When the Cid and his men had arrived at the palace, they went in gravely, he in the midst with his hundred knights around him. As he entered, the king rose up and so did all the counts except Don Garcia and those who were on the side of the Infantes of Carrion. All the others received him with great honor. And he said to the king, "Sir, where do you bid me sit with these my kinsmen and friends who are come with me?" And the king answered, "Cid, you are such a one, and have passed your time so well to this day that if you would listen to me I should hold it good that you took your seat with me; for he who has conquered kings ought to be seated with kings." But the Cid answered: "That, sir, would not please God. But I will be at your feet; for by the favor of your father Don Ferrando was I made his creature, and the creature of your brother, King Don Sancho am I, and it is not fitting that he who receives bounty should sit with him that dispenses it." Then the king said: "Since you will not sit with me, sit on your ivory seat, for you won it like a man; and from this day I order that none except a king or prelate sit with you, for you have conquered so many kings that there is none who is your peer or ought to be seated with you. Sit, therefore, like a king and lord upon your ivory seat." Then the Cid kissed the King's hand and thanked him for what he had said and for the honor he had done him, and he took his seat, and his hundred knights seated themselves around him. All who were in the Cortes sat looking at the Cid and at his long beard bound with a cord; but the Infantes of Carrion could not look on him for shame.

When they were all seated, the king commanded silence, and when the Cid saw that they were all still he arose to speak. He said: "Sir King Don Alfonso, I beseech you of your mercy that you will hear me, and give command that no one interrupt me, for I am not a man of speech, neither do I know how to set forth my words, and if they interrupt me I shall do worse. Moreover, give command that no one be insolent to me, lest we should come to blows in your presence." Then the king arose and said, "Since I have been king I have held only two Cortes. This third I have assembled for the love of the Cid, that he may demand justice against the Infantes of Carrion for the wrongs which we all know. The Counts Don Anrrich and Don Remond shall be judges in this cause; and these other counts who are not on either side, give good heed, for you are to see that right judgment is given. I give order that no one shall speak without my command, or utter anything insolent against the Cid; whoever shall disturb the Cortes shall be banished from the kingdom. I am on the side of him who shall be found to have the right." Then the judges were sworn upon the Gospels that they would judge between the Cid and the Infantes of Carrion rightly and truly according to the law.

When this was done the king bade the Cid make his demand. Then the Cid rose and said: "Sir, there is no reason to make long speeches here. I demand of the Infantes of Carrion before you two swords which I gave into their keeping; the one is Colada and the other, Tizona. I won them like a man, and gave them into the keeping of the Infantes, that they might honor my daughters with them, and serve you. When they left my daughters in the Oak-forest of Corpes, they chose to have nothing to do with me, and renounced my love; let them, therefore, give back the swords, seeing they are no longer my sons-in-law."

Then the king bade the judges decide this matter, and they agreed that the swords should be restored to the Cid. Count Don Garcia said they would talk of that, and he conferred with the Infantes and their friends, and they thought they were well off, and that the Cid would ask nothing more, but leave the Cortes when he had the swords. So they brought the swords and delivered them to the king. The king drew the swords, and the whole court shone with their brightness; their hilts were of solid gold; all the men in the Cortes marvelled at them. And the Cid rose and received them, and kissed the king's hand and went back to his ivory seat; and he took the swords in his hands and looked at them, and he knew them well, and he smiled. He laid them upon his lap, and said, "Ah, my swords Colada and Tizona, truly may I say of you that you are the best swords in Spain; and I won you, for I did not get you by buying or by barter. I gave you in the keeping of the Infantes of Carrion that they might do honor to my daughters with you; but you were not for them; they kept you hungry and did not feed you with the flesh with which you were used to be fed. Well is it for you that you have escaped from them and come again into my hands, and happy am I to recover you.

Then Alvar Fanez arose and said, "I beseech you give Colada into my keeping while this Cortes shall last, that I may defend you with it." The Cid said, "Take it; it hath changed its master for the better." Then Bermudez arose and made the same demand for the sword Tizona, and the Cid gave it in like manner. Then the Cid laid his hand on his beard as his habit was, and the Infantes of Carrion and they who were on their side thought that he meant to disturb the Cortes and they were afraid; but he sat still, like a wise man, for he was not rash with his words.

Again the Cid rose and said: "Sir King, I have now another demand against the Infantes of Carrion. You well know that you gave my daughters to these men, and not I; you did it for good, and not for evil; but what they did afterward was evil. Though they are of great blood, yet would I not have given my daughters to them unless in obedience to your commands; and this, sir, you well know, for I said so to you. I gave them, when they took my daughters from Valencia, horses and mules, and cups and vessels of fine gold, and much wrought silver, and many noble garments and other gifts, three thousand marks of silver in all, thinking that I gave it to my daughters whom I loved. Now, sir, since they have cast off my daughters, and hold themselves to have been dishonored in marrying them, give command that they restore to me that which is my own, or show cause why they should not."

