The White Knight: Tirant Lo BlancMartorell, Joanot
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The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc
Martorell, Joanot
Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction; Adventure stories; Knights and knighthood -- Fiction
The Albanian left Tirant, and when he was in the castle, King
Escariano welcomed him. The Albanian gave the peaches to the
queen, and the king was more pleased with them than if he had
given her a villa, because he knew that the queen liked them, and
he had not seen her laugh or smile since she had been with him.
After the Albanian had given her the gift he showed the king the
money he had, and said to him:
"My lord, look at this money that I took from one of the men in
the enemy camp. If I go there often I can bring many things,
because a relative of mine is in the service of this wicked
captain, and he secretly tells me everything he does. My lord,
he told me that he is having a great deal of bread made and a
large supply of food stored up in order to come here. You have
time to get ready to attack and defeat him."
The Albanian's words pleased the king a great deal, and he said:
"Now I will see if your relative told you the truth."
On the third day Tirant came and stayed in the same place that he
had the other times. The king placed great faith in the
Albanian's words and he decided to appoint him as one of the main
guards of the castle. As companions, he gave him six very loyal
men who had been in his service a long time. When it was this
Albanian's turn to stand guard, he bought some sweetmeats and
invited all the men who were with him to eat and drink. And he
stood guard-duty every five days.
Tirant returned after having been away for three days, and they
continually discussed peace with the king, but Tirant drew out
finalizing a treaty as long as he could. This lasted two months,
and Tirant was always coming and going, and he seldom attacked
anyone. The king often made the Albanian go to Tirant's camp so
that he would bring back fruits and sweet-meats for the queen.
One day he brought a mule loaded with wine, and a bloody sword.
When he was before the king he said to him:
"My lord, I learned that the captain was having a great deal of
wine brought to the city, and when I heard of it I went out to
the road.
There, one muleteer fell behind the others. I hit him in the
side with a stone, and he fell to the ground. Then I struck him
so many times that I left him for dead. I took the sword and the
mule from him, and it was loaded with the finest wine I have seen
in many days. So I beg you, my lord, please give me permission
to set up a tavern here, and when this supply has run out, I will
steal or buy more, and I'll do all the harm, evil and dishonor to
them that I can."
The king was well pleased, and many Moors came to drink every
day. And every night that the Moor stood guard he took a large
cask of wine up to the tower, and gave his companions a good deal
to drink, and all the Moors were very happy to have him there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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