winning so much booty that he was able to send thirty caparisoned
steeds to Alfonso, as well as rich gifts in money to his wife. In
return, the bearer of these welcome tokens was informed by King
Alfonso that Rodrigo would shortly be pardoned and recalled.

Meanwhile the Cid, leaving Alcocer, had taken up his abode on the hill
near Medina, which still bears his name. Thence he proceeded to the
forest of Tebar, where he again fought so successfully against the
Moors that he compelled the city of Saragossa to pay tribute to him.
Rumors of these triumphs enticed hundreds of Castilian knights to join
him, and with their aid he outwitted all the attempts the Moors made
to regain their lost possessions. We are also told that in one of
these battles the Cid took prisoner Don Ramon, who refused to eat
until free. Seeing this, the Cid took his sword, Colada, and promised
to set him and his kinsmen free if they would only eat enough to have
strength to depart. Although doubtful whether this promise would be
kept, Don Ramon and his follows partook of food and rode away,
constantly turning their heads to make sure that they were not
pursued.

He spurred his steed, but, as he rode, a backward glance he bent,
Still fearing to the last my Cid his promise would repent:
A thing, the world itself to win, my Cid would not have done:
No perfidy was ever found in him, the Perfect One.

As some of his subjects were sorely persecuted by the Moors, Alfonso
now sent word to the Cid to punish them, a task the hero promised to
perform, provided the king would pledge himself never again to banish
a man without giving him thirty days' notice, and to make sundry other
wise reforms in his laws. Having thus secured inestimable boons for