IV. Then the Cid spake unto them and said, It is told me that Abeniaf
hath done much evil, and committed great wrong toward some of ye, in
that he hath taken great riches from ye to present them to me, saying,
that this he did because ye sold food for a great price during the
siege. But I will accept of no such gift; for if I were minded to have
your riches, I could take them, and need not ask them neither from him,
nor from any other; but thing so unseemly as to take that which is his
from any one, without just cause, I will not do. They who have gotten
wealth thus, God hath given it them; let them go to Abeniaf, and take
back what he hath forced from them, for I will order him to restore the
whole. Then he said, Ye see the riches which I took from the messengers
who went to Murcia; it is mine by right, for I took it in war because
they brake the covenant which they had made, and would have deceived
me: nevertheless I will restore it to the uttermost farthing, that
nothing thereof shall be lost. And ye shall do homage to me that ye
will not withdraw yourselves, but will abide here, and do my bidding in
all things, and never depart from the covenant which ye make with me;
for I love ye, and am grieved to think of the great evil and misery
which ye endured from the great famine, and of the mortality which
there was. And if ye had done that before which ye have done now, ye
would not have been brought to these sufferings and have bought the
_cafiz_ of wheat at a thousand _maravedis_; but I trust in God to bring
it to one _maravedi_. Be ye now secure in your lands, and till your
fields, and rear cattle; for I have given order to my men that they
offer ye no wrong, neither enter into the town to buy nor to sell; but
that they carry on all their dealings in Alcudia, and this I do that ye
may receive no displeasure. Moreover I command them not to take any
captive into the town, but if this should be done, lay ye hands on the
captive and set him free, without fear, and if any one should resist,
kill him and fear not. I myself will not enter your city nor dwell