THE BATTLE OF RONCEVALLES - A Carolingian Legend E-Book

Anon E. Mouse

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 442 In this 442nd issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Turkish Fairy Tale – “The Battle of Roncesvalles” The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (Roncesvalles in Spanish) in 778AD saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. As the Franks retreated across the Pyrenees back to France, the rearguard of Frankish lords were cut off, but they stood their ground. During the battle, Roland draws his horn and blows in the belief that the Emperor Charlemagne would hear the cry for help and send a relieving army. What happened next? Did the blowing of the horn result in relief for the besieged knights? How did everything turn out in the end? Well, you’ll have to download and read the story to find out for yourself. NOTE: The battle, which actually happened, elevated the relatively obscure Roland and the paladins into legend, becoming the quintessential role model for knights and also greatly influencing the code of chivalry in the Middle Ages. There are numerous written works about the battle, some of which change and exaggerate events. The battle is recounted in the 11th century The Song of Roland, the oldest surviving major work of French literature. INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories". BUY ANY of the 440+ BABA INDABA CHILDREN’S STORIES at https://goo.gl/65LXNM 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps. KEYWORDS/TAGS: Baba Indaba, Children’s stories, Childrens, Folklore, Fairy, Folk, Tales, bedtime story, legends, storyteller, fables, moral tales, myths, happiness, laughter, , Roland, Charles, Ganélon, King, Oliver, Marsile, Franks, Emperor, France, death, horn, battle, sword, dead, man, Archbishop, fight, Spain, army, Durendal, Count, thousand, Unbelievers, friend, Blancandrin, mountains, Saracens, Moslems, Umayyad, ground, Umayyid, , Infidels, nephew, heart, Charlemagne, Montjoie, Saragossa, hundred, defiles, Saracen, Turpin, peace, God, rear-guard, message, Caliph, brave, hostages, comrade, nobles, horse, lance, blood, slain, lords, Fair, vassal, barons, Naimes, command, conquer, dishonour, Paradise, trumpets, soldiers, silence, mount, helmet, weep, host, weak, gold, Duke, rose, Aix, stepfather, messenger, traitor, valleys, baptise, shame, steel, faith, Veillantif, thousands, betray, scabbard

Leseprobe

The Battle of Roncesvalles

A Carolingian Legend

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

Published By

Abela Publishing, London

2018

THE BATTLE OF RONCESVALLES

Typographical arrangement of this edition

©Abela Publishing 2018

This book may not be reproduced in its current format

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Abela Publishing,

London, United Kingdom

2018

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

ISSN 2397-9607

Issue 442

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Baba Indaba’s Children’s Stories

An Introduction to Baba Indaba

Baba Indaba, pronounced Baaba Indaaba, lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed, this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on the South East Coast of Africa called Zululand, which is now in a country now called South Africa.

In turn the British settlers wrote these stories down and they were brought back to England on sailing ships. From England they were in turn spread to all corners of the old British Empire, and then to the world.

In olden times the Zulu’s did not have computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) – the Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise all the tribe’s history, stories and folklore, which had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. So, from the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had been apprenticed to the tribe’s Wenxoxi Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and Baba Indaba would have to recite the story back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word. In this manner he learned the stories of the Zulu nation.

In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and when he could no longer see or hear, Baba Indaba became the next in a long line of Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the children of him that they continued to call him Baba Indaba – the Father of Stories.

When the British arrived in South Africa, he made it his job to also learn their stories. He did this by going to work at the docks at the Point in Port Natal at a place the Zulu people call Ethekwene (Eh-tek-weh-nee). Here he spoke to many sailors and ships captains. Captains of ships that sailed to the far reaches of the British Empire – Canada, Australia, India, Mauritius, the Caribbean and beyond.

He became so well known that ship’s crew would bring him a story every time they visited Port Natal. If they couldn’t, they would arrange to have someone bring it to him. This way his library of stories grew and grew until he was known far and wide as the keeper of stories – a true Wenxoxi Indaba of the world.

Baba Indaba believes the tale he is about to tell in this little book, and all the others he has learned, are the common property of Umntwana (Children) of every nation in the world - and so they are and have been ever since men and women began telling stories, thousands and thousands of years ago.

Location of KwaZulu-Natal (shaded in red)

Where in the World? Look it Up!

