Читать книгу The Song of Roland - Anonymous - Страница 3

Part I

Section I

The Treason Of Ganelon

Saragossa. The Council of King Marsil

I

The king our Emperor Carlemaine,

Hath been for seven full years in Spain.

From highland to sea hath he won the land;

City was none might his arm withstand;

Keep and castle alike went down

Save Saragossa, the mountain town.

The King Marsilius holds the place,

Who loveth not God, nor seeks His grace:

He prays to Apollin, and serves Mahound;

But he saved him not from the fate he found.

II

In Saragossa King Marsil made

His council—seat in the orchard shade,

On a stair of marble of azure hue.

There his courtiers round him drew;

While there stood, the king before,

Twenty thousand men and more.

Thus to his dukes and his counts he said,

"Hear ye, my lords, we are sore bested.

The Emperor Karl of gentle France

Hither hath come for our dire mischance.

Nor host to meet him in battle line,

Nor power to shatter his power, is mine.

Speak, my sages; your counsel lend:

My doom of shame and death forefend."

But of all the heathens none spake word

Save Blancandrin, Val Fonde's lord.

III

Blancandrin was a heathen wise,

Knightly and valiant of enterprise,

Sage in counsel his lord to aid;

And he said to the king, "Be not dismayed:

Proffer to Karl, the haughty and high,

Lowly friendship and fealty;

Ample largess lay at his feet,

Bear and lion and greyhound fleet.

Seven hundred camels his tribute be,

A thousand hawks that have moulted free.

Let full four hundred mules be told,

Laden with silver enow and gold

For fifty waggons to bear away;

So shall his soldiers receive their pay.

Say, too long hath he warred in Spain,

Let him turn to France—to his Aix—again.

At Saint Michael's feast you will thither speed,

Bend your heart to the Christian creed,

And his liegeman be in duty and deed.

Hostages he may demand

Ten or twenty at your hand.

We will send him the sons whom our wives have nursed;

Were death to follow, mine own the first.

Better by far that they there should die

Than be driven all from our land to fly,

Flung to dishonor and beggary.

IV

"Yea," said Blancandrin, "by this right hand,

And my floating beard by the free wind fanned,

Ye shall see the host of the Franks disband

And hie them back into France their land;

Each to his home as beseemeth well, And

Karl unto Aix—to his own Chapelle.

He will hold high feast on Saint Michael's day

And the time of your tryst shall pass away.

Tale nor tidings of us shall be;

Fiery and sudden, I know, is he:

He will smite off the heads of our hostages all:

Better, I say, that their heads should fall

Than we the fair land of Spain forego,

And our lives be laden with shame and woe."

"Yea," said the heathens, "it may be so."

V

King Marsil's council is over that day,

And he called to him Clarin of Balaguet,

Estramarin, and Eudropin his peer,

Bade Garlon and Priamon both draw near,

Machiner and his uncle Maheu—with these

Joïmer and Malbien from overseas,

Blancandrin for spokesman,—of all his men

He hath summoned there the most felon ten.

"Go ye to Carlemaine," spake their liege,—

"At Cordres city he sits in siege,—

While olive branches in hand ye press,

Token of peace and of lowliness.

Win him to make fair treaty with me,

Silver and gold shall your guerdon be,

Land and lordship in ample fee."

"Nay," said the heathens, "enough have we."

VI

So did King Marsil his council end.

"Lords," he said, "on my errand wend;

While olive branches in hand ye bring,

Say from me unto Karl the king,

For sake of his God let him pity show;

And ere ever a month shall come and go,

With a thousand faithful of my race,

I will follow swiftly upon his trace,

Freely receive his Christian law,

And his liegemen be in love and awe.

Hostages asks he? it shall be done."

Blancandrin answered, "Your peace is won."

VII

Then King Marsil bade be dight

Ten fair mules of snowy white,

Erst from the King of Sicily brought

Their trappings with silver and gold inwrought

Gold the bridle, and silver the selle.

On these are the messengers mounted well;

And they ride with olive boughs in hand,

To seek the Lord of the Frankish land.

Well let him watch; he shall be trepanned.

At Cordres. Carlemaine's Council

VIII

King Karl is jocund and gay of mood,

He hath Cordres city at last subdued;

Its shattered walls and turrets fell

By Catapult and mangonel;

Not a heathen did there remain

But confessed him Christian or else was slain.

The Emperor sits in an orchard wide,

Roland and Olivier by his side:

Samson the duke, and Anseis proud;

Geoffrey of Anjou, whose arm was vowed

The royal gonfalon to rear;

Gerein, and his fellow in arms, Gerier;

With them many a gallant lance,

Full fifteen thousand of gentle France.

The cavaliers sit upon carpets white,

Playing at tables for their delight:

The older and sager sit at the chess,

The bachelors fence with a light address.

Seated underneath a pine,

Close beside an eglantine,

Upon a throne of beaten gold,

The lord of ample France behold;

White his hair and beard were seen,

Fair of body, and proud of mien,

Who sought him needed not ask, I ween

The ten alight before his feet,

And him in all observance greet.

IX

Blancandrin first his errand gave,

And he said to the king, "May God you save,

The God of glory, to whom you bend!

Marsil, our king, doth his greeting send.

Much hath he mused on the law of grace.

Much of his wealth at your feet will place—

Bears and lions, and dogs of chase,

Seven hundred camels that bend the knee,

A thousand hawks that have moulted free,

Four hundred mules, with silver and gold

Which fifty wains might scantly hold,

So shall you have of the red bezants

To pay the soldiers of gentle France.

Overlong have you dwelt in Spain,—

To Aix, your city, return again.

The lord I serve will thither come,

Accept the law of Christendom,

With clasped hands your liegeman be,

And hold his realm of you in fee."

The Emperor raised his hands on high,

Bent and bethought him silently.