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 Díaz 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 Tizón; of his wife Doña Elvira and Doña Sol, "white as the sun," who found santuary with Abbot Don Sancho in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña during the Cid's exile; and of the despicable Princes of Carrión, Diego and Fernando González, 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 López de Gómara, and The Celestina; he is the author of Many Mexicos and The Encomienda in New Spain.