The Lay of the Cid. Folio 41r
And the people in the palace prepared them all and one.
Unto Alvar Salvadorez and the man of Aragon,
Galind Garciaz, his command has given the Campeador
That heart an soul Valencia they shall guard it and watch o'er.
And, moreover, all the others on their behests shall wait.
And my lord Cid has ordered that they bar the castle gate
And nowise throw it open either by night or day.
His wife and his two daughters within the hold are they,
Whom he loves best, and the ladies that do their pleasure still.
And He has so disposed it, even as a good lord will,
That not a soul among them shall venture from the tower,
Till to them he returneth, who was born in happy hour.
They issued from Valencia, forward they spurred along.
On their right were many horses, that were both swift and strong.
The Cid had ta 'en them. No man would have given him a steed.
And he rideth to the parley, the which he had decreed
With the King. In passage of a day, he came the King before.
When anear they saw him coming, the gallant Campeador,
With great worship to receive him, forth unto him they ride.
When he had looked upon them, who was born in a glad tide,
He halted his companions save his knights of dearest worth.
With fifteen of his henchmen he leaped down unto the earth,
As he who in good hour was born had willed that it should be.
Forthwith to earth he bends him on the hand and on the knee.
And the grass of the meadow with his very teeth he rent,
Anónimo, copista Per Abbat
Translated by R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon