Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 011.djvu/46
himself the trouble of asserting his knighthood by a certificate. Knight and gentleman were stamped on his every look and motion. The battle was fierce, and for some time doubtful. The enraged French knight, unexpectedly thwarted in his plans of revenge, fought with uncommon fury, and had once nearly unhorsed his opponent by driving the lance through the bars of the Castilian's helmet. But the latter kept his saddle, in which for a few moments he had appeared to totter; and roused by the blow to a decisive effort, laid the Frenchman at his feet. Nuñez, upon raising his beaver, was found to have lost an eye, according to his own prediction.
The presents which the gratitude of the lady's family forced upon the Spanish pilgrims, afforded them means of prosecuting their journey with more comfort than hitherto. The romantic fidelity which they had evinced in their whole conduct towards their lord, and the self-devotion of Don Pero Nuñez in saving the life of the French lady, had now preceded the travellers to the court of Castile. The king felt proud of such subjects, and announced his determination to receive them the most marked honours. A messenger was despatched to meet the noble pilgrims before they reached the Castilian territory, with the king's commands that they should cross the frontier in the humble and worn-out clothes which they had upon them before they arrived at Toulouse. At the distance of five Spanish leagues beyond the divisory line of Aragon and Castile, the three knights were met by the king, who, attended by the grandees of his household, had gone out, on foot, to receive them. The bones of Count Rodrigo were conducted without delay to Osma, whither the king and his suite followed them; adding no common solemnity to a funeral which, from all its cireumstances, was one of the most impressive ceremonies ever beheld in Spain. To the honour which the king, by his reception of the knights, had conferred on their persons and families, considerable grants of land were added, which their descendants possessed in the time of Don Juan Manuel.
The picture of manners and feelings exhibited in the preceding narrative, would be incomplete without the anecdotes connected with return of two of the knights to their homes, which our royal author subjoins.
On the arrival of Don Ruy Gonzalez, as he sat at table for the first time with his wife, she raised her hands to Heaven, and thanked God that she had seen the day when she could again taste meat and wine. Ruy Gonzalez felt surprised and grieved at what he heard, supposing that some calamity had compelled his wife to undergo the greatest privations. "No; it was not poverty," replied the lady, "that forced me so long to abstain from the pleasures of the table. But remember, Ruy Gonzalez, that the day we parted, thy last words were, 'I have vowed not to return without Count Rodrigo, whether alive or dead. Be thou a true Castilian wife; and, I trust God, bread and water will never fail in thy house.' Such were thy words; and they fell too deep into my heart for me to forget them. From that moment I made a vow to live upon bread and water till I saw you again."
In the conjugal love of the wife of Don Pero Nuñez we have such a striking illustration of that vehemence, bordering on savageness