CHAPTER X. WHEN ROLAND REMEMBERS HIS LATIN, AND THE DEVIL FORGETS HIS.
I AM unable to tell you what followed. Even Roland had no clearrecollection. When he recovered his senses, he rose and cast hiseyes round him, to find himself in the midst of a vast sandy plain,stretching on all sides to the horizon. The sun poured its hostilerays upon him so fiercely, that in a few minutes his armour becameinsupportably hot. The atmosphere was so charged with electricity,that the plume of his helmet crackled, and gave out sparks. In vain hesearched the horizon for a place of shelter--there was nothing to beseen but level plain and blue sky. Gigantic red ants came and wentbusily--they were the only occupants of this desert. All of a sudden hebeheld before him in the distance white mosques, knots of palms, anda sea-port with some vessels at anchor, and others sailing out of theharbour. He saw, too, long caravans, which journeyed to the city gates.
Roland felt his courage revive, and set out in the direction of thecity. But he did not appear to come any the closer to it; he took torunning until he fell down with fatigue on the burning sand. Then thecity seemed to turn of a yellow hue, the blue of the sea grew paler, andwas lost in that of the sky; the trees vanished, and the Count of Mansfound himself once more alone in the desert.
"Why come to a halt?" said he to himself. "Better move forward in anydirection at hap-hazard. I can only gain by the change."
He rose, determined to struggle on as long as his limbs would sustainhim. What was his surprise to see, in an opposite direction to that hehad just been pursuing, a mountain covered with verdure, on the summitof which stood a castle! Three walls of circumvallation surrounded it.At the foot of each flowed a river covered with vessels of war. Threehanging ladders of marvellous workmanship united the three platforms ofthe fortress, and four bastions guarded the approach to each ladder.
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Roland once more pushed on; but as he advanced, the fortress rose intothe skies, until, after about an hour's walking, he found himself withnothing before him save the blank horizon of the desert. Then despairseized him. He sank on his knees, crossed himself, and shed four tears,the first he had ever wept. They fell on the sand, and there formed foursprings for a stream of cool and clear water. Roland received from thisnew vigour, and having rendered thanks to Providence, he was preparingto move forward, when he remarked with surprise a great stirring of thesand. Little clouds of dust began to rise in all directions, althoughthere was not a breath stirring. Then the sand began to whirl roundincessantly, marking a great circle at a short distance from our hero.
As it began to whirl, it heaped itself up, drawn towards the centreby some strange force of attraction. You would have said that somegigantic polypus was sucking up all the sand of the desert. After a fewminutes there mounted, still eddying round, a huge column, which grew asRoland watched it, until the summit was lost to sight in the sky. A hotwind, like the harmattan of the Guinea coast, rose and drove the sandbefore it in clouds. The sun turned red as molten iron.
The pillar of sand at last lost its equilibrium, and fell with ahorrible rushing sound. Roland closed his eyes, but he did not recoil.Hearing a great roar of laughter, he instinctively clutched his sword bythe hilt. What he saw next induced him to draw it from its sheath.
The sand, in falling, had reared a mound, the base of which formed anenormous circle, in the centre of which Roland perceived, with surprise,a huge monster buried in sand to his waist. It was Eblis, the Devil ofthe East.
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His Majesty was a hundred feet in height, which is a respectable size,even for a demon of the highest rank. His black skin, striped with red,was covered with small scales, which made it glisten like armour. Hishair was so long and curly, a snake might have lost its way in it. Hisflat nose was pierced with a ring of admirable workmanship, as you seedone to the wild bulls of the Roman Campagna. His white teeth, set withprecious stones, gave to his smile a very variegated appearance. Hissmall eyes assumed, one after the other, all the prismatic colours,which made it impossible to sustain his gaze. His ears, which exactlyresembled those of an elephant, flapped on his shoulders; but he had,to make up for it, a tail sixty feet long, terminating in a hooked claw,which could have wielded the Monument easily as a toothpick.
