{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_12455/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_12455","id":"gutenberg_12455","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12455","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Legends","Literature, Medieval -- Stories, plots, etc.","Tales, Medieval"],"text":"[Illustration: CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE.--Levy.]\n\n\n\n\nLEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES\n\n\nNARRATED WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LITERATURE AND ART\n\nBY H.A. GUERBER\n\n    \"Saddle the Hippogriffs, ye Muses nine,\n    And straight we'll ride to the land of old Romance\"\n                                                 WIELAND\n\n1896\n\n\nDEDICATED TO MY SISTER ADELE E. GUERBER\n\n    \"Men lykyn jestis for to here,\n    And romans rede in diuers manere\n\n    \"Of Brute that baron bold of hond,\n    The first conqueroure of Englond;\n    Of kyng Artour that was so riche,\n    Was non in his tyme him liche.\n\n    \"How kyng Charlis and Rowlond fawght\n    With sarzyns nold they be cawght;\n    Of Tristrem and of Ysoude the swete,\n    How they with love first gan mete;\n\n    \"Stories of diuerce thynggis,\n    Of pryncis, prelatis, and of kynggis;\n    Many songgis of diuers ryme,\n    As english, frensh, and latyne.\"\n                              _Curser Mundi_.\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\n\n\nThe object of this work is to familiarize young students with the legends\nwhich form the staple of mediaeval literature.\n\nWhile they may owe more than is apparent at first sight to the classical\nwritings of the palmy days of Greece and Rome, these legends are very\ncharacteristic of the people who told them, and they are the best exponents\nof the customs, manners, and beliefs of the time to which they belong. They\nhave been repeated in poetry and prose with endless variations, and some of\nour greatest modern writers have deemed them worthy of a new dress, as is\nseen in Tennyson's \"Idyls of the King,\" Goethe's \"Reineke Fuchs,\" Tegn\u00e9r's\n\"Frithiof Saga,\" Wieland's \"Oberon,\" Morris's \"Story of Sigurd,\" and many\nshorter works by these and less noted writers.\n\nThese mediaeval legends form a sort of literary quarry, from which,\nconsciously or unconsciously, each writer takes some stones wherewith to\nbuild his own edifice. Many allusions in the literature of our own day lose\nmuch of their force simply because these legends are not available to the\ngeneral reader.\n\nIt is the aim of this volume to bring them within reach of all, and to\ncondense them so that they may readily be understood. Of course in so\nlimited a space only an outline of each legend can be given, with a few\nshort quotations from ancient and modern writings to illustrate the style\nof the poem in which they are embodied, or to lend additional force to some\npoint in the story.\n\nThis book is, therefore, not a manual of mediaeval literature, or a series\nof critical essays, but rather a synopsis of some of the epics and romances\nwhich formed the main part of the culture of those days. Very little\nprominence has been given to the obscure early versions, all disquisitions\nhave been carefully avoided, and explanations have been given only where\nthey seemed essential.\n\nThe wealth and variety of imagination displayed in these legends will, I\nhope, prove that the epoch to which they belong has been greatly maligned\nby the term \"dark ages,\" often applied to it. Such was the favor which the\nlegendary style of composition enjoyed with our ancestors that several of\nthe poems analyzed in this volume were among the first books printed for\ngeneral circulation in Europe.\n\nPrevious to the invention of printing, however, they were familiar to rich\nand poor, thanks to the scalds, bards, trouv\u00e8res, troubadours, minstrels,\nand minnesingers, who, like the rhapsodists of Greece, spent their lives in\nwandering from place to place, relating or reciting these tales to all they\nmet in castle, cottage, and inn.\n\nA chapter on the Romance literature of the period in the different\ncountries of Europe, and a complete index, will, it is hoped, fit this\nvolume for handy reference in schools and libraries, where the author\ntrusts it may soon find its own place and win a warm welcome.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nI. BEOWULF\n\nII. GUDRUN\n\nIII. REYNARD THE FOX\n\nIV. THE NIBELUNGENLIED\n\nV. LANGODARDIAN CYCLE OF MYTHS\n\nVI. THE AMBLINGS\n\nVII. DIETRICH VON BERN\n\nVIII. CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS PALADINS\n\nIX THE SONS OF AYMON\n\nX. HUON OF BORDEAUX\n\nXI. TITUREL AND THE HOLY GRAIL\n\nXII. MERLIN\n\nXIII. THE ROUND TABLE\n\nXIV. TRISTAN AND ISEULT\n\nXV. THE STORY OF FRITHIOF\n\nXVI. RAGNAR LODBROK\n\nXVII. THE CID\n\nXVIII. GENERAL SURVEY OF ROMANCE LITERATURE\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\nCORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE--L\u00e9vy\n\nFUNERAL OF A NORTHERN CHIEF--Cormon\n\nGUDRUN AND THE SWAN--Kepler\n\nBROWN THE BEAR CAUGHT IN THE LOG--Wagner\n\nREYNARD PREPARING FOR BATTLE--Kaulbach\n\nGUNTHER WINNING HIS BRIDE--Keller\n\nSIEGFRIED'S BODY BORNE HOME BY THE HUNTSMEN--Pixis\n\nASPRIAN SLAYING THE LION--Keller\n\nFALKE KILLS THE GIANT--Keller\n\nTHE VICTORIOUS HUNS--Checa\n\nTHE TOMB OF THEODORIC\n\nTHE DEATH OF ROLAND--Keller\n\nHUON BEFORE THE POPE--Gabriel Max\n\nHUON AND AMANDA LEAP OVERBOARD--Gabriel Max\n\nPARZIVAL UNCOVERING THE HOLY GRAIL--Pixis\n\nARRIVAL OF LOHENGRIN--Pixis\n\nTHE BEGUILING OF MERLIN--Burne-Jones\n\nSIR LANCELOT DU LAC--Sir John Gilbert\n\nELAINE--Rosenthal\n\nISEULT SIGNALS TRISTAN--Pixis\n\nTHE LOVERS AT BALDER'S SHRINE--Kepler\n\nFRITHIOF AT THE COURT OF KING RING--Kepler\n\nSTRATEGY OF HASTINGS--Keller\n\nTHE CID'S LAST VICTORY--Rochegrosse\n\n\n\n\nLEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\nBEOWULF.\n\n    \"List! we have learnt a tale of other years,\n    Of kings and warrior Danes, a wondrous tale,\n    How aethelings bore them in the brunt of war.\"\n                                _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nThe most ancient relic of literature of the spoken languages of modern\nEurope is undoubtedly the epic poem \"Beowulf,\" which is supposed to have\nbeen composed by the Anglo-Saxons previous to their invasion of England.\nAlthough the poem probably belongs to the fifth century, the only existing\nmanuscript is said to date from the ninth or tenth century.\n\nThis curious work, in rude alliterative verse (for rhyme was introduced in\nEngland only after the Norman Conquest), is the most valuable old English\nmanuscript in the British Museum. Although much damaged by fire, it has\nbeen carefully studied by learned men. They have patiently restored the\npoem, the story of which is as follows:\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of the Skioldungs.] Hrothgar (the modern Roger), King of\nDenmark, was a descendant of Odin, being the third monarch of the\ncelebrated dynasty of the Skioldungs. They proudly traced their ancestry to\nSkeaf, or Skiold, Odin's son, who mysteriously drifted to their shores. He\nwas then but an infant, and lay in the middle of a boat, on a sheaf of ripe\nwheat, surrounded by priceless weapons and jewels. As the people were\nseeking for a ruler, they immediately recognized the hand of Odin in this\nmysterious advent, proclaimed the child king, and obeyed him loyally as\nlong as he lived. When he felt death draw near, Skeaf, or Skiold, ordered a\nvessel to be prepared, lay down in the midst on a sheaf of grain or on a\nfuneral pyre, and drifted out into the wide ocean, disappearing as\nmysteriously as he had come.\n\n[Sidenote: Construction of Heorot.] Such being his lineage, it is no wonder\nthat Hrothgar became a mighty chief; and as he had amassed much wealth in\nthe course of a long life of warfare, he resolved to devote part of it to\nthe construction of a magnificent hall, called Heorot, where he might feast\nhis retainers and listen to the heroic lays of the scalds during the long\nwinter evenings.\n\n   \"A hall of mead, such as for space and state\n    The elder time ne'er boasted; there with free\n    And princely hand he might dispense to all\n    (Save the rude crowd and men of evil minds)\n    The good he held from Heaven. That gallant work,\n    Full well I wot, through many a land was known\n    Of festal halls the brightest and the best.\"\n                                        _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\nThe inauguration of this hall was celebrated by a sumptuous entertainment;\nand when all the guests had retired, the king's bodyguard, composed of\nthirty-two dauntless warriors, lay down in the hall to rest. When morning\ndawned, and the servants appeared to remove the couches, they beheld with\nhorror the floor and walls all stained with blood, the only trace of the\nknights who had gone to rest there in full armor.\n\n[Sidenote: The monster Grendel.] Gigantic, blood-stained footsteps, leading\ndirectly from the festive hall to the sluggish waters of a deep mountain\nlake, or fiord, furnished the only clew to their disappearance. Hrothgar,\nthe king, beholding these, declared that they had been made by Grendel, a\ndescendant of the giants, whom a magician had driven out of the country,\nbut who had evidently returned to renew his former depredations.\n\n    \"A haunter of marshes, a holder of moors.\n    . . . . . Secret\n    The land he inhabits; dark, wolf-haunted ways\n    Of the windy hillside, by the treacherous tarn;\n    Or where, covered up in its mist, the hill stream\n    Downward flows.\"\n                                      _Beowulf_ (Keary's tr.).\n\nAs Hrothgar was now too old to wield a sword with his former skill, his\nfirst impulse was, of course, to offer a princely reward to any man brave\nenough to free the country of this terrible scourge. As soon as this was\nknown ten of his doughtiest knights volunteered to camp in the hall on the\nfollowing night, and attack the monster Grendel should he venture to\nreappear.\n\nBut in spite of the valor of these experienced warriors, and of the\nefficacy of their oft-tried weapons, they too succumbed. A minstrel, hiding\nin a dark corner of the hall, was the only one who escaped Grendel's fury,\nand after shudderingly describing the massacre he had witnessed, he fled in\nterror to the kingdom of the Geates (Jutes or Goths). There he sang his\nlays in the presence of Hygelac, the king, and of his nephew Beowulf (the\nBee Hunter), and roused their deepest interest by describing the visit of\nGrendel and the vain but heroic defense of the brave knights. Beowulf,\nhaving listened intently, eagerly questioned the scald, and, learning from\nhim that the monster still haunted those regions, impetuously declared his\nintention to visit Hrothgar's kingdom, and show his valor by fighting and,\nif possible, slaying Grendel.\n\n   \"He was of mankind\n    In might the strongest,\n    At that day\n    Of this life,\n    Noble and stalwart.\n    He bade him a sea ship,\n    A goodly one, prepare.\n    Quoth he, the war king,\n    Over the swan's road,\n    Seek he would\n    The mighty monarch,\n    Since he wanted men.\"\n            _Beowulf_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Beowulf and Breka.] Although very young, Beowulf was quite\ndistinguished, and had already won great honors in a battle against the\nSwedes. He had also proved his endurance by entering into a swimming match\nwith Breka, one of the lords at his uncle's court. The two champions had\nstarted out, sword in hand and fully armed, and, after swimming in concert\nfor five whole days, they were parted by a great tempest.\n\n    \"Then were we twain there on the sea\n    Space of five nights, till the floods severed us,\n    The welling waves. Coldest of weathers,\n    Shadowy night, and the north wind\n    Battelous shocked on us; wild were the waters,\n    And were the mere-fishes stirred up in mind.\"\n                                             _Beowulf_.\n\nBreka was driven ashore, but the current bore Beowulf toward some jagged\ncliffs, where he desperately clung, trying to resist the fury of the waves,\nand using his sword to ward off the attacks of hostile mermaids, nicors\n(nixies), and other sea monsters. The gashed bodies of these slain foes\nsoon drifted ashore, to Hygelac's amazement; but when Beowulf suddenly\nreappeared and explained that they had fallen by his hand, his joy knew no\nbounds. As Breka had returned first, he received the prize for swimming;\nbut the king gave Beowulf his treasured sword, N\u00e4geling, and praised him\npublicly for his valor.\n\nBeowulf had successfully encountered these monsters of the deep in the\nroaring tide, so he now expressed a hope that he might prevail against\nGrendel also; and embarking with fourteen chosen men, he sailed to Denmark,\nwhere he was challenged by the coast guard and warmly welcomed as soon as\nhe had made his purpose known.\n\n      \"'What men are ye,\n    War gear wearing,\n    Host in harness,\n    Who thus the brown keel\n    Over the water street\n    Leading, come\n    Hither over the sea?'\"\n               _Beowulf_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\nHrothgar received Beowulf most hospitably, but vainly tried to dissuade him\nfrom his perilous undertaking. Then, after a sumptuous banquet, where the\nmead flowed with true northern lavishness, Hrothgar and his suite sadly\nleft the hall Heorot in charge of the brave band of strangers, whom they\nnever expected to see again.\n\n[Sidenote: Beowulf and Grendel.] As soon as the king had departed, Beowulf\nbade his companions lie down and sleep in peace, promising to watch over\nthem, yet laying aside both armor and sword; for he knew that weapons were\nof no avail against the monster, whom he intended to grapple with hand to\nhand should it really appear.\n\n      \"'I have heard\n    That that foul miscreant's dark and stubborn flesh\n    Recks not the force of arms:--such I forswear,\n    Nor sword nor burnish'd shield of ample round\n    Ask for the war; all weaponless, hand to hand\n    (So may great Higelac's smile repay my toil)\n    Beowulf will grapple with the mighty foe.'\"\n                                   _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nThe warriors had no sooner stretched themselves out upon the benches in the\nhall than, overcome by the oppressive air as well as by mead, they sank\ninto a profound sleep. Beowulf alone remained awake, watching for Grendel's\ncoming. In the early morning, when all was very still, the giant appeared,\ntore asunder the iron bolts and bars which secured the door, and striding\ninto the hall, enveloped in a long, damp mantle of clammy mist, he pounced\nupon one of the sleepers. He tore him limb from limb, greedily drank his\nblood, and devoured his flesh, leaving naught but the head, hands, and feet\nof his unhappy victim. This ghastly repast only whetted the fiend's\nravenous appetite, however, so he eagerly stretched out his hands in the\ndarkness to seize and devour another warrior. Imagine his surprise and\ndismay when he suddenly found his hand caught in so powerful a grasp that\nall his efforts could not wrench it free!\n\nGrendel and Beowulf struggled in the darkness, overturning tables and\ncouches, shaking the great hall to its very foundations, and causing the\nwalls to creak and groan under the violence of their furious blows. But in\nspite of Grendel's gigantic stature, Beowulf clung so fast to the hand and\narm he had grasped that Grendel, making a desperate effort to free himself\nby a jerk, tore the whole limb out of its socket! Bleeding and mortally\nwounded, he then beat a hasty retreat to his marshy den, leaving a long,\nbloody trail behind him.\n\n    \"Soon the dark wanderer's ample shoulder bore\n    A gaping wound, each starting sinew crack'd,\n    And from its socket loosed the strong-knit joint.--\n    The victory was with Beowulf, and the foe,\n    Howling and sick at heart, fled as he might,\n    To seek beneath the mountain shroud of mist\n    His joyless home; for well he knew the day\n    Of death was on him, and his doom was seal'd.\"\n                                  _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nAs for Beowulf, exhausted but triumphant, he stood in the middle of the\nhall, where his companions crowded around him, gazing in speechless awe at\nthe mighty hand and limb, and the clawlike fingers, far harder than steel,\nwhich no power had hitherto been able to resist.\n\nAt dawn Hrothgar and his subjects also appeared. They heard with wonder a\ngraphic account of the night's adventures, and gazed their fill upon the\nmonster's limb, which hung like a trophy from the ceiling of Heorot. After\nthe king had warmly congratulated Beowulf, and bestowed upon him many rich\ngifts, he gave orders to cleanse the hall, to hang it with tapestry, and to\nprepare a banquet in honor of the conquering hero.\n\n[Sidenote:  Beowulf honored by the queen.] While the men were feasting,\nlistening to the lays of the scalds, and carrying the usual toasts,\nWealtheow, Hrothgar's beautiful wife, the Queen of Denmark, appeared. She\npledged Beowulf in a cup of wine, which he gallantly drained after she had\ntouched it to her lips. Then she bestowed upon him a costly necklace (the\nfamous Brisinga-men, according to some authorities)[1] and a ring of the\nfinest gold. [Footnote 1: See Guerber's Myths of Northern Lands, p. 127.]\n\n    \"'Wear these,' she cried, 'since thou hast in the fight\n    So borne thyself, that wide as ocean rolls\n    Round our wind-beaten cliffs his brimming waves,\n    All gallant souls shall speak thy eulogy.'\"\n                                         _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nWhen the banquet was ended, Hrothgar escorted his guests to more pleasant\nsleeping apartments than they had occupied the night before, leaving his\nown men to guard the hall, where Grendel would never again appear. The\nwarriors, fearing no danger, slept in peace; but in the dead of night the\nmother of the giant, as grewsome and uncanny a monster as he, glided into\nthe hall, secured the bloody trophy still hanging from the ceiling, and\ncarried it away, together with Aeschere (Askher), the king's bosom friend.\n\nWhen Hrothgar learned this new loss at early dawn he was overcome with\ngrief; and when Beowulf, attracted by the sound of weeping, appeared at his\nside, he mournfully told him of his irretrievable loss.\n\n     \"'Ask not after happiness;\n     Sorrow is renewed\n     To the Danes' people.\n     Aeschere is dead,\n     Yrmenlaf's\n     Elder brother,\n     The partaker of my secrets\n     And my counselor,\n     Who stood at my elbow\n     When we in battle\n     Our mail hoods defended,\n     When troops rushed together\n     And boar crests crashed.'\"\n                   _Beowulf_ (Metcalfe's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Beowulf and Grendel's mother.] The young hero immediately\nvolunteered to finish his work and avenge Aeschere by seeking and attacking\nGrendel's mother in her own retreat; but as he knew the perils of this\nexpedition, Beowulf first gave explicit directions for the disposal of his\npersonal property in case he never returned. Then, escorted by the Danes\nand Geates, he followed the bloody track until he came to a cliff\noverhanging the waters of the mountain pool. There the bloody traces\nceased, but Aeschere's gory head was placed aloft as a trophy.\n\n    \"Now paused they sudden where the pine grove clad\n    The hoar rock's brow, a dark and joyless shade.\n    Troublous and blood-stain'd roll'd the stream below.\n    Sorrow and dread were on the Scylding's host,\n    In each man's breast deep working; for they saw\n    On that rude cliff young Aeschere's mangled head.\"\n                                       _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nBeowulf gazed down into the deep waters, saw that they also were darkly\ndyed with the monster's blood, and, after taking leave of Hrothgar, bade\nhis men await his return for two whole days and nights ere they definitely\ngave him up for lost. He then plunged bravely into the bloody waters, swam\nabout seeking for the monster's retreat, and dived deep. At last, descrying\na phosphorescent gleam in the depths, he quickly made his way thither,\nshrewdly conjecturing that it must be Grendel's hiding place. But on his\nway thither he was repeatedly obliged to have recourse to his sword to\ndefend himself against the clutches of countless hideous sea monsters which\ncame rushing toward him on all sides.\n\n    \"While thro' crystal gulfs were gleaming\n    Ocean depths, with wonders teeming;\n    Shapes of terror, huge, unsightly,\n    Loom'd thro' vaulted roof translucent.\"\n                             J.C. JONES, _Valhalla_.\n\nA strong current seized Beowulf, and swept him irresistibly along into the\nslimy retreat of Grendel's mother. She clutched him fast, wrestled with\nhim, deprived him of his sword, flung him down, and finally tried to pierce\nhis armor with her trenchant knife. Fortunately, however, the hero's armor\nwas weapon-proof, and his muscles were so strong that before she could do\nhim any harm he had freed himself from her grasp. Seizing a large sword\nhanging upon a projection of rock near by, he dealt her a mighty blow,\nsevering her head from the trunk at a single stroke. The blood pouring out\nof the cave mingled with the waters without, and turned them to such a\nlurid hue that Hrothgar and his men sorrowfully departed, leaving the\nGeates alone to watch for the return of the hero, whom they feared they\nwould never see again.\n\nBeowulf, in the mean while, had rushed to the rear of the cave, where,\nfinding Grendel in the last throes, he cut off his head also. He seized\nthis ghastly trophy and rapidly made his way up through the tainted waters,\nwhich the fiery blood of the two monsters had so overheated that his sword\nmelted in its scabbard and naught but the hilt remained.\n\n                          \"That stout sword of proof,\n    Its warrior task fulfill'd, dropp'd to the ground\n    (So work'd the venom of the felon's blood)\n    A molten mass.\"\n                                _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nThe Geates were about to depart in sorrow, notwithstanding the orders they\nhad received, when they suddenly beheld their beloved chief safe and sound,\nand bearing the evidences of his success. Then their cries of joy echoed\nand reechoed from the neighboring hills, and Beowulf was escorted back to\nHeorot, where he was almost overwhelmed with gifts by the grateful Danes. A\nfew days later Beowulf and his companions returned home, where the story of\ntheir adventures, and an exhibition of all the treasures they had won,\nformed the principal topics of conversation.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Hygelac.] Several years of comparative peace ensued,\nere the land was invaded by the Friesians, who raided the coast, burning\nand plundering all in their way, and retreated into their ships before\nHygelac or Beowulf could overtake and punish them. The immediate result of\nthis invasion was a counter-movement on Hygelac's part. But although he\nsuccessfully harried Friesland, he fell into an ambush just as he was about\nto leave the country, and was cruelly slain, his nephew Beowulf barely\nescaping a similar untoward fate.\n\nWhen the little army of the Geates reached home once more, they either\nburied or consumed Hygelac's remains, with his weapons and battle steed, as\nwas customary in the North. This ceremony ended, Queen Hygd, overwhelmed\nwith grief, and fearing the almost inevitable dissensions arising during\nthe long minority of an infant king, convened the popular assembly known as\nthe Thing, and bade the people set her own child's claims aside in favor of\nBeowulf. This proposal was hailed with enthusiasm; but Beowulf refused to\nusurp his kinsman's throne, and raising Hardred, Hygelac's infant son, upon\nhis shield, he declared that he would protect and uphold him as long as he\nlived. The people, following his example, swore fealty to the new king, and\nfaithfully kept this oath until he died.\n\nHardred, having attained his majority, ruled wisely and well; but his\ncareer was cut short by the sons of Othere, the discoverer of the North\nCape. These youths had rebelled against their father's authority and taken\nrefuge at Hardred's court; but when the latter advised a reconciliation,\nthe eldest youth angrily drew his sword and slew him.\n\n[Illustration: FUNERAL OF A NORTHERN CHIEF.--Cormon.]\n\n[Sidenote: Beowulf made king.] This crime was avenged, with true northern\npromptitude, by Wiglaf, one of the king's followers; and while the second\nyouth effected an escape, Beowulf was summoned by the Thing to accept the\nnow vacant throne. As there were none to dispute his claims, the hero no\nlonger refused to rule, and he bravely defended his kingdom against\nEadgils, Othere's second son. Eadgils was now king of Sweden, and came with\nan armed host to avenge his brother's death; but he only succeeded in\nlosing his own life.\n\nA reign of forty years of comparative peace brought Beowulf to extreme old\nage. He had naturally lost much of his former vigor, and was therefore\nsomewhat dismayed when a terrible, fire-breathing dragon took up its abode\nin the mountains near by, where it gloated over a hoard of glittering gold.\n\n          \"The ranger of the darksome night,\n    The Firedrake, came.\"\n                         _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.)\n\n[Sidenote: The Firedrake.] A fugitive slave, having made his way unseen\ninto the monster's den during one of its temporary absences, bore away a\nsmall portion of this gold. On its return the Firedrake discovered the\ntheft, and became so furious that its howling and writhing shook the\nmountain like an earthquake. When night came on its rage was still\nunappeased, and it flew all over the land, vomiting venom and flames,\nsetting houses and crops afire, and causing so much damage that the people\nwere almost beside themselves with terror. Seeing that all their attempts\nto appease the dragon were utterly fruitless, and being afraid to attack it\nin its lair, they finally implored Beowulf to deliver them as he had\ndelivered the Danes, and to slay this oppressor, which was even worse than\nthe terrible Grendel.\n\nSuch an appeal could not be disregarded, and in spite of his advanced years\nBeowulf donned his armor once more. Accompanied by Wiglaf and eleven of his\nbravest men, he then went out to seek the monster in its lair. At the\nentrance of the mountain gorge Beowulf bade his followers pause, and\nadvancing alone to the monster's den, he boldly challenged it to come forth\nand begin the fray. A moment later the mountain shook as the monster rushed\nout breathing fire and flame, and Beowulf felt the first gust of its hot\nbreath, even through his massive shield.\n\n                            \"First from his lair\n    Shaking firm earth, and vomiting as he strode\n    A foul and fiery blast, the monster came.\"\n                                 _Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).\n\nA desperate struggle followed, in the course of which Beowulf's sword and\nstrength both failed him. The Firedrake coiled its long, scaly folds about\nthe aged hero, and was about to crush him to death when the faithful\nWiglaf, perceiving his master's imminent danger, sprang forward and\nattacked the monster so fiercely as to cause a diversion and make it drop\nBeowulf to concentrate its attention upon him.\n\nBeowulf, recovering, then drew his dagger and soon put an end to the\ndragon's life; but even as it breathed its last the hero sank fainting to\nthe ground. Feeling that his end was near, he warmly thanked Wiglaf for his\ntimely aid, rejoiced in the death of the monster, and bade his faithful\nfollower bring out the concealed treasure and lay it at his feet, that he\nmight feast his eyes upon the glittering gold he had won for his people's\nuse.\n\n   \"Saw then the bold thane\n    Treasure jewels many,\n    Glittering gold\n    Heavy on the ground,\n    Wonders in the mound\n    And the worm's den,\n    The old twilight flier's,\n    Bowls standing;\n    Vessels of men of yore,\n    With the mountings fall'n off.\n    There was many a helm\n    Old and rusty,\n    Armlets many\n    Cunningly fastened.\n    He also saw hang heavily\n    An ensign all golden\n    High o'er the hoard,\n    Of hand wonders greatest,\n    Wrought by spells of song,\n    From which shot a light\n    So that he the ground surface\n    Might perceive,\n    The wonders overscan.\"\n                  _Beowulf_ (Metcalfe's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Beowulf.] The mighty treasure was all brought forth to\nthe light of day, and the followers, seeing that all danger was over,\ncrowded round their dying chief. He addressed them affectionately, and,\nafter recapitulating the main events his career, expressed a desire to be\nburied in a mighty mound on a projecting headland, which could be seen far\nout at sea, and would be called by his name.