Sections CXXXIII-CXLII

Roland places the olifant to his mouth and sounds it with great force, causing the horn's echo to carry thirty great leagues so that Charles and his company hear it.

Charles hears the horn and declares that his counts must be in battle, but Ganelon contradicts him, claiming such a report would be a lie from any other mouth.

Roland sounds the olifant a second time despite great suffering, with blood flowing from his mouth and his temples cracked from the effort.

Ganelon attempts to discredit Roland by portraying his horn-blowing as mere prideful boasting and describing his past deeds as reckless displays of vanity rather than true military actions.

Roland sounds the horn again while bleeding from his mouth and temples, and Duke Neimes perceives that Roland is in genuine battle and has been betrayed, urging the King to rescue him.

Charles orders the Franks to dismount, don their armor and weapons, mount their chargers, and ride with haste toward the mountain pass to aid Roland.

As the Franks advance in the evening light, their armor shines brilliantly, but all are weeping and fearful for Roland's safety; Charles has Ganelon seized and brutally mistreated.

As Charlemagne and his men race forward with fury, each Frank prays to God to protect Roland and allow them to reach him in time, though they lament that their delay may be too great.

Charlemagne canters forward in great rage, his beard flowing loose, grieving that only sixty men remain in his immediate train, and all rage that they are not with Roland against the Spanish Saracens.

Roland surveys the dead Franks around him and laments their loss, praising them as faithful vassals and lamenting that he could not protect them, then exhorts his remaining companions to continue fighting.

Roland draws Durendal and slices through Faldrun of Pui and twenty-four other pagan warriors, causing the entire pagan force to flee before him like a stag before hounds.

The Archbishop commends Roland's fighting as the proper conduct of a knight bearing arms on horseback, declaring that a man without such valor should be a monk rather than a warrior.

Roland orders his men to strike the enemy without mercy, and the Franks renew their attack with greater ferocity, though they suffer heavy casualties.

The pagan king Marsile rides forth and slays the Frank Bevon and other noble warriors, breaking shields and hauberks with devastating effect.

Roland confronts Marsile, condemning him for slaying his companions, and strikes him with such force that he severs Marsile's right hand and then kills Jursaleu, Marsile's son.

The pagan forces, seeing their king defeated and his son slain, cry out to their god for aid against Charlemagne, then lose heart and flee, with a hundred thousand pagans abandoning the field.