Journeys Through Bookland, Volume 4 | Page 5

I was a leper to whom thou
didst so much good and so great honour for the love of God; and
because thou didst this for His sake hath God now granted thee a great
gift; for whensoever that breath which thou hast felt shall come upon
thee, whatever thing thou desirest to do, and shalt then begin, that shalt
thou accomplish to thy heart's desire, whether it be in battle or aught
else, so that thy honour shall go on increasing from day to day; and
thou shalt be feared both by Moors and Christians, and thy enemies
shall never prevail against thee, and thou shalt die an honourable death
in thine own house, and in thy renown, for God hath blessed
thee,--therefore go thou on, and evermore persevere in doing good;' and
with that he disappeared. And Rodrigo arose and prayed to our lady and
intercessor St. Mary, that she would pray to her blessed son for him to
watch over both his body and soul in all his undertakings; and he
continued in prayer till the day broke. Then he proceeded on his way,
and performed his pilgrimage, doing much good for the love of God
and of St. Mary."
Rodrigo was successful in his combat against Martin Gonzalez, and
after the death of the latter rose much higher in esteem with King
Ferrando. At no time was Rodrigo unworthy of his confidence, so that
finally the king knighted him after this manner: The king girded on his
sword and gave him the kiss, but not the blow. Usually this blow was
given with the hand upon the neck, at which time the king said,
"Awake, and sleep not in the affairs of knighthood." The king omitted
this, knowing that Rodrigo needed no such command. To do the new
knight more honour, the queen gave him his horse and her daughter
fastened on his spurs. From that day he was called Ruydiez. Ruy is
merely an abbreviation of Rodrigo, and Ruydiez means Rodrigo the
son of Diego. Thereafter the king commanded him to knight nine noble
squires with his own hand, and he took his sword before the altar and
knighted them.

It was soon after this that there came to the king messengers from the
Moors, whom Ruydiez had overpowered, all bringing him tribute and
praising the generous treatment he had accorded them after his victory.
At the same time they called him _Cid_, which meant _lord_, and from
this time on by the king's orders Ruydiez vas called _The Cid_, because
the Moors had so named him. To this name is added the word
_Campeador_, which means The Conqueror.
The remaining incidents from the life of The Cid are taken directly
from Southey's Chronicle of the Cid.
THE CID MAKES A BRAVE MAN OF A COWARD
Here the history relates that Martin Pelaez, the Asturian, came with a
convoy of laden beasts, carrying provisions to the host of the Cid; and
as he passed near the town the Moors sallied out in great numbers
against him; but he, though he had few with him, defended the convoy
right well, and did great hurt to the Moors, slaying many of them, and
drove them into the town. This Martin Pelaez, who is here spoken of,
did the Cid make a right good knight of a coward, as ye shall hear.
When the Cid first began to lay siege to the city of Valencia, this
Martin Pelaez came unto him; he was a knight, a native of Santillana in
Asturias, a hidalgo, great of body and strong of limb, a well-made man
of goodly semblance, but withal a right coward at heart, which he had
shown in many places when he was among feats of arms. And the Cid
was sorry when he came unto him, though he would not let him
perceive this; for he knew he was not fit to be of his company. Howbeit
he thought that since he was come, he would make him brave, whether
he would or not.
And when the Cid began to war upon the town, and sent parties against
it twice and thrice a day, as ye have heard, for the Cid was alway upon
the alert, there was fighting and tourneying every day. One day it fell
out that the Cid and his kinsmen and friends and vassals were engaged
in a great encounter, and this Martin Pelaez was well armed; and when
he saw that the Moors and Christians were at it, he fled and betook
himself to his lodging, and there hid himself till the Cid returned to
dinner. And the Cid saw what Martin Pelaez did, and when he had
conquered the Moors he returned to his lodging to dinner.
Now it was the custom