Ballads, Spanish; Legends -- Spain; Spanish literature -- History and criticism
Leaving a suitable force in the island, Amadis, who was becoming
anxious regarding Oriana, set sail for his own land of Gaul, and,
putting in at an island for supplies, chanced then to rescue his
brother Galaor and King Cildadan from the clutches of a tyrannous
giant, who had entrapped them. Arrived in Gaul, Amadis greeted his
parents, whom he had not seen for some years. In the meantime Lisuarte
had himself landed in the Isle of Mongaza, and had defeated the troops
of Galvanes, its rightful lord, but he dealt reasonably and kindly
with his vanquished foes and contented himself with making Galvanes,
and Madasima, his wife, do homage to him.
For some time Amadis led a life of ease, hunting and feasting, and
contenting himself with such news of his lady as he could obtain. We
are told that by these means his great renown became obscured, although
the unbiased reader might think that he had already achieved sufficient
fame to last a lifetime. "Damsels who went to him to seek revenge for
their wrongs cursed him for forsaking arms in the best of his life."
But Amadis had strong reasons for acting as he did, for a letter
from Oriana had informed him that she had borne him a little son,
and she beseeched him not to leave Gaul until such time as he heard
further from her. She did not acquaint him with the circumstance that
the infant had been lost, but of this we shall hear more anon. Later
Oriana wrote desiring Amadis not to take arms against her father, and
not to quit Gaul, unless it were to take his part. So Amadis resolved
to assist Lisuarte against the Kings of the Isles, with whom he was
about to do battle, and who had invaded his kingdom.
Now the Damsel of Denmark had taken the little son of Amadis and Oriana
and had carried him by night through a gloomy forest, in order that her
mistress might not be disgraced. Left alone for a moment, the child
had been carried off by a lioness, from which it had been rescued by
a hermit, Nasciano, who had called him Esplandian, and educated him
along with his own nephew. The good man brought the lads up as hunters,
and not the least strange thing about this remarkable child was the
circumstance that a lioness had affectionately attached herself to him,
refusing to leave him, either when at home or in the chase.
Meanwhile Amadis, calling himself 'Knight of the Green Sword,'
had resolved to do away with the ill reports of his unchivalrous
sloth. Taking only Ardian the dwarf with him, he entered Germany,
where he passed four years in adventure without word or message from
Oriana. Passing into Bohemia, he remained at its Court for a space.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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