\n\n                                \"'And now,\n    Short while I tarry here--when I am gone,\n    Bid them upon yon headland's summit rear\n    A lofty mound, by Rona's seagirt cliff;\n    So shall my people hold to after times\n    Their chieftain's memory, and the mariners\n    That drive afar to sea, oft as they pass,\n    Shall point to Beowulf's tomb.'\"\n                              _Beowulf_(Conybeare's tr.).\n\nThese directions were all piously carried out by a mourning people, who\ndecked his mound with the gold he had won, and erected above it a Bauta, or\nmemorial stone, to show how dearly they had loved their brave king Beowulf,\nwho had died to save them from the fury of the dragon.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\nGUDRUN.\n\n\nMaximilian I., Emperor of Germany, rendered a great service to posterity by\nordering that copies of many of the ancient national manuscripts should be\nmade. These copies were placed in the imperial library at Vienna, where,\nafter several centuries of almost complete neglect, they were discovered by\nlovers of early literature, in a very satisfactory state of preservation.\nThese manuscripts then excited the interest of learned men, who not only\nfound therein a record of the past, but gems of literature which are only\nnow beginning to receive the appreciation they deserve.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of poem of Gudrun.] Among these manuscripts is the poem\n\"Gudrun,\" belonging to the twelfth or thirteenth century. It is evidently\ncompiled from two or more much older lays which are now lost, which are\nalluded to in the Nibelungenlied. The original poem was probably Norse, and\nnot German like the only existing manuscript, for there is an undoubted\nparallel to the story of the kidnaping of Hilde in the Edda. In the Edda,\nHilde, the daughter of H\u00f6gni, escapes from home with her lover Hedin, and\nis pursued by her irate father. He overtakes the fugitives on an island,\nwhere a bloody conflict takes place, in which many of the bravest warriors\ndie. Every night, however, a sorceress recalls the dead to life to renew\nthe strife, and to exterminate one another afresh.\n\nThe poem \"Gudrun,\" which is probably as old as the Nibelungenlied, and\nalmost rivals it in interest, is one of the most valuable remains of\nancient German literature. It consists of thirty-two songs, in which are\nrelated the adventures of three generations of the heroic family of the\nHegelings. Hence it is often termed the \"Hegeling Legend.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Kidnaping of Hagen.] The poem opens by telling us that Hagen was\nthe son of Sigeband, King of Ireland, which was evidently a place in\nHolland, and not the well-known Emerald Isle. During a great feast, when\ncountless guests were assembled around his father's hospitable board, this\nprince, who was then but seven years of age, was seized by a griffin and\nrapidly borne away.\n\n    \"Young Hagen, loudly crying, was filled with dire dismay;\n    The bird with mighty pinions soared high with him away.\"\n                                               _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe cries of the child, and the arrows of Sigeband's men at arms, were\nequally ineffectual in checking the griffin, which flew over land and sea,\nand finally deposited its prey in its nest on the top of a great cliff on a\ndesert island. One of the little griffins, wishing to reserve this delicate\nmorsel for its own delectation, caught the boy up in its talons and flew\naway to a neighboring tree. The branch upon which it perched was too weak\nto support a double load, however, and as it broke the frightened griffin\ndropped Hagen into a thicket. Undismayed by the sharp thorns, Hagen quickly\ncrept out of the griffin's reach and took refuge in a cave, where he found\nthree little girls who had escaped from the griffins in the same way.\n\n[Sidenote: The three maidens.] One of these children was Hilde, an Indian\nprincess; the second, Hildburg, daughter of the King of Portugal; and the\nthird belonged to the royal family of Isenland. Hagen immediately became\nthe protector of these little maidens, spending several years in the cave\nwith them. He ventured out only when the griffins were away, to seek\nberries or shoot small game with a bow which he had made in imitation of\nthose he had seen in his father's hall.\n\nYears passed by before Hagen found the corpse of an armed warrior, which\nhad been washed ashore during a storm. To appropriate the armor and weapons\nfor which he had so long and vainly sighed was the youth's first impulse;\nhis second was to go forth and slay the griffins which had terrorized him\nand his little companions for so many years. The griffins being disposed\nof, the young people roamed about the island at will, keeping a sharp\nlookout for any passing vessel which might convey them home. At last a sail\ncame in sight! Hagen, the first to see it, climbed up on a rock and shouted\nwith all his young strength to attract the crew's attention.\n\n    \"With might young Hagen shouted, and did not cease to shout,\n    Howe'er the roaring tempest the wild waves tossed about.\"\n                                                 _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe sailors reluctantly drew near, gazing fearfully upon the three maidens,\nwho, clad in furs and moss, resembled mermaids or wood nymphs. But when\nthey heard their story they gladly took them on board. It was only when the\nisland was out of sight, and when they were in mid-ocean, that Hagen\ndiscovered that he had fallen into the hands of Count Garadie, his father's\ninveterate enemy, who now proposed to use his power to treat the young\nprince as a slave. But Hagen's rude fare, and the constant exposure of the\npast few years, had so developed his strength and courage that he now flew\ninto a Berserker rage,[1] flung thirty men one after another into the sea,\nand so terrified his would-be master that he promised to bear him and the\nthree maidens in safety to his father's court. [Footnote 1: See Guerber's\nMyths of Northern Lands, p. 29.]\n\n[Sidenote: Hagen made king.] As Sigeband had died without leaving any other\nheir, Hagen was warmly welcomed home, and ascending the vacant throne, he\ntook to wife Hilde, the fair maiden with whom he had shared his game and\nberries for so many years. The royal couple were very happy, and Hagen\nruled so wisely that he became a terror to his enemies and a blessing to\nhis own subjects. Even when engaged in warfare he proved himself an upright\nand generous man, never attacking the poor and weak.\n\n    \"On warlike enterprises into his enemies' land\n    He spared the poor from ravage of fire with powerful hand;\n    Whenever he encountered a warrior overbearing,\n    He broke his burgs and slew him with dire revenge unsparing.\"\n                                               _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Hilde's suitors.] Hagen and Hilde eventually became the parents\nof an only daughter, who was called by her mother's name, and grew up so\nbeautiful that many suitors soon came to Ireland to ask for her hand.\nHagen, who loved his daughter dearly and was in no haste to part from her,\nfirst replied that she was far too young to think of marriage; but when\nthis plea was disputed he declared that Hilde should only marry a man who\nwould defeat her father in single fight.\n\nAs Hagen was unusually tall and strong, as well as uncommonly brave, he was\nconsidered well-nigh invincible. The suitors, dismayed at this declaration,\nreluctantly withdrew, even though they were all valiant men. In those days\nHettel (who corresponds to Hedin in the Edda story) was king of northern\nGermany and of the Hegelings. He too heard marvelous accounts of Hilde's\nbeauty, and, as he was still unmarried, longed to secure her as wife. But\nknowing that Hagen, in his anger, was likely to slay any ambassador who\ncame to his court with a proposal of marriage, Hettel vowed that he would\nrather forego the alliance than run the risk of losing any of his tried\nfriends and faithful servants.\n\n    \"Then said the royal Hetel: 'The people all relate\n    That whosoe'er will woo her incurs her father's hate,\n    And for the maid has perished full many a noble knight;\n    My friends shall never suffer for me such woeful plight.'\"\n                                              _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Strategy of Hettel's followers.] His faithful followers, Wat,\nHorant, and Frute, perceiving that his heart was set upon the maiden,\nfinally volunteered to go and get her, saying that they could easily bear\nher away by stratagem, although they did not dare to ask for her openly. So\nthey loaded their vessel with merchandise, hid their weapons, so that they\nshould be taken for the traders they professed to be, and sailed boldly\ninto Hagen's port, where, spreading out their wares, they invited all the\npeople to buy.\n\nAttracted by the extraordinary bargains they offered, the people came in\ncrowds, and soon all the inhabitants of Balian were busy talking about the\nstrange peddlers and praising their wares. These stories soon came to the\nears of both queen and princess, who, summoning the merchants into their\npresence, asked who they were and whence they came.\n\nAll three replied that they were warriors, and that, being banished from\nHettel's court, they had been forced to take up their present occupation to\nmake a living. To prove the truth of their assertions, Wat exhibited his\nskill in athletic sports, while Horant delighted all the ladies by his\nproficiency in the art of minstrelsy.\n\n    \"When now the night was ended and there drew near the dawn,\n    Horant began his singing, so that in grove and lawn\n    The birds became all silent, because he sang so sweetly;\n    The people who were sleeping sprang from their couches fleetly.\n\n    \"The cattle in the forests forsook their pasture ground;\n    The creeping creatures playing among the grass around,\n    The fishes in the water,--all in their sports were ceasing.\n    The minstrel might most truly rejoice in art so pleasing.\n\n    \"Whate'er he might be singing, to no one seemed it long;\n    Forgotten in the minster were priest and choral song,\n    Church bells no longer sounded so sweetly as before,\n    And every one who heard him longed for the minstrel sore.\"\n                                             _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThese soft strains so pleased the younger Hilde that she soon sent for the\nminstrel again, and Horant, finding her alone, made use of this opportunity\nto tell her of Hettel's love and longing. She was so touched by this\ndeclaration of love that he easily won from her a promise to flee with him\nand his companions as soon as a suitable opportunity occurred.\n\nThe pretended merchants, having now achieved the real object of their\njourney, disposed of their remaining wares. They then invited the king and\nhis family to visit their ship, and cleverly managing to separate the\nwilling princess from her parents and train, they sailed rapidly away,\nleaving the angry father to hurl equally ineffectual spears, curses, and\nthreats after them.\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage of Hettel and Hilde.] The Hegelings sailed with their\nprize direct to Waleis, in Holland (near the river Waal), where the\nimpatient Hettel came to meet them, and tenderly embraced his beautiful\nyoung bride. There their hasty nuptials were celebrated; but, as they were\nabout to sail away on the morrow, Hettel became aware of the rapid approach\nof a large fleet. Of course the foremost vessel was commanded by Hagen, who\nhad immediately started out in pursuit of his kidnaped daughter. Landing,\nwith all his forces, he challenged his new-made son-in-law to fight.\n\n    \"King Hagen, full of anger, leaped forward in the sea.\n    Unto the shore he waded; no braver knight than he!\n    Full many pointed arrows against him were seen flying,\n    Like flakes of snow, from warriors of Hetel's host defying.\"\n                                              _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe result of this battle was that Hettel was wounded by Hagen, who, in his\nturn, was injured by Wat, and that the distracted Hilde suddenly flung\nherself between the contending parties, and by her tears and prayers soon\nbrought about a reconciliation. Hagen, who had tested the courage of his\nnew son-in-law and had not found it wanting, now permitted his daughter to\naccompany her husband home to Matelan, where she became the mother of a\nson, Ortwine, and of a daughter, Gudrun, who was even fairer than herself.\n\n[Sidenote: Gudrun's suitors.] Ortwine was fostered by Wat, the dauntless\nhero, who taught him to fight with consummate skill; while Hilde herself\npresided over the education of Gudrun, and made her so charming that many\nsuitors soon came, hoping to find favor in her eyes. These were Siegfried,\nKing of Moorland, a pagan of dark complexion; Hartmut, son of Ludwig, King\nof Normandy; and, lastly, Herwig of Zealand. Although the latter fancied\nthat he had won some favor in the fair Gudrun's sight, Hettel dismissed him\nas well as the others, with the answer that his daughter was yet too young\nto leave the parental roof.\n\nHerwig, who was not ready to give the maiden up, then remembered that\nHettel had won his own bride only after he had measured his strength with\nher father's; so he collected an army, invaded Matelan, and proved his\ncourage by encountering Hettel himself in the fray. Gudrun, who stood\nwatching the battle from the palace window, seeing them face to face,\nloudly implored them to spare each other, an entreaty to which they both\nlent a willing ear.\n\n    \"Fair Gudrun saw the combat, and heard the martial sound.\n    Like to a ball is fortune, and ever turns around.\n\n    \"Then from the castle chamber the royal maid cried out:\n    'King Hetel, noble father, the blood flows all about\n    Athwart the mighty hauberks. With gore from warlike labor\n    The walls are sprinkled. Herwig is a most dreadful neighbor.'\"\n                                                  _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nHerwig had in this encounter proved himself no despicable foe; so Hettel,\npreferring to have him as a friend, no longer opposed his betrothal, but\neven promised that the wedding festivities should be celebrated within a\nyear. Herwig tarried in Matelan with his betrothed until he heard that\nSiegfried, King of Moorland, jealous of his successful wooing of Gudrun,\nhad invaded his kingdom and was raiding his unprotected lands.\n\n[Sidenote: Gudrun kidnaped by Hartmut.] These tidings caused the brave\nyoung warrior to bid Gudrun a hasty farewell and sail home as quickly as\npossible, Hettel promising to follow him soon and help him repel the\ninvaders, who were far superior in number to his small but oft-tried host.\nWhile Herwig and Hettel were thus occupied in warring against one of the\ndisappointed suitors, Hartmut, the other, hearing that they were both away,\ninvaded Matelan and carried off Gudrun and all her attendants to Normandy.\nHe paused only once on his way thither to rest for a short time on an\nisland called W\u00fclpensand, at the mouth of the Scheldt.\n\nThe bereaved Hilde, who had seen her beloved daughter thus carried away,\npromptly sent messengers to warn Hettel and Herwig of Gudrun's capture.\nThese tidings put an immediate stop to their warfare with Siegfried, who,\njoining forces with them, sailed in pursuit of the Normans in the vessels\nof a party of pilgrims, for they had none of their own ready for instant\ndeparture.\n\n[Sidenote: The W\u00fclpensand battle.] Hettel, Herwig, and Siegfried reached\nW\u00fclpensand before the Normans had left it, and there took place a frightful\nconflict, in the course of which King Ludwig slew the aged Hettel. The\nconflict raged until nightfall, and although there were now but few\nHegelings left, they were all ready to renew the struggle on the morrow.\nWhat was not their chagrin, therefore, on discovering that the Normans had\nsailed away with their captives during the night, and were already out of\nsight!\n\nIt was useless to pursue them with so small an army; so the Hegelings\nsorrowfully returned home, bearing Hettel's lifeless body back to the\ndisconsolate Hilde. Then they took counsel, and discovered that so many\nable fighting men had perished during the last war that they would be\nobliged to wait until the rising generation was able to bear arms before\nthey could invade Normandy with any hope of success.\n\n   \"Then spoke old Wat, the hero: 'It never can befall\n    Before this country's children have grown to manhood all.'\"\n                                               _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nGudrun, in the mean while, had arrived in Normandy, where she persisted in\nrefusing to marry Hartmut. On her way thither the haughty princess had even\nventured to remind King Ludwig that he had once been her father's vassal,\nand so roused his anger that he threw her overboard. But Hartmut\nimmediately plunged into the water after her, rescued her from drowning,\nand when he had again seen her safe in the boat, angrily reproved his\nfather for his hasty conduct.\n\n    \"He said: 'Why would you drown her who is to be my wife,\n    The fair and charming Gudrun? I love her as my life.\n    Another than my father, if he had shown such daring,\n    Would lose his life and honor from wrath of mine unsparing.'\"\n                                                 _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Gudrun a captive.] After this declaration on the part of the\nyoung heir, none dared at first treat Gudrun with any disrespect; and\nGerlinda and Ortrun, the mother and sister of Hartmut, welcomed her as she\nlanded on their shores. Gerlinda's friendliness was a mere pretense,\nhowever, for she hated the proud maiden who scorned her son's proffered\nlove. She therefore soon persuaded her son to give the gentle captive\nentirely into her charge, saying that she would make her consent to become\nhis bride. Hartmut, who was about to depart for the war, and who little\nsuspected his mother's cruel intentions, bade her do as she pleased; and he\nwas no sooner out of sight than poor Gudrun was degraded to the rank of a\nservant, and treated with much harshness and often with actual violence.\n\nDuring three whole years Gudrun endured this cruelty in silence; but when\nHartmut returned she was restored to her former state, although she still\npersisted in refusing his passionate suit. Discouraged by her obstinacy,\nthe young man weakly consented to abandon her again to Gerlinda's tender\nmercies. The princess was now made to labor harder than ever, and she and\nHildburg, her favorite companion and fellow captive, were daily sent down\nto the shore to wash the royal linen.\n\n[Illustration: GUDRUN AND THE SWAN.--Kepler.]\n\nIt was winter, the snow lay thick on the ground, and Gudrun and her\ncompanion, barefooted and miserably clad, suffered untold agonies from the\ncold. Besides, they were nearly exhausted, and the hope of rescue, which\nhad sustained them during the past twelve years, had almost forsaken them.\nTheir deliverance was near, however, and while Gudrun was washing on the\nshore, a mermaid, in the guise of a swan, came gently near her and bade her\nbe of good cheer, for her sufferings would soon be at an end.\n\n    \"'Rejoice in hope,' then answered the messenger divine;\n    'Thou poor and homeless maiden, great joy shall yet be thine.\n    If thou wilt ask for tidings from thy dear native land,\n    To comfort thee, great Heaven has sent me to this strand.'\"\n                                               _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe swan maiden then informed her that her brother Ortwine had grown up,\nand that he would soon come with brave old Wat and the longing Herwig to\ndeliver her.\n\nThe next day, in spite of the increased cold, Gerlinda again roughly bade\nthe maidens go down to the shore and wash, refusing to allow them any\ncovering except one rough linen garment.\n\n    \"They then took up the garments and went upon their way.\n    'May God let me,' said Gudrun, 'remind you of this day.'\n    With naked feet they waded there through the ice and snow:\n    The noble maids, all homeless, were filled with pain and woe.\"\n                                                   _Gudrun_ (Dippold's\n                tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Gudrun's deliverance.] Gudrun and Hildburg had barely begun\ntheir usual task, however, ere a small boat drew near, in which they\nrecognized Herwig and Ortwine. All unconscious of their identity at first,\nthe young men inquired about Gudrun. She herself, to test their affection,\nreplied that the princess was dead, and did not allow them to catch a\nglimpse of her face until she beheld Herwig's emotion at these tidings, and\nheard him protest that he would be faithful to her unto death.\n\n    \"There spoke the royal Herwig: 'As long as lasts my life,\n    I'll mourn for her; the maiden was to become my wife.'\"\n                                             _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe lovers, who had been equally true, now fell into each other's arms.\nOrtwine was overjoyed at finding his sister and her companion, having long\nsecretly loved the latter, so he poured out an avowal of his passion, and\nwon from Hildburg a promise to be his wife. The first moments of joyful\nreunion over, Herwig would fain have carried Gudrun and Hildburg back to\ncamp with him; but Ortwine proudly declared that he had come to claim them\nopenly, and would bear them away from Normandy honorably, in the guise of\nprincesses, rather than by stealth.\n\nPromising to rescue them on the morrow, the young men took leave of the\nmaidens. Hildburg conscientiously finished her task, but Gudrun proudly\nflung the linen into the sea and returned to the palace empty-handed,\nsaying that it did not become her to do any more menial labor, since she\nhad been kissed by two kings. Gerlinda, hearing her confess that she had\nflung the linen into the sea, ordered her to be scourged; but when Gudrun\nturned upon her and proudly announced that she would take her revenge on\nthe morrow, when she would preside over the banquet hall as queen, Gerlinda\nconcluded that she had decided to accept Hartmut.\n\nThe mother, therefore, flew to him to impart the joyful tidings. In his\ndelight he would fain have embraced Gudrun, who, however, haughtily bade\nhim refrain from saluting a mere washerwoman. Becoming aware only then of\nher sorry plight, the prince withdrew, sternly ordering that her maidens\nshould again be restored to her, that her every command should be fulfilled\nas if she were already queen, and that all should treat her with the utmost\nrespect. These orders were executed without delay, and while Hartmut was\npreparing for his wedding on the morrow, Gudrun, again clad in royal\nattire, with her maidens around her, whispered the tidings of their coming\ndeliverance. Morning had barely dawned when Hildburg, gazing out of the\nwindow, saw the castle entirely surrounded by the Hegelings' forces; and at\ncockcrow old Wat's horn pealed forth a loud defiance, rousing the Normans\nfrom pleasant dreams, and calling them to battle instead of to the\nanticipated wedding.\n\n    \"The morning star had risen upon the heavens high,\n    When to the castle window a beauteous maid drew nigh,\n    In order to espy there and watch the break of day,\n    Whereby from royal Gudrun she would obtain rich pay.\n\n    \"There looked the noble maiden and saw the morning glow.\n    Reflected in the water, as it might well be so,\n    Were seen the shining helmets and many bucklers beaming.\n    The castle was surrounded; with arms the fields were gleaming.\"\n                                              _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe battle was very fierce, and the poem enumerates many of the cuts and\nthrusts given and received. Clashing swords and streams of gore now\nmonopolize the reader's attention. In the fray Herwig slew King Ludwig.\nGudrun was rescued by Hartmut from the hands of Gerlinda, who had just\nbidden her servants put her to death, so that her friends should not take\nher alive. Next the Norman prince met his rival and fought bravely. He was\nabout to succumb, however, when his sister Ortrun, who throughout had been\ngentle and loving to Gudrun, implored her to save her brother's life.\nGudrun, touched by this request, called out of the casement to Herwig, who,\nat a word from her, sheathed his sword, and contented himself with taking\nHartmut prisoner.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Gerlinda.] The castle was duly plundered, the whole\ntown sacked, and Wat, bursting into the palace, began to slay all he met.\nThe women, in terror, then crowded around Gudrun, imploring her protection.\nAmong these were Ortrun and Gerlinda; but while Gudrun would have protected\nthe former at the cost of her life, she allowed Wat to kill the latter, who\nhad deserved such a death in punishment for all her cruelty.\n\nWhen the massacre was over, the victors celebrated their triumph by a grand\nbanquet, at which Gudrun, fulfilling her boast, actually presided as queen.\n\n    \"Now from the bitter contest the warriors rested all.\n    There came the royal Herwig into King Ludwig's hall,\n    Together with his champions, their gear with blood yet streaming.\n    Dame Gudrun well received him; her heart with love was teeming.\"\n                                                _Gudrun_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nWhen the banquet was over, the Hegelings set sail, taking with them the\nrecovered maidens, all the spoil they had won, and their captives, Hartmut\nand Ortrun; and on reaching Matelan they were warmly welcomed by Hilde, who\nwas especially rejoiced to see her daughter once more.\n\n    \"The queen drew near to Gudrun. Could any one outweigh\n    The joy they felt together, with any wealth or treasure?\n    When they had kissed each other their grief was changed to pleasure.\"\n                                                   _Gudrun_ (Dippold's\n                tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: A fourfold wedding.] Shortly after their return home a fourfold\nwedding took place. Gudrun married her faithful Herwig, Ortwine espoused\nHildburg, Siegfried consoled himself for Gudrun's loss by taking the fair\nOrtrun to wife, and Hartmut received with the hand of Hergart, Herwig's\nsister, the restitution not only of his freedom but also of his kingdom.\n\nAt the wedding banquet Horant, who, in spite of his advanced years, had\nlost none of his musical skill, played the wedding march with such success\nthat the queens simultaneously flung their crowns at his feet,--an offering\nwhich he smilingly refused, telling them that crowns were perishable, but\nthat the poet's song was immortal.\n\n    \"The aged minstrel drew his harp still closer to his breast,\n    Gazed at the jeweled coronets as this thought he expressed:\n    'Fair queens, I bid you wear them until your locks turn gray;\n    Those crowns, alas! are fleeting, but song will live alway.'\"\n                                             NIENDORF (H.A.G.'s tr.).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\nREYNARD THE FOX.\n\n\nAmong primitive races, as with children, animal stories are much enjoyed,\nand form one of the first stages in literature. The oldest of these tales\ncurrent in the middle ages is the epic of Reineke Fuchs, or Reynard the\nFox. This poem was carried by the ancient Franks across the Rhine, became\nfully acclimated in France, and then returned to Germany by way of\nFlanders, where it was localized.\n\nAfter circulating from mouth to mouth almost all over Europe, during many\ncenturies, it was first committed to writing in the Netherlands, where the\nearliest manuscript, dating from the eleventh or twelfth century, gives a\nLatin version of the tale.\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of animal epics.] \"The root of this saga lies in the\nharmless natural simplicity of a primeval people. We see described the\ndelight which the rude child of nature takes in all animals,--in their slim\nforms, their gleaming eyes, their fierceness, their nimbleness and cunning.\nSuch sagas would naturally have their origin in an age when the ideas of\nshepherd and hunter occupied a great portion of the intellectual horizon of\nthe people; when the herdman saw in the ravenous bear one who was his\nequal, and more than his equal, in force and adroitness, the champion of\nthe woods and wilds; when the hunter, in his lonely ramble through the\ndepths of the forest, beheld in the hoary wolf and red fox, as they stole\nalong,--hunters like himself,--mates, so to say, and companions, and whom\nhe therefore addressed as such.... So that originally this kind of poetry\nwas the exponent of a peculiar sort of feeling prevailing among the people,\nand had nothing whatever to do with the didactic or satiric, although at a\nlater period satiric allusions began to be interwoven with it.