ABSTRACT
A n d when the Lord King of Aragon knew the good disposition of the seneschal towards him he resolved that, on no account, would he fail to be in the lists on the day fixed ; but this he kept secret and would confide to no man. And presently he sent for a worthy merchant, by name En Domingo de la Figuera, who was a native of Saragossa and was a good man and loyal, wise and discreet, and he was a merchant always dealing in horses in Gascony and Navarre, getting them in Castile and taking them to all those parts and to the districts of Bordeaux and of Toulouse. And he was a man of great wealth, for he collected twenty or thirty horses at a time from Castile and took them to the aforementioned places. Therefore you may believe that he knew all the roads there were in each of these provinces, as well high-roads as by-roads, as well in the plains as in the mountains, for there was no path in the country, whether in those parts or in Aragon or in Catalonia that he did not know much better than did the people of the country. And this he knew from long usage and because some times he had to go off the roads, in order that the horses he was taking to some richs homens should not suffer in the feuds there were between them. And when En Domingo de la Figuera came to the King, the King took him into a chamber and said to him : “ En Domingo, you know that you are Our natural subject and that We have always highly esteemed you and yours ; where
fore We wish you to undertake a thing for which, when accomplished by the help of God, We will reward you
so well that it will make you and yours prosperous for ever.” And En Domingo, who heard this, rose and went to kiss his foot and said : “ Lord, command, for I am ready to do all that you command.” And upon this the Lord King took a book in which the Holy Gospels were written and told him to swear that he would speak to no man in the world of what he was going to say to him. And he swore it at once and did homage to him with hands and mouth.
