of the Cid; and calling to mind
the wrath with which he had formerly been received, because he had
not taken a gift with him, he took now great riches which he had taken
from those who sold bread for so great a price during the siege of
Valencia, and this he carried to the Cid as a present. Among those
who had sold it were some men from the islands of Majorca, and he
took from them all that they had. This the Cid knew, and he would not
accept his gifts. And the Cid caused proclamation to be made in the
town and throughout the whole district thereof, that the honorable men
and knights and castellans should assemble together in the garden of
Villa Nueva, where the Cid at that time sojourned. And when they were
all assembled, he went out unto them, to a place which was made ready
with carpets and with mats, and he made them take their seats before
him full honorable, and began to speak unto them, saying: "I am a
man who have never possessed a kingdom, neither I nor any man of my
lineage. But the day when I first beheld this city I was well pleased
therewith, and coveted it that I might be its lord; and I besought the
Lord our God that he would give it me. See now what his power is, for
the day when I sat down before Juballa I had no more than four loaves
of bread, and now by God's mercy I have won Valencia.

"If I administer right and justice here, God will let me enjoy it; if
I do evil, and demean myself proudly and wrongfully, I know that he
will take it away. Now then, let every one go to his own lands, and
possess them even as he was wont to have and to hold them. He who
shall find his field, or his vineyard, or his garden, desert, let him
incontinently enter thereon; and he who shall find his husbanded, let
him pay him that hath cultivated it the cost of his labor, and of
the seed which he hath sown therein, and remain with his heritage,
according to the law of the Moors. Moreover, I have given order that
they who collect my dues take from you no more than the tenth, because
so it is appointed by the custom of the Moors, and it is what ye
have been wont to pay. And I have resolved in my heart to hear your
complaints two days in the week, on the Monday and the Thursday; but
if causes should arise which require haste, come to me when ye will
and I will give judgment, for I do not retire with women to sing and
to drink, as your lords have done, so that ye could obtain no justice,
but will myself see to these things, and