They crossed the mountains
and entered the land of the Moors. Soon they reached the town of
Alcocer, and after a siege captured it and lived in it.
Then the Moorish king of Valencia ordered two chiefs to take three
thousand horsemen, recapture the town and bring the Cid alive to
him.
So the Cid and his men were shut up in Alcocer and besieged. Famine
threatened them and they determined to cut their way through the
army of the Moors. Suddenly and swiftly they poured from the gate
of Alcocer, and a terrible battle was fought. The two Moorish
chiefs were taken prisoners and thirteen hundred of their men were
killed in the battle. The Cid then became a vassal of the Moorish
king of Saragossa.
After a while Alfonzo recalled the Cid from banishment and gave him
seven castles and the lands adjoining them. He needed the Cid's
help in the greatest of all his plans against the Moors. He was
determined to capture Toledo. He attacked it with a large army
in which there were soldiers from many foreign lands. The Cid is
said to have been the commander. After a long siege the city fell
and the victorious army marched across the great bridge built by the
Moors, which you would cross to-day if you went to Toledo.
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