CARLO MAGNO AND THE GIANT.
Many tales of Spain are full of memories of Charlemagne. It is strangethat history says comparatively little of his doings there; but hiswas a character such as the Spanish Romancers were sure to seize,and, with their habit of heaping all perfections on their heroes,ascribe to him all manner of fabulous achievements. Here is one ofthe exploits they tell of him:--
One of the Moorish kings, who sought his alliance in the internecineturmoils in which the chiefs of their race were at the time engaged,had an only and beautiful daughter, the apple of his eye, who wasguarded with jealous care, indulged in every wish, waited on by themost beautiful maidens in a fairy-like palace, and suffered to knownothing of her father's wars and dangers. Life seemed all smoothnessand pleasure to her; and every one, who at any time met her eye,made it their delight to obey her faintest sign.
But life passed even amid continual sunshine, flowers, and harmony maybecome monotonous. When the Moorish princess had had fifteen years ofit, she began to seek some pleasure newer and more exciting. Her fondfather, only glad to hear her express a wish, that he might have thesatisfaction of gratifying it, promised to give her a fresh diversionsuch as she had never before seen.
For this purpose he ordered a great fete, and chose out all themightiest men of his forces, to perform feats of arms and mock combatsbefore her.
The princess, who had never witnessed any combat more serious than thatof her pet doves, was delighted beyond measure with the new sensation,and thought she could never tire of seeing the brave horsemen contend;dealing each other such heavy blows, and all the while seeming soindifferent to danger. Nevertheless the time came when the samenessof these shows struck her too, and she began to crave for somethingnewer yet.
The king then ordered that valiant men out of other countries shouldbe invited to come and contend before her, each after the fashionof their own country; and many warriors of renown were content tocome and display their prowess; the Moslem in the hope of winningthe bright smile of the king's daughter; Christians, to have theopportunity of displaying their might before the infidel horde.
Among the strangers, but belonging to neither of these categories,came one day a powerful giant, five cubits high, who rode on a horseas tall as a house. All the mighty men of the king's army turned palewhen they saw him; and the king regretted that his invitations to allcomers had been so unlimited that he could find no courteous excusefor excluding him; to prefer an unfair one would have been dangerous,as his ire would have been terrible if provoked. So he received himas smilingly as his trepidation would permit; and the giant seemeda very good-natured person, too full of his own consequence to thinkof any thing else, even of picking a quarrel with any one.
He challenged every one to fight with him, but no one would venture;and this testimony to his might put him in still better humour. Thenhe showed off all his feats of strength, to the great delight ofthe court, and of none more than the princess, who was so astonishedat the prodigies he rehearsed, that she leant out from her balcony,and suffered the veil to blow away from her face.
The giant happened to be looking towards her at the moment, and thatmoment sufficed to make him fall in love with her. For the rest ofthe day he exhibited his surprising strength with renewed energy;but the evening was no sooner come, than he stole up to her window,which, though it was in a very high tower of the alcazar [3], wasjust at a convenient height for his head to reach as he stood upon theground. Putting his face against the lattice, he whispered very softlythat he must speak to her. The poor little princess was dreadfullyfrightened, and could not guess what he wanted, but thought it wouldnot be dignified to show any fear; so she went near enough to thewindow to be heard by him, and asked him his pleasure. The gianttold her that he loved her, and she must marry him. The princesswas dreadfully terrified when she heard this, for she knew she hadno possible means of resisting him if he chose to carry her off byforce; and she reflected, too, that her father himself would havevery little chance if he attempted to fight him: and what a dreadfulthing it would be if he should kill her father--her dear father, whowas so fond of her! Yet in the fright she was in, she could think ofno better stratagem than to stammer forth that he must give her timeto think about it.
The giant was not very dissatisfied with this reply, and promised hewould leave her quite to herself till the next day. All that night,and all the next day, the little princess thought and thought ofwhat excuse she could make; but she could think of nothing but toask him to give her another day; and then again she sat and thought,and no invention would come: and she durst not tell, her father,lest he should in his indignation challenge the giant to fight,and be killed by him. But when he came the third time, and she couldstill think of no stratagem for getting rid of him, she was obligedto tell him plainly that she could not make up her mind to marry him.
At first the giant tried all sorts of clumsy persuasions andentreaties; but the maiden held firm; and at last, finding she wouldnot yield, he grew fiercely angry, seized the alcazar by the roof,and made it rock backwards and forwards, tore up the trees, and threwthem on the ground, and stamped upon the soil with a noise like pealsof thunder. The poor little princess was so terrified she hardly knewwhat was happening, only she heard him swear that he would come backand take her by a way she could not escape him; and after repeatingthat threat several times at length disappeared.
