Chivalry -- Fiction; Knights and knighthood -- Fiction; Romances, Spanish -- Translations into English
The most part of the night Amadis did nothing but turn from side to
side, but at last being sore wearied he fell asleep, and in that sleep
he dreamt that he was fastened in a dark chamber, where there was
no light at all, neither could he find any way to come out thereof,
whereat he greatly lamented; then he thought that his cousin Mabilia
and the Damsel of Denmark came to him, and there was a sun-beam before
them which dispelled the darkness, and they took him by the hand,
saying, Come forth, Sir, to this great palace. And he thought that he
was right joyful; and going out he saw his Lady Oriana surrounded with
a great flame of fire, whereat he cried out, Holy Mary, help her! and
ran through the fire to save her, feeling no hurt, and took her in her
arms and carried her into a garden, the greenest and pleasantest that
ever he had seen. At the loud cry which he made the good man awoke, and
took him by the hand, asking him what he ailed? Sir, said he, I felt
such pain in my sleep that I was almost dead. So it seemed by your cry,
said the old man, but it is time to set out; then he got upon his ass.
Amadis would have walked by him, but the good man with great entreaty
made him mount his horse, and so they fared on together.
As they went, Amadis besought him to grant one boon, which should be
no-ways hurtful, the which the old man granted. I pray you then, said
Amadis, that so long as we are together you will not tell any man who
I am, nor any thing concerning me, and that you will call me by some
other name, not my own; and, when I am dead, you tell my brethren of
me, that they may take my body into their country. Your life and
death, said the good man, are in the hands of God, so talk no more
of this, he will help you if you know and love and serve him as you
ought; but tell me, by what name will you be called?—Even by whatever
it shall please you.—So the old man, seeing how fair he was, and in
how forlorn a condition, replied, I will give you a name conformable
to your appearance and distress, you shall be called Beltenebros.
Now Beltenebros being interpreted, signifyeth, the Fair Forlorn. The
name pleased Amadis, and he admired the good sense of the old man
in chusing it; so by this name he was long known, till it became as
renowned as that of Amadis. Thus communing they reached the sea-side
just as the night closed in; there they found a bark, wherein the good
man might cross to his hermitage. Beltenebros gave his horse to the
mariners, and they gave him in exchange a cloak of goat skin, and a
garment of coarse grey woollen. They embarked, and Beltenebros asked
the good man what was his own name, and the name of his abode. They
call my dwelling-place, said he, the Poor Rock, because none can live
there without enduring great poverty: my own name is Andalod. I was
a clerk of some learning, and spent my youth in many vanities, till
it pleased God to awaken me, and then I withdrew to this solitary
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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