fallen into the enemy's hands had not the Cid risen from his sick-bed
to extricate him from peril! By this time the renown of the Cid was
so great, that people in speaking of him invariably termed him "the
Perfect One," thereby arousing such jealousy among the courtiers, that
they persuaded Alfonso his subject was trying to outshine him! In
anger the king decreed Rodrigo's immediate banishment, and, instead of
allowing him the customary 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.