who falls into the waves of the sea. And then the Christians drew nigh unto the walls, crying out unto the Moors with a loud voice like thunder, calling them false traitors and renegadoes, and saying, Give up the town to the Cid Ruydiez, for ye cannot escape from him. And the Moors were silent, and made no reply because of their great misery. Chr. del Cid. cap. 179. 180. Chr. Gen. ff. 260. Of the great price of food in Valencia, and how the suburbs were destroyed. XV. Then Abenalfarax, a Moor of Valencia, he who wrote this history in Arabic, took account of the food which was in the city, to see how long it could hold out. And he says that the cafiz of wheat was valued at eleven maravedis, and the cafiz of barley at seven maravedis, and that of pulse or other grain at six; and the arroba of honey at fifteen dineros; and the arroba of carobs' the third of a maravedi, and the arroba of onions two thirds of a maravedi, and the arroba of cheese two maravedis and a half, and the measure of oil which the Moors call maron, a maravedi, and the quintal of figs five maravedis, and the pound of mutton six dineros of silver, and the pound of beef four. These maravedis were silver ones, for no other money was current among them. The Moors who dwelt in the suburbs carried all the best of their goods into the city, and the rest they buried. And when the Cid was certain that the Almoravides were not coming, he returned again to lodge in the garden, and gave order to spoil the suburbs, save that of Alcudia, because the inhabitants of that had received him without resistance: and the Moors fled into the city with their wives and children. And when the Christians began to plunder the suburbs they of the town came out and plundered also 1 Alcarchofas - artichokes, the Chronica del Cid has it; this cannot have been a common article of food. The Chronica General substitutes the right word. |