Bernardo at once consented; but the King gave orders to have Count Sancho Diaz taken off instantly in his prison. "When he was dead they clothed him in splendid attire, mounted him on horseback, and so led him towards Salamanca, where his son was expecting his arrival. As they drew nigh the city, the King and Bernardo rode out to meet them; and when Bernardo saw his father approaching, he exclaimed,--'O God! is the Count of Saldaña indeed coming?'--'Look where he is,' replied the cruel King; 'and now go and greet him whom you have so long desired to see.' Bernardo went forward and took his father's hand to kiss it; but when he felt the dead weight of the hand, and saw the livid face of the corpse, he cried aloud, and said,--'Ah, Don Sandiaz, in an evil hour didst thou beget me!--Thou art dead, and I have given my stronghold for thee, and now I have lost all.'" I. All in the centre of the choir Bernardo's knees are bent, Before him for his murdered sire yawns the old monument. II. His kinsmen of the Carpio blood are kneeling at his back, With knightly friends and vassals good, all garbed in weeds of black. III. He comes to make the obsequies of a basely slaughtered man, And tears are running down from eyes whence ne'er before they ran. IV. His head is bowed upon the stone; his heart, albeit full sore, Is strong as when in days bygone he rode o'er Frank and Moor; V. And now between his teeth he mutters, that none his words can hear; And now the voice of wrath he utters, in curses loud and clear. VI. He stoops him o'er his father's shroud, his lips salute the bier; He communes with the corse aloud, as if none else were near. VII. His right hand doth his sword unsheath, his left doth pluck his beard;-- And while his liegemen held their breath, these were the words they heard:-- VIII. "Go up, go up, thou blessed ghost, into the arms of God; Go, fear not lest revenge be lost, when Carpio's blood hath flowed; IX. "The steel that drank the blood of France, the arm thy foe that shielded, Still, Father, thirsts that burning lance, and still thy son can wield it." BERNARDO AND ALPHONSO. The incident recorded in this ballad may be supposed to have occurred immediately after the funeral of the Count of Saldenha. As to what was the end of the knight's history, we are left almost entirely in the dark, both by the Chronicle and by the Romancero. It appears to be intimated, that after his father's death, he once more "took service" among the Moors, who are represented in several of the ballads as accustomed to exchange offices of courtesy with Bernardo. I. With some good ten of his chosen men, Bernardo hath appeared Before them all in the palace hall, the lying King to beard; With cap in hand and eye on ground, he came in reverend guise, But ever and anon he frowned, and flame broke from his eyes.