Orlando in Love, Episode 40: Ruggiero Revealed King Agrramant of Africa has mustered a vast army force. To avenge his father's death, he wants~to conquer France and Charlemagne. A prophecy was made to him that he could never conquer France, unless he had along with him the greatest warrior of all; Ruggiero is this bold lad's name. That knight was guarded by a wizard, his foster-father, who kept him~within an unseen fortress, made~invisble by magic spells. -- For Agrramant, a famous thief, /Brunello/, stole a magic ring. This ring was made in such a way, it banished every spell away. While wearing it, a man could see~things hidden and invisible. The court let nothing cause delay. King Agrramant, and all his men, thirty-two kings that he commands, set out for Carena's heights at once, the mountain where Ruggiero lived. Now, with the ring, they saw the place~which Atalant, the sorcerer, had made, for the safety of his son. Though visible, its crystal walls~cannot be climbed by any man, they are too high and slippery. -- Brunello, though, thought up a plan to lure Ruggiero out of there. He had the others fight a tournament, with splendor, on the plain. The young man can't resist the urge to come and see that fight up close. Meeting Ruggiero, on the plain, Brunello urges on the youth, tells him of Agrramant's daring plans, and fires his heart to join the king. Brunello offers him /his/ arms, so he can join the tournament. -- Ruggiero belted on his sword and donned the fine-linked mail and plates then seized the mane of that fit steed: with one leap he was in the seat. The world possessed no horse so fine, and with Ruggiero now astride, there never was a nobler sight. That good horse had no hidden defects; nothing detracted from perfection. It was a bay, with chestnut coat, but had a white blaze on its brow Ruggiero called the horse /Frontino/ (/Frontino/ means "forehead of milk"). till he and that fine charger died. Ruggiero rides down towards the plain, most eager to join this fierce game. Wearing the arms and armor that the thief Brunello'd given him. -- That tournament which I portrayed was at its hottest on the plain. Into the ranks, that bold young man~spurred his good horse, Frontino, slamming~his sword onto King Pulian's head, dropping him, leaving him half-dead. Then King Sobrino ran a lance. He and Ruggiero charged full speed~together, and Sobrino tumbled: he and his horse fell on the ground. As, when a falcon cuts the air and falls upon a flock of rooks, they scatter and in disarray fly cawing through the trees and bush, so all those in the tournament fled from Ruggiero, puissant knight. Ruggiero won't let them escape, but knocks them down along the plain. When Agrramant beheld those swings, he marveled much, his mind confused. "Brunello's fighting there!" he thought, seeing the arms the young man wore. He'd not thought _that_ one bold before: now he acknowledges his skill. None recognize the cavalier: they marvel at "Brunello's" deeds. -- You may recall the regulations: They had arranged this tournament so no one would receive a wound. All hit with sword-blades flat, and _death_~was set down as the punishment if someone cheated where none use~an edge or tip: Ruggiero knew~the penalty; he knew the rule. Therefore, he struck with his sword flat unsaddling another king. -- Seeing this man make so much war, all vowed they'd batter him to earth. All attacked young Ruggiero, bold, but he unsaddles them instead. Agrramant, when he witnessed this,~was stung; his heart was envious~that someone was more valorous~than he. He thought it made _him_ less! He vowed to find out if "Brunello" could last against /him/ on the field. He seemed a bird, he moved so fast, and at Ruggiero he let fly~a stroke that hit the young man's side and almost made him fall to earth. But he stayed saddled, with /great effort,/ whirled.round and swung at Agrramant. Ruggiero cuts his crest right off, and hits the visor of the king. -- His followers thought he'd been hurt, so three more kings attack the youth. They batter him -- here, there -- they storm: One hits his head, one hits his arms. Ruggiero hit the first one with~such violence he._flew_ from his horse. Dastardly King _Bardulast_ lost~his nerve: too craven to confront~Ruggiero, he *stabbed* him from behind. @ He stuck his sword-point in his side. Ruggiero, when he felt the pain, flushed with rage and he -- unafraid -- turned round to face King Bardulast, who.readied a second, killing stroke: -- The outcome was not what he'd hoped. When that young baron turned his way, Bardulast quailed before the rage~and fierceness in Ruggiero's face. Therefore, he wheeled around his horse~and rode away. Ruggiero chased,~following at an arrow's pace and shouting, "Turn back! Turn back! Wait!" But he, who did not care to wait, rode to a forest grove nearby, thinking he would escape and hide. Frontino, though, was