The Poem of the Cid

Students of Spanish literature have long been familiar with this eight-hundred-year-old epic which details the legendary exploits of the soldier-adventurer Ruy Diaz of Bivar, the Cid, "he who in happy hour was born." They have known of the Cid's part in the long contest between Christian and Moslem; of his peerless steed Babieca and of his two famous swords, Colada "the precious" and Tizon; of his wife Dona Elvira and Dona Sol, "white as the sun," who found santuary with Abbot Don Sancho in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardena during the Cid's exile; and of the despicable Princes of Carrion, Diego and Fernando Gonzalez, whose hearts were black with evil.

Lesley Byrd Simpson here makes this masterpiece of Spanish literature accessible to English readers in a translation that preserves the verve, realism, and humor of the original. Mr. Simpson is the translator of Two Novels of Mexico by Mariano Azuela, Cortes:The Life of the Conqueror by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, and The Celestina; he is the author of Many Mexicos and The Encomienda in New Spain.