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Updated: April 30, 2025
"O strong Durlindana," cried he, "O noble and worthy sword, had I known thee from the first, as I know thee now, never would I have been brought to this pass."
The most usual account is that la Durlindana belonged to Hector. After the fall of Troy it came to AEneas; and from him, through various owners, to Almonte, a giant of a dreadful stature, who slew Orlando's father. An angel in a dream directed Orlando, when he was about eighteen, to proceed to a river on the bank of which he found Carlo Magno and Almonte fighting.
I suspect there must have been somewhere "un guerriero qualunque" so constructed that his head could be cut off, and that he had been disguised as and substituted for the Duca d'Avilla when Ferrau appeared to kill that warrior, for, without trickery, no sword in the teatrino, not even la Durlindana, could have cut off a head which had an iron rod running through it.
It does not matter, of course, so long as one gets the quails for supper, but if one really did want to know, one would have as much difficulty as in finding out how Orlando got hold of la Durlindana and where it originally came from. The student from Castelvetrano was still there with his melancholy eyes, studying philosophy.
Charles obtains complete victory over Marsilio Flight of the latter and taking of Barcelona Marfisa finds Bradamante who dies in her arms. We then went behind the scenes to spend some time among the puppets before the play began. First I inquired whether Ferrau had perished and ascertained that Orlando had duly killed him the night before with la Durlindana.
Dear Caballuco, seeing you, seeing your bravery and your nobility, there come to my mind involuntarily the verses of that ballad on the conquest of the Empire of Trebizond: "'Came the valiant Roland Armed at every point, On his war-horse mounted, The gallant Briador; His good sword Durlindana Girded to his side, Couched for the attack his lance, On his arm his buckler stout, Through his helmet's visor Flashing fire he came; Quivering like a slender reed Shaken by the wind his lance, And all the host united Defying haughtily."
He had the sword with him when he was defeated at Roncisvalle and threw it from him, about two hundred miles, to Rocamadour in France where it stuck in a rock and any one can see it to this day. I do not remember that Homer speaks of Hector's sword as la Durlindana; perhaps he did not know.
They say also that Orlando then, summoning all his strength, smote a rock near him with his beautiful sword Durlindana, thinking to shiver the steel in pieces, and so prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy; but though the rock split like a slate, and a deep fissure remained ever after to astonish the eyes of pilgrims, the sword remained unhurt.
But every one knows that horses have had names, both in romance and real life, from the days of Pegasus to our own. Mario calls his horses Gaspare, after one of the Three Kings, and Toto, which is a form of Salvatore. They were so called before he bought them, or he would have named them Baiardo and Brigliadoro. Having no sword, he calls his whip la Durlindana.
This famous sword was won by Carlo Magno in his youth when he overcame Polinoro, the captain-general of Bramante, King of Africa. Carlo Magno, having another sword of his own and wishing to keep la Durlindana in the family, passed it on to his nephew Orlando. That is Pasquale's version. Others say that it was given to Orlando by Malagigi the magician.
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