Upon Toledo's loftiest towers
Sevilla kept the height;
So wondrous fair was she that love
Was blinded at the sight.
She stood amid the battlements,
And gazed upon the scene
Where Tagus runs through woodland
And flowers and glades of green.
And she saw upon the wide highway
The figure of a knight;
He rode upon a dappled steed,
And all his arms were bright.
Seven Moors in chains he led with him,
And one arm's length aloof
Came a dog of a Moor from Morocco's shore
In arms of double proof.
His steed was swift, his countenance
In a warlike scowl was set,
And in his furious rage he cursed
The beard of Mahomet!
He shouted, as he galloped up:
"Now halt thee, Christian hound;
I see at the head of thy captive band
My sire, in fetters bound.
"And the rest are brothers of my blood,
And friends I long to free;
And if thou wilt surrender all,
I'll pay thee gold and fee."
When Peranzuelos heard him,
He wheeled his courser round.
With lance in rest, he hotly pressed
To strike him to the ground;
His sudden rage and onset came
Swift as the thunder's sound.
The Moor at the first encounter reeled
To earth, from his saddle bow;
And the Christian knight, dismounting,
Set heel on the neck of his foe.
He cleft his head from his shoulders,
And, marshalling his train,
Made haste once more on his journey
Across Toledo's plain.