"Pero Bermudez could not bear this, but holding the banner in his hand,
he cried, God help you, Cid Campeador; I shall put your banner in the
middle of that main body; and you who are bound to stand by it--I shall
see how you will succour it. And he began to prick forward. And the
Campeador called unto him to stop as he loved him, but Pero Bermudez
replied he would stop for nothing, and away he spurred and carried his
banner into the middle of the great body of the Moors. And the Moors
fell upon him that they might win the banner, and beset him on all
sides, giving him many and great blows to beat him down; nevertheless,
his arms were proof, and they could not pierce them, neither could they
beat him down, nor force the banner from him, for he was a right brave
man and a strong and a good horseman, and of great heart. And when the
Cid saw him thus beset, he called to his people to move on and help him.
Then placed they their shields before their hearts, and lowered their
lances with the streamers thereon, and, bending forward, rode on. Three
hundred lances were they, each with its pendant, and every man at the
first charge slew his Moor. Smite them, knights, for the love of
charity! cried the Campeador. I am Ruydiez, the Cid of Bivar! Many a
shield was pierced that day, and many a false corselet was broken, and
many a white streamer dyed with blood, and many a horse left without a
rider. The misbelievers called on Mahomet, and the Christians on
Santiago, and the noise of the tambours and of the trumpets was so great
that none could hear his neighbour. And my Cid and his company succoured
Pero Bermudez, and they rode through the host of the Moors, slaying as
they went, and they rode back again in like manner; thirteen hundred did
they kill in this guise. If you would know who they were, who were the
good men of that day, it behoves me to tell you, for though they are
departed, it is not fitting that the names of those who have done well
should die, nor would they who have done well themselves, or who hope so
to do, think it right; for good men would not be so bound to do well if
their good feats should be kept silent. There was my Cid, the good man
in battle, who fought well upon his gilt saddle; and Alvar Fañez Minaya,
and Martin Antolinez the Burgalese of prowess, and Muno Gustios, and
Martin Munoz who held Montemayor, and Alvar Alvarez, and Alvar
Salvadores, and Galin Garcia the good one of Aragon, and Felez Munoz the
nephew of the Campeador. Wherever my Cid went, the Moors made a path
before him, for he smote them down without mercy. And while the battle
still continued, the Moors killed the horse of Alvar Fañez, and his
lance was broken, and he fought bravely with his sword afoot. And my
Cid, seeing him, came up to an Alguazil, who rode upon a good horse, and
smote him with his sword under the right arm, so that he cut him through
and through, and he gave the horse to Alvar Fañez, saying, Mount Minaya,
for you are my right hand."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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