Song and Legend From the Middle Ages | Page 8

the sins I sinned my lifetime through."?He did his right hand glove upliftst.?Gabriel took from his hand the gift;?Then drooped his head upon his breast,?And with clasped hands he went to rest.?God from on high sent down to him?One of his angel cherubim--?Saint Michael of Peril of the sea,?Saint Gabriel in company--?From heaven they came for that soul of price,?And they bore it with them to Paradise.
The king hears Roland's horn and hurries back, only to find him and all his knights slain. He swoons, revives, but swoons again.
Stanza 212.--?As Karl the king revived once more,?His hands were held by barons four.?He saw his nephew, cold and wan;?Stark his frame, but his hue was gone;?His eyes turned inward, dark and dim;?And Karl in love lamented him:?"Dear Roland, God thy spirit rest?In paradise, amongst His blest!?In evil hour thou soughtest Spain:?No day shall dawn but sees my pain,?And me of strength and pride bereft,?No champion of mine honour left;?Without a friend beneath the sky;?And though my kindred still be nigh,?Is none like thee their ranks among."?With both his hands his beard he wrung.?The Franks bewailed in unison;?A hundred thousand wept like one.
Stanza 213.--?"Dear Roland, I return again?To Laon, to mine own domain;?Where men will come from many a land,?And seek Count Roland at my hand.?A bitter tale must I unfold--?'In Spanish earth he lieth cold.'?A joyless realm henceforth I hold,?And weep with daily tears untold.
Stanza 214--?"Dear Roland, beautiful and brave,?All men of me will tidings crave,?When I return to La Chapelle.?Oh, what a tale is mine to tell!?That low my glorious nephew lies.?Now will the Saxon foeman rise;?Palermitan and Afric bands,?And men from fierce and distant lands.?To sorrow sorrow must succeed;?My hosts to battle who shall lead,?When the mighty captain is overthrown??Ah! France deserted now, and lone.?Come, death, before such grief I bear."?Began he with his hands to tear;?A hundred thousand fainted there.
Stanza 215.--?"Dear Roland, and was this thy fate??May Paradise thy soul await.?Who slew thee wrought fair France's bane:?I cannot live so deep my pain.?For me my kindred lie undone;?And would to Holy Mary's Son,?Ere I at Cizra's gorge alight,?My soul may take its parting flight:?My spirit would with theirs abide;?My body rest their dust beside."?With sobs his hoary beard he tore.?"Alas!" said Naimes, "for the Emperor."
The Franks take terrible vengeance on the Moors who survive. Then they bury their dead comrades and all return to France.
Stanza 225.?--From Spain the Emperor made retreat,?To Aix in France, his kingly seat;?And thither, to his halls, there came,?Alda, the fair and gentle dame.?"Where is my Roland, sire," she cried,?"Who vowed to take me for his bride??O'er Karl the flood of sorrow swept;?He tore his beard and loud he wept.?"Dear Sister, gentle friend," he said,?"Thou seekest one who lieth dead:?I plight to thee my son instead,--?Louis, who lord of my realm shall be."?"Strange," she said, "this seems to me.?God and his angels forbid that I?Should live on earth if Poland die."?Pale grow her cheek--she sank amain,?Down at the feet of Carlemaine.?So died she. God receive her soul!?The Franks bewail her in grief and dole.
Stanza 226.--?So to her death went Alda fair.?The king but deemed she fainted there.?While dropped his tears of pity warm,?He took her hands and raised her form.?Upon his shoulder drooped her head,?And Karl was ware that she was dead.?When thus he saw that life was o'er,?He summoned noble ladies four.?Within a cloister was she borne;?They watched beside her until morn;?Beneath a shrine her limbs were laid;?Such honour Karl to Alda paid.
ROMANCES.
Another form of narrative literature in the Middle Ages is that of Romances, and the great products of it are the Arthurian Romances and the Romances of Antiquity. THE ARTHURIAN CYCLE OF ROMANCES is a set of romantic stories founded on the legends of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, with which was early fused the legend of the Holy Graal. The legend has sources as far back as the ninth century, but expanded into definite shape in France and England in the twelfth. It had its first and highest popular development in France. Here they were collected and thrown into verse by Chrestien de Troyes. It became at once a general European possession and expanded to vast proportions. In England the Arthur stories flourished both independently and as translations from French. Sir Thomas Malory collected in the latter part of the fifteenth century a great number of these sources, translated, edited, abridged, and rewrote the whole into that charming book "Morte D'Arthur". It is accepted that this book, though so late, gives a true impression of the?characteristics of the older romances. We select from this rather than from other translations of French originals, to give a mediaeval flavor to the selection and have the advantage of quoting a classic.
Alongside the Arthurian Romances, flourished many romances of antiquity. The