THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
battle. The Saracens came down from a mountainside into the pain and poured into a valley against
the Christians. Then Roland and his band braced themselves and it is easy to believe, since they
were all young and untried in battle, that they grew somewhat anxious. The timorous blood of
boyhood began to course through their veins. Then Saint George left his companions and
approached Roland.
At this moment, King Maldachin was speaking to a huge African, named Argalias. . . . . 62 Maldachin
had heard a soothsayer say: “Whoever strikes the first blow will cause his side to win the battle.”
That African was considered the mightiest man in the Saracen army (though his intellect was not so
sharp), and thus Maldachin sent him forth. He was strongly armed and in stature like a giant, and
moved with the speed of a desperate man. Had God not interposed His hand, no man in the
Christian army could have withstood him. That man, at Maldachin’s command, now advanced and
was the first of the Saracens to arrive.
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When the Saracen began to move, Roland saw him. His stature seemed so immense that he began
to feel timorous as a boy. Then Saint George shouted at Roland’s right: “Put you lance in rest and
ride at him. Pay no heed to his size.” These words encouraged Roland. He grasped his shield, gave
spur to his horse, and put his lance in rest.
Ah, Thou True God! what human tongue could speak, what pen could write the outcry that arose
from the multitude on either side at this charge, to make even the bravest tremble with fear? The
peaks, the hillsides, the valleys of Aspramont all resounded; countless instruments failed the
breaths of those who blew them, and at the noise many knights fell from their mounts, and many
62 named Argalias . . . : Maldachin’s speech to Argalias is missing in the manuscript.