It was a long time before the princess came to her senses again,for she had fainted with the dire terror, and when she did, she beganto wonder what the terrible trouble was which had so shattered her;by degrees the memory of the stormy scenes lately passed came backto her, but all was now so calm and still, she could hardly realizethe truth of what she had gone through. It was a great relief to findthe giant was quite gone--far away; and she learnt that he lived along, long way off, in a valley as far below the level of the plainas the height on which her father's alcazar stood was above it. Sheremembered, indeed, his threat that he would come back, but it seemedthat it would have been so easy for him to have taken her then hadhe been so minded, that she could not think he was serious in theintention to carry her off at all. Why should he come back to do whathe might just as well have done at once?
Time passed on, and she heard no more of the giant; people leftoff talking of his feats of strength, and she began to forget allabout him. A matter happened, too, which gave another direction toher thoughts. A neighbouring king made war upon her father, and withsuch overwhelming preparations, that this time he could not concealthe fact from her. Every one was full of apprehensions, and the king,distracted with the fear of losing his kingdom, had no time even tothink of the fancies of his beloved daughter. The princess heard fromone and another of the attendants that things were going very wrong,that the enemy were getting the upper hand, and advancing nearer andnearer; but she learnt more from their anxious looks than from theirlips, for every one was afraid to distress her by giving her detailsof the truth.
We must now go back to the giant, whom we left marching off in nogood humour. The truth about him was, that with all his strength hewas not very courageous--he was more of a bully than a warrior. Hehad heard a great deal of the bravery and more particularly of theexcellent arms of the Moors, and as he knew they would rise as oneman to defend their princess if he carried her off, he did not likethe idea of their making pincushions of his legs with their fine sharpswords, even if they could not reach to do him further damage. So heresolved to carry out his plan in a way which would be less fraughtwith danger to himself.
Coming down from the alcazar, he went on to the neighbouring sovereign,and treacherously gave him a description of all he had seen atthe court where he had just been staying; told him the number andsituation of the army, and the condition of the defences, and pointedout the least protected points of the country by which an incursioncould be made. Having received a rich guerdon for this information,he continued his way homewards, and then set all his people to workto cut a long cave, which he made t
hem extend further and furtherin a sloping direction till it should come out opposite the alcazarwhere the Moorish princess dwelt, by means of which he could reachher unperceived, and carry her off without danger to his own skin,while the city was in the midst of the tumult which he thoughtwould be brought about by the inroad of the inimical power he hadperfidiously invoked.
Various underground rumblings had been observed for some time past bythe country people, but as they held little communication with eachother it did not strike them that the sounds continually advanced inthe direction of the capital. Indeed, all minds were too much filledwith apprehensions of the destruction the advancing foe above groundwas likely to reek upon their property, to have time to give way tofears of a chimerical foe in the regions below the soil.
Thus the giant worked on steadily and without hindrance, whilethe poor little princess was far from thinking of her tormentorotherwise than as at a safe distance; much less did she dream of hiscontinually nearing approach! Enough she had to excite her anxietywithout this. And she sat crying over her father's danger till herface became quite pale and her eyes worn with tears.
At last a day came when every one seemed bright with fresh hope;and they ran hastily enough to tell her the good news. The youthfulconqueror, Carlo Magno, had been appealed to by the king to helphim. His advent had entirely turned the tide of affairs: the enemyhad been completely repulsed, and the victorious army was returningin triumph to the city.
The news spread like wildfire; every one hasted to deck theirhouses festively, and put on their best attire, to do honour to theconquerors; and when they appeared, shouted their thanks in loudacclamations. The little princess was very desirous to see the younghero who had saved her father's life; and, though it is not the customfor Moorish women to appear in public, she contrived to see him as hepassed by, and thought in the silence of her heart how nice it wouldhave been if it had been the handsome Christian who had wanted to marryher instead of the monstrous giant. Having once seen him, she was sodesirous to see him again that she sent to ask him to come, that shemight thank him for having saved her father's kingdom; but it wasnot entirely for her father's sake that she contrived the interview.
When he came, however, though he was very courteous towards her,he was also very reserved, and stayed a very short time; assuredher that what he had done was nothing at all; that his sword wasever ready to defend the right, whoever it might be invoked his aid;and with that took his leave without paying her any compliments. TheMoorish princess was sad when she saw him go out so; and sadder stillwhen she learnt that no Christian prince cared to know a Moorishmaid. Carlo Magno himself, however, was sorry for the poor child,as he had seen that she wanted to be better acquainted with him;but he could hold no intimacy with the unbeliever.
The giant, meantime, had gone on boring away; and, though he had nowgot quite under the alcazar, every one was so full of festivity andrejoicing that nobody heeded the sound of his pickaxe. On his part,he had not been altogether unmindful to listen for the sounds whichmight keep him informed of what was going on in the upper world,he had been very well satisfied with what he heard. There had beenunmistakable clashings of battle, and he never doubted that theprincess's father must be getting the worst of it; and now, when heheard the sounds of busy running to and fro in the festive palace,he made sure it was his allies pillaging the place.