Then you might have seen the Infantes of Carrion much disturbed. Count Don Remond called upon them to speak; and they said, "We gave his swords to the Cid that he might ask nothing more of us." But the king said they must answer the demand of the Cid. Then they consulted for a time with their friends, but they could find no good reason for opposing this demand of the Cid. However, Don Garcia spoke for them and said, "Sir, it is true that the Cid gave what he now asks back, but the Infantes have expended this money in your service; we hold therefore that they are not bound to make restitution of it, seeing the manner in which it has been used. Yet if you hold it lawful that they should restore this money, give them time to make payment, and they will go to Carrion and there discharge the demand."

The Cid now arose, when the Count had taken his seat, and said: "Sir, if the Infantes have expended anything in your service, that does not touch me. You and the judges have heard them say that I gave them this treasure, and they have found this excuse. I pray you that judgment be given whether they are bound to pay it or not." Then the king said, "If the Infantes have expended anything in my service, I am bound to repay it, for the Cid must not lose what is his own." And he bade the judges decide. The judges having taken counsel said that since the Infantes acknowledged that the Cid had given them treasure with his daughters, and that they had abandoned them, they must make restitution in the Cortes of the King. The king confirmed this sentence, and the Cid kissed his hand.

The Infantes were greatly troubled at this sentence, and they asked the king to have the Cid give them time; and the king asked him to grant fifteen days, and that they should not leave the Cortes until they had made payment. The Cid granted what the king asked; and then they made their account with the king, and it was found that they had spent only two hundred marks of silver in his service. This the king said he would repay, and the remainder they must make up. Great was the difficulty the Infantes had to find this money; and they bought on trust horses and mules and silver and other precious things as they could get them, and delivered them to the Cid. They sent to Carrion to their father and mother to help them, and they raised for them all they could, so that they made up the sum within the time appointed. Then they thought the matter was at an end.

After this payment had been made the Cortes assembled again, and the Cid arose from his ivory seat, and said: "Sir, I have recovered my swords and my treasures; now I pray that you will hear this other demand which I have to make from the Infantes. It is hard for me to make it, though I have it rooted in my heart. I say, then, let them answer before you and tell why it was they besought you to marry them to my daughters, and why they took them away from Valencia, when they had it in their heart to dishonor me, and to strike them and leave them in the Oak-forest. Look, sir, what dishonor they did them. They stripped them of the garments which they had not given them. With less than mortal defiance, I will not let them go. How had I deserved this, Infantes, at your hands? I gave you my daughters to take with you from Valencia, with great honors and great treasures I gave them to you. Dogs and traitors, you took them from Valencia when you did not love them, and with your bridles you smote them, and with your spurs you wounded them and left them alone in the forest to the wild beasts and to the birds of the mountain. King Don Alfonso, they neither remembered God nor you nor me nor their own good fortune. And here was fulfilled the saying of the wise man, that it is harder for those who have no understanding to bear with good than with evil. Praise be to God and my king that from the day when I first took arms and horse until now, that not only the Infantes of Carrion, but saving yourself, sir, there is not a king in Christendom who might not think himself honored in marrying with either of my daughters, how much more then these traitors. I beseech you give me justice upon them for the evil and dishonor they have done me. And if you and your Cortes will not right me, through the mercy of God and my own good cause I will take it myself for the offence they have committed against God and the faith, and the truth which they promised and vowed to their wives. I will pull them down from the honor in which they now are; better men than they have I conquered and made prisoners ere now. And with your permission, sir, I will follow them to Carrion, even to their inheritance, and there will I besiege them and take them by the throat and carry them prisoners to Valencia to my daughters, and there make them do penance for the crime they have committed. If I do not perform this, call me a traitor." When the king heard this, he rose up, and said that this matter touched him likewise. "Cid," said he, "I asked your daughters of you for the Infantes of Carrion because, as they well knew, they besought me to do so, I having never thought of it. It seems now they are not pleased with this marriage that I made at their request, and great part of the dishonor they have done you touches me also. But as you are in my presence, it is not fitting that you make your demand except through the Cortes; do you therefore accuse them, and let them acquit themselves if they can before the judges, who will pass sentence according to what is right." Then the Cid kissed the king's hand and sat down on his ivory seat.

Then the Cid rose, and said, "God prosper you, sir, in life and honor and estate, since you have compassion for me and the dishonor done my daughters." Then he turned to the Infantes, and said: "Ferrando Gonzales and Diego Gonzales, I say you are false traitors for leaving your wives as you left them in the Oak-forest. And here before the king I accuse you as traitors and defy you, and will produce your peers who shall prove it upon you, and slay you or thrust you out of the lists, or make you confess it in your throats." And they were silent. Then the king said that they must make an answer. Then Ferrando the elder arose and said: "Sir, we are your subjects, and of the best blood in Castile, and we hold that men of such station are not well married with the daughters of Rodrigo Diaz. For this reason we forsook them because they came not of blood fit for our wives. That we forsook them is true, and we hold that in doing so we did nothing wrong, for they were not worthy to be our wives, and we are to be more commended for having left them than we were while we were wedded to them. Now then, sir, there is no reason why we should do battle upon this matter with any one."