of the twelve peers, and is provided with a faithful
friend Oliver, and a betrothed, Alda.

The poem is the first of the great French heroic poems known as
"chansons de geste." It is written in stanzas of various length, bound
together by the vowel-rhyme known as assonance. It is not possible to
reproduce effectively this device in English, and the author of the
present translation has adopted what is perhaps the nearest
equivalent--the romantic measure of Coleridge and Scott.

Simple almost to bareness in style, without subtlety or high
imagination, the Song of Roland is yet not without grandeur; and its
patriotic ardor gives it a place as the earliest of the truly national
poems of the modern world._

THE SONG OF ROLAND

PART I

THE TREASON OF GANELON

SARAGOSSA. THE COUNCIL OF KING MARSIL

I

The king our Emperor Carlemaine,
Hath been for seven full years in Spain.
From highland to sea hath he won the land;
City was none might his arm withstand;
Keep and castle alike went down--
Save Saragossa, the mountain town.
The King Marsilius holds the place,
Who loveth not God, nor seeks His grace:
He prays to Apollin, and serves Mahound;
But he saved him not from the fate he found.

II

In Saragossa King Marsil made
His council-seat in the orchard shade,
On a stair of marble of azure hue.
There his courtiers round him drew;
While there stood, the king before,
Twenty thousand men and more.
Thus to his dukes and his counts he said,
"Hear ye, my lords, we are sore bested.
The Emperor Karl of gentle France
Hither hath come for our dire mischance.
Nor host to meet him in battle line,
Nor power to shatter his power, is mine.
Speak, my sages; your counsel lend:
My doom of shame and death forefend."
But of all the heathens none spake word
Save Blancandrin, Val Fonde's lord.

III

Blancandrin was a heathen wise,
Knightly and valiant of enterprise,
Sage in counsel his lord to aid;
And he said to the king, "Be not dismayed:
Proffer to Karl, the haughty and high,
Lowly friendship and fealty;
Ample largess lay at his feet,
Bear and lion and greyhound fleet.
Seven hundred camels his tribute be,
A thousand hawks that have moulted free.
Let full four hundred mules be told,
Laden with silver en