he drew nigh unto the town, he covered himself with his shield that
they might not hurt him from the walls, and began to cry aloud, asking
if Don Arias Gonzalo were there, for he would speak with him. A squire
who was keeping guard upon the wall went to Don Arias and told him that
there was a knight well armed calling for him, without the walls, and
he said that if it pleased Don Arias he would shoot at him with a
cross-bow, and strike him or kill his horse; but Don Arias forbade him,
saying that he should no ways harm him. And Don Arias Gonzalo went with
his sons upon the wall to see who called for him, and he spake to the
knight, saying, Friend, what wouldest thou? And Don Diego Ordonez
answered, The Castillians have lost their Lord; the traitor Vellido
slew for him, being his vassal, and ye of Zamora have received Vellido
and harboured him within your walls. Now therefore I say that he is a
traitor who hath a traitor with him, if he knoweth and consenteth unto
the treason. And for this I impeach the people of Zamora, the great as
well as the little, the living and the dead, they who now are and they
who are yet unborn; and I impeach the waters which they drink and the
garments which they put on; their bread and their wine, and the very
stones in their walls. If there be any one in Zamora to gainsay what I
have said, I will do battle with him, and with God's pleasure conquer
him, so that the infamy shall remain upon you. Don Arias Gonzalo
replied, If I were what thou sayest I am, it had been better for me
never to have been born; but in what thou sayest thou liest. In that
which the great do the little have no fault, nor the dead for the deeds
of the living, which they neither see nor hear: but setting aside these
and the things which have no understanding, as to the rest I say that
thou liest, and I will do battle with thee upon this quarrel, or give
thee one in my stead. But know that you have been ill advised in making
this impeachment, for the manner is, that whosoever impeacheth a
Council must do battle with five, one after another, and if he conquer