much too fast -- spurs are no help to Bardulast! Ruggiero caught him near the wood,~where, cornered, in complete disgrace, Bardulast was made desperate. He turned round with enormous fury and struck the youth again. No use. The duel was short; it did not last: split to his chest, he was dispatched. The traitor Bardulast was slain. -- Ruggiero, his flank pouring blood, by then had almost fallen, faint. To get a remedy, a cure, he went to Atalant's high cliff, since that man knew the power of herbs, their virtues, and how each one worked. When Atalant saw his foster-son, so cruelly wounded in the side, he felt as if _his_ heart were knifed. He cried, "Ah me! It did not help~that I foresaw your death -- but I~hadn't expected it so soon!" -- Yet bold Ruggiero's joyful eyes almost transformed his grief to smiles. He said, "Don't worry, don't you weep. If I am medicated well (of which I know you're capable) then I won't suffer much, or die. "I think I was hurt worse the time I killed that lion in the hills, or when I caught the elephant that ripped my chest right down the front." After the old man probed the wound he stitched the skin up and applied~a poultice made of herbs and balm. -- By then Brunello'd heard about the outcome of the tournament, and.his heart advised him in an instant how /he/ could claim the victory. Taking the suit of armor that~the young Ruggiero had been wearing -- the gore and caked blood he ignored -- he mounts Frontino, that fine steed, and rides down to the battlefield, where all the others still confront. But when those barons see /him/ come, they run away -- not one will wait. -- King Agrramant, now much enraged, sheathing his sword along his side~announced, "Enough's been done today~to lure Ruggiero out. I don't~believe he ever will be found." Then he had King Brunello called~before him, and he said to him, "After this spectacle of strength -- which you claimed would discover him -- I can't believe he's still on earth. "I swear, though, that, upon my faith, the way I saw you fight today, that if the others shared my thought, we would not bother with Ruggiero." -- "The good, the bad -- all that I do --" Brunello.said, "is to honor you. My prowess and my worth content~me only as _you_ value them. "I'll please you more, though, mighty lord, because the royal boy's been found -- I mean Ruggiero -- he came down. Sooner than sunset he'll be yours." Agrramant heard his words and he~was happier than he'd ever been. With others he rode toward that rock, and he forgot his tournament. Many, however, could not stand to see the little 'stumbling block' to whom they'd yielded in the field, and these ones looked at him askance. -- Now, as they rode, they reached the grove where Bardulast's fresh corpse still lay. King Agrramant did not seem pleased. He was enraged, and he demanded, "Who is he who -- against my word -- has vilely dared to use his sword?" With that speech every man fell dumb; nobody even dared exhale, hearing the king thus threaten them. They looked in one another's eyes. Then, they saw _blood_ remained upon~/Brunello's/ arms and overvest. They cried, "Behold! This evil-doer~killed Bardulast here in these woods!" Brunello'd hardly heard their words when he was seized by those nearby. -- Then he talked, and he needed to: His tongue's his only means of rescue. He told them how _Ruggiero_ had~fought in the armor he was wearing. Nobody there believed Brunello, since he so rarely spoke the truth, and those around him all were yelling~their counsel to the king -- the gallows! Finding himself short on respect, he made moans to the king and court, recalling how he'd gone to get~the ring -- for which he'd risked his life. The men laughed. They called him a clown. Then he brought up his services~for them, but courtier's favors please~at night, and are forgot by morning. One who remembers what's been done exemplifies an age that's gone. The answer now is, "You've done well,~my friend, if I have let you serve me!" And so it happened that Brunello's~mocked by every man nearby. Each vied to say the worst of him: That happens when men climb too high. -- Orders were sent to King Grifaldo to hang Brunello instantly. He, who was hot to do the deed, said, "If I find no other means, I'll strangle him with my own hands!" Immediately, he had him led~before that cliff where (past the wood)~Atalant and Ruggiero stood. When the young man saw them approach, he recognized Brunello fast. /He/ was not one who (I don't lie) forgets a favor he's received. He said, "Even if I must die, I will assist him anyway. He loaned me arms and his good steed. Not to help would be villainy!" But Atalant most vehemently~argued against Rinaldo's plan, saying, "Where are you going, son? You have no arms, if you'll remember. What will you do once you're down there? No matter what you do, he'll hang. You have no lance, no sword, no