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
Meantime the Infantes had met Alvar Fanez conveying to the king
another present, and, on being asked where were their wives,
carelessly rejoined they had left them behind. Ill pleased with such a
report, Alvar Fanez and his troops hurried back in quest of the
ladies, but found nothing save traces of blood, which made them
suspect foul play. On discovering what had really happened to the
Cid's daughters, Alvar Fanez hurried on to deliver the present to the
king, and indignantly reported what treatment the Cid's daughters had
undergone at the hands of the bridegrooms the king had chosen for
them, informing him that since he had made the marriage it behooved
him to see justice done. Horrified on hearing what had occurred,
Alfonso summoned the Cortes, sending word to the Cid and to the
Infantes to appear before it at Toledo three months hence.
Meantime the Cid, learning what had befallen his poor girls, hastened
to them, took them home, and, hearing that the king himself would
judge his case, decided to abide by the decision of the Cortes. At the
end of the third month, therefore, the Cid's followers--who had
preceded him--erected in the royal hall at Toledo the ivory seat he
had won at Valencia, and Alfonso himself openly declared the Cid quite
worthy to occupy a throne by his side, seeing no one had ever served
him as well as the man whom the courtiers were always trying to
belittle. The day for the solemn session having dawned, the Cid
entered the hall, followed by a hundred knights, while the Infantes of
Carrion appeared there with equal numbers, being afraid of an attack.
When summoned to state his wrongs, the Cid quietly rose from his ivory
throne, declaring that, having bestowed upon the Infantes two swords
of great price, he demanded their return, since, as they refused to
have anything more to do with his daughters, he could no longer
consider them his sons. All present were amazed at the mildness of the
Cid's speech and at his demanding merely the return of his swords, and
the Infantes, glad to be let off so easily, promptly resigned both
weapons into the Cid's hand. With his precious swords lying across his
lap, the Cid now declared that having also given the Infantes large
sums of money he wished those returned also, and, although the young
men objected, the court sentenced them to pay the sum the Cid claimed.
Both of these demands having been granted, the Cid next required
satisfaction for the treatment the Infantes had inflicted upon his
daughters, eloquently describing to the Cortes the cruelty and
treachery used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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