For a Queen's Love: The Stories of the Royal Wives of Philip II Read Online Free PDF Page A

had only been one hero in his life: his father.
    “What!” cried Ruy. “Your Highness does not know of the Cid!” The black eyes gleamed. If the Emperor was a hero to his son, the Cid was an even greater hero to Ruy.
    Ruy smiled and said: “We have the same name. He was Ruy Diaz de Bivar,
el mio Cid Campeador
. His real name was Rodrigo but he was called Ruy … as I am. And ‘Cid,’ that is an Arabic name which means Lord—the Champion Lord. He freed Spain from the Infidel.”
    Philip’s brow was puckered. “My great-grandfather and my great-grandmother did that,” he said haughtily.
    “Indeed yes,” said Ruy hastily. “But the Cid was the first to rise against them with any success. He lived long ago … long before great Ferdinand and Isabella.”
    “How long before?”
    “Hundreds of years … two hundred at least; and there was fighting all that time; and when your great-grandfather and your great-grandmother married they united Castile and Aragon; and that was the beginning of good times for our country.”
    That was better. That was history as Philip knew it. But Ruy had many tales to tell of the Cid. He told of the hero’s love for the beautiful Doña Ximena, and how the Cid had had to fight a duel for her before he won her; he told of how she loved him and how broken-hearted she was when he must tear himself from her to fight the Infidel. From Ruy, Philip learned her prayer:
    “Tu que atodos guias, vala myo Cid el Campeador.”
    It was a prayer he might well say for his father. “Thou, whoguardest all men, guard my lord and champion.” But his father did not need such prayers, since even the Cid could not have been so important in the eyes of God as the Emperor Charles.
    Now Ruy was telling him of the Cid’s cleverness, how, wishing to raise money to pay his soldiers, he, with the help of his squire, filled coffers with sand and nails; these he showed to the Jews, telling them that they contained treasures he had won from the Moors, and proffered them as security for a loan. The Prince listened gravely. It seemed to him that sand and nails could not be worth very much, but he did not say so, as Maria would have done; he remained silent, waiting.
    And the foolish Jews lent the money without opening the coffers which were heavily sealed. They dared not open them, for they knew that the Cid would be angry if they doubted his word. So … he got the money and the Jews got the coffers full of worthless sand and nails.
    Philip had to question this. He cried: “But … how could the Cid keep the money when he had given nothing for it?”
    “He rode away with their money, and it was too late to do anything about that when the coffers were opened.”
    “But that is stealing,” pronounced the Prince. “And it is forbidden to steal.”
    The merry black eyes were opened very wide. “I see I forgot to explain to your Highness. These were
Jews
… and Jews are infidels.”
    “They are … heretics?” said Philip uncertainly.
    “Infidels and heretics, your Highness … one and the same. Burn them all … torture them and send them to the flames…. That is the verdict of Holy Church.”
    Philip dropped his eyes. All was well. The Cid’s honor was saved. He had stolen; but it was only from Jews.
    Yet it did not say in the Scriptures: “Thou shalt not steal … except from Jews, infidels, and heretics.” He wondered why. Perhaps one day he would find out.
    Ruy slipped Philip’s shirt over his head. When the little boy was naked he seemed stripped of his dignity. His body was so small and white. He guessed that Ruy’s was big and strong and brown. He felt that he was a very small boy without his clothes.
    He said: “I wish that you could help me to dress with my new clothes. I wish I did not have to undress with so many people looking on.”
    “That,” said Ruy, “is one of the penalties of being a prince who will one day be a king.”
    “But to stand there … naked before them all.”
    Ruy