performed the King loved him well, and made him his Alferez; so that in
the whole army he was second only to the King. And because when the
host was in the field it was his office to chuse the place for
encampment, therefore was my Cid called the Campeador.
IV. While King Don Sancho was busied in these wars, King Don García of
Galicia took by force from Doña Urraca his sister a great part of the
lands which the King their father had given her. And when she heard
this she began to lament aloud, saying, Ah King Don Ferrando, in an
evil hour didst thou divide thy kingdom, for thereby will all the land
be brought to destruction. And now also will be accomplished that which
my fosterer Arias Gonzalo said, for now that King Don García who is my
younger brother, hath dispossessed me and broken the oath which he made
unto my father, what will not the elder do, who made the vow by
compulsion, and alway made protestation against the division! God send
that as thou hast disherited me, thou mayest speedily thyself in like
manner be disherited, Amen! But when King Don Sancho heard what his
brother had done he was well pleased thereat, thinking that he might
now bring to pass that which he so greatly desired; and he assembled
together his Ricos-omes and his knights, and said unto them, The King
my father divided the kingdoms which should have been mine, and therein
he did unjustly; now King Don Garcia my brother hath broken the oath
and disherited Doña Urraca my sister; I beseech ye therefore counsel me
what I shall do, and in what manner to proceed against him, for I will
take his kingdom away from him. Upon this Count Don Garcia Ordoñez
arose and said, There is not a man in the world, Sir, who would counsel
you to break the command of your father, and the vow which you made
unto him. And the King was greatly incensed at him and said, Go from
before me, for I shall never receive good counsel from thee. The King
then took the Cid by the hand and led him apart, and said unto him,
Thou well knowest my Cid, that when the King my father commended thee
unto me, he charged me upon pain of his curse that I should take you
for my adviser, and whatever I did that I should do it with your
counsel, and I have done so even until this day; and thou hast alway
counselled me for the best, and for this I have given thee a county in
my kingdom, holding it well bestowed. Now then I beseech you advise me
how best to recover these kingdoms, for if I have not counsel from you
I do not expect to have it from any man in the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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