- Ganelon sets off with the Saracen messengers and strikes up some casual conversation with Blancandrin, who compliments Charlemagne but suggests that counsel for more war will only cause suffering for the Franks. Ganelon complains that Roland is the main problem. His pride will eventually be his downfall, but his current success comes from his enormous popularity with the Franks, whom he bribes with gifts.
- Blancandrin and Ganelon get along famously and end up making a pact to kill Roland if they can.
- Once they reach Saragossa, Ganelon tells Marsile that Charlemagne will let him control half of Spain if Marsile becomes Christian. Marsile explodes in anger and tries to kill Ganelon, but advisors restrain him.
- Ganelon, keeping his cool in a tricky situation, repeats his terms but lies that Roland will be given the other half of Spain, and won't that be fun, co-ruling with that madman. Then he points out that if Marsile doesn't accept them, he'll find himself in a siege. And that's no fun for anyone.
- He hands Marsile a letter from Charlemagne expressing his anger over the deaths of the two Frankish messengers, previously mentioned by Roland, and demanding that Marsile send him his uncle, the emir Baligant, in exchange.
- In a rage, Marsile's son also threatens to attack Ganelon but the poem abruptly shifts to an orchard, where Marsile wants to confer further with Ganelon.
- It's safe to assume that Marsile's son did not kill Ganelon because there he is, walking in the orchard with his new pal Blancandrin, plotting revenge on Roland.
- Unexpectedly, Marsile has decided to accept Charlemagne's terms. He apologizes for his outburst and offers Ganelon some loot to show he means it.
- They talk about how rad Charlemagne is—basically as old as a grandfather but still dominating the pagans.
- In fact, he's so rad that the poem repeats their conversation three times, with variations, in stanzas 40, 41, and 42. All three boil down to Marsile's question: Doesn't he ever want to retire from warfare? Not while Roland is alive, Ganelon answers. He is too in love with war.
- Now Marsile, increasingly cozy with Ganelon, poses a hypothetical: if he sent all 400,000 of his men to fight King Charles, would he have a chance at defeating them?
- Ganelon says, "No, you would be annihilated, but consider this option: send 20,000 hostages to show you have accepted his terms, wait for him to return to France with the bulk of his army, and then destroy Roland's rearguard."
- As it turns out, Ganelon has already come up with this plan, probably with the aid of Blan-candrin. He'll arrange to have Roland lead the rearguard with 20,000 men.
- When they're making their way through the treacherous mountain pass at Cize (in the Pyrenees), Marsile can attack with 100,000 Saracens and obliterate them, dashing all of Charlemagne's future plans for war in Spain.
- There's an illegible part of the manuscript in stanza 46 (indicated by the ellipses), but it's clear that Marsile and Ganelon are both pumped about this plan.
- On a holy book Marsile swears his loyalty to the scheme.
- High-ranking Saracens give Ganelon some serious bling: a sword and a helmet, and Marsile's queen, Bramimonde, gives him necklaces for his wife. Marsile orders the gifts for Charlemagne to be prepared and tells Ganelon he's counting on his loyalty.