The Affront of Corpes CXXXVIII

All of those great possessions my lord the Cid has ta'en.The men keep all that treasure, and they will ward it well.When this was done, a-pondering on other things they fell:

Lord King, for love of charity, a further favor yet,Of my complaints the chiefest, I cannot now forget.Let the whole court now hear me, and have pity on my woe:As for these Heirs of Carrión, the which have shamed me so,I brook not that unchallenged they may go hence away.CXXXIX."In what thing I affronted you, ye Heirs of Carrión say,In what fashion whatsoever, in earnest or in sport.Let me make amends according to the judgment of the court.Why did ye tear in tatters the fabric of my heart?With great honor from Valencia what time ye did depart,I gave to you my daughters, and besides great wealth and gear.Now say, ye dogs and traitors, since ye did not hold them dear,Why took ye from Valencia what was their dower of right,And wherefore with the girth and spur the ladies did ye smite?Alone in Corpes Forest ye cast the twain away,Unto the savage creatures and the wood-fowl for a prey.In all ye did unto them, like vile men did ye show.Let the Court judge; satisfaction shall I get therefor or no?"CXL.And lo! Count don García has risen up amain:"Let us now have thy favor, best of all kings in Spain.Of the courts proclaimed is now the Cid well versed in theaffairs.Since he let it wax so mighty, 'tis a long beard he wears.Some he affrights and others are for fear in sorry case.But as for them of Carrión, theirs is a lofty race,His daughters e'en as lemans to love becomes them not.Who to them for lawful consorts those ladies would allot?When they cast them off, then did they as might the right befit.All things he says soever we value not a whit."

And thereupon the Campeador his beard in hand gripped he:"To God who ruleth Heaven and the whole Earth glory be.Since tenderly I kept it, is my beard grown so long.Count, say what is the reason, that thou dost my beard this wrong,That since its first growth ever has been so gently reared.No man born of woman has ever plucked that beard.Nor has son of Moor or Christian e'er torn that beard of mine,As once in Cabra Castle I did, oh Count, to thine,When at one time on Cabra and thy beard my hand I set.Not a lad but for the plucking his pinch thereof could get.Nor is it yet grown even what portion I did tear.Here hidden in my wallet those tokens yet I bear."CXLI.Now had Ferránd Gonzálvez risen to his feet that tide.What thing ye now shall hearken that there so loud he cried:

"Cid, do thou now give over the suit which thou hast made,For the whole of thy possession into thine hands is paid.Look that thou make not greater the feud twixt us and thee,For the two Counts of Carrión by lineage are we.Of kings' and emperors' daughters are we fit to win the hands;To wed the girls of little chiefs scarce with our lineage stands.When thy daughters we abandoned we did but what was right.Not worse therefor but better, are we then in our own sight."