IX. Poema del 3263. cap. 253. Cid. 3211. Chr.del Cid. Chr. Gen. ff. 294. How the Cid third de made his mandagainst the Infantes. Who can tell the trouble in which the Infantes were, to pay BOOK this treasure to the Cid, they and all their kindred and friends, for it was full hard for them to accomplish. And they took up upon trust horses and mules and wrought silver, and other precious things, and as they could get them, delivered them over to the Cid. Then might you have seen many a good-going horse brought there, and many a good mule, and many a good palfrey, and many a good sword with its mountings. And they sent to Carrion to their father and mother to help them, for they were in great trouble: and they raised for them all they could, so that they made up the sum within the time appointed. And then they thought that the matter was at an end, and that nothing more would be demanded from them. · XI. After this payment had been made the Cortes assembled again, and the King and all the honourable men being each in his place, the Cid rose from his ivory seat, and said, Sir, praise be to God and your favour, I have recovered my swords, and my treasure; now then I pray you let this other demand be heard which I have to make against the Infantes. Full hard it is for me to make it, though I have it rooted in my heart! I say then, let them make answer before you, and tell why it was that they besought you to marry them with my daughters, and why they took them away from me from Valencia, when they had it in heart to dishonour me, and to strike them, and leave them as they were left, in the Oak-forest of Corpes? Look, Sir, what dishonour they did them! they stript them of the garments which they had not given them, as if they had been bad women, and the children of a bad father. With less than mortal defiance I shall not let them go!... How had I deserved this, Infantes, at your hands? I gave you my daughters to take with you from Valencia; with great honour and great treasures gave I them unto you; .. Dogs and Trai IX. BOOK tors,.. ye took them from Valencia when ye did not love them, and with your bridles ye smote and with your spurs ye spurned and wounded them, and ye left them alone in the Oakforest, to the wild beasts, and to the birds of the mountain ! King Don Alfonso, they neither remembered God, nor you, nor me, nor their own good fortune! And here was fulfilled the saying of the wise man, that harder it is for those who have no understanding to bear with good than with evil. Praise be to God and to your grace, such a one am I, and such favour hath God shown me, from the day when I first had horse and arms, until now, that not only the Infantes of Carrion, but saving yourself, Sir, there is not a King in Christendom who might not think himself honoured in marrying with either of my daughters,.. how much more then these traitors!..I beseech you give me justice upon them for the evil and dishonour which they have done me! And if you and your Cortes will not right me, through the mercy of God and my own good cause, I will take it myself, for the offence which they have committed against God and the faith, and the truth which they promised and vowed to their wives. I will pull them down from the honour in which they now are; better men than they have I conquered and made prisoners ere now! and with your license, Sir, to Carrion will I follow them, even to their inheritance, and there will I besiege them, and take them by the throat, and carry them prisoners to Valencia to my daughters, and there make them do penance for the crime which they have committed, and feed them with the food which they deserve. If I do not perform this, call me a flat traitor. When the King heard this he rose up and said, that it might be seen how he was offended in this thing. Certes, Cid Ruydiez Campeador, I asked your daughters of you for the Infantes of Carrion, because, as they well know, they besought me to do so, I never having thought thereof. IX. Cid. 3282. Chr. del Cid. Chr. Gen. f. 295. defied the It well seemeth now that they were not pleased BOOK with this marriage which I made at their request, and great part of the dishonour which they have done you, toucheth me. But seeing ye are here in my presence, it is not fitting that you make your demand in any other manner than through my Cortes; do you therefore accuse them, and let them acquit them- Poema del selves if they can before my Alcaldes, who will pass sentence 3264. according to what is right. And the Cid kissed the King's hand, cap. 254. and returned to his place upon the ivory seat. XII. Then the Cid arose and said, God prosper you, Sir, in How the Cid life, and honour, and estate, since you have compassion for me Infantes. and for the dishonour which my daughters have received. And he turned towards the Infantes of Carrion, and said, Ferrando Gonzalez and Diego Gonzalez, I say that ye are false traitors for