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
"My captain, your generous heart cannot fail to act according to
its custom. Your nobility is full of mercy, and you must forget
the great crime of the ignorant inhabitants of this city, who
will fold their hands and kneel down and kiss your feet, begging
you for mercy. Look, virtuous captain, I speak with the spirit
of prophecy. Do you remember that fortunate day when you were
given the honor of chivalry in that prosperous court of the King
of England? And the singular battles you fought at that time and
won with great honor, with no trickery? What should I say of
Philippe, son of the King of France? In your great wisdom you
made him King of Sicily, and now he possesses the daughter, the
kingdom, and the crown. And when that blessed lord, who is of
greater excellence than anyone in the world, the Emperor of
Constantinople, heard of your fame, he had you come to the city
of Constantinople. His high Majesty made you his captain, and
you showed the Turkish enemies your strength and power,
conquering them time and time again. I am a Moor who speaks by
prophecy, and my heart cries tears of blood for those worthy
knights, because now they are as good as dead. Cry, miserable
people and lament the fact that Tirant lo Blanc has forgotten
you! And it does not surprise me that he does not remember you,
for he has forgotten a lady (I won't say who she is, but I can
call her the greatest and best in all Christendom) in order to
conquer this cursed land."
Tirant was quite astonished when he heard these words, and he
begged her to tell how she knew so much.
"Oh Tirant, how little mercy you are showing. Go on pursuing
those fleeing kings so that you can have all of Barbary in your
lap, and let us live in blessed peace. Aren't you that prince of
the line of Roca Salada who went into battle that pleasant night
in the castle of Malvei with that most serene princess, the
beautiful Carmesina? And if my heart hasn't gone mad or I
haven't lost all my senses, it seems to me that I heard tell that
Her Highness let you into her chambers at a very late hour. She
put her father's crown--that of the Greek Empire--on your head,
and accepted you as her universal lord, with the help of a sad
maiden named Plaerdemavida. You have given so little thought to
either of them, it's as if you'd never known them. Her Highness,
with you forgetting about her, is more dead than alive in the
Monastery of Santa Clara, always calling out the name of Tirant
in whom she has placed all her hope. Oh, Tirant! How you have
shed all kindness. You know full well that the Turks have
overrun all of Greece, that all they have left to do is take the
city of Constantinople and seize the emperor, his wife and the
grieving princess."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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