Eblis had no other covering than his wings, which were large, soft,and marvellously pliable, and in which he delighted to wrap himself.Conceive, further, that a phosphorescent gleam played incessantly overthe monster's skin, and you will easily understand why Roland unsheathedDurandal.
Eblis was writhing with laughter.
"I haven't roared so through all eternity, upon my honour! Here, I say,my little man, do you know you have just done a master-stroke?"
This familiar tone displeased Roland.
"I have just met Mahomet," continued Eblis, "and you have broken five ofhis front teeth. I have seen a good many prophets in my time, but I vow,on the faith of the accursed, I never saw one in such a rage. I have, inhonour of the blow, given three days' holiday in the infernal regions.There will be concerts, balls, hunts, and theatres. I have had written,by one of our best authors, a little comedy in the style of Apollodorus,in the last scene of which Mahomet receives a hundred strokes of thebastinado. I have given orders to an army of cooks; you can hear evenhere a rattle of stew-pans altogether refreshing. I will undertake tolet you see we are not so backward in this respect as people pretend.You will meet with many old friends among the guests; we have quitea crowd of visitors just now. My wife, who is a lively one, will bedelighted to make your acquaintance. Come, let me present you to her asthe best of my friends."
"Babbler!" exclaimed Roland, but little flattered at these marks offriendship. "What right have you to address me in this style?"
Eblis, who was not accustomed to be treated so cavalierly, was dumb withsurprise for a moment.
"By my father's horns!" said he, at last, "I must have misunderstoodyou. Give me your hand, Roland, to disabuse me of the error."
He stretched out his tail to the knight, who, however, only drew back afew steps.
"What, puny wretch!" shrieked Eblis, turning as white with rage as itwas possible for one so black to do. "I shall send you back to earth. Doyou think I am of the same stuff as Mahomet?"
"But here Roland flung his second gauntlet in the demon's face.
"That makes the pair!" said the nephew of Charlemagne, placing himselfin an attitude of defence.
"Zacoum Zimzim Galarabak!" shouted Eblis, mad with fury. (You mustknow that is the most terrible oath that can be uttered in the Saracentongue.) The earth shook and gaped at Roland's feet. He felt himselflaunched into space. His armour suddenly became icy cold.
"If I get back without an attack of rheumatism I shall be lucky," saidthe knight.
He heard around him the flapping of wings; it was a troop of afreets anddjins.
"Reflect, Roland. There is yet time. Mahomet is prepared to forgiveyou."
All the answer Roland vouchsafed was the intoning of the canticle--
"Sub tuum Fraesidium confugimus."
"In a few moments your body will be dashed to pieces on earth. Rememberthe wondrous things the Prophet offered to share with you."
"_Sancta Dei genitrix; nostras deprecationes ne despicias_," continuedRoland. And now it seemed to him that, instead of falling at hazard, hewas being gently carried. The chorus of afreets and djins was left farbehind, but he still heard the sound of pinions.
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"Set your mind at rest," said a voice so exquisitely musical that Rolandtrembled to hear it. "I am the Archangel Michael. Our Blessed Lady hassent me to preserve you. She had been touched by your constancy andcourage. Repose in safety on my wings, and we shall soon reach earth."
And, in truth, in a few minutes' time the Count of Mans, to hisastonishment, found himself before Saragossa. He was at prayer in histent when he heard the voice of Miton.
"My dear Roland, where are you?" cried the Count of Rennes, anxiously.
"Here I am," said the knight, hurrying
to his friend.
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"Charlemagne, who knows how punctual you are, seeing you were tenminutes behind your time to take on your guard, has sent to look for youin every direction. You are pale, my dear Count; what has happened toyou?"
"I will tell you all about it," said Roland, as he hastened to his postnear the Emperor.
END OF THE SECOND BOOK.
BOOK THE THIRD -- THE FORTRESS OF FEAR.
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