leaving your wives as ye left them in the Oak-forest; and here before the King I attaint you as false traitors, and defy you, and will produce your peers who shall prove it upon you, and slay you or thrust you out of the lists, or make you confess it in your throats. And they were silent. And the King said, that seeing they were there present, they should make answer to what the Cid had said. Then Ferrando Gonzalez the elder arose and said, Sir, we are your subjects, of your kingdom of Castille, and of the best hidalgos therein, sons of the Count Don Gonzalo Gonzalez; and we hold that men of such station as ourselves were not well married with the daughters of Ruydiez of Bivar. And for this reason we forsook them, because they come not of blood fit for our wives, for one lineage is above another. Touching what he says, that we forsook them, he saith truly; and we hold that in so doing we did nothing wrong, for they were not worthy to be our wives, and we are more to be esteemed for having left them, than we were while they were wedded with us.. IX. BOOK Now then, Sir, there is no reason why we should do battle upon this matter with any one. And Diego Gonzalez his brother arose and said, You know, Sir, what perfect men we are in our lineage, and it did not befit us to be married with the daughters of such a one as Ruydiez; and when he had said this he held his peace and sate down. Then Count Don Garcia rose and said, Come away, Infantes, and let us leave the Cid sitting like a bridegroom in his ivory chair:..he lets his beard grow and thinks to frighten us with it!.. The it!..The Campeador put up his hand to his beard, and said, What hast thou to do with my beard, Count? Thanks be to God, it is long because it hath been kept for my pleasure; never son of woman hath taken me by it; never son of Moor or of Christian hath plucked it, as I did yours in your castle of Cabra, Count, when I took your castle of Cabra, and took you by the beard; there was not a boy of the host but had his pull at it. what I plucked then is not yet methinks grown even!.. And the Count cried out again, Come away, Infantes, and leave him! Let him go back to Rio de Ovierna, to his own country, and set up his mills, and take toll as he used to do!.. he is not 7 The Chronica del Cid inserts here an account of the Cid's pedigree, as given by the King in reply to this speech of the Infantes. Both Chronicles proceed with a speech from Ordoño, in which he tells the Infante Diego of his cowardice in the battle with King Bucar, and repeats the story of the lion. There is nothing of this in the Poem, and it is foolishly interpolated, because it appears immediately afterwards that none of the Cid's people, exasperated as they were, ventured to speak till he commanded them. All that the Chronicles attribute to Ordoño is in the Poem assigned to Felez Muñoz, and this I have followed. IX. your peer that you should strive with him. At this the knights BOOK of the Cid looked at each other with fierce eyes and wrathful countenances; but none of them dared speak till the Cid bade Poema del them, because of the command which he had given. Cid. v.3282. . 255. 256. 296. Bermudez ed by the Cid, smote down Count Don Garcia, XIII. When the Cid saw that none of his people made answer he turned to Pero Bermudez and said, Speak, Pero Mudo, what art thou silent for? He called him Mudo, which How Pero is to say, Dumb-ee, because he snaffled and stuttered when he being angerbegan to speak; and Pero Bermudez was wroth that he should be so called before all that assembly. And he said, I tell you what, Cid, you always call me Dumb-ee in Court, and you know I cannot help my words; but when any thing is to be done, it shall not fail for me. And in his anger he forgot what the Cid had said to him and to the others that they should make no broil before the King. And he gathered up his cloak under his arm and went up to the eleven Counts who were against the Cid, to Count Garcia, and when he was nigh him he clenched his fist, and gave him a blow which brought him to the ground. Then was the whole Cortes in an uproar by reason of that blow, and many swords were drawn, and on one side the cry was Cabra and Grañon, and on the other side it was Valencia and Bivar; ́but the strife was in such sort that the Counts in short time voided the Palace. King Don Alfonso meantime cried out aloud, forbidding them to fight before him, and charging them to look to his honour; and the Cid then strove what he could to quiet his people, saying to the King, Sir, you saw that I could bear it no longer, being thus maltreated in your presence ; if it had not been before you, well would I have had him punished. Then the King sent to call those Counts who had been driven out; and they came again to the Palace, though they fain would not, complaining of the dishonour which they had received. And the King said unto them that they should defend them |