a.

[Illustration: DON DIEGO AND DON FERNAN SHOW THAT THEY ARE COWARDS]

From time to time the king's jealousy broke out afresh, and more than
once Don Rodrigo was banished, but in the end the Cid always returned to
Castile, for in truth, as we have said, the land prospered but little in
his absence. After conquering the Moors in Valencia and elsewhere, his
fame and wealth grew greater than ever, and two of the proudest nobles
in Castile, the counts of Carrion, prayed Alfonso to use his rights as
liege lord, and to grant them the Cid's daughters in marriage. Now, the
proposal pleased Don Rodrigo but little, and his wife even less. He knew
something of the two young men who wished to be his sons-in-law, and he
felt that it was his wealth, and not his daughters, that was wooed.
Besides, he liked not the boastfulness of the two brothers, and feared
that beneath their proud and haughty ways the hearts of cowards might be
hidden. But outwardly all was fair-seeming, and when the king in a
meeting on the banks of the Tagus bade the Cid consider well the matter,
Don Rodrigo could only reply that, in his view, his daughters were as
yet too young to be wedded, but that they and all that belonged to him
were in the hands of the king, to be dealt with as he thought best. To
which the king answered that he knew the maidens to be wise beyond their
years, and, summoning the counts of Carrion to his presence, he informed
them that he had resolved to grant their desire, and bade them kneel and
kiss the Cid's hand, which they did with joy. So the next day they all
rode back to Valencia, and the Cid made a feast for fifteen days, and
the marriage rite was performed by the Bishop Geronymo, mighty in
battle.

It was not long after the wedding that the counts showed of what metal
they were made, and that the Cid had read them truly. One evening they
and Don Bermudo, nephew of the Cid, were sitting laughing and jesting in
the hall of the castle, when a cry arose from without, 'Beware of the
lion; he has broken from his den'; and in an instant the huge beast had
sprung through the door. Don Bermudo sat still, waiting to see what the
lion would do, but Don Diego, the elder count, took refuge in a closet,
while Don Fernan, his brother, hid himself under the bed on which the
Cid was stretched sleeping. The noise awoke Don Rodrigo, who sprang up,
when the lion at once lay down on the ground and began to lick his feet.
The Cid stooped and stroked