full honourably, and began to speak unto them, saying, I am a man who
have never possessed a kingdom, neither I nor any man of my lineage.
But the day when I first beheld this city I was well pleased therewith,
and coveted it that I might be its Lord; and I besought the Lord our
God that he would give it me. See now what his power is, for the day
when I sate down before Juballa I had no more than four loaves of
bread, and now by God's mercy I have won Valencia. And if I administer
right and justice here God will let me enjoy it, but if I do evil, and
demean myself proudly and wrongfully, I know that he will take it away.
Now then let every one go to his own lands, and possess them even as he
was wont to have and to hold them. He who shall find his field, or his
vineyard, or his garden, desert, let him incontinently enter thereon;
and he who shall find his husbanded, let him pay him that hath
cultivated it the cost of his labour, and of the seed which he hath
sown therein, and remain with his heritage, according to the law of the
Moors. Moreover I have given order that they who collect my dues take
from you no more than the tenth, because so it is appointed by the
custom of the Moors, and it is what ye have been wont to pay. And I
have resolved in my heart to hear your complaints two days in the week,
on the Monday and the Thursday; but if causes should arise which
require haste, come to me when ye will and I will give judgment, for I
do not retire with women to sing and to drink, as your Lords have done,
so that ye could obtain no justice, but will myself see to these
things, and watch over ye as friend over his friend, and kinsman over
his kinsman. And I will be Cadi and Guazil, and when dispute happens
among ye I will decide it. When he had said these things they all
replied that they prayed God to preserve him through long and happy
years, and four of the most honourable among them rose and kissed his
hands, and the Cid bade them take their seats again.