Legends & Romances of Spain Part 6

and mounting their horses they rode off.

As the deserted and dishonoured wives of the cowardly pair lay bleeding on the gra.s.s, Feliz Munoz, their cousin, who had lodged during the night in another part of the forest, rode up, and seeing their piteous condition hastened to their relief. Having dressed their hurts to the best of his ability, he rode quickly to the nearest town and purchased clothing and horses for them as befitted their station. When these tidings reached the Cid in Valencia great anger rose in his heart. He did not give it vent, however, but sat moodily pondering upon the dishonour done to his daughters. At last, after many hours, he spoke. "By my beard!" he cried, "the Infantes of Carrion shall not profit by this." Soon the ladies Sol and Elvira arrived at Valencia, and he received them lovingly, but not compa.s.sionately. "Welcome, my daughters," said he. "G.o.d keep ye from evil! I accepted this marriage, for I dared not gainsay it. G.o.d grant that I see you better married hereafter, and that I have my revenge upon my sons-in-law of Carrion."

The Court at Toledo

Then the Cid dispatched messengers to King Alfonso, acquainting him of the great wrong done to his daughters by the Infantes, and pleading for justice. The King was greatly wroth at the news, and ordered the Court to sit at Toledo and the Infantes to be summoned before him to answer for their crime. They begged to be excused attendance, but the King peremptorily refused to accept any apology or subterfuge, and demanded their instant compliance with his summons. With great misgivings they journeyed to Toledo, taking with them the Count Don Garcia, Asur Gonzalez, Gonzalo Asurez, and a great band of dependents, thinking thereby to overawe the Cid. The Campeador himself soon arrived at Court, with many a trusted veteran, all armed to the teeth. He wore a rich robe of red fur broidered with gold, and his beard was bound with a cord to preserve it. When he entered the Court with his men all rose to greet him save the Infantes of Carrion and their party, for he seemed a great baron and the Infantes might not look at him for shame.

"Princes, barons, and hidalgos," said King Alfonso, "I have summoned ye here that justice may be done the Cid Campeador. As ye all know, foul wrong has been done his daughters, and I have set judges apart to moderate in this business and to search out the right, for wrong I will not have in Christian Spain. I swear by the bones of San Isidro that he who disturbs my Court shall quit my kingdom and forfeit my love, and he who shall prove his right, on his side am I. Now let the Cid make his demand and we shall hear the answer of the Infantes of Carrion."

Then rose the Cid, and in the Court among all these great barons and lords there was no n.o.bler figure. "My lord the King," he said, "it is not I alone whom the Infantes of Carrion have wronged, but yourself also, who gave them my daughters in marriage. Let them first restore my swords Colada and Tizon, since they are no longer my sons-in-law."

The Infantes, hearing the Cid speak thus, thought that he would urge no more against them if they restored the swords, and so they formally handed them over to the King. But it was the Campeador's intention to punish them by every means in his power, so when he received the wondrous falchions from the hands of Alfonso he at once presented them to Feliz Munoz and Martin Antolinez, thus showing that it was not for himself that he desired them. Having done this, he turned once again to the King.

"My liege," he said, "when the Infantes left Valencia I bestowed upon them three thousand marks in gold and silver. Let them now restore this, since they are no longer my sons-in-law."

"Nay, if we do this," cried the Infantes, "we must even pay it out of our lands in Carrion." But the judges demanded that the sum be paid in Court without delay. The treacherous princelings could not raise such a treasure in money, so the Court decided that it must be paid in kind. Then the Infantes saw that there was no help but to acquiesce, and brought many a steed and trained palfrey with their furniture to repay the Cid, borrowing from the members of their suite and entering into such obligations as would burden them for many a day.