At last the tunnel was complete; he crept out in the first fall ofthe darkness of night, threaded the familiar way up to the princess'swindow, rested his foot on the cornice of the first story for astepping-stone, and with one grasp of his hand had swept her off hercouch before she had time to open her eyes. Then closing her mouth,so that she might not cry and raise an alarm, walked quietly backwith her to his subterranean passage, down the sloping path of whichhe carried her in exultation.
Quickly and silently as the feat had been performed, the keen brighteyes of a little black slave had followed the whole affair, as shelay at the foot of her mistress's couch. She had seen the huge handspread over the room,--the nail of its little finger had indeed sadlygrazed her forehead. She recognized it at once as belonging to thegiant, her mistress's dread of whom she had so often shared. And nosooner was her helplessness to rescue her apparent, than she rushedmadly into the banqueting-hall, tearing her clothes and plucking outher hair, and crying out in wailing accents what had befallen. It wasnot easy to gain credence to so strange a story; and when at last herearnestness induced belief in her sincerity, the princess's room hadto be searched to afford the necessary proof that she was gone. Whenthis was found to be indeed but too true, the wail was taken up byall the people. The banquet was broken up, and every one went hitherand thither, not knowing what to do; for, withal that the giant wasso big, none had seen him pass to tell which way he had gone.
But Carlo Magno, brave and self-possessed in the midst of all, sawan occasion to be of service to the poor Moorish princess, and makeup for the disappointment he had caused her in the morning. It wasplain to him that if the giant had stood under the window, as thelittle black slave had said, he must have left his foot-prints there;and that he could thence be tracked whithersoever he had gone. So heraised a loud voice, and bid all the people be still: and that if theywould all remain without stirring, he would deliver their princess;for he wanted them not to stir up the soil any more, lest they shoulddestroy the track.
The voice of Carlo Magno, after what he had already done for them,possessed great authority with the people; and so all stood quitestill, while he bade the little black slave guide him to the window;and there, under it, sure enough he found the giant's footprints,two great holes in the sand, like dry tanks for water. Allowing duespace for his prodigious stride, the prince readily found anotherand another, till they brought him to the mouth of the tunnel, wherehe had indeed passed. When all the people saw the great gaping holewhich had never appeared there before that night, and gazed down itsdescending gullet, no wonder they thought it was the mouth of hellopened to vomit forth its monster.
But Carlo Magno said he would deliver the princess though hisenterprise should indeed lead him into the realms of Hades. And all thepeople applauded his courage, but he went down the black path alone.
Though he travelled at all speed, the giant had now good start,and the length of his step was equal to several of the Christianprince's charger; but Carlo Magno made such good haste that he hadnot got above a hundred miles before he heard the giant's laugh,exulting over his prize, resounding through the gloomy passage,though still at some considerable distance. This roused the Christianprince's indignation, and made him urge his steed yet faster, till atlast he came within sight of him. And then, when he saw his monstrousarms bearing the little helpless princess, his compassion made him useyet greater speed, till at length just as he reached the mouth of thecave, Carlo Magno managed to overstep him by one bound of his horse,and then wheeling round confronted him with fearless eye.
The giant I have already said was more of a bully than a warrior. Whenhe saw the Christian knight so brave and firm, and withal encased insuch strong armour, and brandishing his trenchant sword, he felt hisbest defence lay in hectoring and boasting, and thereby frighteningthe Christian hero from attempting to fight him.
With a terrible voice, therefore, which made the rocks resound,he asked his opponent, on whom he lavished every startling epithet,what he meant by venturing to appear before him; following up thequestion by such a volley of imprecations and threats as he fanciedwould suffice to make him wish to escape with a whole skin.
Carlo Magno, however, who knew that the dogs who bark most bite least,waited unmoved till he had exhausted his whole repertory of violentlanguage, and then quite undismayed summoned him to surrender themaiden.
Another loud and angry volley followed upon this demand, with furtherthreats of the terrible vengeance he intended to take on the intruder.
"Then," said Carlo Magno, "if you will not give her up quietly, Imust even take her by force." And with that he dismounted an
d drewhis sword. The giant saw now that he must defend his life, or hewould lose it; and so, forced to fight, he drew his clumsy sword andbegan laying about him in right-determined fashion; but all his blowsalighted far and wide of the Christian prince. Furious at finding hisawkward efforts ineffectual, while the highly trained agility of theprince saved him from all his strokes, he began laying about him withsuch untempered violence that at last his weapon dropped from hishand. Fully expecting that Carlo Magno would try to possess himselfof it, he hastily bent down to regain it. But Carlo Magno had otherthoughts. Waiting calmly till the monster had bent him sufficientlylow, he swung his fine sharp blade and buried it deep in his heartwith the unerring dexterity with which the matador lays low hisbull--at one thrust.
Of course he severed the giant's head afterwards to bear away as histrophy; and raising the princess in his arms, who had swooned awayat sight of the horrid combat, bore her swiftly upwards through thesubterranean path and delivered her, yet unconscious, to her father.