“Sire, you have nothing more to do here! The gallant King Marsillus is altogether your devoted liegeman. Behold the treasures he sends you, as a guarantee of others yet more valuable. See, too, the hostages whom I have chosen, thirty in number, all of them of the noblest rank. In a month the King of the Saracens will visit you at the French Court to receive baptism, together with all his nobles and knights.”
“You could not bring me more welcome news, and I rejoice greatly that I chose you for the mission. Before long you will have reason to rejoice at it too!”
His audience concluded, Ganelon retired with his nephew Pinabel, to whom he wished to reveal the real state of the case. It happened that Mitaine preceded them into the stable, towards which the traitor took his way, and knowing the hate the count bore to Roland, her friend, she was curious to hear him speak openly. She therefore crept up in the manger, and hid herself among the hay in the rack.
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This second Judas, going up to his horse, began to talk as follows:—
“Marsillus, who had treated me distantly enough in the morning, apologised at night for so doing, and, as a slight reparation, presented me with some valuable sables. I gave him to understand the dreadful fate that awaited him, and assured him that Roland was the only obstacle in the way of our return to France. ‘Hope for no mercy,’ said I, ‘while Roland lives.’ ‘How can we kill him?’ said he. Whereupon I answered, I would undertake to do it with his assistance. ‘What can I do?’ he asked. ‘I will tell you what I have planned,’ said I. ‘Before long we shall be on the march for France. The most dangerous post is the rear-guard, and that Roland will claim. When he reaches the pass of Roncesvalles, surrounded by the flower of our chivalry, twenty thousand Navarrese and Gascons, posted there by me, will hurl down a very shower of rocks. Take advantage of the surprise, and with two hundred thousand men fall on them in the rear. I won’t guarantee your men’s lives, but you must carry on the battle incessantly, and at last Roland must be slain.’ ‘It is very well said,’ answered the king; ‘this counsel is worth ten mules, laden with gold pieces, and I will pay you that sum yearly as long as I live.’”
At this point Pinabel, observing that Ganelon’s horse, although it had just come off a long journey, only smelt at the rack without touching its contents, took a pitchfork, and in order to find out what hindered the animal from eating, thrust it into the hay. One of the prongs pierced Mitaine’s thigh, but she nevertheless remained silent, determined not to lose for a cry the advantage of the conversation she had overheard.