Not the least curious is the legend of the Jew who having feared the living Cid, desired to pluck his sacred beard as he lay in state in St. Peter's at Cardena. "This is the body of the Cid," said he, "so praised of all, and men say that while he lived none plucked his beard. I would fain seize it and take it in my hand, for since he lies here dead he shall not prevent this." The Jew stretched forth his hand, but ere he touched that beard the Cid laid his hand upon his sword Tizóna and drew it forth from its scabbard a handsbreadth. When the Jew beheld this he was struck with mighty fear, and backward he fell in a swoon for terror. Now this Jew was converted and ended his days in St. Peter's, a man of God.
The uninitiated reader will doubtless miss in the Epic more than one of his most fondly cherished episodes. If he prefer the Cid of romance and fable, let him turn to the ballads and the Chronicle of the Cid. If he would cling to the punctilious, gallant hidalgo of the early seventeenth century, let him turn to the Cid of Guillem de Castro, or to Corneille's paragon. Don Quixote wisely said: "That there was a Cid there is no doubt, or Bernardo del Carpio either; but that they did the deeds men say they did, there is a doubt a-plenty." In the heroic heart of the Epic Cid one finds the simple nobility that later centuries have obscured with adornment.
I. He turned and looked upon them, and he wept very sore As he saw the yawning gateway and the hasps wrenched off the door, And the pegs whereon no mantle nor coat of vair there hung. There perched no moulting goshawk, and there no falcon swung. My lord the Cid sighed deeply such grief was in his heart And he spake well and wisely: "Oh Thou, in Heaven that art Our Father and our Master, now I give thanks to Thee. Of their wickedness my foemen have done this thing to me."
II. Then they shook out the bridle rein further to ride afar. They had the crow on their right hand as they issued from Bivár; And as they entered Burgos upon their left it sped. And the Cid shrugged his shoulders, and the Cid shook his head: "Good tidings, Alvar Fañez. We are banished from our weal, But on a day with honor shall we come unto Castile."