ek for an excuse to compass Don
Rodrigo's banishment. At last he found one.

The Moorish king of Toledo laid a complaint against the Cid that, in
spite of his alliance with Alfonso of Castile, his lands had been
ravaged and his people made captive. Well Alfonso knew that it was the
Moors themselves who had broken faith with him, and had wasted the
Spanish territories which lay along their borders, but he eagerly
snatched at the plea, and bade the Cid go, an exile, from Castile, while
his possessions were declared forfeit.

With every insult heaped on him that the king could invent, the Cid left
the city and rode to his castle of Bivar, only to find that his enemies
had been before him and had stripped it bare, while his wife and
children had sought refuge in the convent of San Pedro de Cardena.

It was on his way thither that the Cid in his dire distress did the one
mean deed recorded of him, which he never ceased to bewail during his
life, and afterwards on his deathbed. He had reckoned on finding money
for his needs at Bivar, and there was none, and he knew not what to do.
In this strait he invited two rich Jews to his tent under the walls of
Burgos, and, pointing to two large chests which stood on the ground, he
told the Jews that they were filled with silver plate, and begged that
they would take them, and give him a thousand crowns in exchange. The
Jews, used though they were to being cheated and despoiled by
Christians, yet trusted to the honour of the Cid, and counted out the
money. Then, placing the coffers on the backs of two stout mules, they
returned with them into Burgos, first promising that they would not open
them till a year had passed. At the time appointed they lifted the lid,
and, behold, the coffers were full of sand!'

But except in this matter, for which his repentance was bitter, the Cid
never ceased in his exile to be true to his knighthood, and in all the
wars which he and his followers made on the Moors he always sent part of
the spoils to Alfonso. At length the king found that he could not do
without him. Young knights there were in plenty, but neither in battle
nor in the council chamber could they vie with Don Rodrigo; so after
many years, when the Cid had captured strong cities and great towns
from the Moors, Alfonso sent messengers to say that he was willing to
pardon him. And the Cid vowed anew to serve him, but his heart was heavy
for the death of his only son in the siege of Consuegr