This next story was told to him by a traveller who heard this story in the village of Roncesvalles after crossing the Pyrenees from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Can you find the pass of Roncesvalles on a map? What country is it in?

The Battle of Roncesvalles

A Carolingian Legend

A story, a story

Let it come, let it go

A story, a story

From long, long ago!

Umntwana Izwa! Children Listen!

Umntwana, these are stories from a long, long time ago and far, far away, from an expanse of land which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered to the north by the pass of Roncesvalles, set amidst the lofty Pyrenees Mountains, and the Mar Cantábrico, or Cantabrian Sea. To the South the land is bordered by the Alboran Sea and the Pillars of Hercules. To the West lies Cape Touriñán and the land the Romans called Lusitania. To the East is the ancient land of Gaul and the land of Andalusia, named after the Vandal hoards who used to live there. The Phonecians called it Iberia and the Romans named it Hispania. The Visigoths renamed it the Kingdom of Toledo and the Moors named it the Kingdom of Granada. After the Moors were eventually defeated, this land became known as the Kingdom of Spain, a name by which it is still known today. Our story goes thus………

ONCE UPON A TIME, about 1,200 years ago in Europe, there lived an Emperor of the West whose name was Charles the Great, or, as some called him, Charlemagne, which means Carolus Magnus. When he was not making war he ruled well and wisely from Aix-la-Chapelle, now Aachen, Germany. But at the time that this story begins he had been for seven years in Spain, fighting against the Saracens. The whole country had fallen before him, except only Saragossa, a famous town on the river Ebro, not far from the outskirts of the Pyrenees, which was held by the Moorish King Marsile, with a great host.

One hot day Marsile was lying on a cool slab of blue marble which was shaded by overhanging fruit trees, and his nobles were sitting all round him. Suddenly the King sat up, and, turning to his followers, he said:

'Listen to me, my Lords, for I have something of note to say unto you. Evil days are upon us, for the Emperor of fair France will never rest until he has driven us out of our country, and I have no army wherewith to meet him. Then counsel me, my wise men, how to escape both death and shame.'

At the King's speech there was silence, for none knew how to reply, till Blancandrin, Lord of Val-Fonde, stood up.

'Fear nothing,' he said to the King, 'but send a messenger to this proud Charles, promising to do him faithful service and asking for his friendship. And let there go with the messenger presents to soften his heart, bears and lions, and dogs to hunt them; seven hundred camels and four hundred mules, loaded with gold and silver, so that he shall have money to pay his soldiers. The messenger shall tell him that on the Feast of St. Michael you yourself will appear before him, and suffer yourself to be converted to the faith of Christ, and that you will be his man and do homage to him. If he asks for hostages, well! send ten or twenty, so as to gain his confidence; the sons of our wives.

Under a pine tree close to a sweet-briar on a seat of gold sat—the king of the fair country of france

I myself will offer up my own son, even if it leads to his death. Better they should all die, than that we should lose our country and our lands, and be forced to beg till the end of our lives.' And the nobles answered, 'He has spoken well.'

King Marsile broke up his Council, and chose out those who were to go on the embassy. 'My lords,' he said, 'you will start at once on your mission to King Charles, and be sure you take olive branches in your hands, and beg him to have pity on me. Tell him that before a month has passed over his head I will follow you with a thousand of my servants, to receive baptism and do him homage. If, besides, he asks for hostages, they shall be sent.' 'It is well,' said Blancandrin, 'the treaty is good.'

The Emperor Charles was happier than he had ever been in his life. He had taken Cordova, and thrown down the walls; his war machines had laid low the towers, and the rich city had been plundered, while every Saracen who refused to be baptized had been slain. Now he felt he might rest, and sought the cool of an orchard, where were already gathered his nephew Roland, with Oliver his comrade, Geoffrey of Anjou his standard bearer, and many other famous Knights. They lay about on white carpets doing what they best liked—some played games, chess or draughts, but these were mostly the old men who were glad to be still: the young ones fenced and tilted. Under a pine tree, close to a sweet-briar, a seat of massive gold was placed, and on it sat the Emperor of the fair country of France, a strong man, with his beard white as snow. But his rest was short. Soon came the messengers of the Saracen King, and, descending from their mules, they bowed low before him.