Tammy’s Reviews > The Song of Roland > Status Update

127-128 What a freaky coincidence! Sixty of the French survive and that’s how many survived the Starving Time in Jamestown which I read with my class in TCOO. Only by God’s grace will they persevere and they will pay dearly. Roland looks around and mourns the loss of the flower of French knighthood. Then he has the audacity to ask why the emperor isn’t there. What? He asks how he can send word? Duh! The horn.

124-127 The pagans bawl over the loss of the prince. Wait? What? The poet teases us by asking if the pagans will flee across the plain and the French chase them. All the body parts being hacked off are described in detail. The Saracens are ready to turn tell. They cry out to Mahoumed and their fearless leader Marsilion. Roland makes a comment to Oliver about how well the archbishop is fighting. They join him.

121-124 The archbishop goes after the African because he has slain one of the best and down he goes. Then a pagan with a horse that gallops fater than birds fly takes down FOUR of the peers, one by one. The French are heartbroken. Roland cries out for God to plague the pagan with plagues. Roland wants to fight face to face. The princely pagan sees Roland and recognizes him. Down the pagan goes in a very gory manner.

118-120 Marsilion's godfather is a powerful man who owns a fleet of ships. He sacked Salem and the Temple. Samson rides out to face him and is killed. I think Roland will watch the peers die, one by one, and then Oliver. Then he and Marsilion will face off, and Roland will die. For now, Roland goes after the godfather and down the godfather goes. An African dripping in gold kills another French count.

115-117 They encourage Roland and Oliver to face the pagans. If they flee, nobody will remember them. If they stay and fight, they will be remembered in song and heaven will welcome them into the white-robed army of martyrs. All shout “Mountjoy!” There’s a saracen who witnessed Ganelon’s treacherous deed intended to win Charlemagne’s crown. A worthy Gascon goes after him and the Frenchman falls.

113-115 He’s bold and brash. His symbol is the dragon. The archbishop know’s he’s a heretic. It’s like when the witch king shows up. The archbishop goes after him first. He’s riding a beautiful steed who’s fleet of foot. The archbishop nails him and I’m pretty sure the devil dragged his body away! The French cheer for their shepherd with a crook. The French men know their doom has come.

111-113 The tone change2 with Marsilion’s arrival. It’s abut to go down. Roland sees the vast horde and he knows it’s the end. He has no fault that Ganelon lied. Like Samwise and Frodo, he speaks to Oliver of the ballads that will remember this moment. Marsilion sees his slaughtered twelve and he’s ticked. He sends in this evil knight (Abisme). He is not a believer. He’s black as black in his heart. He loves to kill.

110-111 Charles scans the pass and is concerned that he sees nothing. The weather is stormy, the sky turns black, earthquakes rock the area. People safe in their homes know that something bad is about to happen. The Great Doom is nigh. They can read the signs. The peers are glad at the results of their fighting but, as the look around, they see so many dead and they are in tears at the loss. It’s like WWI!!!

108-110 The archbishop kills a guy who visited Hell helped by Jupiter and they crack jokes about him going back. Many spears are broken. The swords have strong strokes and parries. The flower of French youth have already died. Families will never see them again. There is a flashforward. Ganelon’s treachery will cause him to hang as well as thirty people in his family! The peers survive but it will not be for long.

106-108 The banter is like LotR. Oliver slays another pagan. The death toll is 700 for the pagans. His spear finally shatters and Roland teases him for forgetting to draw his sword. Oliver says he hasn’t had time. Everyone is covered in blood. I can’t imagine. He draws his sword and kills another. Roland congratulations. They shout, “Mountjoy!” Attention shifts to two more French peers. They both spear the same guy.