Redress by Combat

When this matter had at last been settled, the Cid then advanced his princ.i.p.al grievance against the Infantes, and asked for redress by combat in the lists for the great wrong they had done his daughters. At this Count Garcia, their spokesman, rose to defend the Infantes. He pleaded that they were of princely degree, and for that reason alone were justified in casting off the daughters of the Cid. Then Fernan Gonzalez, the elder of the Infantes, himself rose to approve the speech of his va.s.sal, and cast fresh scorn upon the alliance he had made, justifying his cowardly action by his princely rank as a thing quite natural and fitting. At this Pero Bermuez opened the vials of his wrath upon the Infantes, taunting them with cowardice in the affair of the lion and casting defiance of battle in their teeth.

Enter Asur Gonzalez

The argument waxed high, when at that moment Asur Gonzalez, a haughty va.s.sal of the Infantes, entered the hall.

With early viands and with wine flushed were his face and brow, Disordered were his garments and his mantle hung full low.

He scanned the Court with bearing rude, right clownish was his vaunt: "How now, my lords? What have we here? Thinkst Carrion to daunt?

What bruit is this about the Cid, the lordling of Bivar?

At drawing t.i.thes from dusty millers better is he far Than ruffling at a Cortes; he to match with Carrion!"

Then up leapt Muno Gustioz: "Ha' done, thou knave, ha' done!

Drunkard, who lookest on the wine before ye tell a bead, Who never yet did keep thy troth, evil in word and deed, The only boon I crave is but to have thee where my sword May cut the false tongue from thy throat and cease thy lying word."

"Enough, enough," Alfonso cried, "I give thee my consent To meet each other in the lists; so ends this Parliament."

The tumult which the King had endeavoured to abate had hardly died away when two cavaliers entered the Court. The new-comers were amba.s.sadors from the Infantes of Navarre and Aragon, who had come to request the King to bestow the hands of the Cid's daughters upon their masters. Alfonso turned to the Cid and requested his permission to ratify the marriage at once, and when the Campeador had humbly given his consent he answered to the a.s.sembled n.o.bles that the espousals would duly take place, adding that the combat between the disputants would be fought out on the morrow.

This was right woeful news to the Infantes of Carrion, who, in great fear, requested him to permit them some delay to procure fitting horses and arms, so that at last the King scornfully fixed the day of combat at three weeks from that date, and the place where it was to be fought out as Carrion itself, so that the Infantes should have no grounds of excuse for absence or be able to plead that the champions of the Cid had been granted any undue advantage.

The Cid then took his leave of the King, and on parting pressed him to accept his courser Babieca. But Alfonso refused the proffered gift, saying courteously that if he accepted it Babieca would not have so good a lord. Turning to those who were to uphold his cause in the lists, the Campeador bade them an affectionate farewell, and so he departed for Valencia, and the King for Carrion to see justice done.

The Trial by Combat

When the time of truce was over the contending parties sought the lists. The Cid's men did not waste much time in arming themselves, but the treacherous Infantes of Carrion had brought with them a number of their va.s.sals in the hope that they might be able to slay the Cid's champions by night, when they were off their guard. But Antolinez and his comrades kept good watch and frustrated their design. When they saw that there was no help for it but to meet their challengers a outrance, they prayed the King that the Cid's men might not be permitted to use the famous swords Colada and Tizon, for they superst.i.tiously dreaded the trenchancy of these marvellous weapons, and bitterly repented that they had restored them. Alfonso, however, refused to listen to this appeal.

"Ye have swords of your own," he said brusquely. "Let them suffice you, and see that you wield them like men, for, believe me, there will be no shortcoming on the side of the Campeador."

The trumpets sounded and the Cid's three champions leapt upon their impatient destriers, first having made the sign of the Cross upon their saddles. The Infantes of Carrion also mounted, but none so blithely. The marshals or heralds who were to decide the rules of the combat, and give judgment in case of dispute, took their places. Then said King Alfonso: "Hear what I say, Infantes of Carrion. This combat ye should have fought at Toledo, but ye would not, so I have brought these three cavaliers in safety to the land of Carrion. Take your right; seek no wrong: who attempts it, ill betide him."

