CC. King Rodriguez Warning

Comte de Gabalis [1913], at sacred-texts.com

p. 252

KING RODRIGUEZ WARNING, 711 A.D.

CC"Now it came to pass that the King Don Rodrigo called to mind how he had been required to put a lock upon the doors of the house which was in Toledo. And after they were unlocked, the king pushed the door with his hand, and he went in, and the chief persons who were there with him, and they found a hall made in a square, and in it there was a bed richly fur nished, and there was laid in that bed the statue of a man, exceeding great, and armed at all points, and he had the one arm stretched out, and a writing in his hand. And the king went to him, and took it from his hand, and opened it and read it, and it said thus, Audacious one, thou who shalt read this writing, mark well what thou art, and how great evil through thee shall come to pass, for even as Spain was peopled and conquered by me, so by thee shall it be depopulated and lost. And I say unto thee, that I was Hercules the strong, he who conquered the greater part of the world, and all Spain; and having seen this they went to behold another apartment. He opened the door, and when it was opened they found Hebrew letters which said, This house is one of the wonders of Hercules; and when they had read these letters they saw . . . a coffer of silver, and it was fastened with a lock of

p. 253

mother-of-pearl. And the king said, Within this coffer lies that which I seek to know, and which Hercules has so strongly forbidden to be known. And when the lock was broken, a:nd the coffer open, they found nothing within, except a white cloth folded between two pieces of copper; and he took it and opened it, and found Moors pourtrayed therein with turbans, and banners in their hands, and with their swords round their necks, and their bows behind them at the saddlebow, and over these figures were letters which said, When this cloth shall be opened, and these figures seen, men apparelled like them shall conquer Spain and shall be Lords thereof." EXTRACTS FROM SOUTHEY'S TRANSLATION OF "CHRONICA DEL REY DON RODRIGO." PART I, CHAPTERS 28-30.