shield: You think you'll beat them unarmed, bare?" -- The youth did not attend to that~but ran away. He reached the field,~and since he had no fear, he snatched~a flail from a baron's hands. Grifaldo's company was large, but that bold young man does not care. He knocked down one, he killed another, and from the dead took shield and sword. Imagine, when he held the sword, if that young baron made it dance. And those knights never were so beaten -- wounds in their shoulders, heads, and chests. Grifaldo and two friends escaped, and they were shaking just like leaves, watching that youth take such great swings. Brunello had been left behind. -- Grifaldo, chastened, then returned~to Agrramant. He searched for words~and was, I hear, so mortified, he would.not.have.cared had he died. The king, though, marveled at his story and wished to see the spot himself: That one so young should do such deeds to him seemed passing strange indeed. When he had seen the massive wounds, he marveled so, he almost swooned, since every knight was sliced in two -- at least, all those still on the plain. -- Brunello, seeing Agrramant, wished to escape by any means, but in a trice, Ruggiero siezed him, saying, "You'll do what I command. I'm going to take you to that lord and make it clear to him -- to all! -- that their surmises err: _I_ am~the man who murdered Bardulast!" This said, he went before the king, Brunello with him, and he kneeled~and said, "My lord, I don't know why this man has been condemned to die, for I myself must take the blame, and take all of the sin as well, if sin it can be called to kill~an enemy in self-defense. "I was attacked first, treacherously, by Bardulast, when off my guard, and after that he ran away; I killed him then, as he deserved. If someone here is armed and bold and wants the chance to say me nay, I'll prove that what I did was right." -- After the young man spoke that way, the others stared at him, amazed. Fierce Agrramant, more than the others, can't seem to take his eyes off him. He tells himself, "This is Ruggiero!" and for this, he thanks all of heaven. Further words are superfluous. He kisses and embraces him~right then, forgetting Bardulast: if he's dead, it's too bad for him. -- The young man -- driven, valorous -- recommenced speaking, his words pious. He said, "I've often understood~that chivalry, as its first office, has the defence of truth and right. "Since that is what I've always done -- I even tried to save this one -- I beg you, lord, make me a knight! Let me receive his arms and horse. He promised them to me before, and now I think I do deserve them, for I took risks to rescue him." Agrramant said, "That is the truth, and so this will be quickly done!" He took Brunello's arms and steed and dubbed him knight with ceremony. -- Standing nearby was Atalant, and he wept when he witnessed this. He said, "King Agrramant! Please listen! Do not disdain to hear me speak, for I am able to divine~the future at the present time. Heaven does not lie -- _never_ lies. What I predict will be -- precisely! "You want to lead this great young man, at all costs, overseas to France. He will bring Charlemagne destruction, and your audacious pride will grow; "But then, he will become a /Christian./ Traitors among that cursed crew will _kill_ Ruggiero, secretly. -- "Would that this were the final grief! Ruggiero's children will remain~among the Christians, as esteemed~as any men on earth today. They will attend to all that's worthy,~all that is good -- all courtesy,~all that brings joy, and love, and grace -- and they will flourish on the earth. "Sir Patri, of the house Chat Gris, famous for arms and intellect, generous, gentle, and humane, I see encamped on battle plains. "He'll found Carolingia, by the sea, a stronghold for our enemies; a place of such learning, style, and grace, that next to them, we'll all lose face. O happy world! What luck have they~who live in such a bold, free age! "If Aquel, ruling in that place, should set his mind on conquering instead of making honeyed peace then every /bird/, not only men, would spread their wings and bow to him. -- "But why should I foresee more things? You ruin Africa! O king!~ O Agrramant! You take the seed~of all our virtue overseas, and from this, foreign power will grow; And this (it weighs my heart the most)~_must_ be-- events can't be transposed." Thus, as he wept, the old man spoke. The king's too arrogant to hear. Instead, King Agrramant replied, "I think you love his young face so, it _makes_ you prophesy, since your~heart.aches to think of him away. But there's a way to settle this, for you may come along with him -~ and so you will! Now stop your tears!" Agrramant then returns to camp, to ready all to sail to France. A force of such destructive might, the world has never seen the like. But that's another tale, I fear; Good night! God keep you all in cheer!