Right gladly shall I listen for the echoes of thy drum.”
“Nay, Roderick, I leave in peace and peace I shall maintain;
From me thou sure hast spoil enow to count a twelvemonth’s gain.”
He drove the spur, but backward glanced, he feared for treachery;
So black a thought the Cid had harboured not for Christendie.
No, not for all the wealthy world, who kept his soul in light.
Whose heart as his so free from guile, the very perfect knight?
The Cid Makes War Seaward
Turning from Huesca and Montalvan, the Cid began to make war toward the salt sea. His eastward march struck terror to the hearts of the Moors of Valencia. They took counsel together, and resolved to send such a host against him as they thought he might not withstand. But he routed them with such a slaughter that they dared face him no more. Three years did the Cid war in that country, and his many conquests there were long to tell. He and his men sat themselves down in the land as kings, reaped its corn, and ate its bread. And a great famine came upon the Moors, so that thousands perished.