but since it hath been so I cannot but do justice. I hold it good therefore to summon them to my Cortes, which I will assemble for this matter in Toledo, and the time assigned them shall be three months from this day; and do ye tell the Cid to come there with such of his people as he shall think good. Glad were Alvar Fañez and Pero Bermudez of this reply, and they kissed his hand, and dispeeded themselves. And the King ordered mules to be given them for the dames, with right noble saddles and trappings of gold and cloth of gold and of wool, with menever and gris. XXI. Then Alvar Fañez and Pero Bermudez went their way, and Pero Sanchez and his company departed with them. They went up Val de Esgueva to Peñafiel, and by Roa and Arrueco, and they entered the Oak-forest of Corpes, and Pero Sanchez showed the place beside the fountain where the villainy had been committed; and they made such lamentation there as if they had seen the dames lie dead before them. Then rode they to the village where the good man dwelt, and went to his dwelling, and good guerdon did they give unto him for the service which he had done, so that he was full well requited. And they took with them the two sons and the two daughters of the good man, that they might recompense them for the good deeds of their father; and the dames gave them in marriage, and made them full rich, and held them even as brothers and as sisters, because of the service which they had received from them. When it was known at Santesteban that Minaya was coming for his kinswomen, the men of that town welcomed him and his company, and they brought him in payment the _efurcion_, that is to say, the supper-money, and it was full great. But Minaya would not accept it at their hands, and he thanked them, and said, Thanks, men of Santesteban, for what ye have done, and my Cid the Campeador will thank ye, as I do, and God will give ye your guerdon. Then went they to visit their kinswomen, and when they saw the dames, who can tell the great lamentation which was made on both sides? albeit that they rejoiced to see each other. And Minaya said unto them, By God, cousins, he knoweth the truth, and your father and mother know it also, ... I misdoubted this when you went away with those false ones; and it grieved me when your father said that he had given his consent that ye should go, and your mother gainsaid it also; but we could not prevail, for he said he had consented. Howbeit, since ye are alive, of evils let us be thankful for the least: you have lost one marriage, and may gain a better, and the day will come when we shall avenge ye. That night they rested at Santesteban, and on the morrow they set forward and took the road towards Atienza, and the men of Santesteban escorted them as far as the river Damor, to do them pleasure. And they past Alcoceba, and went on to the King's Ford, and there took up there lodging at the Casa de Berlanga. On the morrow they lodged at Medina Celi, and from thence