\"\n\nThe story has been rewritten by many poets and prose writers. It has been\ntranslated into almost every European language, and was remodeled from one\nof the old mediaeval poems by Goethe, who has given it the form in which it\nwill doubtless henceforth be known. His poem \"Reineke Fuchs\" has been\ncommented upon by Carlyle and translated by Rogers, from whose version all\nthe following quotations have been extracted.\n\n[Sidenote: The animals' assembly.] As was the custom among the Franks under\ntheir old Merovingian rulers, the animals all assembled at Whitsuntide\naround their king, Nobel the lion, who ruled over all the forest. This\nassembly, like the Champ de Mars, its prototype, was convened not only for\nthe purpose of deciding upon the undertakings for the following year, but\nalso as a special tribunal, where all accusations were made, all complaints\nheard, and justice meted out to all. The animals were all present, all\nexcept Reynard the fox, who, it soon became apparent, was accused of many a\ndark deed. Every beast present testified to some crime committed by him,\nand all accused him loudly except his nephew, Grimbart the badger.\n\n                     \"And yet there was one who was absent,\n    Reineke Fox, the rascal! who, deeply given to mischief,\n    Held aloof from half the Court. As shuns a bad conscience\n    Light and day, so the fox fought shy of the nobles assembled.\n    One and all had complaints to make, he had all of them injured;\n    Grimbart the badger, his brother's son, alone was excepted.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Complaints against Reynard.] The complaint was voiced by Isegrim\nthe wolf, who told with much feeling how cruelly Reynard had blinded three\nof his beloved children, and how shamefully he had insulted his wife, the\nfair lady Gieremund. This accusation had no sooner been formulated than\nWackerlos the dog came forward, and, speaking French, pathetically\ndescribed the finding of a little sausage in a thicket, and its purloining\nby Reynard, who seemed to have no regard whatever for his famished\ncondition.\n\nThe tomcat Hintze, who at the mere mention of a sausage had listened more\nattentively, now angrily cried out that the sausage which Wackerlos had\nlost belonged by right to him, as he had concealed it in the thicket after\nstealing it from the miller's wife. He added that he too had had much to\nsuffer from Reynard, and was supported by the panther, who described how he\nhad once found the miscreant cruelly beating poor Lampe the hare.\n\n                                  \"Lampe he held by the collar,\n    Yes, and had certainly taken his life, if I by good fortune\n    Had not happened to pass by the road. There standing you see him.\n    Look and see the wounds of the gentle creature, whom no one\n    Ever would think of ill treating.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Vindication of Reynard.] The king, Nobel, was beginning to look\nvery stern as one after another rose to accuse the absent Reynard, when\nGrimbart the badger courageously began to defend him, and artfully turned\nthe tables upon the accusers. Taking up their complaints one by one, he\ndescribed how Reynard, his uncle, once entered into partnership with\nIsegrim. To obtain some fish which a carter was conveying to market, the\nfox had lain as if dead in the middle of the road. He had been picked up by\nthe man for the sake of his fur, and tossed up on top of the load of fish.\nBut no sooner had the carter's back been turned than the fox sprang up,\nthrew all the fish down into the road to the expectant wolf, and only\nsprang down himself when the cart was empty. The wolf, ravenous as ever,\ndevoured the fish as fast as they were thrown down, and when the fox\nclaimed his share of the booty he had secured, Isegrim gave him only the\nbones.[1] [Footnote 1: For Russian version see Guerber's Contes et\nL\u00e9gendes, vol. i., p. 93.]\n\nNot content with cheating his ally once, the wolf had induced the fox to\nsteal a suckling pig from the larder of a sleeping peasant. With much\nexertion the cunning Reynard had thrown the prize out of the window to the\nwaiting wolf; but when he asked for a portion of the meat as reward, he was\ndismissed with nothing but the piece of wood upon which it had been hung.\n\nThe badger further proceeded to relate that Reynard had wooed Gieremund\nseven years before, when she was still unmated, and that if Isegrim chose\nto consider that an insult, it was only on a par with the rest of his\naccusations, for the king could readily see that Reynard was sorely injured\ninstead of being guilty.\n\nThen, encouraged by the favorable impression he had produced, Grimbart\nairily disposed of the cases of Wackerlos and Hintze by proving that they\nhad both stolen the disputed sausage, after which he went on to say that\nReynard had undertaken to instruct Lampe the hare in psalmody, and that the\nill treatment which the panther had described was only a little wholesome\ncastigation inflicted by the teacher upon a lazy and refractory pupil.\n\n                                           \"Should not the master his pupil\n    Sometimes chastise when he will not observe, and is stubborn in evil?\n    If boys were never punished, were thoughtlessness always passed over,\n    Were bad behavior allowed, how would our juveniles grow up?\"\n\nThese plausible explanations were not without their effect, and when\nGrimbart went on to declare that, ever since Nobel proclaimed a general\ntruce and amnesty among all the animals of the forest, Reynard had turned\nhermit and spent all his time in fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, the\ncomplaint was about to be dismissed.\n\n[Sidenote: Story of Henning and the Cock.] Suddenly, however, Henning the\ncock appeared, followed by his two sons, Kryant and Kantart, bearing the\nmangled remains of a hen upon a bier. In broken accents the bereaved father\nrelated how happily he had dwelt in a convent henyard, with the ten sons\nand fourteen daughters which his excellent consort had hatched and brought\nup in a single summer. His only anxiety had been caused by the constant\nprowling of Reynard, who, however, had been successfully at a distance by\nthe watchdogs. But when the general truce had been proclaimed, the dogs\nwere dismissed. Reynard, in the garb of a monk, had made his way into the\nhenyard to show Henning the royal proclamation with the attached seal, and\nto assure him of his altered mode of living.\n\nThus reassured, Henning had led his family out into the forest, where,\nalas! Reynard was lurking, and where he killed all but five of Henning's\npromising brood. They had not only been killed, but devoured, with the\nexception of Scratch-foot, whose mangled remains were laid at the monarch's\nfeet in proof of the crime, as was customary in the mediaeval courts of\njustice.\n\nThe king, angry that his truce should thus have been broken, and sorry for\nthe evident grief of the father, ordered a sumptuous funeral for the\ndeceased, and commanded that a stone should be placed upon her grave,\nbearing the epitaph:\n\n    \"'Scratch-foot, daughter of Henning, the cock, the best of the hen\n           tribe.\n       Many an egg did she lay in her nest, and was skillful in scratching.\n       Here she lies, lost, alas! to her friends, by Reineke murdered.\n       All the world should know of his false and cruel behavior,\n       As for the dead they lament.' Thus ran the words that were\n          written.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard and the Bear.] Then the king, having taken advice with\nhis council, solemnly bade Brown the bear proceed immediately to\nMalepartus, Reynard's home, and summon him to appear at Reynard and court\nforthwith, to answer the grave charges which had been made against him. But\nhe warned his messenger to behave circumspectly and to beware of the wiles\nof the crafty fox. The bear rather resented these well-meant\nrecommendations, and, confidently asserting his ability to take care of\nhimself, set out for Reynard's abode.\n\nOn his way to the mountains he was obliged to pass through an arid, sandy\nwaste, and reached Malepartus weary and overheated. Standing before the\nfortress, which rejoiced in many labyrinthine passages, he loudly made\nknown his errand; and when Reynard, peeping cautiously out, had ascertained\nthat Brown was alone, he hastened out to welcome him.\n\nWith great volubility the fox commiserated his long journey, and excused\nthe delay in admitting him under plea of an indisposition caused by eating\ntoo much honey, a diet which he abhorred.\n\nAt the mere mention of honey the bear forgot all his fatigue, and when his\nhost lamented the fact that he had nothing else to offer him, he joyfully\ndeclared no food could suit him better, and that he could never get enough\nof it.\n\n    \"'If that is so,' continued the Red one, 'I really can serve you,\n    For the peasant R\u00fcsteviel lives at the foot of the mountain.\n    Honey he has, indeed, such that you and all of your kindred\n    Never so much together have seen.'\"\n\nOblivious of everything else at the thought of such a treat, Brown the bear\nimmediately set out in Reynard's company, and they soon came to the\npeasant's yard, where a half-split tree trunk lay in full view. Reynard\nthen bade his companion thrust his nose well down into the hollow and eat\nhis fill of honey. As soon as he saw that the bear had thrust not only his\nnose, but both fore paws, into the crack, Reynard cleverly removed the\nwedges, the tree clapped together, and he left the bear a prisoner and\nhowling with pain.\n\nThese sounds soon attracted the peasant's attention, and he and his\ncompanions all fell upon the captive bear with every imaginable weapon, and\nproceeded to give him a sound beating. Frantic with pain and terror, the\nunfortunate bear finally succeeded in wrenching himself free, at the cost\nof the skin on his nose and fore paws, and, after tumbling the fat cook\ninto the water, swam down the stream and landed in a thicket to bewail his\nmisfortunes. Here he was found by the fox, who added insult to injury by\nmaking fun of him, and reproved him for his gluttony, until the bear again\nplunged into the stream and swam away.\n\n[Illustration: BROWN THE BEAR CAUGHT IN THE LOG.--Wagner.]\n\nThen, painfully making his way back to Nobel, Brown presented himself at\ncourt all bleeding and travel-stained, and poured forth a doleful account\nof his mission.\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard and the cat.] The king, after consulting with his\nprincipal courtiers, declared it the right of any man to be thrice\nsummoned, and, conceding that the bear's manners were not of a conciliatory\nnature, selected Hintze the cat to bear his message to Malepartus. The cat,\ndisheartened by unfavorable omens, was nevertheless compelled to go on this\nunwelcome journey.\n\nReynard welcomed him cordially, promised to accompany him to court on the\nmorrow, and then asked what kind of refreshment he could offer. When Hintze\nhad confessed his preference for mice, the fox replied that it was very\nfortunate, as there were plenty of them in the parson's barn. Hintze\nimmediately asked to be led thither, that he might eat his fill.\n\n                        \"'Pray do me the kindness\n    Hence to lead and show me the mice, for far above wild game\n    Give me a mouse for delicate flavor.'\"\n\nReynard then conducted Hintze to the parson's barn, and pointed out a\nlittle opening through which he had passed to steal chickens, and where he\nknew that Martin, the parson's son, had laid a trap to catch any intruder.\nHintze at first demurred, but, urged by Reynard, crept in and found himself\ncaught in a noose. Reynard, pretending to take the cat's moans for cries of\njoy, banteringly inquired whether that was the way they sang at court, as\nthe caterwauling grew louder.\n\nThese sounds finally reached the ears of little Martin, who, accompanied by\nhis father, came into the barn to catch the intruder. Poor Hintze,\nfrightened at the sight of the bludgeon the parson carried, flew at his\nlegs, scratching and biting him, until the saintly man fainted. Then,\ntaking advantage of the confusion, Hintze managed to slip out of the noose\nand effect his escape. He returned to court minus one eye, and there poured\nout the story of his wrongs.\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard and the badger.] The wrath of the king was now terrible\nto behold, and assembling his council, he bade them decide how he should\npunish the wretch who had twice ill treated his messengers. Grimbart the\nbadger, seeing that public opinion was decidedly against his relative, now\nbegged that a third summons should be sent, and offered to carry the\nmessage himself. He furthermore declared that, even according to their own\nshowing, the cat and bear had come to grief through their greediness; and\nthen he promptly departed.\n\nGrimbart found Reynard in the bosom of his family, delivered his message,\nand frankly advised the fox to obey the king's summons and appear at court,\nwhere, perchance, he might yet manage to save himself; while if he remained\nat home the king would besiege his fortress and slay him and all his\nfamily. Reynard listened favorably to this advice, and, after bidding his\nwife a tender farewell, and committing his beloved children to her care, he\nset out with Grimbart to go to court.\n\nOn the way the recollection of his many transgressions began to lie very\nheavily upon his heart. The fear of death quickened his conscience, and,\nlonging to make his peace with Heaven, he expressed a great wish to confess\nhis sins and receive absolution. As no priest was near at hand, he begged\nGrimbart the badger to listen to him, and penitently confessed all the\nmisdeeds we have already recounted. He also added that he once bound\nIsegrim to the rope of the convent bell at Elkinar, where his frantic\ntugging rang the bell, until the monks, crowding around him, cudgeled him\nseverely. Reynard related, too, how he once induced Isegrim to enter the\npriests' house through a window and crawl along some beams in search of ham\nand bacon. As the wolf was carefully feeling his way, however, the\nmischievous fox pushed him and made him fall on the sleeping people below,\nwho, awakening with a start, fell upon him and beat him. These and sundry\nother sins having duly been confessed, the badger bade the fox chastise\nhimself with a switch plucked from the hedge, lay it down in the road, jump\nover it thrice, and then meekly kiss that rod in token of obedience. Then\nhe pronounced Reynard absolved from his former sins, and admonished him to\nlead an altered life in future.\n\n                      \"'My uncle, take care that your future amendment\n    In good works be visible. Psalms you should read, and should visit\n    Churches with diligence; fast at the seasons duly appointed;\n    Him who asks you point out the way to; give to the needy\n    Willingly; swear to forsake all evil habits of living,\n    All kinds of theft and robbing, deceit and evil behavior.\n    Thus can you make quite sure that you will attain unto mercy!'\"\n\nThe fox solemnly promised amendment, and with sanctimonious mien continued\nhis journey. But as he and the badger passed a convent, and some plump hens\ncrossed their path, Reynard forgot all his promises and began to chase the\nchickens. Sharply recalled to a sense of duty by Grimbart, Reynard\nreluctantly gave up the chase, and the two proceeded without further\ndrawback to the court, where Reynard's arrival created a great sensation.\n\n    \"When at the Court it was known that Reineke really was coming,\n    Ev'ry one thronged out of doors to see him, the great and the little.\n    Few with friendly intent; for almost all were complaining.\n    This, however, in Reineke's mind was of little importance;\n    Thus he pretended, at least, as he with Grimbart the badger,\n    Boldly enough and with elegant mien now walked up the high street.\n    Jauntily swung he along at his ease, as if he were truly\n    Son of the king, and free and quit of ev'ry transgression.\n    Thus he came before Nobel the king, and stood in the palace\n    In the midst of the lords; he knew how to pose as unruffled.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard at court.] With consummate skill and unparalleled\neloquence and impudence, Reynard addressed the king, lauding himself as a\nfaithful servant, and commiserating the fact that so many envious and\nbackbiting people were ready to accuse him. Nobel the king, in whose mind\nthe recollection of the treatment inflicted upon Brown the bear and Hintze\nthe cat was still very vivid, answered him sternly, and told him that it\nwould be difficult for him to acquit himself of those two charges, to say\nnothing of the many others brought against him. Reynard, still undismayed,\ndemanded with well-feigned indignation whether he was to be held\nresponsible for the sins of those messengers whose misfortunes were\nattributable to their gluttonous and thievish propensities only.\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard condemned to death.] But in spite of this specious\npleading, all the other animals came crowding around with so many grievous\ncharges that matters began to look very dark indeed for the fox. In spite\nof all Reynard's eloquence, and of the fluent excuses ever on his tongue,\nthe council pronounced him guilty, and condemned him to die an ignominious\ndeath. Reynard's enemies rejoiced at this sentence, and dragged him off\nwith cheerful alacrity to the gallows, where all the animals assembled to\nwitness his execution.\n\nOn the way to the place of punishment Reynard tried to think of some plan\nby means of which he could save himself even at the eleventh hour; and\nknowing that some scheme would occur to him if he could only gain a little\ntime, he humbly implored permission to make a public confession of his\nmanifold sins ere he paid the penalty of his crimes. Anxious to hear all he\nmight have to say, the king granted him permission to speak; and the fox\nbegan to relate at length the story of his early and innocent childhood,\nhis meeting and alliance with Isegrim the wolf, and his gradual induction\nby him into crooked paths and evil ways. He told, too, how the cruel wolf,\npresuming on his strength, had ever made use of it to deprive him, the fox,\nof his rightful share of plunder; and concluded by saying that he would\noften have suffered from hunger had it not been for the possession of a\ngreat treasure of gold, which had sufficed for all his wants.\n\n    \"Thanks be to God, however, I never suffered from hunger;\n    Secretly have I fed well by means of that excellent treasure,\n    All of silver and gold in a secret place that securely\n    Hidden I keep; with this I've enough. And, I say it in earnest,\n    Not a wagon could carry it off, though sevenfold loaded.\"\n\nAt the word \"treasure\" Nobel pricked up his ears and bade Reynard relate\nhow this hoard was obtained and where it was concealed. The artful fox,\nseeing the king's evident interest, rapidly prepared more lies, and,\nspeaking to the king and queen, declared that ere he died it would be\nbetter for him to reveal the carefully guarded secret of a conspiracy which\nwould have resulted in the king's death had it not been for his devotion.\n\nThe queen, shuddering at the mere thought of the danger her royal consort\nhad run, now begged that Reynard might step down from the scaffold and\nspeak privately to her and to Nobel. In this interview Reynard, still\npretending to prepare for immediate death, told how he discovered a\nconspiracy formed by his father, Isegrim the wolf, Brown the bear, and many\nothers, to slay the king and seize the scepter. He described the various\nsecret conferences, the measures taken, and his father's promise to defray\nall the expenses of the enterprise and to subsidize mercenary troops by\nmeans of the hoard of King Ermenrich, which he had discovered and concealed\nfor his own use.\n\nReynard then continued to describe his loyal fears for his beloved\nsovereign, his resolve to outwit the conspirators, and his efforts to\ndeprive them of the sinews of war by discovering and abstracting the\ntreasure. Thanks to his ceaseless vigilance, he saw his father steal forth\none night, uncover his hoard, gloat over the gold, and then efface the\ntraces of his search with the utmost skill.\n\n                                              \"'Nor could one,\n    Not having seen, have possibly known. And ere he went onwards\n    Well he understood at the place where his feet had been planted,\n    Cleverly backwards and forwards to draw his tail, and to smooth it,\n    And to efface the trace with the aid of his mouth.'\"\n\nReynard then told the king how diligently he and his wife, Ermelyn, labored\nto remove the gold and conceal it elsewhere, and how the conspiracy came to\nnaught when no gold was found to pay the troops. He mournfully added that\nhis loyalty further deprived him of a loving father, for the latter had\nhung himself in despair when he found his treasure gone and all his plans\nfrustrated. With hypocritical tears he then bewailed his own fate, saying\nthat, although ready to risk all for another, there was no one near him to\nspeak a good word for him in his time of bitterest need.\n\n[Sidenote:  Reynard Pardoned.] The queen's soft heart was so touched by\nthis display of feeling that she soon pleaded for and obtained Reynard's\npardon from Nobel, who freely granted it when the fox promised to give him\nhis treasure. Most accurately now he described its place of concealment,\nbut said that he could not remain at court, as his presence there was an\ninsult to royalty, seeing that he was under the Pope's ban and must make a\npilgrimage ere it could be removed.\n\nThe king, after imprisoning Isegrim, Brown, and Hintze (the chief\nconspirators according to Reynard's tale), and ascertaining that the place\nthe fox so accurately described really existed, bade Reynard depart, and at\nhis request procured for him a fragment of Brown's hide to make a wallet,\nand a pair of socks from Isegrim and his wife, who were very loath to part\nwith their foot covering. The king, queen, and court then accompanied\nReynard a short way on the first stage of his journey, and turned back,\nleaving Bellyn the ram and Lampe the hare to escort him a little farther.\nThese innocent companions accompanied Reynard to Malepartus, and while\nBellyn waited patiently without, Lampe entered the house with Reynard. Lady\nErmelyn and her two young sons greeted Reynard with joy, listened\nbreathlessly to the account of his adventures, and then helped him to slay\nand eat Lampe, who, he declared, had brought all these evils upon him.\n\nReynard and his family feasted upon the body of poor Lampe the hare, whose\nhead was then securely fastened in the wallet made of Brown's skin. This\nthe fox carefully carried out and placed upon Bellyn's back, assuring him\nvolubly the while that it contained important dispatches, and that in order\nto insure him a suitable reward for his good offices he had told Nobel the\nking that the ram had given him valuable assistance in preparing the\ncontents of the wallet.\n\n    \"'Yet, as soon as you see the king, and to still better favor\n    Wish to attain with him, 'twere well to bring to his notice\n    That you have sagely given advice in composing the letters,\n    Yea, and the writer have help'd.'\"\n\nThus instructed, and reassured concerning the absence of Lampe, whom\nReynard described as enjoying a chat with Ermelyn, Bellyn bounded off to\ncourt, where he did not fail to vaunt that he had helped Reynard prepare\nthe contents of the wallet. Nobel publicly opened it, and when he drew out\nLampe's bleeding head his anger knew no bounds. Following the advice of his\ncourtiers, Bellyn, in spite of all his protestations, was given in\natonement to the bear and the wolf, who the king now feared had been\nunjustly treated. They were then released from imprisonment and reinstated\nto royal favor, and twelve days of festivity ensued.\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard again in disgrace.] In the midst of the dance and\nrevelry a bloody rabbit appeared to accuse Reynard of tearing off one of\nhis ears, while the garrulous crow, Merkinau, related how the same\nunscrupulous wretch had pretended death merely to befool Sharfenebbe, his\nwife, and induce her to come near enough for him to bite off her head.\nNobel the king, upon hearing these complaints, immediately swore that\nwithin six days he would besiege Reynard in his castle, would take him\nprisoner, and would make him suffer the penalty of his crimes.\n\nIsegrim the wolf and Brown the bear rejoiced at these tidings, while\nGrimbart the badger, seeing the peril his uncle had incurred, hastened off\nsecretly to Malepartus to warn him of his danger and support him by his\nadvice. He found Reynard sitting complacently in front of his house,\ncontemplating two young doves which he had just secured as they were making\ntheir first attempt to fly. Grimbart breathlessly related the arrival of\nBellyn, the royal indignation at the sight of Lampe's head, and the plan\nfor surrounding and capturing Reynard in his safe retreat.\n\n[Sidenote: Grimbart's advice.] In spite of this disquieting news Reynard's\ncomposure did not desert him; but after vowing that he could easily acquit\nhimself of these crimes if he could only win the king's ear for a moment,\nhe invited his kinsman to share his meal and taste the delicate morsels he\nhad secured. Grimbart the badger, seeing that the fox was not inclined to\nflee, now advised him not to await the king's coming and expose his wife\nand children to the horrors of a siege, but boldly to return to court.\n\n    \"'Go with assurance before the lords, and put the best face on\n    Your affairs. They will give you a hearing. Lupardus was also\n    Willing you should not be punish'd before you had fully\n    Made your defense, and the queen herself was not otherwise minded.\n    Mark this fact, and try to make use of it.'\"\n\nOnce more Reynard bade a tender farewell to his wife and sons, resisting\nall the former's entreaties to seek safety in flight, and, relying upon his\ncunning, set out with Grimbart to visit the court. On his way he again\npretended repentance for his former sins, and resuming his confession at\nthe point where he had broken off, he told how maliciously he had secured a\npiece of the bear's hide for a wallet, and socks from Isegrim and his wife.\nHe then went on to relate just how he had murdered Lampe, charged the\ninnocent Bellyn with the ambiguous message which had cost him his life,\ntorn off one of the rabbit's ears, and eaten the crow's wife. Lastly, he\nconfessed how he had gone out in company with the wolf, who, being hungry\nand seeing a mare with a little foal, had bidden Reynard inquire at what\nprice she would sell it. The mare retorted that the price was written on\nher hoof. The sly fox, understanding her meaning, yet longing to get his\ncompanion into trouble, pretended not to know how to read, and sent the\nwolf to ascertain the price. The result was, of course, disastrous, for the\nmare kicked so hard that the wolf lay almost dead for several hours after.\n\n    \"So he went and asked the lady, 'What price is the filly?\n    Make it cheap.' Whereupon she replied, 'You've only to read it;\n    There you will find the sum inscribed on one of my hind feet.'\n    'Let me look,' continued the wolf; and she answered, 'With\n         pleasure.'\n\n    \"Then she lifted upwards her foot from the grass; it was studded\n    With six nails. She struck straight out, and not by a hair's\n         breadth\n    Missed she her mark. She struck on his head, and straightway he\n         fell down,\n    Lying as dumb as the dead.\"\n\nWaxing more and more eloquent as they drew nearer court and his fears\nincreased, Reynard began to moralize. He excused himself for Lampe's murder\non the plea of the latter's aggravating behavior, said that the king\nhimself was nothing but a robber living by rapine, and proceeded to show\nhow even the priests were guilty of manifold sins, which he enumerated with\nmuch gusto.\n\nThey had scarcely finished this edifying conversation when they came across\nMartin the ape, on his way to Rome; and Reynard hastened to implore him to\nsecure his release from the Pope's ban, through the intercession of the\nape's uncle, the cardinal, whose interest it was to serve him. Martin the\nape not only promised his good offices at the papal court, but bade Reynard\nnot hesitate to consult his wife should he find himself in any predicament\nat court.