joined fight as you have heard."

It is to the great master Helisabat that a grateful posterity owes all
these narratives and the uncounted host of romances which grew from
them. For, in the first place, he was the skilful leech who cured all
the wounds of all the parties of distinction who were not intended to
die; and in the second place, his notes furnish the _memoires pour
servir_, of which all the writers say they availed themselves. The
originals, alas! are lost.

"The tumult was so great, that at once the battle between these two was
ended, those on each side coming to the aid of their chief. Then, I tell
you, that the things that this Queen did in arms, like slaying knights,
or throwing them wounded from their horses, as she pressed audaciously
forward among her enemies, were such, that it cannot be told nor
believed that any woman has ever shown such prowess.

"And as she dealt with so many noble knights, and no one of them left
her without giving her many and heavy blows, yet she received them all
upon her very strong and hard shield.

"When Talanque and Maneli[3] saw what this woman was doing, and the
great loss which those of their own party were receiving from her, they
rushed out upon her, and struck her with such blows as if they
considered her possessed. And her sister, who was named Liota, who saw
this, rushed in, like a mad lioness, to her succor, and pressed the
knights so mortally, that, to the loss of their honor, she drew Calafia
from their power, and placed her among her own troops again. And at this
time you would have said that the people of the fleets had the
advantage, so that, if it had not been for the mercy of God and the
great force of the Count Frandalo and his companions, the city would
have been wholly lost. Many fell dead on both sides, but many more of
the Pagans, because they had the weaker armor.

"Thus," continues the romance, "as you have heard, went on this attack
and cruel battle till nearly night. At this time there was no one of the
gates open, excepting that which Norandel guarded. As to the others, the
knights, having been withdrawn from them, ought, of course, to have
bolted them; yet it was very different, as I will tell you. For, as the
two Sultans greatly desired to see these women fight, they had bidden
their own people not to enter into the lists. But when they saw how the
day was going, they pressed upon the Christians so fiercely that
gradually they might all en