l. 33. Byron adds stanzas from another ballad.
[Page 126].—l. 1. The French epic poems dealing with Charlemagne and his peers early became favorites in Spain, and before 367 long received a peculiarly Spanish treatment. Thus the original French Roland was elaborated into a Spanish hero, Bernardo del Carpio. The present romantic ballad, however, shows no Spanish modification of this kind. The vision of Lady Alda (the Aude of later French epic verse) reminds one of Kriemhild’s vision in the Nibelungenlied. Cf. the English version of Lockhart, l. c., p. 124, and that in Ticknor, I, 121; and the German poem of Uhland, Roland und Aude.
l. 4. Para la acompañar: the older order of pronouns.
[Page 127].—l. 2. vide, i.e., ví.
l. 6. There may be an allusion here to the old Spanish custom according to which a refugee had sanctuary under the cloak or skirt of a lady.
l. 17. sedes, i.e., sois.
[Page 128].—l. 1. A ballad from the Cancionero of Antwerp, 1555, printed in the Romancero General, I, 161. Cf. Lockhart’s version, l. c., p. 147.
l. 15. The Rosa fresca and the Fonte-frida are the most beautiful of the erotic ballads. They are found in various Romanceros and Cancioneros. Cf. Wolf and Hoffman, Primavera y flor, etc., II, pp. 18 ff. and the Romancero general, II; and see Ticknor, I, 110 ff. (with translations) and Baist in Groeber’s Grundriss, II, 2, p. 433.
See the translations of these ballads by J. Y. Gibson, The Cid Ballads, etc., London, 1887, II, 81 ff.
l. 23. Enviastes, i.e., Enviasteis.