Ballads, Spanish; Legends -- Spain; Spanish literature -- History and criticism
Then the Cid dispatched messengers to King Alfonso, acquainting him of
the great wrong done to his daughters by the Infantes, and pleading
for justice. The King was greatly wroth at the news, and ordered the
Court to sit at Toledo and the Infantes to be summoned before him to
answer for their crime. They begged to be excused attendance, but
the King peremptorily refused to accept any apology or subterfuge,
and demanded their instant compliance with his summons. With great
misgivings they journeyed to Toledo, taking with them the Count Don
Garcia, Asur González, Gonzalo Asurez, and a great band of dependents,
thinking thereby to overawe the Cid. The Campeador himself soon arrived
at Court, with many a trusted veteran, all armed to the teeth. He wore
a rich robe of red fur broidered with gold, and his beard was bound
with a cord to preserve it. When he entered the Court with his men all
rose to greet him save the Infantes of Carrión and their party, for he
seemed a great baron and the Infantes might not look at him for shame.
"Princes, barons, and hidalgos," said King Alfonso, "I have summoned
ye here that justice may be done the Cid Campeador. As ye all know,
foul wrong has been done his daughters, and I have set judges apart to
moderate in this business and to search out the right, for wrong I will
not have in Christian Spain. I swear by the bones of San Isidro that he
who disturbs my Court shall quit my kingdom and forfeit my love, and
he who shall prove his right, on his side am I. Now let the Cid make
his demand and we shall hear the answer of the Infantes of Carrión."
Then rose the Cid, and in the Court among all these great barons and
lords there was no nobler figure. "My lord the King," he said, "it is
not I alone whom the Infantes of Carrión have wronged, but yourself
also, who gave them my daughters in marriage. Let them first restore
my swords Colada and Tizon, since they are no longer my sons-in-law."
The Infantes, hearing the Cid speak thus, thought that he would urge
no more against them if they restored the swords, and so they formally
handed them over to the King. But it was the Campeador's intention
to punish them by every means in his power, so when he received the
wondrous falchions from the hands of Alfonso he at once presented
them to Feliz Muñoz and Martin Antolinez, thus showing that it was
not for himself that he desired them. Having done this, he turned
once again to the King.
"My liege," he said, "when the Infantes left Valencia I bestowed upon
them three thousand marks in gold and silver. Let them now restore
this, since they are no longer my sons-in-law."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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