Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-09-02

H.oh out the ltdTlul JcOpuIuy AHTlstiUIi
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, aud
made the leper mount.
Behind him rode the leprous man; when
to their hostelrie
They came, he made him eat with him at
table cheerfuly;
While all the rest from the poor guest with
loathing shrunl 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, It
through his shoulders crept;
Right though the body, at the breast,
passed forth that breathing cold;
| wot he leared up with start In terrors
manifold.
VII.
He groped for him in the bed, but him he
could not find,
Through the dark chamber CROPPED he. with
very anxious mind;
Loudly he lifted up his voice, with speed q
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 core =.
With that which had befallen-when lol
his face before,
There stood a man all clothed in vesture
shining white.
Thus said the vision; "sleepest thou, OF
wakest thou, Sir knight"
II sleep not" quoth Rodrigo; but tell me
who art thou,
For, In the midst OF darkness, much light
Is on thy brow?'
II am the holy Lazarus, come to SPEAK
with thee;
am the same poor leper thou savedst fol
charity,
mot vain the trial, nor In vain thy victor,
nath Deen,
God favors thee, for that my pain thol
dld'st relieve yestreen.
There shall be honor with thee, in battle
and in peace,
Success In all thy dolngs, ard 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 stor,
! of his marriage with Nimene, thu
daughter of the count of Ovledo, ant
granddaughter to Alphonso the V. Al
though a great soldier and might.
statesman the Cid was not ashamed o
the most gentle things of life, and hi
soul was full of true sentiment. Th
story goes that when the Cid was tell
ing the dark-eyed Spanish girl OF hi
love that she was holding in her ham
several white native roses, and that tn
maiden's blushing turned them Grim
son. Afterward these roses did no
fade as roses usually do. but lnste'
until the wedding. While the cerc
mony was being performed they grad
ually turned pure white again, an
they were ever Gfterward called tn
brides roses.
The origin of this legend is unknown
and is doubtless the product of som
late authors brain, as it cannot b
found in any of the older chronicles.
Like all great and ambitious soldier
who have tried to conquer the worlt
after his first great defeat, the Cid die
of anger and grief about 1909. II wa
after the battle of Cuenca, at whic
his army was completely routed. Afte
much disturbance, the body of the Ci
lies in the center of a small chapel
Burgos. Here this trucst OF Spanis
heroes, the embodiment of all the nj
tional virtues and most of the nation;
vice. lies in great state upon n IarG
slab The body was bound by gol
rings to wooden cross and place
there surrounded by his companions
war. To-day old time and relic seeker
have left only the rings and the sma
bits of wood that cling to them. Phil
II. tried to have him canonized, bl
Rome objected. With all of his vi
tues the Cid was not the fiji person fc
saint.
Such Is the story, vcracious m
otherwise, of tho greatest of the guc
rillcros in legend and in history,
the greatest type of the rebel, Il
bandit and warrior from the days I
Sertorius to those Of El Empecinad
The one man whose life has gone mo,
! to form the destiny, history and liter
, ture Of n nation than any other huma
being that has ever lived.-Louisvil
! Courier-Journal.