Thanks to the valor of the Cid, the Moors were driven away from Valencia with great loss, and peace was restored.  The Infantes of Carrion then asked permission to return home with their brides, and the spoil and presents the Cid had given them, among which were the swords Colada and Tizona.  The Cid escorted them part way on their journey, bade farewell to his daughters with much sorrow, and returned alone to Valencia, which appeared deserted without the presence of the children he loved.

    “The Cid he parted from his daughters,
     Naught could he his grief disguise;
    As he clasped them to his bosom,
      Tears did stream from out his eyes.”
                    Ancient Spanish Ballads (Lockhart’s tr.).

[Sidenote:  Cruelty of Infantes of Carrion.] After journeying on for some time with their brides and Felez Munoz, who was acting as escort, the Infantes of Carrion camped near the Douro.  Early the next day they sent all their suite ahead, and, being left alone with their wives, stripped them of their garments, lashed them with thorns, kicked them with their spurs, and finally left them for dead on the blood-stained ground, and rode on to join their escort.  Suspecting foul play, and fearing the worst, Felez Munoz cleverly managed to separate himself from the party, and, riding swiftly back to the banks of the Douro, found his unhappy cousins in a sorry plight.  He tenderly cared for their wounds, placed them upon his horse, and took them to the house of a poor man, whose wife and daughters undertook to nurse them, while Felez Munoz hastened back to Valencia to tell the Cid what had occurred.  The Cid Campeador then swore that he would be avenged; and as Alfonso was responsible for the marriage, he applied to him for redress.

    “’Lo! my daughters have been outrag’d! 
      For thine own, thy kingdom’s sake,
    Look, Alfonso, to mine honor! 
      Vengeance thou or I must take.’”
                    Ancient Spanish Ballads (Lockhart’s tr.).

The king, who had by this time learned to value the Cid’s services, was very angry when he heard how the Infantes of Carrion had insulted their wives, and immediately summoned them to appear before the Cortes, the Spanish assembly, at Toledo, and justify themselves, if it were possible.  The Cid was also summoned to the same assembly, where he began by claiming the two precious blades Tizona and Colada, and the large dowry he had given with his daughters.  Then he challenged the young cowards to fight.  When questioned, they tried to excuse themselves by declaring that the Cid’s daughters, being of inferior birth, were not fit to mate with them.

[Sidenote:  Embassy from Navarre.] The falseness of this excuse was shown, however, by an embassy from Navarre, asking the hands of the Cid’s daughters for the Infantes of that kingdom, who were far superior in rank to the Infantes of Carrion.  The Cid consented to this new alliance, and after a combat had been appointed between three champions of his selection and the Infantes of Carrion and their uncle, he prepared to return home.