\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard at court.] Thus supported, Reynard again made his\nappearance at court, to the utter amazement and surprise of all; and\nalthough, he was well aware that his situation was more dangerous than\never, his assurance did not seem at all impaired. Kneeling with pretended\nhumility before the king, he artfully began his address by lamenting the\nfact that there were so many unscrupulous people ever ready to accuse the\ninnocent; and when the king angrily interrupted him to accuse him of\nmaiming the rabbit and devouring the crow, he began his defense.\n\nFirst Reynard explained that since Martin the ape had undertaken to free\nhim from his ban, his journey to Rome was of course unnecessary. Then he\nrelated how the rabbit, dining at his house, had insulted and quarreled\nwith his children, from whose clutches he had had much trouble to save him.\nThe crow's death was caused by a fish bone she had swallowed. Bellyn, the\ntraitor, had slain Lampe himself, and evidently put his head in the wallet\ninstead of some treasures which Reynard had intrusted to their care for the\nking and queen.\n\n[Sidenote: The ape's intercession.] The king, who had listened impatiently\nto all this discourse, angrily retired, refusing to believe a word, while\nReynard sought the ape's wife, Frau R\u00fcckenau, and bade her intercede for\nhim. She entered the royal tent, reminded the king of her former services,\nand seeing his mood somewhat softened, ventured to mention how cleverly\nReynard once helped him to judge between the rival claims of a shepherd and\na serpent. The latter, caught in a noose and about to die, had implored a\npassing shepherd to set it free. The peasant had done so after exacting a\nsolemn oath from the serpent to do him no harm. But the serpent, once\nreleased, and suffering from the pangs of hunger, threatened to devour the\npeasant. The latter called the raven, wolf, and bear, whom he met by the\nway, to his aid; but as they all hoped to get a share of him, they all\ndecided in favor of the serpent's claim to eat him.\n\nThe case by this time had become so intricate that it was laid before the\nking, who, unable to judge wisely, called Reynard to his aid. The fox\ndeclared that he could only settle so difficult a matter when plaintiff and\ndefendant had assumed the relative positions which they occupied at the\ntime of dispute. Then when the snake was safely in the noose once more,\nReynard decided that, knowing the serpent's treachery, the peasant might\nagain set him loose, but need not do so unless he chose.\n\n                           \"'Here now is each of the parties\n    Once again in his former state, nor has either the contest\n    Won or lost. The right, I think, of itself is apparent.\n    For if it pleases the man, he again can deliver the serpent\n    Out of the noose; if not, he may let her remain and be hang'd there.\n    Free he may go on his way with honor and see to his business,\n    Since she has proved herself false, when she had accepted his kindness;\n    Fairly the man has the choice. This seems to me to be justice,\n    True to the spirit. Let him who understands better declare it.'\"\n\n[Illustration: REYNARD PREPARING FOR BATTLE.--Kaulbach.]\n\nThe king, remembering this celebrated judgment, and skillfully reminded by\nFrau R\u00fcckenau of the bear's and the wolf's rapacity, consented at last to\ngive Reynard a second hearing. The fox now minutely described the treasures\nhe sent to court,--a magic ring for the king, and a comb and mirror for the\nqueen. Not only was the fable of the judgment of Paris engraved on the\nlatter, but also that of the jealous donkey, who, imitating his master's\nlapdog, and trying to climb into his lap, received nothing but blows. There\nwas also the story of the cat and the fox, of the wolf and the crane, and,\nlastly, the account of the miraculous way in which his father, a noted\nleech, had saved Nobel's sire by making him eat the flesh of a wolf just\nseven years old.\n\nThe pleader then reminded the king of a noted hunting party, where Isegrim,\nhaving secured a boar, gave the king one quarter, the queen another,\nreserved a half for himself, and gave the fox nothing but the head. This\ndivision was of course very disloyal, and the fox showed that he thought so\nby dividing a calf more equitably; i.e., giving the queen one half, the\nking the other, the heart and liver to the princes, the head to the wolf,\nand reserving only the feet for himself.\n\n[Sidenote: Duel between the fox and the wolf.] Reynard prided himself upon\nthese tokens of loyalty, and then, seeing that he had made a favorable\nimpression, he volunteered, in spite of his small size, to meet the wolf in\nbattle and leave the vindication of his claims to the judgment of God. This\nmagnanimous behavior filled the king with admiration, and the trial was\nappointed for the following day, the intervening hours being granted to\nboth combatants for preparation. Reynard, still advised by Frau R\u00fcckenau,\nwas shaved smooth, rubbed with butter until he was as slippery as could be,\nand instructed to feign fear and run fleetly in front of the wolf, kicking\nup as much sand as possible, and using his brush to dash it into his\nopponent's eyes and thus blind him.\n\nThe combat took place. The wolf, blinded by the sand in his eyes, was so\ninfuriated that he finally pounced upon the fox, who, however, managed yet\nto get the upper hand and come off victor, generously granting life to his\nfoe, whom he had nearly torn and scratched to pieces. Reynard, having thus\nwon the victory, enjoyed the plaudits of the crowd, while the wolf, being\nvanquished, was publicly derided, and borne off by his few remaining\nfriends to be nursed back to health, if possible.\n\n    \"Such is ever the way of the world. They say to the lucky,\n    'Long may you live in good health,' and friends he finds in  abundance.\n    When, however, ill fortune befalls him, alone he must bear it.\n    Even so was it here; each one of them wish'd to the victor\n    Nearest to be, to show himself off.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Reynard's acquittal.] The king pronounced Reynard guiltless of\nall charges, and made him one of his privy councilors. But the fox, after\nthanking the king for his favors, humbly besought permission to return\nhome, where his wife was awaiting him, and departed, escorted by a\ndeputation of his friends.\n\nAccording to some versions of the tale, Reynard contented himself with\nblinding the wolf and maiming him for life; according to others, he bided\nhis time, and when the king was ill, told him that nothing could save him\nshort of the heart of a wolf just seven years old. Of course no wolf of the\nexact age could be found but Isegrim, so he was sacrificed to save the\nking, who recovered. As for Reynard, he enjoyed great honor as long as he\nlived, and his adventures have long been the delight of the people, whom\nhis tricks never failed to amuse.\n\n    \"Highly honor'd is Reineke now! To wisdom let all men\n    Quickly apply them, and flee what is evil, and reverence virtue!\n    This is the end and aim of the song, and in it the poet\n    Fable and truth hath mixed, whereby the good from the evil\n    Ye may discern, and wisdom esteem; and thereby the buyers\n    Of this book in the ways of the world may be daily instructed.\n    For it was so created of old, and will ever remain so.\n    Thus is our poem of Reineke's deeds and character ended.\n    May God bring us all to eternal happiness. Amen!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n\nTHE NIBELUNGENLIED.\n\n\n[Sidenote:  Origin of Poem.] Germany's greatest epic is, without doubt, the\nancient poem entitled \"Nibelungenlied,\" or the \"Lay,\" \"Fall,\" or \"Calamity\nof the Nibelungs.\" Although nothing certain is known concerning the real\nauthorship of this beautiful work, it is supposed to have been put into its\npresent form either by the Austrian minstrel von K\u00fcrenberg or by the German\npoet von Ofterdingen, some time previous to the year 1210, the date\ninscribed on the oldest manuscript of that poem now extant.\n\nAccording to the best authorities on ancient German literature, the\n\"Nibelungenlied\" is compiled from pre\u00ebxisting songs and rhapsodies, forming\nfive distinct cycles of myths, but all referring in some way to the great\ntreasure of the Nibelungs. One of these cycles is the northern Volsunga\nSaga,[1] where Sigurd, Gudrun, Gunnar, H\u00f6gni, and Atli, the principal\ncharacters, correspond to Siegfried, Kriemhild, Gunther, Hagen, and Etzel\nof the \"Nibelungenlied.\" The story of the German poem, which can be given\nonly in outline, is as follows: [Footnote 1: See Guerber's Myths of\nNorthern Lands, p. 225.]\n\nDankrat and Ute, King and Queen of Burgundy, were the fortunate parents of\nfour children: three sons, Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher; and one beautiful\ndaughter, Kriemhild. When the king died, his eldest son, Gunther, succeeded\nhim, and reigned wisely and well, residing at Worms on the Rhine, his\ncapital and favorite city.\n\n[Sidenote: Kriemhild's dream.] As was customary in those days, Kriemhild\nlived a peaceful and secluded life, rarely leaving her mother's palace and\nprotection. But one night her slumbers, which were usually very peaceful,\nwere disturbed by a tormenting dream, which, upon awaking, she hastened to\nconfide to her mother, thinking that, as Ute was skilled in magic and\ndreams, she might give a favorable interpretation and thus rid her of her\nhaunting fears.\n\n    \"A dream was dreamt by Kriemhild, the virtuous and the gay,\n    How a wild young falcon she train'd for many a day,\n    Till two fierce eagles tore it.\"\n                                   _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nUte declared that the falcon her daughter had seen in her dream must be\nsome noble prince, whom she would love and marry; while the two eagles were\nbase murderers, who would eventually slay her beloved. Instead of\nreassuring Kriemhild, this interpretation only saddened her the more, and\nmade her loudly protest that she would rather forego all the joys of\nmarried estate than have to mourn for a beloved husband.\n\n[Sidenote: Siegfried's home.] In those days there flourished farther down\nthe Rhine the kingdom of the Netherlands, governed by Siegmund and\nSiegelind. They were very proud of their only son and heir, young\nSiegfried, who had already reached man's estate. To celebrate his\nknighthood a great tournament was held at Xanten on the Rhine, and in the\njousting the young prince won all the laurels, although great and tried\nwarriors matched their skill against his in the lists.\n\nThe festivities continued for seven whole days, and when the guests\ndeparted they were all heavily laden with the costly gifts which the king\nand queen had lavished upon them.\n\n    \"The gorgeous feast it lasted till the seventh day was o'er.\n    Siegelind, the wealthy, did as they did of yore;\n    She won for valiant Siegfried the hearts of young and old,\n    When for his sake among them she shower'd the ruddy gold.\n\n    \"You scarce could find one needy in all the minstrel band;\n    Horses and robes were scatter'd with ever-open hand.\n    They gave as though they had not another day to live;\n    None were to take so ready as they inclin'd to give.\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nAfter the departure of all these guests, young Siegfried sought his\nparents' presence, told them that he had heard rumors of the beauty and\nattractions of Kriemhild of Burgundy, and declared his wish to journey\nthither to secure her as his wife.\n\nIn vain the fond parents tried to prevail upon him to remain quietly at\nhome; the young hero insisted so strongly that he finally won their consent\nto his immediate departure. With eleven companions, all decked out in the\nrichest garments that the queen's chests could furnish, the young prince\nrode down the Rhine, and reached Worms on the seventh day.\n\n[Sidenote: Siegfried's arrival in Burgundy.] The arrival of the gallant\nlittle troop was soon noted by Gunther's subjects, who hastened out to meet\nthe strangers and help them dismount. Siegfried immediately requested to be\nbrought into the presence of their king, who, in the mean while, had\ninquired of his uncle, Hagen, the names and standing of the newcomers.\nGlancing down from the great hall window, Hagen said that the leader must\nbe Siegfried, the knight who had slain the owners of the Nibelungen hoard\nand appropriated it for his own use, as well as the magic cloud-cloak, or\nTarnkappe, which rendered its wearer invisible to mortal eyes.[1] He added\nthat this same Siegfried was ruler of the Nibelungen land, and the slayer\nof a terrible dragon, whose blood had made him invulnerable, and he\nconcluded by advising Gunther to receive him most courteously. [Footnote 1:\nFor various legends of this cycle see Guerber's Legends of the Rhine,\narticle Xanten.]\n\n    \"Yet more I know of Siegfried, that well your ear may hold:\n    A poison-spitting dragon he slew with courage bold,\n    And in the blood then bath'd him; thus turn'd to horn his skin,\n    And now no weapons harm him, as often proved has been.\n\n    \"Receive then this young hero with all becoming state;\n    'Twere ill advis'd to merit so fierce a champion's hate.\n    So lovely is his presence, at once all hearts are won,\n    And then his strength and courage such wondrous deeds have done.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nIn obedience to this advice, Gunther went to meet Siegfried and politely\ninquired the cause of his visit. Imagine his dismay, therefore, when\nSiegfried replied that he had come to test the Burgundian's vaunted\nstrength, and to propose a single combat, in which the victor might claim\nthe lands and allegiance of the vanquished. Gunther recoiled from such a\nproposal, and as none of his warriors seemed inclined to accept the\nchallenge, he and his brother hastened to disarm Siegfried's haughty mood\nby their proffers of unbounded hospitality.\n\nSiegfried sojourned for nearly a year at Gunther's court, displaying his\nskill in all martial exercises; and although he never caught a glimpse of\nthe fair maiden Kriemhild, she often admired his strength and manly beauty\nfrom behind the palace lattice.\n\n[Sidenote: War with the Saxons and Danes.] One day the games were\ninterrupted by the arrival of a herald announcing that Ludeger, King of the\nSaxons, and Ludegast, King of Denmark, were about to invade Burgundy. These\ntidings filled Gunther's heart with terror, for the enemy were very\nnumerous and their valor was beyond all question. But when Hagen hinted\nthat perhaps Siegfried would lend them a helping hand, the King of Burgundy\nseized the suggestion with joy.\n\nAs soon as Siegfried was made aware of the threatened invasion he declared\nthat if Gunther would only give him one thousand brave men he would repel\nthe foe. This offer was too good to refuse; so Gunther hastily assembled a\nchosen corps, in which were his brothers Gernot and Giselher, Hagen and his\nbrother Dankwart, Ortwine, Sindolt, and Volker,--all men of remarkable\nvalor.\n\n    \"'Sir king,' said noble Siegfried, 'here sit at home and play,\n    While I and your vassals are fighting far away;\n    Here frolic with the ladies and many a merry mate,\n    And trust to me for guarding your honor and estate.'\"\n                                      _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nThis little force, only one thousand strong, then marched bravely out of\nWorms, passed through Hesse, and entered Saxony, where it encountered the\nenemy numbering no less than twenty thousand valiant fighting men. The\nbattle was immediately begun; and while all fought bravely, none did such\nwonders as Siegfried, who made both kings prisoners, routed their host, and\nreturned triumphant to Worms, with much spoil and many captives.\n\nA messenger had preceded him thither to announce the success of the\nexpedition, and he was secretly summoned and questioned by Kriemhild, who,\nin her joy at hearing that Siegfried was unharmed and victorious, gave the\nmessenger a large reward.\n\n    \"Then spake she midst her blushes, 'Well hast thou earn'd thy meed,\n    Well hast thou told thy story, so take thee costliest weed,\n    And straight I'll bid be brought thee ten marks of ruddy gold.'\n    No wonder, to rich ladies glad news are gladly told.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Celebration of Siegfried's victory.] Kriemhild then hastened to\nher window, from whence she witnessed her hero's triumphant entrance, and\nheard the people's acclamations of joy. The wounded were cared for, the\ncaptive kings hospitably entertained and duly released, and great\nfestivities were held to celebrate the glorious victory. Among other\nentertainments the knights tilted in the tournaments, and, by Gernot's\nadvice, Ute, Kriemhild, and all the court ladies were invited to view the\nprowess of the men at arms. It was thus that Siegfried first beheld\nKriemhild, and as soon as he saw her he gladly acknowledged that she was\nfairer than he could ever have supposed.\n\n    \"As the moon arising outglitters every star\n    That through the clouds so purely glimmers from afar,\n    E'en so love-breathing Kriemhild dimm'd every beauty nigh.\n    Well might at such a vision many a bold heart beat high.\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ {Lettsom's tr.}.\n\nSiegfried's happiness was complete, however, when he was appointed the\nescort of this peerless maiden; and on the way to and from the tournament\nand mass he made good use of his opportunity to whisper pretty speeches to\nKriemhild, who timidly expressed her gratitude for the service he had\nrendered her brother, and begged that he would continue to befriend him.\nThese words made Siegfried blush with pride, and then and there he\nregistered a solemn vow to fulfill her request.\n\n    \"'Ever,' said he, 'your brethren I'll serve as best I may,\n    Nor once, while I have being, will head on pillow lay\n    Till I have done to please them whate'er they bid me do;\n    And this, my Lady Kriemhild, is all for love of you.'\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nThe festivities being ended, Gunther bestowed many gifts on the departing\nguests; but when Siegfried would also have departed he entreated him to\nremain at Worms. This the young hero was not at all loath to do, as he had\nfallen deeply in love with the fair Kriemhild, whom he was now privileged\nto see every day.\n\n[Sidenote: Brunhild.] The excitement consequent on the festivities had not\nentirely subsided in Worms when King Gunther declared his desire to win for\nhis wife Brunhild, a princess of Issland, who had vowed to marry none but\nthe man who could surpass her in casting a spear, in throwing a stone, and\nin jumping.\n\n    \"Then spake the lord of Rhineland: 'Straight will I hence to sea,\n    And seek the fiery Brunhild, howe'er it go with me.\n    For love of the stern maiden I'll frankly risk my life;\n    Ready am I to lose it, if I win her not to wife.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nIn vain Siegfried, who knew all about Brunhild, tried to dissuade him;\nGunther insisted upon departing, but proposed to Siegfried to accompany\nhim, promising him as reward for his assistance Kriemhild's hand as soon as\nthe princess of Issland was won. Such an offer was not to be refused, and\nSiegfried immediately accepted it, advising Gunther to take only Hagen and\nDankwart as his attendants.\n\n[Sidenote:  The expedition to Issland.] After seeking the aid of Kriemhild\nfor a supply of rich clothing suitable for a prince going a-wooing, Gunther\nand the three knights embarked on a small vessel, whose sails soon filled,\nand which rapidly bore them flown the Rhine and over the sea to Issland.\nWhen within sight of its shores, Siegfried bade his companions all\ncarefully agree in representing him to the strangers as Gunther's vassal\nonly. Their arrival was seen by some inquisitive damsels peering out of the\nwindows of the castle, and reported to Brunhild, who immediately and\njoyfully concluded that Siegfried had come to seek her hand in marriage.\nBut when she heard that he held another man's stirrup to enable him to\nmount, she angrily frowned, wondering why he came as a menial instead of as\na king. When the strangers entered her hall she would have greeted\nSiegfried first had he not modestly drawn aside, declaring that the honor\nwas due to his master, Gunther, King of Burgundy, who had come to Issland\nto woo her.\n\nBrunhild then haughtily bade her warriors make all the necessary\npreparations for the coming contest; and Gunther, Hagen, and Dankwart\napprehensively watched the movements of four warriors staggering beneath\nthe weight of Brunhild's ponderous shield. Then they saw three others\nequally overpowered by her spear; and twelve sturdy servants could scarcely\nroll the stone she was wont to cast.\n\nHagen and Dankwart, fearing for their master,--who was doomed to die in\ncase of failure,--began to mutter that some treachery was afoot, and openly\nregretted that they had consented to lay aside their weapons upon entering\nthe castle. These remarks, overheard by Brunhild, called forth her scorn,\nand she contemptuously bade her servants bring the strangers' arms, since\nthey were afraid.\n\n    \"Well heard the noble maiden the warrior's words the while,\n    And looking o'er her shoulder, said with a scornful smile,\n    'As he thinks himself so mighty, I'll not deny a guest;\n    Take they their arms and armor, and do as seems them best.\n\n    \"'Be they naked and defenseless, or sheath'd in armor sheen,\n    To me it nothing matters,' said the haughty queen.\n    'Fear'd yet I never mortal, and, spite of yon stern brow\n    And all the strength of Gunther, I fear as little now.'\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Siegfried and the Tarnkappe.] While these preliminaries were\nbeing settled, Siegfried had gone down to the ship riding at anchor, and\nall unseen had donned his magic cloud-cloak and returned to the scene of\nthe coming contest, where he now bade Gunther rely upon his aid.\n\n    \"'I am Siegfried, thy trusty friend and true;\n    Be not in fear a moment for all the queen can do.'\n\n    \"Said he, 'Off with the buckler, and give it me to bear;\n    Now what I shall advise thee, mark with thy closest care.\n    Be it thine to make the gestures, and mine the work to do.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nIn obedience to these directions, Gunther merely made the motions,\ndepending upon the invisible Siegfried to parry and make all the attacks.\nBrunhild first poised and flung her spear with such force that both heroes\nstaggered and almost fell; but before she could cry out victory, Siegfried\nhad caught the spear, turned it butt end foremost, and flung it back with\nsuch violence that the princess fell and was obliged to acknowledge herself\noutdone.\n\n[Sidenote: Brunhild's defeat.] Nothing daunted, however, by this first\ndefeat, she caught up the massive stone, flung it far from her, and leaping\nafter it, alighted beside it. But even while she was inwardly\ncongratulating herself, and confidently cherishing the belief that the\nstranger could not surpass her, Siegfried caught up the stone, flung it\nfarther still, and grasping Gunther by his broad girdle, bounded through\nthe air with him and landed far beyond it. Brunhild was outdone in all\nthree feats, and, according to her own promise, belonged to the victor,\nGunther, to whom she now bade her people show all due respect and homage.\n\n    \"Then all aloud fair Brunhild bespake her courtier band,\n    Seeing in the ring at distance unharm'd her wooer stand:\n    'Hither, my men and kinsmen, low to my better bow.\n    I am no more your mistress; you're Gunther's liegemen now.'\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Illustration: GUNTHER WINNING HIS BRIDE.--Keller.]\n\nThe warriors all hastened to do her bidding, and escorted their new lord to\nthe castle, whither, under pretext of fitly celebrating her marriage,\nBrunhild summoned all her retainers from far and near. This rally roused\nthe secret terror of Gunther, Hagen, and Dankwart, for they suspected some\nact of treachery on the part of the dark-browed queen. These fears were\nalso, in a measure, shared by Siegfried; so he stole away, promising to\nreturn before long with a force sufficient to overawe Brunhild and quell\nall attempt at foul play.\n\nSiegfried, having hastily embarked upon the little vessel, swiftly sailed\naway to the Nibelungen land, where he arrived in an incredibly short space\nof time, presented himself at the gates of his castle, and forced an\nentrance by conquering the giant porter, and Alberich, the dwarf guardian\nof his treasure. Then making himself known to his followers, the Nibelungs,\nhe chose one thousand of them to accompany him back to Issland to support\nthe Burgundian king.\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage of Gunther and Brunhild.] The arrival of this\nunexpected force greatly surprised Brunhild. She questioned Gunther, and\nupon receiving the careless reply that they were only a few of his\nfollowers, who had come to make merry at his wedding, she gave up all hope\nof resistance. When the usual festivities had taken place, and the wonted\nlargesses had been distributed, Gunther bade his bride prepare to follow\nhim back to the Rhine with her personal female attendants, who numbered no\nless than one hundred and sixty-eight.\n\nBrunhild regretfully left her own country, escorted by the thousand\nNibelung warriors; and when they had journeyed nine days, Gunther bade\nSiegfried spur ahead and announce his safe return to his family and\nsubjects. Offended by the tone of command Gunther had assumed, Siegfried at\nfirst proudly refused to obey; but when the king begged it as a favor, and\nmentioned Kriemhild's name, he immediately relented and set out.\n\n    \"Said he, 'Nay, gentle Siegfried, do but this journey take,\n    Not for my sake only, but for my sister's sake;\n    You'll oblige fair Kriemhild in this as well as me.'\n    When so implored was Siegfried, ready at once was he.\n\n    \"'Whate'er you will, command me; let naught be left unsaid;\n    I will gladly do it for the lovely maid.\n    How can I refuse her who my heart has won?\n    For her, whate'er your pleasure, tell it, and it is done.'\"\n                                           _Nibelunglied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nKriemhild received this messenger most graciously, and gave immediate\norders for a magnificent reception of the new queen, going down to the\nriver to meet and greet her in the most cordial and affectionate manner.\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage of Siegfried and Kriemhild.] A tournament and banquet\nensued; but as they were about to sit down to the latter, the impatient\nSiegfried ventured to remind Gunther of his promise, and claim the hand of\nKriemhild. In spite of a low-spoken remonstrance on Brunhild's part, who\nsaid that he would surely never consent to give his only sister in marriage\nto a menial, Gunther sent for Kriemhild, who blushingly expressed her\nreadiness to marry Siegfried if her brother wished. The marriage was\nimmediately celebrated, and the two bridal couples sat side by side. But\nwhile Kriemhild's fair face was radiant with joy, Brunhild's dark brows\nwere drawn close together in an unmistakable and ominous frown.\n\n[Sidenote: Gunther's humiliation.] The banquet over, the newly married\ncouples retired; but when Gunther, for the first time alone with his wife,\nwould fain have embraced her, she seized him, and, in spite of his vigorous\nresistance, bound him fast with her long girdle, suspended him from a nail\nin the corner of her apartment, and, notwithstanding his piteous\nentreaties, let him remain there all night long, releasing him only a few\nmoments before the attendants entered the nuptial chamber in the morning.\nOf course all seemed greatly surprised to see Gunther's lowering\ncountenance, which contrasted oddly with Siegfried's radiant mien; for the\nlatter had won a loving wife, and, to show his appreciation of her, had\ngiven her as wedding gift the great Nibelungen hoard.\n\nIn the course of the day Gunther managed to draw Siegfried aside, and\nsecretly confided to him the shameful treatment he had received at his\nwife's hands. When Siegfried heard this he offered to don his cloud-cloak\nonce more, enter the royal chamber unperceived, and force Brunhild to\nrecognize her husband as her master, and never again make use of her\nstrength against him.\n\n[Sidenote: Brunhild subdued by Siegfried.] In pursuance of this promise\nSiegfried suddenly left Kriemhild's side at nightfall, stole unseen into\nthe queen's room, and when she and Gunther had closed the door, he blew out\nthe lights and wrestled with Brunhild until she begged for mercy, promising\nnever to bind him again; for as Siegfried had remained invisible throughout\nthe struggle, she thought it was Gunther who had conquered her.\n\n    \"Said she, 'Right noble ruler, vouchsafe my life to spare;\n    Whatever I've offended, my duty shall repair.\n    I'll meet thy noble passion; my love with thine shall vie.