mary thirty days to prepare for departure,
threatened to put him to death were he found within the land nine days
later! As soon as the Cid informed his friends he was banished, one
and all promised to follow wherever he went, as did his devoted cousin
Alvar Fanez.

It is at this point that the present poem of the Cid begins, for the
ballads covering the foregoing part of the Cid's life exist only in a
fragmentary state. We are told that the decree of banishment proved a
signal for the courtiers to plunder the hero's house, and that the Cid
gazing sadly upon its ruins exclaimed, "My enemies have done this!"
Then, seeing a poor woman stand by, he bade her secure her share,
adding that for his part he would henceforth live by pillaging the
Moors, but that the day would come when he would return home laden
with honors.

On his way to Burgos the Cid was somewhat cheered by good omens, and
was joined by so many knights in quest of adventure that no less than
sixty banners fluttered behind him. A royal messenger had, however,
preceded him to this city, to forbid the people to show him
hospitality and to close his own house against him. The only person
who dared inform the Cid of this fact was a little maid, who
tremblingly reported that he was to be debarred from all assistance.

"O thou that in a happy hour didst gird thee with the sword,
It is the order of the king; we dare not, O my lord!
Sealed with his royal seal hath come his letter to forbid
The Burgos folk to open door, or shelter thee, my Cid.
Our goods, our homes, our very eyes, in this are all at stake;
And small the gain to thee, though we meet ruin for thy sake.
Go, and God prosper thee in all that thou dost undertake."[13]

Pausing at the church only long enough to say a prayer, the Cid rode
out of the gates of Burgos and camped on a neighboring hill, where his
nephew Martin Antolinez brought him bread and wine, declaring he would
henceforth share the Cid's fortunes in defiance of the king. It was to
this relative that the Cid confided the fact that he was without funds
and must raise enough money to defray present expenses. Putting their
heads together, these two then decided to fill two huge chests with
sand, and offer them to a couple of Jews in Burgos for six hundred
marks, stating the chests contained treasures too heavy and valuable
to be taken into exile, and assuring them that, if they solemnly
pledged themselves not to open the chests