The Lay of the Cid. Folio 56r

Unbesought, to be our lemans we should not take that pair,
Because as wedded consorts for our arms unfit they were.
For the insult of the lion vengeance shall thus be ta'en."

CXXXI

They sang each other's praises, the Heirs of Carrion twain.
But now of Felez Munoz will I tell the tale once more.
Even he that was nephew to the Cid Campeador.
They had bidden him ride onward, but he was not well content.
And his heart smote within him as along the road he went.
Straightway— from all the others' a space did he withraw.
There Felez Munoz entered into a thick-grown straw,
Till the coming of his cousins should be plain to be perceived
Or what the Heirs of Carrion as at that time achieved.
And he beheld them coming, and heard them say their say,
But they did not espy him, nor thought of him had they.
Be it known death he had not scaped, had they on him laid eye.
And the two Heirs rode onward, pricking fast the spur they ply.
On their trail Felez Munoz has turned him back again.
He came upon his cousins. In a swoon lay the twain.
And crying "Oh my cousins!" straightway did he alight.
By the reins the horse he tethered, and went to them forthright.
"Dame Sol and Dame Elvira, cousins of mine that be,
The two Heirs of Carrion have borne them dastardly.
Please God that for this dealing they may get a shameful gain."
And straightway he bestirred him to life to bring the twain.
Deep was their swoon. Of utterance all power they had forlorn.
Of his heart the very fabric thereby in twain was torn.
"Oh my cousins Dame Elvira and Dame Sol," he cried and spake,
"For the love of the Creator, my cousins twain, awake,