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Updated: May 10, 2025
"With his hands of stone he would fell the bull in full career, and smite off the head of the enemy with a stroke of his sword!" "Endovellicus! Endovellicus!" Thus proceeded the last rites to the chieftain.
His shield, engraved with a representation of the gods of the tribe struggling with two lions, served as a cushion for his head. When the two young men arrived the same elder who had spoken to Alorcus the day before advanced. He was the wisest of the tribe, and had counselled Endovellicus many times before undertaking audacious expeditions.
The whole tribe was gathered on the plain near the river; the young men on horseback with their lances, and in full armor; the old men seated in the shade of the oak trees; the women and children near the pyre of logs upon which lay the corpse of their chief. Endovellicus was arrayed in his war costume.
They recounted the deeds of Endovellicus as if he had died many years before, and they told of the great enterprises in which his successor would surely lead them hinting again and again, in mysterious words, at a subject with which they must deal in the council on the morrow. Supper was brought. The Celtiberians were not accustomed to eating at table like the people of the coast.
Two young men climbed to the top of the pyre, and raising Endovellicus' head, they brought down the shield engraved with the image of the god, and delivered it to Alorcus. "With this shield," continued the venerable warrior, "you shall protect your people from the blows of the enemy. Bring hither the sword!"
A stone bench ran along the sides of the room making way near the fireplace for a high masonry seat covered by a bear skin. Here the chieftain was accustomed to sit. The warriors took their places on the bench as they entered. One old man taking Alorcus by the hand, guided him to a place of honor. "Sit here, son of Endovellicus. You are his only heir and you shall be our chief.
In some villages the party was received with traditional hospitality, and was welcomed even more affectionately on recognizing Alorcus, the heir of Endovellicus, the respected chieftain of the tribes of Baraeco which had pastured their flocks for centuries on the banks of the Jalón.
The young men brought down the sword, drawing it forth from the stiff fingers of Endovellicus. "Bind it upon you, Alorcus," continued the wizard. "With this you shall defend us, and may it fall like a thunderbolt wherever the destiny of your people points! Advance, youthful king!" Guided by the elder, Alorcus stepped forward to the pyre upon which his father lay.
Mystery used him as a mouthpiece and all the tribe regarded him with awe and fear, as if he were capable of changing the course of the sun and of destroying in a night the crops of an enemy. "Advance, son of Endovellicus!" he said solemnly. "Look upon your people who choose you as most valiant and most worthy to succeed your father!"
The women came out of the villages to greet Alorcus, and the men, grasping lances, mounted their horses and joined the caravan. In the first village where they stopped an old man told Alorcus that his father, the powerful Endovellicus, was dying, and in the next through which they passed in a few hours, he heard that the great chieftain had died at daybreak.
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