\n    That thou canst tame a woman, none better knows than I.'\"\n                                         _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nStill unperceived, Siegfried now took her girdle and ring, and stole out of\nthe apartment, leaving Gunther alone with his wife; but, true to her\npromise, Brunhild ever after treated her husband with due respect, and\nhaving once for all been conquered, she entirely lost the fabulous strength\nwhich had been her proudest boast, and was no more powerful than any other\nmember of her sex.\n\nAfter fourteen days of rejoicing, Siegfried and Kriemhild (the latter\nescorted by her faithful steward Eckewart) journeyed off to Xanten on the\nRhine, where Siegmund and Siegelind received them joyfully, and even\nabdicated in their favor.\n\nTen years passed away very rapidly indeed. Siegfried became the father of a\nson, whom he named Gunther, in honor of his brother-in-law, who had called\nhis heir Siegfried; and when Siegelind had seen her little grandson she\ndeparted from this world. Siegfried, with Kriemhild, his father, and his\nson, then went to the Nibelungen land, where they tarried two years.\n\nIn the mean while Brunhild, still imagining that Siegfried was only her\nhusband's vassal, secretly wondered why he never came to court to do homage\nfor his lands, and finally suggested to Gunther that it would be well to\ninvite his sister and her husband to visit them at Worms. Gunther seized\nthis suggestion gladly, and immediately sent one of his followers, Gary, to\ndeliver the invitation, which Siegfried accepted for himself and his wife,\nand also for Siegmund, his father.\n\nAs they were bidden for midsummer, and as the journey was very long,\nKriemhild speedily began her preparations; and when she left home she\ncheerfully intrusted her little son to the care of the stalwart Nibelung\nknights, little suspecting that she would never see him again.\n\nOn Kriemhild's arrival at Worms, Brunhild greeted her with as much pomp and\nceremony as had been used for her own reception; but in spite of the amity\nwhich seemed to exist between the two queens, Brunhild was secretly angry\nat what she deemed Kriemhild's unwarrantable arrogance.\n\n[Sidenote: Brunhild and Kreimhild.] One day, when the two queens were\nsitting together, Brunhild, weary of hearing Kriemhild's constant praise of\nher husband, who she declared was without a peer in the world, cuttingly\nremarked that since he was Gunther's vassal he must necessarily be his\ninferior. This remark called forth a retort from Kriemhild, and a dispute\nwas soon raging, in the course of which Kriemhild vowed that she would\npublicly assert her rank by taking the precedence of Brunhild in entering\nthe church. The queens parted in hot anger, but both immediately proceeded\nto attire themselves with the utmost magnificence, and, escorted by all\ntheir maids, met at the church door. Brunhild there bade Kriemhild stand\naside and make way for her superior; but this order so angered the\nNibelungen queen that the dispute was resumed in public with increased\nvehemence and bitterness.\n\nIn her indignation Kriemhild finally insulted Brunhild grossly by declaring\nthat she was not a faithful wife; and in proof of her assertion she\nproduced the ring and girdle which Siegfried had won in his memorable\nencounter with her, and which he had imprudently given to his wife, to whom\nhe had also confided the secret of Brunhild's wooing.\n\nBrunhild indignantly summoned Gunther to defend her, and he, in anger, sent\nfor Siegfried, who publicly swore that his wife had not told the truth, and\nthat Gunther's queen had in no way forfeited her good name. Further to\npropitiate his host, Siegfried declared the quarrel to be disgraceful, and\npromised to teach his wife better manners for the future, advising Gunther\nto do the same with his consort.\n\n    \"'Women must be instructed,' said Siegfried the good knight,\n    'To leave off idle talking and rule their tongues aright.\n    Keep thy fair wife in order. I'll do by mine the same.\n    Such overweening folly puts me indeed to shame.'\"\n                                      _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nTo carry out this good resolution he led Kriemhild home, where, sooth to\nsay, he beat her black and blue,--an heroic measure which Gunther did not\ndare to imitate.\n\nBrunhild, smarting from the public insult received, continued to weep aloud\nand complain, until Hagen, inquiring the cause of her extravagant grief,\nand receiving a highly colored version of the affair, declared that he\nwould see that she was duly avenged.\n\n    \"He ask'd her what had happen'd--wherefore he saw her weep;\n    She told him all the story; he vow'd to her full deep\n    That reap should Kriemhild's husband as he had dar'd to sow,\n    Or that himself thereafter content should never know.\"\n                                          _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nTo keep this promise, Hagen next tried to stir up the anger of Gunther,\nGernot, and Ortwine, and to prevail upon them to murder Siegfried; but\nGiselher reproved him for these base designs, and openly took Siegfried's\npart, declaring:\n\n    \"'Sure 'tis but a trifle to stir an angry wife.'\"\n                                     _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nBut although he succeeded in quelling the attempt for the time being, he\nwas no match for the artful Hagen, who continually reminded Gunther of the\ninsult his wife had received, setting it in the worst possible light, and\nfinally so worked upon the king's feelings that he consented to a\ntreacherous assault.\n\n[Sidenote: Hagen's treachery.] Under pretext that his former enemy,\nLudeger, was about to attack him again, Gunther asked Siegfried's\nassistance, and began to prepare as if for war. When Kriemhild heard that\nher beloved husband was about to rush into danger she was greatly troubled.\nHagen artfully pretended to share her alarm, and so won her confidence that\nshe revealed to him that Siegfried was invulnerable except in one spot,\nbetween his shoulders, where a lime leaf had rested and the dragon's blood\nhad not touched him.\n\n    \"'So now I'll tell the secret, dear friend, alone to thee\n    (For thou, I doubt not, cousin, wilt keep thy faith with me),\n    Where sword may pierce my darling, and death sit on the thrust.\n    See, in thy truth and honor how full, how firm, my trust!\n\n    \"'As from the dragon's death-wounds gush'd out the crimson gore,\n    With the smoking torrent the warrior wash'd him o'er,\n    A leaf then 'twixt his shoulders fell from the linden bough.\n    There only steel can harm him; for that I tremble now.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nPretending a sympathy he was far from feeling, and disguising his unholy\njoy, Hagen bade Kriemhild sew a tiny cross on Siegfried's doublet over the\nvulnerable spot, that he might the better protect him in case of danger,\nand, after receiving her profuse thanks, returned to report the success of\nhis ruse to the king. When Siegfried joined them on the morrow, wearing the\nfatal marked doublet, he was surprised to hear that the rebellion had been\nquelled without a blow; and when invited to join in a hunt in the Odenwald\ninstead of the fray, he gladly signified his consent. After bidding\nfarewell to Kriemhild, whose heart was sorely oppressed by dark\nforebodings, he joined the hunting party. He scoured the forest, slew\nseveral boars, caught a bear alive, and playfully let him loose in camp to\nfurnish sport for the guests while the noonday meal was being prepared.\nThen he gaily sat down, clamoring for a drink. His exertions had made him\nvery thirsty indeed, and he was sorely disappointed when told that, owing\nto a mistake, the wine had been carried to another part of the forest. But\nwhen Hagen pointed out a fresh spring at a short distance, all his wonted\ngood humor returned, and he merrily proposed a race thither, offering to\nrun in full armor, while the others might lay aside their cumbersome\nweapons. This challenge was accepted by Hagen and Gunther. Although heavily\nhandicapped, Siegfried reached the spring first; but, wishing to show\ncourtesy to his host, he bade him drink while he disarmed. When Gunther's\nthirst was quenched, Siegfried took his turn, and while he bent over the\nwater Hagen treacherously removed all his weapons except his shield, and\ngliding behind him, drove his spear through his body in the exact spot\nwhere Kriemhild had embroidered the fatal mark.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Siegfried.] Mortally wounded, Siegfried made a\ndesperate effort to avenge himself; but finding nothing but his shield\nwithin reach, he flung it with such force at his murderer that it knocked\nhim down. This last effort exhausted the remainder of his strength, and the\nhero fell back upon the grass, cursing the treachery of those whom he had\ntrusted as friends.\n\n    \"Thus spake the deadly wounded: 'Ay, cowards false as hell!\n    To you I still was faithful; I serv'd you long and well;--\n    But what boots all?--for guerdon treason and death I've won.\n    By your friends, vile traitors! foully have you done.\n\n    \"'Whoever shall hereafter from your loins be born,\n    Shall take from such vile fathers a heritage of scorn.\n    On me you have wreak'd malice where gratitude was due;\n    With shame shall you be banish'd by all good knights and true.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nBut even in death Siegfried could not forget his beloved wife; and laying\naside all his anger, he pathetically recommended her to Gunther's care,\nbidding him guard her well. Siegfried expired as soon as these words were\nuttered; and the hunters silently gathered around his corpse, regretfully\ncontemplating the fallen hero, while they took counsel together how they\nmight keep the secret of Hagen's treachery. They finally agreed to carry\nthe body back to Worms and to say that they had found Siegfried dead in the\nforest, where he had presumably been slain by highwaymen.\n\n    \"Then many said, repenting, 'This deed will prove our bale;\n    Still let us shroud the secret, and all keep in one tale,--\n    That the good lord of Kriemhild to hunt alone preferr'd,\n    And so was slain by robbers as through the wood he spurr'd.'\"\n                                          _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nBut although his companions were anxious to shield him, Hagen gloried in\nhis dastardly deed, and secretly bade the bearers deposit Siegfried's\ncorpse at Kriemhild's door after nightfall, so that she should be the first\nto see it there when on her way to early mass. As he fully expected,\nKriemhild immediately recognized her husband, and fell senseless upon him;\nbut when she had recovered consciousness she declared, while loudly\nbewailing her loss, that Siegfried was the victim of an assassination.\n\n    \"'Woe's me, woe's me forever! sure no fair foeman's sword\n    Shiver'd thy failing buckler; 'twas murder stopp'd thy breath.\n    Oh that I knew who did it! death I'd requite with death!'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nBy her orders a messenger was sent to break the mournful tidings to the\nstill sleeping Siegmund and the Nibelungs. They hastily armed and rallied\nabout her, and would have fallen upon the Burgundians, to avenge their\nmaster's death, had she not restrained them, bidding them await a suitable\noccasion, and promising them her support when the right time came.\n\n[Sidenote: Detection of Siegfried's murderer.] The preparations for a\nsumptuous funeral were immediately begun, and all lent a willing hand, for\nSiegfried was greatly beloved at Worms. His body was therefore laid in\nstate in the cathedral, where all came to view it and condole with\nKriemhild; but when Gunther drew near to express his sorrow, she refused to\nlisten to him until he promised that all those present at the hunt should\ntouch the body, which at the murderer's contact would bleed afresh. All\nstood the test and were honorably acquitted save Hagen, at whose touch\nSiegfried's blood began to flow.\n\n    \"It is a mighty marvel, which oft e'en now we spy,\n    That when the blood-stain'd murderer comes to the murder'd nigh,\n    The wounds break out a-bleeding; then too the same befell,\n    And thus could each beholder the guilt of Hagen tell.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nOnce more Kriemhild restrained the angry Nibelung warriors from taking\nimmediate revenge, and, upheld by Gernot and Giselher, who really\nsympathized with her grief, she went through the remainder of the funeral\nceremonies and saw her hero duly laid at rest.\n\nKriemhild's mourning had only begun. All her days and nights were now spent\nin bitter weeping. This sorrow was fully shared by Siegmund, who, however,\nfinally roused himself and proposed a return home. Kriemhild was about to\naccompany him, when her relatives persuaded her to remain in Burgundy. Then\nthe little band which had come in festal array rode silently away in\nmourning robes, the grim Nibelung knights muttering dark threats against\nthose who had dealt so basely with their beloved master.\n\n      \"'Into this same country we well may come again\n    To seek and find the traitor who laid our master low.\n    Among the kin of Siegfried they have many a mortal foe.'\"\n                                         _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: The Nibelungen hoard.] Eckewart the steward alone remained with\nKriemhild, with a faithfulness which has become proverbial in the German\nlanguage, and prepared for his mistress a dwelling close by the cathedral,\nso that she might constantly visit her husband's tomb. Here Kriemhild spent\nthree years in complete seclusion, refusing to see Gunther, or the detested\nHagen; but they, remembering that the immense Nibelungen hoard was hers by\nright, continually wondered how she could be induced to send for it. Owing\nto Hagen's advice, Gunther, helped by his brothers, finally obtained an\ninterview with, and was reconciled to, his mourning sister, and shortly\nafter persuaded her to send twelve men to claim from Alberich, the dwarf,\nthe fabulous wealth her husband had bestowed upon her as a wedding gift.\n\n    \"It was made up of nothing but precious stones and gold;\n    Were all the world bought from it, and down the value told,\n    Not a mark the less thereafter were left than erst was scor'd.\n    Good reason sure had Hagen to covet such a hoard.\n\n    \"And thereamong was lying the wishing rod of gold,\n    Which whoso could discover, might in subjection hold\n    All this wide world as master, with all that dwelt therein.\n    There came to Worms with Gernot full many of Albric's kin.\"\n                                          _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nBut although this wealth is said to have filled nearly one hundred and\nfifty wagons, Kriemhild would gladly have given it all away could she but\nhave seen her husband by her side once more. Not knowing what else to do\nwith it, she gave away her gold right and left, bidding all the recipients\nof her bounty pray for Siegfried's soul. Her largesses were so extensive\nthat Hagen, who alone did not profit by her generosity, and who feared the\ntreasure might be exhausted before he could obtain a share, sought out\nGunther and told him that Kriemhild was secretly winning to her side many\nadherents, whom she would some day urge to avenge her husband's murder by\nslaying her kindred.\n\n[Illustration: SIEGFRIED'S BODY BORNE HOME BY THE HUNTSMEN.--Pixis.]\n\nWhile Gunther was trying to devise some plan to obtain possession of the\nhoard, Hagen boldly seized the keys of the tower where it was kept,\nsecretly removed all the gold, and, to prevent its falling into any hands\nbut his own, sank it in the Rhine near Lochheim.\n\n    \"Ere back the king came thither, impatient of delay,\n    Hagen seized the treasure, and bore it thence away.\n    Into the Rhine at Lochheim the whole at once threw he!\n    Henceforth he thought t'enjoy it, but that was ne'er to be.\n\n    \"He nevermore could get it for all his vain desire;\n    So fortune oft the traitor cheats of his treason's hire.\n    Alone he hop'd to use it as long as he should live,\n    But neither himself could profit, nor to another give.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nWhen Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher heard what Hagen had done, they were so\nangry that he deemed it advisable to withdraw from court for a while.\nKriemhild would fain have left Burgundy forever at this fresh wrong, but\nwith much difficulty was prevailed upon to remain and take up her abode at\nLorch, whither Siegfried's remains were removed by her order.\n\n[Sidenote: King of Hungary a suitor for Kriemhild.] Thirteen years had\npassed by since Siegfried's death in the Odenwald when Etzel, King of\nHungary, who had lost his beautiful and beloved wife, Helche, bade one of\nhis knights, R\u00fcdiger of Bechlaren, ride to Worms and sue for the hand of\nKriemhild in his master's name.\n\nR\u00fcdiger immediately gathered together a suitable train and departed,\nstopping on the way to visit his wife and daughter at Bechlaren. Passing\nall through Bavaria, he arrived at last at Worms, where he was warmly\nwelcomed, by Hagen especially, who had formerly known him well.\n\nIn reply to Gunther's courteous inquiry concerning the welfare of the King\nand Queen of the Huns, R\u00fcdiger announced the death of the latter, and\ndeclared that he had come to sue for Kriemhild's hand.\n\n    \"Thereon the highborn envoy his message freely told:\n    'King, since you have permitted, I'll to your ears unfold\n    Wherefore my royal master me to your court has sent,\n    Plung'd as he is in sorrow and doleful dreariment.\n\n    \"'It has been told my master, Sir Siegfried now is dead,\n    And Kriemhild left a widow. If thus they both have sped,\n    Would you but permit her, she the crown shall wear\n    Before the knights of Etzel; this bids me my good lord declare.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nGunther gladly received this message, promised to do all in his power to\nwin Kriemhild's consent, and said that he would give the envoy a definite\nanswer in three days' time. He then consulted his brothers and nobles as to\nthe advisability of the proposed alliance, and found that all were greatly\nin favor of it save Hagen, who warned them that if Kriemhild were ever\nQueen of the Huns she would use her power to avenge her wrongs.\n\n[Sidenote: R\u00fcdiger's promise.] This warning was, however, not heeded by the\nroyal brothers, who, seeking Kriemhild's presence, vainly tried to make her\naccept the Hun's proposal. All she would grant was an audience to R\u00fcdiger,\nwho laid before her his master's proposal, described the power of the Huns,\nand swore to obey her in all things would she but consent to become his\nqueen.\n\n    \"In vain they her entreated, in vain to her they pray'd,\n    Till to the queen the margrave this secret promise made,--\n    He'd 'full amends procure her for past or future ill.'\n    Those words her storm-tost bosom had power in part to still.\"\n                                         _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: The journey to Hungary.] After receiving this promise, Kriemhild\nsignified her consent, and immediately prepared to accompany R\u00fcdiger to\nKing Etzel's court. Eckewart and all her maidens accompanied her, with five\nhundred men as a bodyguard; and Gernot and Giselher, with many Burgundian\nnobles, escorted her to Vergen on the Danube, where they took an\naffectionate leave of her, and went back to their home in Burgundy.\n\nFrom Vergen, Kriemhild and her escort journeyed on to Passau, where they\nwere warmly welcomed and hospitably entertained by good Bishop Pilgrim,\nbrother of Queen Ute. He would gladly have detained them, had not R\u00fcdiger\ndeclared that his master impatiently awaited the coming of his bride, which\nhad duly been announced to him.\n\nA second pause was made at Bechlaren, R\u00fcdiger's castle, where Kriemhild was\nentertained by his wife and daughter, Gotelinde and Dietelinde, and where\nthe usual lavish distribution of gifts took place. Then the procession\nswept on again across the country and down the Danube, until they met King\nEtzel, whom Kriemhild graciously kissed, and who obtained a similar favor\nfor his brother and a few of his principal nobles.\n\n[Sidenote: The marriage at Vienna.] After witnessing some tilting and other\nmartial games, the king and queen proceeded to Vienna, where a triumphal\nreception awaited them, and where their marriage was celebrated with all\nbecoming solemnity and great pomp. The wedding festivities lasted seventeen\ndays; but although all vied in their attempts to please Kriemhild, she\nremained sad and pensive, for she could not forget her beloved Siegfried\nand the happy years she had spent with him.\n\nThe royal couple next journeyed on to Gran, Etzel's capital, where\nKriemhild found innumerable handmaidens ready to do her will, and where\nEtzel was very happy with his new consort. His joy was complete, however,\nonly when she bore him a son, who was baptized in the Christian faith, and\ncalled Ortlieb.\n\nAlthough thirteen years had now elapsed since Kriemhild had left her native\nland, the recollection of her wrongs was as vivid as ever, her melancholy\njust as profound, and her thoughts were ever busy planning how best to lure\nHagen into her kingdom so as to work her revenge.\n\n    \"One long and dreary yearning she foster'd hour by hour;\n    She thought, 'I am so wealthy and hold such boundless power,\n    That I with ease a mischief can bring on all my foes,\n    But most on him of Trony, the deadliest far of those.\n\n    \"'Full oft for its beloved my heart is mourning still;\n    Them could I but meet with, who wrought me so much ill,\n    Revenge should strike at murder, and life atone for life;\n    Wait can I no longer.' So murmur'd Etzel's wife.\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Kriemhild's plot.] Kriemhild finally decided to persuade Etzel\nto invite all her kinsmen for a midsummer visit, which the king, not\ndreaming of her evil purpose, immediately hastened to do. Two minstrels,\nWerbel and Swemmel, were sent with the most cordial invitation. Before they\ndeparted Kriemhild instructed them to be sure and tell all her kinsmen that\nshe was blithe and happy, and not melancholy as of yore, and to use every\neffort to bring not only the kings, but also Hagen, who, having been at\nEtzel's court as hostage in his youth, could best act as their guide.\n\nThe minstrels were warmly received at Worms, where their invitation created\ngreat excitement. All were in favor of accepting it except Hagen, who\nobjected that Kriemhild had cause for anger and would surely seek revenge\nwhen they were entirely in her power.\n\n    \"'Trust not, Sir King,' said Hagen, 'how smooth soe'er they be,\n    These messengers from Hungary; if Kriemhild you will see,\n    You put upon the venture your honor and your life.\n    A nurse of ling'ring vengeance is Etzel's moody wife.'\"\n                                       _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nBut all his objections were set aside with the remark that he alone had a\nguilty conscience; and the kings bade the minstrels return to announce\ntheir coming, although Ute also tried to keep them at home. Hagen, who was\nno coward, seeing them determined to go, grimly prepared to accompany them,\nand prevailed upon them to don their strongest armor for the journey.\n\nGunther was accompanied by both his brothers, by Hagen, Dankwart, Volker\n(his minstrel), Gary, and Ortwine, and by one thousand picked men as\nescort. Before leaving he intrusted his wife, Brunhild, and his son to the\ncare of Rumolt, his squire, and bidding farewell to his people, set out for\nHungary, whence he was never to return.\n\nIn the mean while the Hungarian minstrels had hastened back to Gran to\nannounce the guests' coming, and, upon being closely questioned by\nKriemhild, described Hagen's grim behavior, and repeated his half-muttered\nprophecy: \"This jaunt's a jaunt to death.\"\n\nThe Burgundians, who in this part of the poem are frequently called\nNibelungs (because they now held the great hoard), reached the Danube on\nthe twelfth day. As they found neither ford nor ferry, Hagen, after again\nprophesying all manner of evil, volunteered to go in search of a boat or\nraft to cross the rapid stream.\n\n[Sidenote: Prophecy of the swan maidens.] He had not gone very far before\nhe heard the sound of voices, and, peeping through the bushes, saw some\nswan maidens, or \"wise women,\" bathing in a neighboring fountain. Stealing\nup unperceived, he secured their plumage, which he consented to restore\nonly after they had predicted the result of his journey. To obtain her\ngarments, one of the women, Hadburg, prophesied great good fortune; but\nwhen the pilfered robes were restored, another, called Siegelind, foretold\nmuch woe.\n\n    \"'I will warn thee, Hagen, thou son of Aldrian;\n    My aunt has lied unto thee her raiment back to get;\n    If once thou com'st to Hungary, thou'rt taken in the net.\n\n    \"'Turn while there's time for safety, turn, warriors most and least;\n    For this, and for this only, you're bidden to the feast,\n    That you perforce may perish in Etzel's bloody land.\n    Whoever rideth thither, Death has he close at hand.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nAfter adding that the chaplain alone would return alive to Worms, she told\nHagen that he would find a ferryman on the opposite side of the river,\nfarther down, but that he would not obey his call unless he declared his\nname to be Amelrich.\n\nHagen, after leaving the wise women, soon saw the ferryman's boat anchored\nto the opposite shore, and failing to make him come over for a promised\nreward, he cried out that his name was Amelrich. The ferryman immediately\ncrossed, but when Hagen sprang into his boat he detected the fraud and\nbegan to fight. Although gigantic in size, this ferryman was no match for\nHagen, who, after slaying him, took possession of the boat and skillfully\nferried his masters and companions across the river.\n\nIn hope of giving the lie to the swan maidens, Hagen paused once in the\nmiddle of the stream to fling the chaplain overboard, thinking he would\nsurely drown; but to his surprise and dismay the man struggled back to the\nshore, where he stood alone and unharmed, and whence he slowly wended his\nway back to Burgundy. Hagen now knew that the swan maidens' prophecy was\ndestined to be fulfilled. Nevertheless he landed on the opposite shore,\nwhere he bade the main part of the troop ride on ahead, leaving him and\nDankwart to bring up the rear, for he fully expected that Gelfrat, master\nof the murdered ferryman, would pursue them to avenge the latter's death.\nThese previsions were soon verified, and in the bloody encounter which\nensued, Hagen came off victor, with the loss of but four men, while the\nenemy left more than one hundred dead upon the field.\n\n[Sidenote: The first warning.] Hagen joined the main body of the army once\nmore, passed on with it to Passau, where Bishop Pilgrim was as glad to see\nhis nephews as he had been to welcome his niece, and from thence went on to\nthe frontiers of Bechlaren. There they found Eckewart, who had been sent by\nR\u00fcdiger to warn them not to advance any farther, as he suspected that some\ntreachery was afoot.\n\n                                       \"Sir Eckewart replied:\n    'Yet much, I own, it grieves me that to the Huns you ride.\n    You took the life of Siegfried; all hate you deadly here;\n    As your true friend I warn you; watch well, and wisely fear.'\"\n                                          _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nAs the Burgundians would have deemed themselves forever disgraced were they\nto withdraw from their purpose, they refused to listen to this warning,\nand, entering R\u00fcdiger's castle, were warmly received by him and his family.\nGiselher, seeing the beauty of the maiden Dietelinde, fell deeply in love\nwith her, and prevailed upon the margrave to consent to their immediate\nmarriage, promising, however, to claim and bear away his bride only upon\nhis homeward journey. Once more gifts were lavished with mediaeval\nprofusion, Gunther receiving a coat of mail, Gernot a sword, Hagen a\nshield, and the minstrel Volker many rings of red gold.\n\n[Sidenote: The second warning.] R\u00fcdiger then escorted the Burgundians until\nthey met the brave Dietrich von Bern (Verona), who also warned them that\ntheir visit was fraught with danger, for Kriemhild had by no means\nforgotten the murder of the husband of her youth.\n\nHis evil prognostications were also of no avail, and he sadly accompanied\nthem until they met Kriemhild, who embraced Giselher only. Then, turning\nsuddenly upon Hagen, she inquired aloud, in the presence of all the people,\nwhether he had brought her back her own, the Nibelung hoard. Nothing\ndaunted by this sudden query, Hagen haughtily answered that the treasure\nstill lay deep in the Rhine, where he fancied it would rest until the\njudgment day.