V. When the day appointed was come, Don Arias Gonzalo early in the
morning armed his sons, and they armed him; and it was told him that
Don Diego Ordoñez was already in the lists. Then he and his sons
mounted their horses, and as they rode through the gates of their
house, Doña Urraca, with a company of dames met them, and said to Don
Arias, weeping, Remember now how my father, King Don Ferrando, left me
to your care, and you swore between his hands that you would never
forsake me; and lo! now you are forsaking me. I beseech you remain with
me, and go not to this battle, for there is reason enough why you
should be excused, and not break the oath which you made unto my
father. And she took hold on him, and would not let him go, and made
him be disarmed. Then came many knights around him, to demand arms of
him, and request that they might do battle in his stead; nevertheless
he would give them to none. And he called for his son Pedro Arias, who
was a right brave knight, though but of green years, and who had
greatly intreated his father before this, that he would suffer him to
fight in his stead. And Don Arias armed him compleatly with his own
hands, and instructed him how to demean himself, and gave him his
blessing with his right hand, and said unto him, that in such a point
he went to save the people of Zamora, as when our Lord Jesus Christ
came through the Virgin Mary, to save the people of this world, who
were lost by our father Adam. Then went they into the field, where Don
Diego Ordoñez was awaiting them, and Pedrarias entered the lists, and
the judges placed them each in his place, and divided the sun between
them, and went out, leaving them in the lists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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