CHAPTER V. ANGOULAFFRE OF THE BRAZEN TEETH, GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM.
WHILE I have been wandering with you, my friends, on the Blocksberg,Charlemagne, followed by his brilliant retinue, has been making a tourof the list upon his prancing charger. He had just regained the royaltent when a shout was heard from the crowd. All eyes were turned towardsthe Southern gate, whence proceed strains of wild music and strangecries. Charlemagne halted, and sent to inquire who ventured to disturbthe ceremony. A squire rode off at full galop, and promptly returned tomake the following report:--
"Sire, certain miscreant Saracens from Spain have come to challenge yourpeers in the name of King Marsillus, who holds his court at Saragossa.Their appearance is frightful. They come in procession, preceded by aband of unearthly music truly worthy of pagans, and demand admittance toyour presence."
"Let them enter," said Charlemagne, motioning to the heralds who guardedthe gate. "See," he added, turning to his barons, "what a lucky to tryyour hands 011 the Spanish hounds in anticipation of the time when weshall pay them a visit at Saragossa--ay, and even at Granada, for wemust compel then to be baptised for the glory of God and the safety oftheir souls."
"Have they lost all shame that they dare look a Christian in the face?"said Miton of Rennes. "Why, the earth has barely yet had time to drinkup all the blood that was shed on the plains of Poitiers."
"No doubt they are bent upon a pilgrimage thither," remarked Turpin, "topray for the repose of their sires--that is, if such miscreants havefathers, and do not spring fully grown and ready armed from the jaws ofhell!"
"How could they blush?" said Aude, pointing to the first of the Saracenswho had passed the barriers; "their complexion is of the colour of ourhorses' harness."
"Oh, the hideous brutes!" said Himiltrude, shutting her eyes. "It isimpossible they can be men."
"Let none forget that these are our guests," said Charlemagne. "We mustbe courteous even to Pagans."
Curiosity was at its height. Every one rose to catch a glimpse of theemissaries of Marsillus; even the knights of Charlemagne's escort raisedthemselves in their stirrups to obtain a view of the strangers.
There entered first sixty horsemen, blacker than Satan. Their flattenednoses, their huge ears decorated with large ear-rings, their thick lips,were for the spectators so many objects of ridicule. Their bare armswere loaded with bracelets from wrist to shoulder; their heads wereprotected by light casques, around which were wound turbans of whitesilk. All were clad in the richest stuffs, and vied with one another inappearance. Some were loudly beating kettle-drums; others were blowingwith distended cheeks horns of extraordinary shape; others, again, wereringing hand-bells or striking triangles of steel; while from timeto time there resounded the deep bellowing of ten bronze gongs, whosevibrations so vehemently shook the spectator as even to induce a desireto cough!
Immediately after these came a hundred knights, of noble aspect, clad intriple mail, so flexible and light that a girl of fifteen might wear itwith ease, and yet so stout that it was proof against the thrust of aSaracen lance; as for the thrust of a French lance, we will see aboutthat by and by. Their faces were protected by Saragossan helmets, andthey were armed with the heavy spear of Valence; while their swords',although light, could cut through or hack away steel armour, sodexterous were they in wielding them.
Behind them marched twelve standard-bearers. Here the crescent andthe horse-tail of the Moslem took the place of the red cross and thebannerets which led the Christians to combat.
Last of all, ten horse-lengths from this vanguard, appeared the envoysof Marsillus, King of Portugal, Castile, Arragon, Leon, and Valence. Allwho beheld them trembled, and ridicule gave place to alarm.
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He was twelve cubits in height, and his face measured three feet across,his nose being nine inches long. His arms and legs were six feet long;his fingers were six inches and two lines. His inordinately large mouthwas armed with sharp-pointed yellow tusks, and seemed less like humanjaws than the portcullis of some rude stronghold. He was descended fromGoliath, and assumed the title of Governor of Jerusalem. He had thestrength of thirty men, and his mace was made of the trunk of an oakthree hundred years old.*
This monster was attired in the hides of strange wild beasts, slain byhimself on the peaks of Atlas, whither no other mortal had been able topenetrate.
His horse was without a match in the world, for it was up to hisenormous weight. It gave a loud neigh on entering the list, and soalarmed all the other steeds that they reared, and in some instancesunseated their riders--a disaster at which the Saracens burst into roarsof laughter.
Himiltrude, in her terror, crossed herself, convinced that thenew-comers would vanish in smoke before she could say "Amen!" But thePagans continued to advance in good order.
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"Hell must surely have gaped to-day!" said Mita.
"I do not know," said Oliver, "whether these miscreants have issuedthence this morning, but I'm sure they will sleep there to-night!"
Charlemagne knitted his brows. Aude trembled for Roland, whose thoughtsshe could read in his face.
Hard by Angoulaffre of the Brazen Teeth rode Murad HenakyehMeimoumovassi, son of Marsillus. He was styled "The Lord of the Lion."
* Some of the learned have alleged that Angoulaffre travelled in Italy, and that one evening, while at Pisa, being a little the worse for his potations, he leant against the well-known tower, which, unable to bear his weight, lost from that moment its centre of gravity. This is an error, which I am glad to have an opportunity of rectifying. The Leaning Tower, begun in the year 1174 was not finished until the middle of the fourteenth century.
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