\n\n    \"'I' faith, my Lady Kriemhild, 'tis now full many a day\n    Since in my power the treasure of the Nibelungers lay.\n    In the Rhine my lords bade sink it; I did their bidding fain,\n    And in the Rhine, I warrant, till doomsday 'twill remain.'\"\n                                          _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nThe queen turned her back contemptuously upon him, and invited her other\nguests to lay aside their weapons, for none might enter the great hall\narmed. This Hagen refused to allow them to do, saying that he feared\ntreachery; and the queen, pretending great grief, inquired who could have\nfilled her kinsmen's hearts with such unjust suspicions. Sir Dietrich then\nboldly stepped forward, defied Kriemhild, and declared that it was he who\nhad bidden the Burgundians be thus on their guard.\n\n    \"''Twas I that the warning to the noble princes gave,\n    And to their liegeman Hagen, to whom such hate thou bear'st.\n    Now up, she-fiend! be doing, and harm me if thou dar'st!'\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Alliance between Hagen and Volker.] Although the thirst for\nrevenge now made her a \"she-fiend,\" as he termed her, Kriemhild did not\ndare openly to attack Dietrich, whom all men justly feared; and she quickly\nconcealed her anger, while Etzel advanced in his turn to welcome his\nguests; and especially singled out Hagen, his friend's son. While many of\nthe Burgundians accompanied the king into the hall, Hagen drew Volker\naside, and, sitting down on a stone seat near Kriemhild's door, entered\ninto a life-and-death alliance with him. Kriemhild, looking out of her\nwindow, saw him there and bade her followers go out and slay him; but\nalthough they numbered four hundred, they hung back, until the queen,\nthinking that they doubted her assertions, volunteered to descend alone and\nwring from Hagen a confession of his crimes, while they lingered within\nearshot inside the building. Volker, seeing the queen approach, proposed to\nHagen to rise and show her the customary respect; but the latter, declaring\nthat she would ascribe this token of decorum to fear alone, grimly bade him\nremain seated, and, when she addressed him, boldly acknowledged that he\nalone had slain Siegfried.\n\n    \"Said he, 'Why question further? that were a waste of breath.\n    In a word, I am e'en Hagen, who Siegfried did to death.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"'What I have done, proud princess, I never will deny.\n    The cause of all the mischief, the wrong, the loss, am I.\n    So now, or man or woman, revenge it whoso will;\n    I scorn to speak a falsehood,--I've done you grievous ill.'\"\n                                         _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\nBut although the warriors had heard every word he said, and the queen again\nurged them on to attack her foe, they one and all withdrew after meeting\none of Hagen's threatening glances. This episode, however, was enough to\nshow the Burgundians very plainly what they could expect, and Hagen and\nVolker soon joined their companions, keeping ever side by side, according\nto their agreement.\n\n    \"Howe'er the rest were coupled, as mov'd to court the train,\n    Folker and Hagen parted ne'er again,\n    Save in one mortal struggle, e'en to their dying hour.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nAfter banqueting with Etzel the guests were led to their appointed\nquarters, far remote from those of their squires; and when the Huns began\nto crowd them, Hagen again frightened them off with one of his black looks.\nWhen the hall where they were to sleep was finally reached, the knights all\nlay down to rest except Hagen and Volker, who mounted guard, the latter\nbeguiling the hours by playing on his fiddle.\n\nOnce, in the middle of the night, these self-appointed sentinels saw an\narmed troop draw near; but when they loudly challenged the foremost men,\nthey beat a hasty retreat. At dawn of day the knights arose to go to mass,\nwearing their arms by Hagen's advice, keeping well together, and presenting\nsuch a threatening aspect that Kriemhild's men dared not attack them.\n\nIn spite of all these signs, Etzel remained entirely ignorant of his wife's\nevil designs, and continued to treat the Burgundians like friends and\nkinsmen.\n\n    \"How deep soe'er and deadly the hate she bore her kin,\n    Still, had the truth by any disclos'd to Etzel been,\n    He had at once prevented what afterwards befell.\n    Through proud contemptuous courage they scorn'd their wrongs\n         to tell.\"\n                                        _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Beginning of hostilities.] After mass a tournament was held,\nDietrich and R\u00fcdiger virtuously abstaining from taking part in it, lest\nsome mishap should occur through their bravery, and fan into flames the\nsmoldering fire of discord. In spite of all these precautions, however, the\nthreatened disruption nearly occurred when Volker accidentally slew a Hun;\nand it was avoided only by King Etzel's prompt interference.\n\nKriemhild, hearing of this accident, vainly tried to use it as an excuse to\nbribe Dietrich, or his man Hildebrand, to slay her foe. She finally won\nover Bl\u00f6delin, the king's brother, by promising him a fair bride. To earn\nthis reward the prince went with an armed host to the hall where all the\nBurgundian squires were feasting under Dankwart's care, and there\ntreacherously slew them all, Dankwart alone escaping to the king's hall to\njoin his brother Hagen.\n\nIn the mean while Etzel was entertaining his mailed guests, and had sent\nfor his little son, whom he placed in Gunther's lap, telling him that he\nwould soon send the boy to Burgundy to be educated among his mother's kin.\n\nAll admired the graceful child except Hagen, who gruffly remarked that the\nchild appeared more likely to die early than to live to grow up. He had\njust finished this rude speech, which filled Etzel's heart with dismay,\nwhen Dankwart burst into the room, exclaiming that all his companions had\nbeen slain, and calling to Hagen for aid.\n\n    \"'Be stirring, brother Hagen; you're sitting all too long.\n    To you and God in heaven our deadly strait I plain:\n    Yeomen and knights together lie in their quarters slain.'\"\n                                          _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Ortlieb slain.] The moment Hagen heard these tidings he sprang\nto his feet, drew his sword, and bade Dankwart guard the door and prevent\nthe ingress or egress of a single Hungarian. Then he struck off the head of\nthe child Ortlieb, which bounded into Kriemhild's lap, cut off the minstrel\nWerbel's hand, and began hewing right and left among the Hungarians, aided\nby all his companions, who manfully followed his example.\n\nDismayed at this sudden turn of affairs, the aged King Etzel \"sat in mortal\nanguish,\" helplessly watching the massacre, while Kriemhild shrieked aloud\nto Dietrich to protect her from her foes. Moved to pity by her evident\nterror, Dietrich blew a resounding blast on his horn, and Gunther paused in\nhis work of destruction to inquire how he might serve the man who had ever\nshown himself a friend. Dietrich answered by asking for a safe-conduct out\nof the hall for himself and his followers, which was immediately granted.\n\n    \"'Let me with your safe-conduct this hall of Etzel's leave,\n    And quit this bloody banquet with those who follow me;\n    And for this grace forever I'll at your service be.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: The massacre.] Dietrich von Bern then passed out of the hall\nunmolested, leading the king by one hand and the queen by the other, and\nclosely followed by all his retainers. This same privilege was granted to\nR\u00fcdiger and his five hundred men; but when these had all passed out, the\nBurgundians renewed the bloody fight, nor paused until all the Huns in the\nhall were slain, and everything was reeking with blood.\n\nThen the Burgundians gathered up the corpses, which they flung down the\nstaircase, at the foot of which Etzel stood, helplessly wringing his hands,\nand vainly trying to discover some means of stopping the fight.\n\nKriemhild, in the mean while, was actively employed in gathering men,\npromising large rewards to any one who would attack and slay Hagen. Urged\non by her, Iring attempted to force an entrance, but was soon driven back;\nand when he would have made a second assault, Hagen ruthlessly slew him.\n\nIrnfried the Thuringian, and Hawart the Dane, seeing him fall, rushed\nimpetuously upon the Burgundians to avenge him; but both fell under Hagen's\nand Volker's mighty blows, while their numerous followers were all slain by\nthe other Burgundians.\n\n    \"A thousand and four together had come into the hall;\n    You might see the broadswords flashing rise and fall;\n    Soon the bold intruders all dead together lay;\n    Of those renown'd Burgundians strange marvels one might say.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nEtzel and the Huns were mourning over their dead; so the weary Burgundians\nremoved their helmets and rested, while Kriemhild continued to muster new\ntroops to attack her kinsmen, who were still strongly intrenched in the\ngreat hall.\n\n    \"'Twas e'en on a midsummer befell that murderous fight,\n    When on her nearest kinsmen and many a noble knight\n    Dame Kriemhild wreak'd the anguish that long in heart she bore,\n    Whence inly griev'd King Etzel, nor joy knew evermore.\n\n    \"Yet on such sweeping slaughter at first she had not thought;\n    She only had for vengeance on one transgressor sought.\n    She wish'd that but on Hagen the stroke of death might fall;\n    'Twas the foul fiend's contriving that they should perish all.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nAn attempt was now made by the Burgundians to treat with Etzel for a\nsafe-conduct. Obdurate at first, he would have yielded had not Kriemhild\nadvised him to pursue the feud to the bitter end, unless her brothers\nconsented to surrender Hagen to her tender mercies. This, of course,\nGunther absolutely refused to do; so Kriemhild gave secret orders that the\nhall in which the Burgundians were intrenched should be set on fire.\nSurrounded by bitter foes, blinded by smoke, and overcome by the heat, the\nBurgundians still held their own, slaking their burning thirst by drinking\nthe blood of the slain, and taking refuge from the flames under the stone\narches which supported the ceiling of the hall.\n\n[Sidenote: R\u00fcdiger's oath.] Thus they managed to survive that terrible\nnight; but when morning dawned and the queen heard that they were still\nalive, she bade R\u00fcdiger go forth and fight them. He refused until she\nreminded him or the solemn oath he had sworn to her in Worms before she\nwould consent to accompany him to Hungary.\n\n    \"'Now think upon the homage that once to me you swore,\n    When to the Rhine, good warrior, King Etzel's suit you bore,\n    That you would serve me ever to either's dying day.\n    Ne'er can I need so deeply that you that vow should pay.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nTorn by conflicting feelings and urged by opposite oaths,--for he had also\nsworn to befriend the Burgundians,--R\u00fcdiger now vainly tried to purchase\nhis release by the sacrifice of all his possessions. At last, goaded to\nmadness, he yielded to the king's and queen's entreaties, armed his\nwarriors, and drew near the hall where his former guests were intrenched.\nAt first they could not believe that R\u00fcdiger had any hostile intentions;\nbut when he pathetically informed them that he must fight, and recommended\nhis wife and daughter to their care in case he fell, they silently allowed\nhim and his followers to enter the hall, and grimly renewed the bloody\nconflict.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of R\u00fcdiger.] R\u00fcdiger, after slaying many foes, encountered\nGernot wielding the sword he had given him; and these two doughty champions\nfinally slew each other. All the followers of R\u00fcdiger also fell; and when\nKriemhild, who was anxiously awaiting the result of this new attack in the\ncourt below, saw his corpse among the slain, she began to weep and bemoan\nher loss. The mournful tidings of R\u00fcdiger's death soon spread all over the\ntown, and came finally to the ears of Dietrich von Bern, who bade his man\nHildebrand go and claim the corpse from his Burgundian friends.\n\nHildebrand went thither with an armed force, but some of his men\nunfortunately began to bandy words with the Burgundians, and this soon\nbrought about an impetuous fight. In the ensuing battle all the Burgundians\nfell except Gunther and Hagen, while Hildebrand escaped sore wounded to his\nmaster, Dietrich von Bern. When this hero heard that his nephew and vassals\nwere all slain, he quickly armed himself, and, after vainly imploring\nGunther and Hagen to surrender, fell upon them with an armed force. The two\nsole remaining Burgundians were now so exhausted that Dietrich soon managed\nto take them captive. He led them bound to Kriemhild, and implored her to\nhave pity upon them and spare their lives.\n\n    \"'Fair and noble Kriemhild,' thus Sir Dietrich spake,\n    Spare this captive warrior, who full amends will make\n    For all his past transgressions; him here in bonds you see;\n    Revenge not on the fetter'd th' offenses of the free.'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Kriemhild's cruelty.] By the queen's orders, Gunther and Hagen\nwere confined in separate cells. There she soon sought the latter,\npromising him his liberty if he would but reveal the place where her\ntreasure was concealed. But Hagen, mistrusting her, declared that he had\nsolemnly sworn never to reveal the secret as long as one of his masters\nbreathed. Kriemhild, whose cruelty had long passed all bounds, left him\nonly to have her brother Gunther beheaded, and soon returned carrying his\nhead, which she showed to Hagen, commanding him to speak. But he still\nrefused to gratify her, and replied that since he was now the sole\ndepositary of the secret, it would perish with him.\n\n    \"'So now, where lies the treasure none knows save God and me,\n    And told it shall be never, be sure, she-fiend, to thee!'\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Kriemhild slain.] This defiant answer so exasperated Kriemhild\nthat she seized the sword hanging by his side,--which she recognized as\nSiegfried's favorite weapon,--and with her own hands cut off his head\nbefore Etzel or any of his courtiers could interfere. Hildebrand, seeing\nthis act of treachery, sprang impetuously forward, and, drawing his sword,\nslew her who had brought untold misery into the land of the Huns.\n\n    \"The mighty and the noble there lay together dead;\n    For this had all the people dole and drearihead.\n    The feast of royal Etzel was thus shut up in woe,\n    Pain in the steps of Pleasure treads ever here below.\n\n    \"'Tis more than I can tell you what afterwards befell,\n    Save that there was weeping for friends belov'd so well;\n    Knights and squires, dames and damsels, were seen lamenting all.\n    So end I here my story. This is the Nibelungers' Fall.\"\n                                           _Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's\n                tr.).\n\nAlthough the \"Nibelungenlied\" proper ends here, an appendix, probably by\nanother hand, called the \"Lament,\" continues the story, and relates how\nEtzel, Dietrich, and Hildebrand, in turn, extolled the high deeds and\nbewailed the untimely end of each hero. Then this poem, which is as\nmournful as monotonous throughout, describes the departure of the\nmessengers sent to bear the evil tidings and the weapons of the slain to\nWorms, and their arrival at Passau, where more tears were shed and where\nBishop Pilgrim celebrated a solemn mass for the rest of the heroes' souls.\n\nFrom thence the funeral procession slowly traveled on to Worms, where the\nsad news was imparted to the remaining Burgundians, who named the son of\nGunther and Brunhild as their king, and who never forgot the fatal ride to\nHungary.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n\nLANGOBARDIAN CYCLE OF MYTHS.\n\n\nAlthough the following tales of mythical heroes have some slight historical\nbasis, they have been so adorned by the fancy of mediaeval bards, and so\nfrequently remodeled with utter disregard of all chronological sequence,\nthat the kernel of truth is very hard to find, and the stories must rather\nbe considered as depicting customs and times than as describing actual\nevents. They are recorded in the \"Heldenbuch,\" or \"Book of Heroes,\" edited\nin the fifteenth century by Kaspar von der Rh\u00f6n from materials which had\nbeen touched up by Wolfram von Eschenbach and Heinrich von Ofterdingen in\nthe twelfth century. The poem of \"Ortnit,\" for instance, is known to have\nexisted as early as the ninth century.\n\n[Sidenote: The Langobards and Gepidae.] According to the poets of the\nmiddle ages, the Gepidae and the Langobards settled in Pannonia (Hungary\nand the neighboring provinces), where they were respectively governed by\nThurisind and Audoin. The sons of these two kings, having quarreled for a\ntrifle, met in duel soon after, and the Langobardian prince, having slain\nhis companion, took possession of his arms, with which he proudly returned\nhome.\n\nBut when, flushed with victory, he would fain have taken his seat at his\nfather's board with the men at arms, Audoin gravely informed him that it\nwas not customary for a youth to claim a place beside tried warriors until\nsome foreign king had distinguished him by the present of a complete suit\nof armor. Angry at being thus publicly repulsed, Alboin, the prince, strode\nout of his father's hall, resolved to march into Thurisind's palace and\ndemand of him the required weapons.\n\nWhen the King of the Gepidae saw his son's murderer boldly enter his\npalace, his first impulse was to put him to death; but, respecting the\nrights of hospitality, he forbore to take immediate vengeance, and even\nbestowed upon him the customary gift of arms as he departed on the morrow,\nbut warned him never to return, lest he should lose his life at the\nwarriors' hands. On leaving the palace, however, Alboin bore away the image\nof little Rosamund, Thurisind's fair granddaughter, whom he solemnly swore\nhe would claim as wife as soon as she was of marriageable age.\n\nAlboin having thus received his arms from a stranger, the Langobards no\nlonger refused to recognize him as a full-fledged warrior, and gladly\nhailed him as king when his father died.\n\n[Sidenote: Alboin's cruelty.] Shortly after Alboin's accession to the\nthrone, a quarrel arose between the Gepidae and the Langobards, or\nLombards, as they were eventually called; and war having been declared, a\ndecisive battle was fought, in which Thurisind and his son perished, and\nall their lands fell into the conqueror's hands. With true heathen cruelty,\nthe Lombard king had the skulls of the Gepidae mounted as drinking vessels,\nwhich he delighted in using on all state and festive occasions. Then,\npushing onwards, Alboin took forcible possession of his new realm and of\nthe tearful young Rosamund, whom he forced to become his wife, although she\nshrank in horror from the murderer of all her kin and the oppressor of her\npeople.\n\nShe followed him home, concealing her fears, and although she never seemed\nblithe and happy, she obeyed her husband so implicitly that he fancied her\na devoted wife. He was so accustomed to Rosamund's ready compliance with\nhis every wish that one day, after winning a great victory over the\nOstrogoths, and conquering a province in northern Italy (where he took up\nhis abode, and which bears the name of his race), he bade her fill her\nfather's skull with wine and pledge him by drinking first out of this\nrepulsive cup.\n\n[Sidenote: Rosamund's revolt.] The queen hesitated, but, impelled by\nAlboin's threatening glances and his mailed hand raised to strike her, she\ntremblingly filled the cup and raised it to her lips. But then, instead of\nhumbly presenting it to her lord, she haughtily dashed it at his feet, and\nleft the hall, saying that though she had obeyed him, she would never again\nlive with him as his wife,--a declaration which the warriors present\nsecretly applauded, for they all thought that their king had been wantonly\ncruel toward his beautiful wife.\n\nWhile Alboin was pondering how he might conciliate her without owning\nhimself in the wrong, Rosamund summoned Helmigis, the king's shield-bearer,\nand finding that he would not execute her orders and murder his master in\nhis sleep, she secured the services of the giant Perideus. Before the\nmurder of the king became generally known, Rosamund and her adherents--for\nshe had many--secured and concealed the treasures of the Crown; and when\nthe nobles bade her marry a man to succeed their king, who had left no\nheirs, she declared that she preferred Helmigis.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Rosamund.] The Langobardian nobles indignantly refused\nto recognize an armor-bearer as their king, and Rosamund, fearing their\nresentment, fled by night with her treasures, and took refuge with\nLonginus, viceroy of the Eastern emperor, who was intrenched in Ravenna.\nCaptivated by the fugitive queen's exquisite beauty, no less than by her\nnumerous treasures, Longinus proposed that she should poison Helmigis, and\nmarry him. Rosamund obediently handed the deadly cup to her faithful\nadorer; but he drank only half its contents, and then, perceiving that he\nwas poisoned, forced her, at the point of his sword, to drink the\nremainder, thus making sure that she would not long survive him.\n\nLonginus, thus deprived of a beautiful bride, managed to console himself\nfor her loss by appropriating her treasures, while the Langobardian\nscepter, after having been wielded by different kings, fell at last into\nthe hands of Rother, the last influential monarch of a kingdom which\nCharlemagne conquered in 774.\n\n[Sidenote: Rother.] Rother established his capital at Bari, a great seaport\nin Apulia; but although his wealth was unbounded and his kingdom extensive,\nhe was far from happy, for he had neither wife nor child to share his home.\nSeeing his loneliness, one of his courtiers, Duke Berchther (Berchtung) of\nMeran, the father of twelve stalwart sons, advised him to seek a wife; and\nwhen Rother declared that he knew of no princess pretty enough to please\nhis fastidious taste, the courtier produced the portrait of Oda, daughter\nof Constantine, Emperor of the East. Rother fell desperately in love with\nthis princess at first sight. In vain Berchther warned him that the emperor\nhad the unpleasant habit of beheading all his daughter's would-be suitors;\nRother declared that he must make an attempt to secure this peerless bride,\nand was only with great difficulty persuaded to resign the idea of wooing\nin person.\n\nWhen Berchther had prevailed upon him to send an imposing embassy of twelve\nnoblemen, richly appareled, and attended by a large suite, Rother asked who\nwould undertake the mission. All the warriors maintained a neutral silence,\nuntil seven of Berchther's sons volunteered their services, and then five\nother noblemen signified their readiness to accompany them.\n\nTo speed them on their way, Rother escorted them to the port, and, standing\non the pier, composed and sang a marvelous song. He bade them remember the\ntune, and promised them that whenever they heard it they might be sure\ntheir king was very near.\n\n[Sidenote: Embassy to Constantinople.] Arrived at Constantinople, the\nambassadors made known their errand, but were immediately cast into prison,\nin spite of the empress's intercession in their behalf. Here the noblemen\nlanguished month after month, in a foul dungeon, while Rother impatiently\nwatched for their return. When a whole year had elapsed without his having\nheard any tidings, he finally resolved to go in disguise to Constantinople,\nto ascertain the fate of his men and win the lovely princess Oda for his\nbride.\n\nBerchther, hearing this decision, vowed that he would accompany him; but\nalthough all the noblemen were anxious to escort their beloved king, he\ntook only a few of them with him, among whom was Asprian (Osborn), king of\nthe northern giants, with eleven of his tallest men.\n\n[Sidenote: Rother and Constantine.] Rother embarked with this little train,\nand sailed for Constantinople over the summer seas; and as he sat on deck,\nplaying on his harp, the mermaids rose from the deep to sport around his\nship. According to a prearranged plan, Rother presented himself before\nConstantine as a fugitive and outlaw, complaining bitterly of the King of\nthe Lombards, who, he declared, had banished him and his companions.\nPleased with the appearance of the strangers, Constantine gladly accepted\ntheir proffered services, and invited them to a banquet, in the course of\nwhich he facetiously described how he had received Rother's ambassadors,\nwho were still languishing in his dampest dungeons. This boastful talk\ngradually roused the anger of the giant Asprian, who was but little\naccustomed to hide his feelings; and when the emperor's pet lioness came\ninto the hall and playfully snatched a choice morsel out of his hand, he\nimpetuously sprang to his feet, caught her in his powerful grasp, and\nhurled her against the wall, thus slaying her with a single blow.\n\n[Illustration: ASPRIAN SLAYING THE LION.--Keller.]\n\nConstantine was somewhat dismayed when he saw the strength, and especially\nthe violence, of the new servants he had secured; but he wisely took no\nnotice of the affair, and, when the banquet was ended, dismissed Rother and\nhis followers to the apartments assigned them. The Lombard king now freely\ndistributed the immense treasures he had brought with him, and thus secured\nmany adherents at court. They sang his praises so loudly that at last the\nprincess Oda became very anxious to see this noted outlaw.\n\n[Sidenote: Rother and Oda.] Bribing Herlind, one of her handmaidens, to\nserve her secretly, Oda sent her to Rother to invite him to visit her. The\nmaiden acquitted herself adroitly of this commission; but the Langobardian\nmonarch, pretending exaggerated respect, declared that he would never dare\npresent himself before her beautiful mistress, to whom, however, he sent\nmany rich gifts, among which were a gold and a silver shoe. Herlind\nreturned to her mistress with the gifts; but when Oda would fain have put\non the shoes, she discovered that they were both for the same foot. She\nthen feigned a resentment she was far from feeling, and bade the handmaiden\norder her father's new servant to appear before her without delay, bringing\na shoe for her other foot, unless he wished to incur her lasting\ndispleasure. Overjoyed at this result of his ruse, which he had foreseen,\nRother entered the princess's apartments unnoticed, proffered his most\nhumble apologies, fitted a pair of golden shoes on her tiny feet, and,\ntaking advantage of his position as he bent on one knee before her,\ndeclared his love and rank, and won from Oda a solemn promise that she\nwould be his wife.\n\nThe lovers spent some very happy hours together in intimate conversation,\nand ere Rother left the apartment he prevailed upon the princess to use her\ninfluence in behalf of his imprisoned subjects. She therefore told her\nfather that her peaceful rest had been disturbed by dreams, in which\nheavenly voices announced that she should suffer all manner of evil unless\nRother's ambassadors were taken from prison and hospitably entertained. Oda\nthen wrung from Constantine a promise that the men should be temporarily\nreleased, and feasted at his own board that selfsame evening. This promise\nwas duly redeemed, and the twelve ambassadors, freed from their chains, and\nrefreshed by warm baths and clean garments, were sumptuously entertained at\nthe emperor's table. While they sat there feasting, Rother entered the\nhall, and, hiding behind the tapestry hangings near the door, played the\ntune they had heard on the day of their departure. The hearts of the\ncaptives bounded for joy when they heard these strains, for they knew that\ntheir king was near and would soon effect their release.\n\n[Sidenote: War with Imelot.] A few days later, when the young ambassadors\nhad fully recovered their health and strength, Constantine was dismayed to\nlearn that Imelot, King of Desert Babylonia, was about to make war against\nhim, and wondered how he could successfully encounter such a universally\ndreaded opponent. Rother, seeing his perplexity, immediately volunteered\nhis services, adding that if Constantine liberated the ambassadors, who\nwere mighty men of valor, and allowed them to fight, there would be no\ndoubt of his coming off conqueror in the war. The Eastern emperor gladly\nfollowed this advice, and soon set out with Rother and all his companions.