V. Much did this trouble the Moors of Teca, and it did not please those
of Teruel, nor of Calatayud. And they sent to the King of Valencia to
tell him that one who was called Ruydiez the Cid, whom King Don Alfonso
had banished, was come into their country, and had taken Alcocer; and
if a stop were not put to him, the King might look upon Teca and Teruel
and Calatayud as lost, for nothing could stand against him, and he had
plundered the whole country, along the Salon on the one side, and the
Siloca on the other. When the King of Valencia, whose name was Alcamin,
heard this, he was greatly troubled. And incontinently he spake unto
two Moorish Kings who were his vassals, bidding them take three
thousand horsemen, and all the men of the border, and bring the Cid to
him alive, that he might make atonement to him for having entered his
land.
VI. Fariz and Galve were the names of these two Moorish Kings, and they
set out with the companies of King Alcamin from Valencia, and halted
the first night in Segorve, and the second night at Celfa de Canal. And
they sent their messengers through the land to all the Councils
thereof, ordering all men at arms, as well horsemen as footmen, to join
them, and the third night they halted at Calatayud, and great numbers
joined them; and they came up against Alcocer, and pitched their tents
round about the Castle. Every day their host increased, for their
people were many in number, and their watchmen kept watch day and
night; and my Cid had no succour to look for except the mercy of God,
in which he put his trust. And the Moors beset them so close that they
cut off their water, and albeit the Castillians would have sallied
against them, my Cid forbade this. In this guise were my Cid and his
people besieged for three weeks, and when the fourth week began, he
called for Alvar Fañez, and for his company, and said unto them. Ye see
that the Moors have cut off our water, and we have but little bread;
they gather numbers day by day, and we become weak, and they are in
their own country. If we would depart they would not let us, and we
cannot go out by night because they have beset us round about on all
sides, and we cannot pass on high through the air, neither through the
earth which is underneath. Now then if it please you let us go out and
fight with them, though they are many in number, and either defeat them
or die an honourable death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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