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
"Come here, my brothers. We have just been spying on the enemy
camp, and on our way back we saw four of the camp guards. For
each guard you bring to me alive I'll give you five hundred
ducats, and if you bring his head I'll give you three hundred.
How many of you want to go?"
Seven men who knew the land well volunteered immediately. They
left at night so no one would see them, and when they had
traveled a good distance one of them said:
"Why don't we go to the spring near here, and cover ourselves
with branches? The Moors are certain to come here to drink
around noon with all this heat, and that way they'll fall into
our hands."
They agreed to do that, and they kept a very close watch from
their hiding place. When the sun came out they saw the Moors on
top of the hill. As the sun grew hotter they became thirsty and
went to the spring for water. When they arrived one of the
Christians who was hidden said:
"Let's not move until they have drunk and are full of water: that
way they won't be able to run very fast."
And that is what they did. When the Moors had drunk and eaten
their fill the Christians fell upon them with loud cries, and
immediately caught three of them. One tried to escape. When
they saw that they could not catch him they shot at him with a
crossbow. The arrow pierced his side, and he fell to the ground.
They cut off his head and stuck it to the point of a lance. Then
they tied the hands of the others and took them to their captain.
When Tirant saw them he was very pleased, and he took the three
Moors and had them closely guarded.
Tirant had ordered everyone to eat early that day, and to saddle
the horses and arm themselves so they would be ready to leave.
He had all the men go out of the city in order, both the foot
soldiers and those riding horses. Behind them came three
thousand men with the mares. When they were near the Moors' camp
he had all the soldiers go to one side so the mares could pass by
without the other horses sensing them.
When the mares were at the entrance to the camp all the foot
soldiers went in with them, and they divided into two groups: one
went toward the Moorish sultan and the other toward the Grand
Turk. Then the camp horses noticed the mares: some got loose,
others broke their halters, and others tore out the stakes that
held them fast. You should have seen the horses running loose
through the camp: some here, some there, and all of them after
the mares.
When this melee had gone on for a good while and the entire camp
was in confusion because of the horses, Tirant came and fell on
part of it with half his men. Then the Duke of Pera and his men
attacked the other side, calling on that glorious knight, Saint
George.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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