\nThe two armies met one evening and encamped opposite each other, intending\nto begin the fight at sunrise on the morrow. During the night, however,\nRother and his companions stole into the enemy's camp, slew Imelot's\nguards, and having bound and gagged him, Asprian carried him bodily out of\nhis tent and camp, while his companions routed all the mighty Babylonian\nhost.\n\nA few hours later they returned to the camp of Constantine, where they lay\ndown to rest. The emperor, entering their tent on the morrow to chide them\nfor their laziness, saw the captive Imelot, and heard the story of the\nnight's work. He was so delighted with the prowess of his allies that he\ngladly consented to their return to Constantinople to announce the victory,\nwhile he and his army remained to take possession of Desert Babylonia and\nof all of Imelot's vast treasures.\n\nRother and his companions returned in haste to Constantinople and rushed\ninto the palace; but instead of announcing a victory they told the empress\nand Oda that Constantine had been defeated, that Imelot was on the way to\nseize the city, and that the emperor had sent them on ahead to convey his\nwife and daughter to a place of safety, with their most valuable treasures.\n\n[Sidenote: Kidnaping of Oda.] The empress and Oda, crediting every word of\nthis tale, made immediate preparations for departure, and soon joined\nRother on the pier, where his fast sailing vessel was ready to start. All\nthe Langobardians had already embarked, and Rother escorted the princess on\nboard, bidding the empress wait on the quay until he returned for her. But\nas soon as he and his fair charge set foot upon deck, the vessel was pushed\noff, and Rother called out to the distressed empress that he had deceived\nher in order to carry away her daughter, who was now to become the\nLangobardian queen.\n\nConstantine, on his return, was of course very angry at having been so\ncleverly duped, and vainly tried to devise some plan for recovering the\ndaughter whom he loved so well. When a magician came, therefore, and\npromised to execute his wishes, he gladly provided him with vessel and crew\nto sail to Bari. The magician, disguised as a peaceful merchant, spread out\nhis wares as soon as he was anchored in port, and by a series of artful\nquestions soon ascertained that Rother was absent, and that Oda was at\nhome, carefully guarded by the principal nobles of the realm. When he also\nlearned that one of these noblemen had a crippled child, the magician\ninformed the people who visited his vessel to inspect his wares, that the\nmost precious treasure in his possession was a magic stone, which, in a\nqueen's hands, had the power of restoring cripples.\n\nThe rumor of this miraculous stone reached the court, and the nobleman\npersuaded the kind-hearted queen to go down to the vessel to try the\nefficacy of the stone. As soon as Oda was on board, the vessel set sail,\nbearing her away from her husband and back to her father's home, where she\nwas welcomed with great demonstrations of joy.\n\nRother, coming back from the war shortly after her disappearance,\nimmediately prepared a vessel to go in pursuit of her, selecting his giants\nand bravest noblemen to accompany him. Once more they landed at a short\ndistance from Constantinople, and Rother bade his men hide in a thicket,\nwhile he went into the city, disguised as a pilgrim, and carrying under his\nrobe a hunting horn, which he promised to sound should he at any time find\nhimself in danger.\n\nHe no sooner entered the city than he noticed with surprise that all the\ninhabitants seemed greatly depressed. He questioned them concerning their\nevident sadness, and learned that Imelot, having effected his escape from\ncaptivity, had invaded the kingdom, and vowed that he would not retreat\nunless Oda married his ugly and hunchbacked son that very day.\n\n[Sidenote: Imelot again defeated.] These tidings made Rother press on to\nthe palace, where, thanks to his disguise, he effected an easy entrance.\nSlipping unnoticed to his wife's side, he dropped into the cup beside her a\nring upon which his name was engraved. Quick as a flash Oda recognized and\ntried to hide it; but her hunchbacked suitor, sitting beside her, also\ncaught sight of it. He pointed out the intruder, cried that he was Rother\nin disguise, and bade his guards seize him and hang him. Rother, seeing\nthat he was discovered, boldly stepped forward, declared that he had come\nto claim his wife, and challenged the cowardly hunchback, who, however,\nmerely repeated his orders, and accompanied his guards to a grove outside\nthe city to see his captive executed. Just as they were about to fasten the\nfatal noose around his neck, Rother blew a resounding blast upon his horn,\nin answer to which call his followers sprang out of their ambush, slew\nguards, Imelot, and hunchback, routed the imperial forces, recovered\npossession of Oda, and sailed home in triumph to Lombardy. Here Oda bore\nher husband a lovely little daughter called Helche (Herka), who eventually\nmarried Etzel (Attila), King of the Huns.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: Ortnit.] Another renowned Lombardian king is Ortnit (Otnit),\nwhose realm included not only all Italy, from the Alps to the sea, but also\nthe island of Sicily. He had won this province by his fabulous strength,\nwhich, we are told, was equivalent to that of twelve vigorous men.\n\nIn spite of all outward prosperity, Ortnit was lonely and unhappy. One day,\nwhile he was strolling along the seashore at sunset, he saw a misty castle\nrise slowly out of the waves. On its topmost tower he beheld a fair maiden,\nwith whom he fell deeply in love at first sight. As he was gazing\nspellbound at the lady's beauty, castle and maiden suddenly vanished; and\nwhen Ortnit asked his uncle, Ylyas (Elias), Prince of the Reussen, what\nthis fantastic vision might mean, he learned that the castle was the exact\nreproduction of the stronghold of Muntabure, and the maiden a phantom of\nPrincess Sidrat, daughter of the ruler of Syria, which the Fata Morgana, or\nMorgana the fay, had permitted him to behold.\n\n    \"As the weary traveler sees,\n      In desert or prairie vast,\n    Blue lakes, overhung with trees,\n      That a pleasant shadow cast;\n\n    \"Fair towns with turrets high,\n      And shining roofs of gold,\n    That vanish as he draws nigh,\n      Like mists together rolled.\"\n                         LONGFELLOW, _Fata Morgana_.\n\nOf course Ortnit vowed that he would go and ask the maiden's hand in\nmarriage; and although his uncle warned him that Machorell, the girl's\nfather, beheaded all his daughter's suitors, to use their heads as\ndecorations for his fortifications, the young king persisted in this\nresolve.\n\n[Sidenote: Ortnit and the magic ring.] Forced to go by sea in order to\nreach Syria, Ortnit had to delay his departure until suitable preparations\nhad been made. During that time his mother vainly tried to dissuade him\nfrom the undertaking. Finally, seeing that nothing could deter him from\ngoing in search of the lovely maiden he had seen, she slipped a ring on his\nhand, and bade him ride out of town in a certain direction, and dismount\nunder a lime tree, where he would see something marvelous.\n\n    \"'If thou wilt seek the adventure, don thy armor strong;\n    Far to the left thou ride the towering rocks along.\n    But bide thee, champion, and await, where grows a linden tree;\n    There, flowing from the rock, a well thine eyes will see.\n\n    \"'Far around the meadow spread the branches green;\n    Five hundred armed knights may stand beneath the shade, I ween.\n    Below the linden tree await, and thou wilt meet full soon\n    The marvelous adventure; there must the deed be done.'\"\n                                                 _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's\n                tr.).\n\nOrtnit obeyed these instructions, dismounted in a spot which seemed\nstrangely familiar, and, gazing inquisitively around him, became aware of\nthe presence of a lovely sleeping infant. But when he attempted to take it\nin his arms he found himself sprawling on the ground, knocked over by a\nsingle blow from the child's tiny fist. Furious at his overthrow, Ortnit\nbegan wrestling with his small assailant; but in spite of his vaunted\nstrength he succeeded in pinioning him only after a long struggle.\n\n[Sidenote: Alberich.] Unable to free himself from Ortnit's powerful grasp,\nthe child now confessed that he was Alberich, king of the dwarfs, and\npromised Ortnit a marvelous suit of armor and the sword Rosen--which had\nbeen tempered in dragons' blood, and was therefore considered\ninvulnerable--if he would only let him go.\n\n    \"'Save me, noble Otnit, for thy chivalry!\n    A hauberk will I give thee, strong, and of wondrous might;\n    Better armor never bore champion in the fight.\n\n    \"'Not eighty thousand marks would buy the hauberk bright.\n    A sword of mound I'll give thee, Otnit, thou royal knight;\n    Through armor, both of gold and steel, cuts the weapon keen;\n    The helmet could its edge withstand ne'er in this world was seen.'\"\n                                                 _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's\n                tr.).\n\nThe king consented, but the moment he set the dwarf free he felt him snatch\nthe ring his mother had given him off his hand, and saw him mysteriously\nand suddenly disappear, his voice sounding tauntingly now on one side, now\non the other. Some parley ensued before the dwarf would restore the ring,\nwhich was no sooner replaced on the hero's hand than he once more found\nhimself able to see his antagonist.\n\nAlberich now gravely informed Ortnit that in spite of his infantile stature\nhe was very old indeed, having lived more than five hundred years. He then\nwent on to tell him that the king, whom Ortnit had until then considered\nhis father, had no claim to the title of parent, for he had secretly\ndivorced his wife, and given her in marriage to Alberich. Thus the dwarf\nwas Ortnit's true father, and declared himself ready now to acknowledge\ntheir relationship and to protect his son.\n\n[Sidenote: Ortnit in Tyre.] After giving Ortnit the promised armor and\nsword, and directing him to turn the magic ring if ever he needed a\nfather's aid, Alberich vanished. Ortnit, returning to town, informed his\nmother that he had seen his father; and as soon as the weather permitted he\nset sail for Suders (Tyre). Ortnit entered the harbor as a merchant, and\nexhibited his wares to the curious people, while Alberich, at his request,\nbore a challenge to Machorell, threatening to take Tyre and the castle of\nMuntabure unless he were willing to accept Ortnit as son-in-law.\n\nThe dwarf acquitted himself nobly of his task, and when Machorell\nscornfully dismissed him, he hastened back to Tyre, bidding Ortnit lose no\ntime in surprising and taking possession of the city. This advice was so\nwell carried out that Ortnit soon found himself master of the city, and\nmarching on to Muntabure, he laid siege to the castle, restoring all his\nmen as soon as they were wounded by a mere touch of his magic ring.\nAlberich, whom none but he could see, was allowed to lead the van and bear\nthe banner, which seemed to flutter aloft in a fantastic way. The dwarf\ntook advantage of this invisibility to scale the walls of the fortress\nunseen, and hurled down the ponderous machines used to throw stones,\narrows, boiling pitch, and oil. Thus he greatly helped Ortnit, who, in the\nmean while, was performing unheard-of deeds of valor, which excited the\nadmiration of Princess Sidrat, watching him from her tower.\n\n[Sidenote: Ortnit and Liebgart.] Alberich next glided to this maiden's\nside, and bade her hasten to the postern gate early on the morrow, if she\nwould see the king. As Ortnit had been told that he would find her there,\nhe went thither in the early dawn, and pleaded his cause so eloquently that\nSidrat eloped with him to Lombardy. There she became his beloved queen, was\nbaptized in the Christian faith, and received the name of Liebgart, by\nwhich she was ever afterward known.\n\n[Sidenote: The magic eggs.] The happiness of Ortnit and Liebgart was very\ngreat, but the young queen did not feel that it was quite complete until a\ngiant and his wife came from her father's court bringing conciliatory\nmessages, and a promise that Machorell would visit his daughter in the\nearly spring. They also brought countless valuable presents, among which\nwere two huge eggs, which the giants said were priceless, as from them\ncould be hatched magic toads with lodestones in their foreheads. Of course\nLiebgart's curiosity was greatly excited by this gift, and learning that\nthe giant couple would see to the hatching of the eggs and the bringing up\nof the toads if a suitable place were only provided for them, she sent them\ninto a mountain gorge near Trient, where the climate was hot and damp\nenough for the proper hatching of the toads.\n\nTime passed by, and the giantess Ruotze hatched dragons or lind-worms from\nthe huge eggs. These animals grew with alarming rapidity, and soon the\ngovernor of the province sent word to the king that he could no longer\nprovide food enough for the monsters, which had become the terror of the\nwhole countryside. They finally proved too much even for the giants, who\nwere obliged to flee. When Ortnit learned that ordinary weapons had no\neffect upon these dragons, he donned his magic armor and seized his sword\nRosen. He then bade Liebgart a tender farewell, telling her that if he did\nnot return she must marry none but the man who wore his ring, and sallied\nforth to deliver his people from the ravenous monsters whom he had\nthoughtlessly allowed to be bred in their midst.\n\nOrtnit soon dispatched the giant and giantess, who would fain have hindered\nhis entrance into the fatal gorge. Then he encountered the dwarf Alberich,\nand was warned that he would fall victim to the pestilent dragons, which\nhad bred a number of young ones, destined, in time, to infest all Europe.\n\nIn spite of these warnings, Ortnit declared that he must do his best for\nthe sake of his people; and having given the magic ring back to Alberich,\nhe continued on his way. All day long he vainly sought the monsters in the\ntrackless forest, until, sinking down exhausted at the foot of a tree, he\nsoon fell asleep.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Ortnit.] This slumber was so profound that it was like\na lethargy, and the wild barking of his dog failed to waken him so that he\ncould prepare for the stealthy approach of the great dragon. The monster\ncaught the sleeping knight in his powerful claws, and dashed him against\nthe rocks until every bone in his body was broken into bits, although the\nmagic armor remained quite whole.\n\nThen the dragon conveyed the corpse to his den, where the little dragons\nvainly tried to get at the knight to eat his flesh, being daunted by the\nimpenetrable armor, which would not give way.\n\nIn the mean while Liebgart was anxiously awaiting the return of her beloved\nhusband; but when she saw his dog steal into the palace in evident grief,\nshe knew that Ortnit was dead, and mourned for him with many a tear. As he\nhad left no heir to succeed him, the nobles soon crowded around Liebgart,\nimploring her to marry one of them and make him king of Lombardy; but she\nconstantly refused to listen to their wooing.\n\n[Sidenote: Liebgart dethroned.] Angry at her resistance, the noblemen then\ntook possession of treasure, palace, and kingdom, and left poor Liebgart so\nutterly destitute that she was forced to support herself by spinning and\nweaving. She carried on these occupations for a long time, while patiently\nwaiting for the coming of a knight who would avenge Ortnit's death, wear\nhis ring, claim her hand in marriage, and restore her to her former exalted\nposition as queen of Lombardy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\n\nTHE AMBLINGS.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Hugdietrich.] While Ortnit's ancestors were ruling over\nLombardy, Anzius was Emperor of Constantinople. When about to die, this\nmonarch confided his infant son, Hugdietrich, to the care of Berchther of\nMeran, the same who had accompanied Rother on his journey to\nConstantinople.\n\nWhen Hugdietrich attained marriageable age, his tutor felt it incumbent\nupon him to select a suitable wife for him. One princess only, Hildburg,\ndaughter of Walgund of Thessalonica, seemed to unite all the required\nadvantages of birth, beauty, and wealth; but unfortunately this princess's\nfather was averse to her marrying, and, to prevent her from having any\nlovers, had locked her up in an isolated tower, where none but women were\never admitted.\n\nBerchther having informed his ward of his plan, and of the difficulties\nconcerning its fulfillment, Hugdietrich immediately made up his mind to\nbring it about, even if he had to resort to stratagem in order to win his\nbride. After much cogitation he let his hair grow, learned all about\nwoman's work and ways, donned female garments, and journeyed off to\nThessalonica, where he presented himself before the king as a princess in\ndistress, and claimed his chivalrous protection. Walgund welcomed the\npretended princess warmly, and accepted her gifts of gold and embroidery.\nAs soon as he had shown the latter to his wife and daughter, they expressed\na lively desire to see the stranger and have her teach them to embroider\nalso.\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage of Hugdietrich and Hildburg.] Hugdietrich, having thus\neffected an entrance into the princess's tower as embroidery teacher, soon\nmanaged to quiet Hildburg's alarm when she discovered that the pretended\nprincess was a suitor in disguise, and wooed her so successfully that she\nnot only allowed him to take up his abode in the tower, but also consented\nto a secret union. All went on very well for some time, but finally\nHugdietrich felt it his duty to return to his kingdom; and parting from his\nyoung wife, he solemnly promised to return ere long to claim her openly.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Wolfdietrich.] On reaching home, however, he found\nhimself unexpectedly detained by a war which had just broken out; and while\nhe was fighting, Hildburg anxiously watched for his return. Month after\nmonth passed by without any news of him, till Hildburg, in her lonely\ntower, gave birth to a little son, whose advent was kept secret by the\ningenuity and devotion of the princess's nurse.\n\nWhen the queen presented herself at the door unexpectedly one day, this\nservant hastily carried the child out of the building, and set him down on\nthe grass in the moat, intending to come and get him in a few moments. She\ncould not do so, however, as the queen kept her constantly beside her, and\nprolonged her visit to the next day.\n\n    \"In the moat the new-born babe meanwhile in silence lay,\n    Sleeping on the verdant grass, gently, all the day.\n    From the swathing and the bath the child had stinted weeping;\n    No one saw, or heard its voice, in the meadow sleeping.\"\n                                                _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's tr.).\n\nWhen the faithful nurse, released at last, rushed out to find her charge,\nwho could creep about, she could discover no trace of him; and not daring\nto confide the truth to Hildburg, she informed her that she had sent the\nchild out to nurse.\n\nA few days later, Berchther of Meran arrived at Thessalonica, saying that\nHugdietrich had fallen in love with Hildburg on hearing a description of\nher charms from the exiled princess, his sister, and openly suing in his\nname for her hand. Instead of giving an immediate answer to this proposal,\nWalgund invited the ambassador to hunt with him in a neighboring forest on\nthe morrow.\n\n[Sidenote: Rescue of Wolfdietrich.] Accidentally separated from their\nrespective suites, Walgund and Berchther came to a thicket near the\nprincess's tower, and peering through the underbrush to discover the\nmeaning of some strange sounds, they saw a beautiful little boy sitting on\nthe grass, playfully handling some young wolf cubs, whose struggles he\nseemed not to mind in the least. While the two men were gazing spellbound\nat this strange sight, they saw the mother wolf draw near, ready to spring\nupon the innocent child and tear him limb from limb. As Berchther\nskillfully flung his spear past the child and slew the wolf, Walgund sprang\nforward and caught the babe in his arms, exclaiming that if he were only\nsure his grandchildren would be as handsome and fearless as this little\nboy, he would soon consent to his daughter's marriage.\n\nAs the child was so small that it still required a woman's tender care,\nWalgund next proposed to carry it to the tower, where his daughter and her\nattendants could watch over it until it was claimed; and as Berchther\nindorsed this proposal, it was immediately carried out. Hildburg received\nthe charge with joy, revealed by her emotion that the child was her very\nown, and told her father all about her secret marriage with Hugdietrich,\nwhom Walgund now graciously accepted as son-in-law.\n\nIn memory of this adventure the baby rescued from the beast of prey was\ncalled Wolfdietrich, and he and his mother, accompanied by a nobleman named\nSabene, were escorted in state to Constantinople, where Hugdietrich\nwelcomed them with joy. Here they dwelt in peace for several years, at the\nend of which, a war having again broken out, Hugdietrich departed,\nconfiding his wife and son to the care of Sabene, who now cast aside all\nhis pretended virtue. After insulting the queen most grossly, he began to\nspread lying reports about the birth of the young heir, until the people,\ndoubting whether he might not be considered a mere foundling, showed some\nunwillingness to recognize him as their future prince.\n\n[Sidenote: Wolfdietrich in Meran.] Hugdietrich, returning home and hearing\nthese remarks, also began to cherish some suspicions, and, instead of\nkeeping Wolfdietrich at court, sent him to Meran, where Berchther brought\nhim up with his twelve stalwart sons, every one of whom the young prince\noutshone in beauty, courage, and skill in all manly exercises.\n\nIn the mean while Hildburg had borne two other sons, Bogen and Waxmuth, to\nHugdietrich; but seeing that Sabene was still trying to poison people's\nminds against the absent Wolfdietrich, and deprive him of his rights, she\nfinally sought her husband, revealed the baseness of Sabene's conduct, and\nhad him exiled. Hugdietrich's life was unfortunately cut short a few months\nafter this, and when he felt that he was about to die, he disposed of all\nhis property, leaving the sovereignty of Constantinople to Wolfdietrich,\nand making his younger sons kings of lands which he had conquered in the\nsouth.\n\n[Sidenote: Hildburg banished by Sabene.] As soon as he had breathed his\nlast, however, the nobles of the land, who had all been won over by\nSabene's artful insinuations, declared that they would never recognize\nWolfdietrich as their ruler, but would recall Sabene watch over the two\nyounger kings, and exercise the royal power in their name. These measures\nhaving been carried out, Sabene avenged himself by banishing Hildburg, who,\nturned out of the imperial palace at night, was forced to make her way\nalone and on foot to Meran, where her son Wolfdietrich received her gladly\nand promised to protect her with his strong right arm.\n\nAt the head of a small troop composed of Berchther and his sons,\nWolfdietrich marched to Constantinople to oust Sabene; but, in spite of all\nhis valor, he soon found himself defeated, and forced to retreat to the\ncastle of Lilienporte. Here he intrenched himself, rejoicing at the sight\nof the strong battlements, and especially at the provisions stored within\nits inclosure, which would suffice for all the wants of the garrison for\nmore than seven years.\n\n[Sidenote: Siege of Lilienporte.] In vain Sabene besieged this castle; in\nvain he constructed huge engines of war; the fortress held out month after\nmonth. At the end of the third year, Wolfdietrich, seeing that their\nprovisions would not hold out forever, resolved to make his escape alone,\nand go in search of allies to save his trusty friends. He soon obtained the\nconsent of Berchther and of his mother for the execution of this scheme.\n\nWhile a skirmish was going on one day, Wolfdietrich escaped through the\npostern gate, and, riding into the forest, rapidly disappeared in the\ndirection of Lombardy, where he intended to ask the aid of Ortnit. Riding\nthrough the deserts of Roumelia, where his guardian had bidden him beware\nof the enchantments of the witch Rauch-Else, he shared his last piece of\nbread with his faithful steed, and, faint with hunger and almost perishing\nwith thirst, plodded painfully on.\n\n[Sidenote: Rauch-Else.] Finally horse and rider could go no farther, and as\nthe latter lay in a half swoon upon the barren soil, he was suddenly roused\nby the appearance of a hideous, bearlike female, who gruffly inquired how\nhe dared venture upon her territory. The unhappy Wolfdietrich recognized\nRauch-Else by the description his guardian, Berchther, had given of her,\nand would have fled, had strength remained him to do so; but, fainting with\nhunger, he could only implore her to give him something to eat.\n\nAt this appeal Rauch-Else immediately produced a peculiar-looking root, of\nwhich he had no sooner tasted than he felt as strong and rested as ever\nbefore. By the witch's advice he gave the remainder of the root to his\nhorse, upon whom it produced the same magic effect; but when he would fain\nhave expressed his gratitude and ridden away, Rauch-Else told him that he\nbelonged to her by decree of fate, and asked him to marry her.\n\nNot daring to refuse this proposal, which, however, was very distasteful\nindeed, Wolfdietrich reluctantly assented, expressing a wish that she were\nnot quite so repulsive. No sooner were the words fairly out of his mouth\nthan he saw her suddenly transformed into a beautiful woman, and heard her\ndeclare that his \"yes\" had released her from an evil spell, and allowed her\nto resume her wonted form and name, which was Sigeminne, Queen of Old Troy.\n\n[Sidenote: Wolfdietrich and Sigeminne.] Slowly proceeding to the seashore,\nthe young couple embarked in a waiting galley and sailed directly to\nSigeminne's kingdom, where they lived happily together, Wolfdietrich having\nentirely forgotten his mother, tutor, and companions, who were vainly\nawaiting his return with an army to deliver them.\n\n    \"By the hand she led Wolfdietrich unto the forest's end;\n    To the sea she guided him; a ship lay on the strand.\n    To a spacious realm she brought him, hight the land of Troy.\"\n                                               _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's tr.).\n\nWolfdietrich's happiness, however, was not to endure long; for while he was\npursuing a stag which his wife bade him secure for her, a magician named\nDrusian suddenly presented himself before Sigeminne and spirited her away.\n\nWolfdietrich, finding his wife gone, resolved to go in search of her, and\nnot to rest until he had found her. Then, knowing that nothing but cunning\ncould prevail against the magician's art, he donned a magic silken vest\nwhich his wife had woven for him, which could not be penetrated by weapon\nor dragon, and covering it with a pilgrim's garb, he traveled on until he\ncame within sight of the castle of Drusian.\n\nWorn out by his long journey, he sat down for a moment to rest ere he began\nthe ascent of the steep mountain upon which the castle stood; and having\nfallen asleep, he was roughly awakened by a giant, who bore him off\nprisoner to the fortress, where he saw Sigeminne.\n\n    \"He led the weary pilgrim into the castle hall,\n    Where brightly burned the fire, and many a taper tall.\n    On a seat he sat him down, and made him right good cheer.\n    His eyes around the hall cast the hero without fear.\"\n                                             _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Sigeminne.] Wolfdietrich concealed his face in the\ndepths of his cowl, and remained quietly seated by the fire until evening\ncame. Then the giant turned to the mourning queen, declaring that he had\nbeen patient long enough, and that she must now consent to marry him and\nforget her husband. Hardly had these words been spoken when Wolfdietrich,\nthe pretended pilgrim, fell upon him, and refused to let him go until he\nhad accepted his challenge for a fair fight and had produced suitable arms.\nThe young hero selected an iron armor, in preference to the gold and silver\nmail offered him, and boldly attacked the giant, who finally succumbed\nbeneath his mighty blows. Sigeminne, thus restored to her husband's arms,\nthen returned with him to Old Troy, where they ruled happily together until\nshe died of a mortal illness.