[246] This remark will apply to many passages in the Third Part of the Chronicle of Spain, but to none, perhaps, so strikingly as to the stories of Bernardo del Carpio and the Infantes de Lara, large portions of which may be found almost verbatim in the ballads. I will now refer only to the following:--1. On Bernardo del Carpio, the ballads beginning, “El Conde Don Sancho Diaz,” “En corte del Casto Alfonso,” “Estando en paz y sosiego,” “Andados treinta y seis años,” and “En gran pesar y tristeza.” 2. On the Infantes de Lara, the ballads beginning, “A Calatrava la Vieja,” which was evidently arranged for singing at a puppet-show or some such exhibition, “Llegados son los Infantes,” “Quien es aquel caballero,” and “Ruy Velasquez de Lara.” All these are found in the older collections of ballads; those, I mean, printed before 1560; and it is worthy of particular notice, that this same General Chronicle makes especial mention of _Cantares de Gesta_ about Bernardo del Carpio that were known and popular when it was itself compiled, in the thirteenth century. [247] See the Crónica General de España, ed. 1541, f. 227, a. Notwithstanding this refusal, however, when great services are wanted from Bernardo in troubled times, his father’s liberty is promised him as a reward; but these promises are constantly broken, until he renounces his allegiance, and makes war upon his false uncle, and on one of his successors, Alfonso the Great.[248] At last, Bernardo succeeds in reducing the royal authority so low, that the king again, and more solemnly, promises to give up his prisoner, if Bernardo, on his part, will give up the great castle of Carpio, which had rendered him really formidable. The faithful son does not hesitate, and the king sends for the Count, but finds him dead, probably by the royal procurement. The Count’s death, however, does not prevent the base monarch from determining to keep the castle, which was the stipulated price of his prisoner’s release. He therefore directs the dead body to be brought, as if alive, on horseback, and, in company with Bernardo, who has no suspicion of the cruel mockery, goes out to meet it. [248] Crónica Gen., ed. 1541, f. 236. a.