Ballads, Spanish; Legends -- Spain; Spanish literature -- History and criticism
Returning to Germany, Palmerin found the Emperor engaged in a war
with the King of England, at the instance of the King of Norway,
who had requested his assistance against the British monarch. This
partisanship did not, however, appeal to Trineus, the Emperor's son,
who, enamoured of the princess Agriola, daughter of the English king,
privately departed with Palmerin, his object being to aid the father
of his lady-love. After undergoing many adventures, the companions
succeeded in carrying off the English princess, but while voyaging
homeward were attacked by a furious tempest and were driven on the
shores of the Morea. When the elements subsided Palmerin landed on
the neighbouring island of Calpa, to engage in the sport of hawking,
and during his absence the vessel in which he had left his friends
was seized by Turkish pirates, who carried Agriola as a present to
the Grand Turk. Trineus was even less happily situated, for being
marooned upon an island, which we must surely regard as that of Circe,
he was immediately transformed into a dog. To add to this indignity,
his transformation did not take the shape of any of the more noble
varieties of the canine race, but that of a tiny lap-dog, such as
are found in ladies' boudoirs.
In the meantime Palmerin, all unconscious of the fate of his friends,
was discovered in the island of Calpa by Archidiana, daughter of
the Soldan of Babylon, who at once pressed him into her service,
refusing to allow him to depart. Archidiana had from the first
conceived a violent passion for the handsome young adventurer,
whose embarrassment was heightened by the knowledge that her cousin,
Ardemira, had likewise fallen in love with him. The knight, however,
stoutly repelled the fair advances, and Ardemira took her repulse so
much to heart that she burst a blood-vessel and expired, shortly after
the party had arrived at the Babylonian Court. Hearing of her demise,
Amaran, son of the King of Phrygia, to whom she had been affianced,
hastened to Babylon, and precipitately accused Archidiana of her death,
offering to make good his assertion by an appeal to arms. Palmerin,
as in duty bound, espoused the princess's quarrel, slew Amaran in
single combat, and by doing so won the good graces of the Soldan,
whom he assisted in the war with Phrygia which followed.
The Soldan, elated by his military successes, resolved to extend his
empire, and with this object in view fitted out a great expedition
against Constantinople, which Palmerin was forced to accompany. But
during a tempest which the Babylonian fleet encountered he commanded
the seamen of his own vessel to steer for the German coast. On reaching
it he made his way to the capital, and made himself known in secret
to Polinarda, with whom he spent some time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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