Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France by Alfred John Church

Before he had travelled far, Ganelon overtook the Saracen / ambassadors, and, indeed, Blancandrin had delayed his journey that / this might be so. Said the Saracen, "What a wonderful man is your / King Charles! He has conquered Italy, and New Rome and Germany, and / is ready to lay his hands on England. But why is he bent on / persecuting us? " "Such is his will," answered Ganelon, "and there is / no man of such stature as to be able to contend with him. " "You are / brave men, you lords of France," said Blancandrin, "but you serve / your master ill when you give him such counsel. You will bring him / to destruction, and many others with him. " "Nay," said Ganelon. "I / am not one that deserves such blame, nor indeed does any man deserve / it, except Roland only. Of a truth this will bring him to shame at / the last. Now listen to me. The other day the King was sitting / under a tree when Roland came to him clad in his cuirass. He had / taken great spoil at the town of Carcassonne. In his hand he had an / apple. Take this," said he to his uncle the King. "As I cast this / apple at your feet so will I cast at your feet the crowns of all the / Kings of the earth. Such pride must surely have a fall. Every day / he exposes himself to death. I would that some one would slay him. / We shall never have peace but at the price of his life."

Blancandrin answered, "This Roland must be hard of heart if he would / subdue every nation and lay his hands upon every country. But on / whom does he count to help him in so vast an enterprise? " "He relies / on the French," said Ganelon. "There is nothing that he refuses / them, neither gold, nor silver, nor chargers, nor mules, nor silk, / nor armour. To the King himself he gives as much as he desires. I / doubt not that he will conquer the world even as far as the sun / rising."