The Book of the Epic: The World's Great Epics Told in StoryGuerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
General
The Book of the Epic: The World's Great Epics Told in Story
Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
Epic poetry -- Adaptations
Still, only a few moments can be devoted to sorrow, for Duke Naimes,
descrying a cloud of dust in the distance, eagerly suggests that if
they ride on they can yet overtake and punish the foe! Detailing a
small detachment to guard the dead, Charlemagne orders the pursuit of
the Saracens, and, seeing the sun about to set, prays so fervently
that daylight may last, that an angel promises he shall have light as
long as he needs it. Thanks to this miracle, Charlemagne overtakes
the Saracens just as they are about to cross the Ebro, and, after
killing many, drives the rest into the river, where they are drowned.
It is only when the last of the foe has been disposed of that the sun
sets, and, perceiving it is too late to return to Roncevaux that
night, Charlemagne gives orders to camp on the plain. While his weary
men sleep peacefully, the emperor himself spends the night mourning
for Roland and for the brave Frenchmen who died to defend his cause,
so it is only toward morning that he enjoys a brief nap, during which
visions foreshadow the punishment to be inflicted upon Ganelon and all
who uphold him.
In the mead the Emperor made his bed,
With his mighty spear beside his head,
Nor will he doff his arms to-night,
But lies in his broidered hauberk white.
Laced is his helm, with gold inlaid.
Girt on Joyeuse, the peerless blade,
Which changes thirty times a day
The brightness of its varying ray.
Meanwhile the wounded Marsile has returned to Saragossa, where, while
binding up his wounds, his wife comments it is strange no one has been
able to get the better of such an old man as Charlemagne, and exclaims
the last hope of the Saracens now rests in the emir, who has just
landed in Spain.
At dawn the emperor returns to Roncevaux, and there begins his sad
search for the bodies of the peers. Sure Roland will be found facing
the foe, he seeks for his corpse in the direction of Spain, and,
discovering him at last on the little hill, swoons from grief. Then,
recovering his senses, Charlemagne prays God to receive his nephew's
soul, and, after pointing out to his men how bravely the peers fought,
gives orders for the burial of the dead, reserving only the bodies of
Roland, Oliver, and the archbishop, for burial in France.
The last respects have barely been paid to the fallen, when a Saracen
herald summons Charlemagne to meet the emir. So the French mount to
engage in a new battle.
Such is the stimulus of Charlemagne's word's and of his example, that
all his men do wonders. The aged emperor himself finally engages in a
duel with the emir, in the midst of which he is about to succumb, when
an angel bids him strike one more blow, promising he shall triumph.
Thus stimulated, Charlemagne slays the emir, and the Saracens, seeing
their leader slain, flee, closely pursued by the Frenchmen, who enter
Saragossa in their wake. There, after killing all the men, they
pillage the town.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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