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

And now King Charles had come on his homeward journey to the city of / Volterra (Count Roland had taken it and laid it in ruins three years / before). There he awaited Ganelon and the tribute of Spain, and / before many days had passed the traitor came. "Sire," said he, "I / greet you in the name of God. I bring you the keys of Saragossa, / also great treasure which King Marsilas has sent you, and twenty / hostages, the noblest in the land. King Marsilas also bids me say / that he is not to be blamed because he does not send the Vizier. The / Vizier, with many thousands of armed men, took ship -- I saw them with / my own eyes -- because they were not content to accept the law of / Christ. But before they had sailed four leagues, there came suddenly / upon them a great storm of wind, so that their ships sank. You will / never see them more, for they were all drowned. As for the King / himself, you may rest assured that before this month is spent he will / follow you to France, and that he will receive the law of Christ, and / will become your vassal holding the kingdom of Spain from you. " / "Thanks be to God for all these blessings," cried the King. And to / Ganelon he said, "You have served me well, and shall have due / recompense."

Then the trumpets sounded, and the army went on its way to France. / That night the King had a certain dream in his sleep. He thought / that he stood in the pass of Cizra, holding in his hand an ashen / spear, and that Ganelon laid hold of it and shook it in such a / fashion that it was broken into a thousand pieces, and the fragments / flew up to the sky. After this he had another dream. He was in his / chapel at his city of Aachen, and a bear bit him so cruelly on the / right arm that the flesh was broken even to the bone. After the bear / there came a leopard from the Ardennes, which made as if it would / attack him. And lo! a greyhound came forth from the hall, and ran to / him with great bounds. First the greyhound laid hold of the bear by / the right ear, and then it assailed the leopard furiously. "Tis a / great fight," cried they who stood by, but no one knew who would / prevail.