The Van Buren press., 1898-08-13


grace to win,
His Lord was ever bountiful; great wss
his joy therein.
And there In middle of the path. a leper
did appear
In a deep slough the leper lay, none would
to help come near.
With loud voice he thence did cry: For
God, our Saviour's sake,
From out the fearful jeopardy Christian
brother take
".
When Rodrigo heard that piteous word, he
from his horse came down.
For all they said. no stay he made, that
noble champion.
He reached his hand to pluck him forth, of
fear was no account,
Then mounted on his steed of worth, and
made the leper mount.
Behind him rode the leprous man. when
to their hosterie
They came, he made him eat with him at
table cheerfuly:
While all the rest from the poor guest with
loathing shrunk away,
To his own bed the wretch he led beside
him there he lay.
vi.
All at the mid-hour of the night, while
good Rodrigo slept
breath came from the leprous man, II
through his shoulders crept:
Right through the body, at the breast,
passed forth that breathing cold;
/ wot he leaped up with a start In terrora
manifold.
VII
He groped for him in the bed, but him he
could not find,
Through the dark chamber groped he, with
very anxious mind;
Loudly he lifted up his voice. with speed
lamp he brought
Yet nowhere was the leper seen, though far
and near they sought.
He turned him to his chamber Got wot,
perplexed and sore
With that which had befallen-when 10!
his face before,
There stood a man all clothed In vesture
shining white.
Thus said the vision: "Sleepest thou. or
wakest thou Sir Knight"
TX.
IT sleep not" quoth Rodrigo; "but tell mo
who art thou,
For. In the midst of darkness. much light
Is on thy brow?"
Il am the holy Lazarus, l come to speak
with thee;
l am the same poor leper thou savedst for
charity
Not vain the trial. nor In vain thy victory
hath BEEN
God favors thee. for that my pain thou
did'st relieve yestreen.
There shall be honor with thee, in battle
and in peace,
Success in all thy doings. and plentiful In
crease"
The poem contains few verses more
in which the happy ever afterward"
ending is given. 1t is thought that from
this James Russell Lowell conceived
the idea of The Vision of Sir Launfal."
There is also another beautiful story
of his marriage with Ximene, the
daughter of the count of Ovledc, and
granddaughter to Alphonso the V. AL
though great soldier and mighty
statesman the Cid was not ashamed of
the most gentle things OF life, aud his
soul was full of true sentiment. The
story goes that when the Cid was tell
ing the dark-eyed Spanish girl of his
love that she was holding in her hand
several white native roses, and that the
maiden's blushing turned them Grim
son. Afterward these roses did not
fade as roses usually do, but lasted
until the wedding. While the cere-
mony was being performed they grad
ually turned pure white again, and
they were ever afterward called the
brides roses.
The origin of this legend is unknown,
and is doubtless the product of some
late authors brain, as it cannot be
found in any of the older chronicles.
Like all great and ambitious soldiers
who have tried to conquer the world,
after his first great defeat, the Cid died
of anger and grief about 1899. 1t was
after the battle of Cuenca, at which
his army was completely routed. After
much disturbance, the body of the Cid
lies in the center of a small chapel In
Burgos. Here this truest of Spanish
heroes, the embodiment of all the ma
tional virtues and most of the national
vice, lies in great state upon a large
slab. The body was bound by gold
rings to a wooden cross and placed
there surrounded by his companions in
war. To-day cid time and relic seekers
have left only the rings and the small
bits of wood that cling to them. Philip
ii. tried to have him canonized, but
Rome objected. With all of his vir-
tues the Cid was not the fit person for
saint.
Such is the story, veracious and
otherwise, of the greatest of the guer-
rilleros in legend and in history, of
the greatest type of the rebel, the
bandit and warrior from the days of
Sertorius to those of FL Empecinado.
The one man whose life has gone more
to form the destiny, history and litera-
ture Of nation than any other human
being that has ever lived.-Louisville
Courier-J ournal.