The description of the scene that follows has more than once been compared with Chaucer's description of the combat between Palamon and Arcite in The Knight's Tale, and, as will be seen, a resemblance certainly exists. [34]

And now the marshals quit the lists and leave them face to face; Their shields are dressed before their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, their lances are in place.

Each charger's flank now feels the spur, each helm is bending low, The earth doth shake as horse and man hurl them upon the foe.

The echo of their meeting is a sound of meikle dread, And all who hear the deadly shock count them as good as sped.

The false Ferrando and Bermuez strike lance on either's shield, The Infant's spear goes through the boss, but the stout shaft doth yield And splinters ere the point can pa.s.s thorough the other's mail.

But Pero's shaft struck home, nor did the seasoned timber fail; It pierced Ferrando's corselet and sank into his breast, And to the trampled ground there drooped the Infant's haughty crest.

Bermuez then drew Tizon's bright blade; ere ever he could smite The Infant yielded him and cried, "Thou hast the victor's right."

While this combat was proceeding Antolinez and the other Infante came together. Each of their lances smote the other's shield and splintered. Then, drawing their swords, they rode fiercely against one another. Antolinez, flourishing Colada, struck so mightily at Diego that the good blade sh.o.r.e its way clean through the steel plates of his casque, and even cut half the hair from Diego's head. The terrified princeling wheeled his courser and fled, but Antolinez pursued him with mock fury and struck him across the shoulders with the flat of his sword. So had the hound the chastis.e.m.e.nt of cowards. As he felt the blade across his withers Diego shrieked aloud and spurred past the boundaries of the lists, thus, according to the rules of the combat, admitting himself vanquished.

When the trumpets of the pursuivants sounded, Muno Gustioz and Asur Gonzalez ran swiftly and fiercely together. The point of Asur's spear glanced off Muno's armour, but that of the Cid's champion pierced the shield of his opponent and drove right through his breast, so that it stuck out a full fathom between the shoulder-blades. The haughty Asur fell heavily to the ground, but had enough of life left in him to beg for mercy.

King Alfonso then duly credited the Cid's champions with the victory, and without loss of time they returned to Valencia to acquaint their master with the grateful news that his honour had been avenged.

Shortly afterward the espousals of the Cid's daughters to the n.o.ble Infantes of Navarre and Aragon were celebrated with much pomp. The Poema del Cid, however, concludes as abruptly as it begins:

So in Navarre and Aragon his daughters both did reign, And princes of his blood to-day sit on the thrones of Spain.

Greater and greater grew his name in honour and in worth; At last upon a Pentecost he pa.s.sed away from earth.

Upon him be the grace of Christ, Whom all of us adore.

Such is the story, gentles, of the Cid Campeador.

The Real Cid

Cervantes' summing-up upon the Poema del Cid is perhaps the sanest on record. The Cid certainly existed in the flesh; what matter, then, whether his achievements occurred or not? For the Cid of romance is a very different person from the Cid of history, who was certainly a born leader of men, but crafty, unscrupulous, and cruel. The Poema is thus romance of no uncertain type, and as this book deals with romance and not with history, there is small need in this place to provide the reader with a chronicle of the rather mercenary story of Roderigo of Bivar the real.

"Mio Cid," the t.i.tle under which he is most frequently mentioned, is a half Arabic, half Spanish rendering of the Arabic Sid-y, "My lord,"

by which he was probably known to his Moorish subjects in Valencia, and it is unlikely that he was given this appellation in Spain during his lifetime. But even to this day it is a name to conjure with in the Peninsula. So long as the heart of the Briton beats faster at the name of Arthur and the Frenchman is thrilled by the name of Roland the Spaniard will not cease to reverence that of the great romantic shadow which looms above the early history of his land like a very G.o.d of war--the Cid Campeador.