\n\nWhen she breathed her last, Wolfdietrich, delivered from the spell she had\ncast upon him by making him partake of the magic root, suddenly remembered\nhis mother, Berchther, and his faithful companions, and, filled with\ncompunction, hastened off to help them. On his way he passed through many\nlands, and finally came to a fortified town, whose walls were adorned with\nhuman heads set up on spikes. He asked a passer-by what this singular\ndecoration might mean, and learned that the city belonged to a heathen\nking, Belligan, who made it a practice to slay every Christian who entered\nhis precincts.\n\n[Sidenote: Belligan slain by Wolfdietrich.] Wolfdietrich immediately\nresolved to rid the earth of this monster, and riding boldly into the city,\nhe cried that he was ready to meet the king in his favorite game of dagger\nthrowing. This challenge was promptly accepted, the preparations all made,\nand although the heathen king was protected by his daughter's magic spells,\nhe could not withstand the Christian knight, who pierced him through and\nthrough, and left him dead.\n\n    \"Speedily Wolfdietrich the third knife heaved on high.\n    Trembling stood Sir Belligan, for he felt his death was nigh.\n    The pagan's heart asunder with cunning skill he cleft;\n    Down upon the grass he fell, of life bereft.\"\n                                                _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's tr.).\n\nBut as Wolfdietrich attempted to leave the castle, waves suddenly\nsurrounded him on all sides, threatening to drown him, until, suspecting\nthat this phenomenon was produced by the princess's magic arts, he seized\nher and held her head under water until she died. Then the waves\nimmediately subsided and permitted him to escape unharmed.\n\nWolfdietrich next came to some mountains, where he encountered a giantess,\nwho told him the story of Ortnit's death, and so roused his compassion for\nthe unfortunate Liebgart that he vowed to slay the dragon and avenge all\nher wrongs. To enable him to reach his destination sooner the giantess bore\nhim and his horse over the mountains, fifty miles in one day, and set him\ndown near Garden (Guarda), where he saw Liebgart and her sole remaining\nattendant sadly walking up and down.\n\nStruck by Liebgart's resemblance to the dead Sigeminne, Wolfdietrich stood\nquietly in the shade long enough to overhear her sigh and say that she\nwished the brave Wolfdietrich would come along that way and avenge her\nhusband's death.\n\n[Sidenote: Wolfdietrich and Liebgart.] In answer to these words the hero\npresented himself impetuously before her, swore he would do all in his\npower to fulfill her wishes, and having received from her fair hand a ring,\nwhich she declared would bring the wearer good luck, he hastened off to the\nmountain gorge to encounter the dragons. On the way thither, Wolfdietrich\nmet Alberich, who cautioned him not to yield to the desire for slumber if\nhe would overcome the foe; so pressing on in spite of almost overpowering\nlassitude, he met the dragon.\n\nNotwithstanding all his efforts Wolfdietrich soon found himself carried off\nto the monster's cave, where he was flung down to serve as pasture for the\nyoung lind-worms. They would surely have devoured him had he not been\nprotected by Sigeminne's magic shirt, which they could not pierce.\n\n[Sidenote: Ortnit's sword and ring.] Looking about him for some weapon to\ndefend himself with, Wolfdietrich suddenly saw Ortnit's ring and his sword\nRosen, which he seized, and wielded the latter to such good purpose that he\nsoon slew all the dragons. He then cut out their tongues, which he packed\nin a bag the dwarfs brought him, and triumphantly rode off to find Liebgart\nand tell her of his success. But, as he lost his way in the forest, it was\nseveral days before he reached the town where she dwelt, and as he rode\nthrough the gates he was indignant to hear that Liebgart was about to marry\na knight by the name of Gerhart, who had slain the dragon, brought home its\nhead, and claimed the fulfillment of an old promise she had made to marry\nher husband's avenger. Wolfdietrich spurred onward, entered the castle,\ndenounced the impostor Gerhart, and proved the truth of his assertions by\nproducing the dragons' tongues. Then, turning to the queen, Wolfdietrich\nstretched out his hand to her, humbly asking whether she would marry him.\nAt that moment Liebgart saw Ortnit's ring glittering on his finger, and,\nremembering her husband's last words, immediately signified her consent.\n\nThe happy couple spent a whole year together in restoring order, peace, and\nprosperity to the Lombards, before Wolfdietrich left his wife to go and\nsuccor the companions whom he had neglected so long. Landing with his army\nnear Constantinople, Wolfdietrich, disguised as a peasant, made his way\ninto the city, and learned that Berchther and his sons had been put in\nprison. There the former had died, but the latter were still languishing in\ncaptivity. Wolfdietrich bribed the jailer to bear them a cheering message\nand strengthening food, and led his army against Sabene, whom he utterly\nrouted.\n\nAfter recovering possession of Constantinople, granting full forgiveness to\nhis erring brothers, executing Sabene, and liberating his companions, to\nwhom he intrusted the sovereignty of the empire, Wolfdietrich returned to\nLombardy, and from thence proceeded with Liebgart to Romaburg (Rome), where\nhe was duly crowned emperor.\n\nTo reward Herbrand, Berchther's eldest son, for his faithfulness,\nWolfdietrich gave him the city of Garden and all its territories, a realm\nwhich subsequently was inherited by his son Hildebrand, a hero whom we\nshall have further occasion to describe.\n\nHache, another of Berchther's sons, received as his share all the Rhine\nland, which he left to his son, the trusty Eckhardt (Eckewart) who ever and\nanon appears in northern literature to win mortals back to virtue and point\nout the road to honor. Wolfdietrich and Liebgart were the happy parents of\na son called Hugdietrich, like his grandfather; and this king's second son,\nDietmar, was the father of the famous Dietrich von Bern, the hero of the\nnext chapter of this volume.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n\nDIETRICH VON BERN.\n\n\nDIETRICH VON BERN, whose name is spelled in eighty-five different ways in\nthe various ballads and chronicles written about him, has been identified\nwith the historical Theodoric of Verona, whose \"name was chosen by the\npoets of the early middle ages as the string upon which the pearls of their\nfantastic imagination were to be strung.\"\n\nThis hero is one of the principal characters in the ancient German \"Book of\nHeroes,\" and his adventures, which are recorded in many ancient\nmanuscripts, and more especially in the Wilkina saga, are about as follows:\n\n[Sidenote: Parentage of Deitrich.] Dietmar, the second son of Hugdietrich,\nor of Samson according to other authorities, became the independent ruler\nof Bern (Verona), and refused to recognize his elder brother, Ermenrich,\nEmperor of the West, as his liege lord. The young prince had married\nOdilia, the heiress of the conquered Duke of Verona, who bore him a son\ncalled Dietrich. Gentle and generous when all went according to his wishes,\nthis child was uncontrollable when his anger was roused, and his breath\nthen came from his lips in a fiery torrent, scorching his opponent, and\nconsuming all inflammable articles.\n\nWhen Dietrich was but five years of age his training was intrusted to\nHildebrand, son of Herbrand, one of the Volsung race; and so well did the\ntutor acquit himself of this task that he soon made his pupil as\naccomplished a warrior as himself. Their tastes were, moreover, so similar\nthat they soon became inseparable friends, and their attachment has become\nas proverbial among northern nations as that of David and Jonathan, Damon\nand Pythias, or Orestes and Pylades.\n\nHearing that a giant, Grim, and a giantess, Hilde, were committing great\ndepredations in a remote part of his father's territories, and that no one\nhad been able to rout or slay them, young Dietrich set out with Master\nHildebrand to attack them. They had not ridden long in the forest before\nthey became aware of the presence of a tiny dwarf, Alberich (Alferich,\nAlpris, or Elbegast), and pouncing upon him, they held him fast, vowing\nthat he should recover his liberty only upon condition of pointing out the\ngiants' lurking place.\n\n[Sidenote: The sword Nagelring.] The dwarf not only promised the desired\ninformation, but gave Dietrich the magic sword Nagelring, which alone could\npierce the giants' skin. Then he led both heroes to the cave, where Grim\nand Hilde were gloating over a magic helmet they had made and called\nHildegrim. Peering through a fissure of the rock, Hildebrand was the first\nto gaze upon them, and in his eagerness to get at them he braced his\nshoulder against the huge mass of stone, forced it apart, and thus made a\npassage for himself and for his impetuous young pupil.\n\nAs Nagelring, the magic sword, had been stolen from him, Grim attacked\nDietrich with a blazing brand snatched from the fire, while Hildebrand and\nHilde wrestled together. The encounter was short and fierce between the\nyoung hero and his gigantic opponent, who soon succumbed beneath\nNagelring's sharp blows. Then Dietrich, turning, came just in time to save\nhis master from Hilde's treacherous blade. But, although one stroke of\nNagelring cut her in two, the heroes were dismayed to see the severed parts\nof her body knit together in a trice, and permit Hilde, whole once more, to\nrenew the attack.\n\nTo prevent a repetition of this magical performance, Dietrich, after again\ncutting her in two, placed his sword between the severed parts, and,\nknowing that steel annuls magic, left it there until all power to unite was\ngone and Hilde was really dead. The two heroes then returned home in\ntriumph with Nagelring and Hildegrim, the two famous trophies, which\nDietrich took as his share of the spoil, leaving to Hildebrand an immense\ntreasure of gold which made him the richest man of his day. This wealth\nenabled Hildebrand to marry the noble Ute (Uote or Uta), who helped him to\nbring up Dietrich's young brother, then but a babe.\n\nAlthough the young prince of Bern imagined that he had exterminated all the\ngiants in his land, he was soon undeceived; for Sigenot, Grim's brother,\ncoming down from the Alps to visit him, and finding him slain, vowed to\navenge his death. The brave young prince, hearing that Sigenot was\nterrorizing all the neighborhood, immediately set out to attack him,\nfollowed at a distance by Hildebrand and the latter's nephew, Wolfhart, who\nwas always ready to undertake any journey, provided there was some prospect\nof a fight at the end.\n\nDietrich soon came to a forest, where, feeling hungry, he slew an elk and\nproceeded to roast some of its flesh upon a spit. While he was thus engaged\nhe heard shrill cries, and looking up, he saw a giant holding a dwarf and\nabout to devour him. Ever ready to succor the feeble and oppressed,\nDietrich caught up his sword and attacked the giant, who made a brave but\nfruitless defense. The dwarf, seeing his tormentor dead, then advised\nDietrich to fly in haste, lest Sigenot, the most terrible of all the\nmountain giants, should come to avenge his companion's murder. But, instead\nof following this advice, Dietrich persuaded the dwarf to show him the way\nto the giant's retreat.\n\n[Sidenote: Capture of Dietrich by giant Sigenot.] Following his tiny guide,\nDietrich climbed up the snow-clad mountains, where, in the midst of the\nicebergs, the ice queen, Virginal, suddenly appeared to him, advising him\nto retreat, as his venture was perilous in the extreme. Equally undeterred\nby this second warning, Dietrich pressed on; but when he came at last to\nthe giant's abode he was so exhausted by the ascent that, in spite of all\nhis courage, he was defeated, put in chains, and dragged into the giant's\nden.\n\n[Illustration: FALKE KILLS THE GIANT.--Keller.]\n\nHildebrand, in the mean while, following his pupil, awaited his return at\nthe foot of the mountains for eight days, and then, seeing that he did not\nappear, he strode up the mountain side. The giant encountered him, stunned\nhim with a great blow, and dragged him into the den, where, thinking him\nsenseless, he leisurely began to select chains with which to bind him fast.\nHildebrand, however, sprang noiselessly to his feet, seized a weapon lying\nnear, and stealing behind a pillar, which served him as a shield, he\nattacked Sigenot, and stretched him lifeless at his feet.\n\n[Sidenote: Dietrich rescued by Hildebrand.] A moment later he heard\nDietrich calling him from the depths of the cave. To spring forward and\nfree his pupil from his chains was the work of a moment, and then,\nfollowing the dwarf, who openly rejoiced at the death of his foe, the two\nheroes visited the underground kingdom. There they were hospitably\nentertained, their wounds were healed, and the king of the dwarfs gave them\nthe finest weapons that they had ever seen.\n\nWhile hunting in the Tyrolean mountains shortly after this encounter,\nDietrich confided to Hildebrand that he had fallen in love with the ice\nfairy, Virginal, and longed to see her again. This confidence was suddenly\ninterrupted by the appearance of a dwarf, who presented himself as Bibung,\nthe unconquerable protector of Queen Virginal, but who in the same breath\nconfessed that she had fallen into the hands of the magician Ortgis. The\nlatter kept her imprisoned in one of her own castles, and at every new moon\nhe forced her to surrender one of the snow maidens, her lovely attendants,\nwhom he intended, to devour as soon as they were properly fattened.\n\nDietrich's eyes flashed with anger when he heard of his lady-love's\ndistress, and bidding the dwarf show him the way, he forthwith set out to\nrescue her. They had not gone very far before they beheld the ice queen's\npalace glittering far above their heads; and as they eagerly climbed upward\nto reach it, they heard cries of terror, and saw a beautiful girl rush down\nthe pathway, closely pursued by the magician and his mounted train.\n\n[Sidenote: Magician Ortgis slain.] Dietrich allowed the maiden to pass\nhim, and then stepped boldly into the middle of the path, where he and\nHildebrand soon succeeded in slaying the magician and all his men. Jambas,\nthe son of Ortgis, alone effected his escape; but Dietrich and his master\nclosely pursued him, took forcible possession of his castle, set the\ncaptive snow maidens free, and fearlessly slew all the monsters which\nJambas conjured up to destroy them. Then, resuming their interrupted\njourney, Dietrich and Hildebrand soon came face to face with the\nself-styled unconquerable guardian of the ice queen. He had been hiding\nduring the fray, and now implored them to hasten forward, as his mistress\nwas besieged by Jambas. The magician's son was anxious to secure Virginal\nand all her maidens, but his principal aim was to appropriate the great\ncarbuncle shining in the queen's crown, as it gave the possessor full power\nover the elements, the mountains, and all who ventured within reach of\nthem.\n\nThus urged to greater speed, the heroes toiled upward faster and faster,\nand soon came near the glittering castle of Jeraspunt, and the besiegers.\nThe latter were on the point of overpowering the garrison and gaining\npossession of the queen. When Dietrich saw her on the battlement, wringing\nher hands in despair, he rushed impetuously forward, crying that he had\ncome to save her. He struck right and left, and did such good execution\nwith his sword that the mountains shook, the icebergs cracked, and great\navalanches, rolling down into the abysses, carried with them the bodies of\nthe slain which he hurled down from the drawbridge.\n\n[Sidenote: Rescue of the ice queen.] In a very short time the enemy was\ncompletely routed, and Dietrich was joyfully welcomed by Virginal, who,\ntouched by his devotion, consented to forsake her glittering castle,\nrelinquish her sway over the mountains, and to follow him down into the\ngreen valley. Their wedding was celebrated in Jeraspunt, which was all hung\nin bridal white; and the ice queen and her maidens wore misty veils and\ncrowns of glittering diamonds, which sparkled and flashed and lit up the\nwhole scene with fairylike splendor. Some versions of the story tell,\nhowever, that the queen soon grew homesick down in the green valley, and,\ndeserting her hero husband, returned to her palace on the mountain top,\nwhere she still rules supreme.\n\nDietrich's numerous adventures soon became the theme of the wandering bards\nand minstrels, and thus the rumor of his courage came to the ears of Heime,\nthe son of the northern stud keeper Studas. After distinguishing himself at\nhome by slaying a dragon, this youth obtained from his father the steed\nRispa and the sword Blutgang, with which he set out to test Dietrich's\ncourage, vowing that he would serve him forever if conquered by him.\n\n    \"King Tidrick sits intill Bern;\n      He rooses [boasts] him of his might;\n    Sae mony has he in battle cow'd,\n      Baith kemp [rough] and doughty knight.\"\n                     _The Ettin Langshanks_ (Jamieson's tr.).\n\nHeime soon reached Bern, boldly challenged Dietrich, and when defeated\nentered his service, after procuring for his master's exclusive use the\nmatchless steed Falke, which could carry even such a gigantic man as\nDietrich without showing any signs of fatigue, and which served him\nfaithfully for many a year.\n\n[Sidenote: Wittich.] The rumor of Dietrich's courage also came to\nHeligoland, where Wieland (Wayland, or V\u00f6lund), the smith, dwelt with his\nson Wittich (Witig). The latter, determined to cross swords with the hero\nof Bern, persuaded his father to give him the celebrated sword Mimung, by\nthe help of which he hoped to overcome every foe. Wieland also fashioned a\ncomplete suit of armor for his son, gave him much good advice, and parted\nfrom him, bidding him to prove himself worthy of his ancestors, and to call\nupon his grandmother, the mermaid Wachilde, if he were ever in great\ndistress.\n\nThus instructed Wittich departed, and on the way to Bern fell in with\nHildebrand, Heime, and Hornbogi, another of Dietrich's noted warriors. They\nconcealed their names, encouraged the stranger to talk, and soon learned\nwhere he was going and on what errand. Master Hildebrand, hearing of the\nmagic sword, and anxious to preserve his pupil from its blows, allowed\nWittich to fight single-handed against twelve robbers in a mountain pass.\nAs the youth disposed of them all without receiving a scratch, Hildebrand\nsubstituted his own sword blade for that which Wittich bore, one night\nwhile the latter was peacefully sleeping at an inn. This exchange remained\nunnoticed until Wittich arrived in Bern. There, while fighting with\nDietrich, the blade suddenly snapped in two.\n\nLoudly reproaching his father, Wieland, for having provided him with such\nan unreliable weapon, Wittich was about to announce himself conquered, when\nHildebrand, realizing that he had not acted honorably, gave him back his\nown blade. Dietrich, to his surprise and dismay, found himself conquered in\nthis second encounter, and was forced to acknowledge that he owed his life\nonly to Wittich's magnanimity. But the northern hero soon confessed in his\nturn that had it not been for his magic sword he would have been obliged to\nyield to Dietrich, and voluntarily offered his services to him, thus\nbecoming one of his train.\n\n    \"Sae gladly rode they back to Bern;\n    But Tidrick maist was glad;\n    And Vidrich o' his menyie a'\n    The foremost place aye had.\"\n                      _The Ettin Langskanks_ (Jamieson's tr.).\n\nDietrich's next adventure, which is recorded in the \"Eckenlied,\" was with\nthe giant Ecke, who held Bolfriana, the widowed Lady of Drachenfels, and\nher nine daughters, in his power. The hero of Bern encountered the giant by\nnight, and, in spite of his aversion to fighting at such a time, was\ncompelled to defend himself against the giant's blows. He was about to\nsuccumb when his steed Falke, scenting his danger, broke loose from the\ntree to which it had been tied, and stamped Ecke to death.\n\nDietrich now rode on to Drachenfels, where he encountered Fasolt, Ecke's\nbrother, and, after defeating him also, and delivering the captive ladies,\nwent back to Bern, where Fasolt joined his chosen warriors. Dietrich,\nmoreover, delivered the knight Sintram from the jaws of a dragon, and made\nhim one of his followers. Then, having appropriated Ecke's sword, the great\nEckesax, Dietrich was about to give Nagelring to Heime; but hearing that\nthe latter had stood idly by while Wittich fought single-handed against\ntwelve robbers, he banished him from his presence, bidding him never return\nuntil he had atoned for his dishonorable conduct by some generous deed.\n\nHeime, incensed at this dismissal, sulkily withdrew to the Falster wood on\nthe banks of the Wisara (Weser), where he became chief of a body of\nbrigands, ruthlessly spoiled travelers, and daily increased the hoard he\nwas piling up in one of his strongholds.\n\nBut, although Dietrich thus lost one of his bravest warriors, his band was\nsoon re\u00ebnforced by Hildebrand's brother Ilsan, who, although a monk, was\ntotally unfitted for a religious life, and greatly preferred fighting to\npraying. There also came to Bern Wildeber (Wild Boar), a man noted for his\ngreat strength. He owed this strength to a golden bracelet given him by a\nmermaid in order to recover her swan plumage, which he had secured.\n\n[Sidenote: Dietlieb the Dane.] As Dietrich was once on his way to Romaburg\n(Rome), whither his uncle Ermenrich had invited him, he accepted the\nproffered service and escort of Dietlieb the Dane. This warrior, seeing\nthat the emperor had forgotten to provide for the entertainment of\nDietrich's suite, pledged not only his own steed and weapons, but also his\nmaster's and Hildebrand's, leading a jolly life upon the proceeds.\n\nWhen the time of departure came, and Dietrich called for his steed,\nDietlieb was forced to confess what he had done. The story came to\nErmenrich's ears, and he felt called upon to pay the required sum to\nrelease his guest's weapons and steeds, but contemptuously inquired whether\nDietlieb were good at anything besides eating and drinking, wherein he\nevidently excelled. Enraged by this taunt, Dietlieb challenged Ermenrich's\nchampion warrior, Walther von Wasgenstein (Vosges), and beat him at spear\nand stone throwing. He next performed feats hitherto unheard of, and won\nsuch applause that Ermenrich not only paid all his debts, but also gave him\na large sum of money, which this promising young spendthrift immediately\nexpended in feasting all the men at arms.\n\nDietlieb's jests and jollity so amused Isung, the imperial minstrel, that\nhe left court to follow him to the land of the Huns, where the fickle youth\nnext offered his services to Etzel (Attila). The King of the Huns, afraid\nto keep such a mercurial person near him, gave him the province of\nSteiermark (Styria), bidding him work off all surplus energy by defending\nit against the numerous enemies always trying to enter his realm.\n\n[Sidenote: The dwarf Laurin.] Some time after this, Dietlieb returned to\nhis old master in sorrow, for his only sister, Kunhild (Similde, or\nSimilt), had been carried away by Laurin (Alberich), king of the dwarfs,\nand was now detained prisoner in the Tyrolean mountains, not far from the\nvaunted Rose Garden. This place was surrounded by a silken thread, and\nguarded most jealously by Laurin himself, who exacted the left foot and\nright hand of any knight venturing to enter his garden or break off a\nsingle flower from its stem.\n\nAs soon as Dietrich heard this, he promised to set out and rescue the fair\nKunhild. He was accompanied by Dietlieb, Hildebrand, Wittich, and Wolfhart;\nand as they came to the Rose Garden, all the heroes except Dietrich and\nHildebrand began to trample the dainty blossoms, and tried to break the\nsilken cord.\n\n    \"Wittich, the mighty champion, trod the roses to the ground,\n     Broke down the gates, and ravaged the garden far renowned;\n     Gone was the portals' splendor, by the heroes bold destroyed;\n     The fragrance of the flowers was past, and all the garden's pride.\"\n                                                 _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's\n                tr.).\n\nWhile they were thus employed, the dwarf Laurin donned his glittering\ngirdle of power, which gave him the strength of twelve men, brandished a\nsword which had been tempered in dragons' blood and could therefore cut\nthrough iron and stone, and put on his ring of victory and the magic cap of\ndarkness, Tarnkappe (Helkappe).\n\nDietrich, carefully instructed by Hildebrand, struck off this cap, and\nappropriated it, as well as the girdles of strength and the ring of\nvictory. He was so angry against Laurin for resisting him that the dwarf\nking soon fled to Dietlieb for protection, promising to restore Kunhild,\nunless she preferred to remain with him as his wife.\n\nThis amicable agreement having been made, Laurin led the knights down into\nhis subterranean palace, which was illuminated by carbuncles, diamonds, and\nother precious stones. Here Kunhild and her attendant maidens, attired with\nthe utmost magnificence, welcomed them hospitably and presided at the\nbanquet.\n\n    \"Similt into the palace came, with her little maidens all;\n    Garments they wore which glittered brightly in the hall,\n    Of fur and costly ciclatoun, and brooches of the gold;\n    No richer guise in royal courts might mortal man behold.\"\n                                              _Heldentuch_ (Weber's tr.).\n\nThe wines, however, were drugged, so the brave knights soon sank into a\nstupor; and Laurin, taking a base advantage of their helplessness, deprived\nthem of their weapons, bound them fast, and had them conveyed into a large\nprison. Dietlieb was placed in a chamber apart, where, as soon as he\nrecovered his senses, Laurin told him that he and his companions were\ndoomed to die on the morrow.\n\nAt midnight Dietrich awoke. Feeling himself bound, his wrath burned hot\nwithin him, and his breath grew so fiery that it consumed the ropes with\nwhich he was pinioned. He then released his captive companions, and, while\nthey were bewailing their lack of weapons, Kunhild stealthily opened the\ndoor. Noiselessly she conducted them into the great hall, bade them resume\npossession of their arms, and gave each a golden ring, of dwarf\nmanufacture, to enable them to see their tiny foes, who were else invisible\nto all of mortal birth.\n\nJoined by Dietlieb, who had also been liberated by Kunhild, the knights now\nroused Laurin and his host of giants and dwarfs, and, after an encounter\nsuch as mediaeval poets love to describe at great length, routed them\ncompletely. Laurin was made prisoner and carried in chains to Bern, where\nKunhild, now full of compassion for him, prevailed upon Dietrich to set him\nfree, provided he would forswear all his malicious propensities and spend\nthe remainder of his life in doing good.\n\nWhen this promise had been given, Laurin was set free; and after marrying\nKunhild, he went to live with her in the beautiful Rose Garden and the\nunderground palace, which peasants and simple-hearted Alpine hunters have\noften seen, but which the worldly wise and skeptical have always sought in\nvain.\n\n[Sidenote: Rose Garden at Worms.] The mere fact of his having come off\nvictor in one Rose Garden affair made Dietrich hail with joy the tidings\nbrought by a wandering minstrel, that at Worms, on the Rhine, Kriemhild\n(Grimhild, Gutrun, etc.), the Burgundian princess, had a similar garden.\nThis was guarded by twelve brave knights, ever ready to try their skill\nagainst an equal number of warriors, the prize of the victor being a rose\ngarland and kisses from the owner of this charming retreat.\n\nEager to accept this challenge, Dietrich selected Hildebrand, Wittich,\nWolfhart, and five other brave men; but as he could think of no others\nworthy to share in the adventure, Hildebrand suggested that R\u00fcdiger of\nBechlaren, Dietlieb of Steiermark, and his own brother, the monk Ilsan,\nwould be only too glad to help them. This little band soon rode into Worms,\nwhere Dietrich and his men covered themselves with glory by defeating all\nKriemhild's champions, and winning the rose garlands as well as the kisses.\n\nThe knights, if we are to believe the ancient poem, appreciated the latter\nreward highly, with the exception of the rude monk Ilsan, who, we are told,\nscrubbed the princess's delicate cheek with his rough beard until the blood\nflowed.\n\n[Illustration: THE VICTORIOUS HUNS.--Checa.]\n\n    \"And when Chrimhild, the queen, gave him kisses fifty-two,\n    With his rough and grisly beard full sore he made her rue,\n    That from her lovely cheek 'gan flow the rosy blood:\n    The queen was full of sorrow, but the monk it thought him good.\"\n                                               _Heldenbuch_ (Weber's tr.).\n\nThen Ilsan carried his garlands back to the monastery, where he jammed them\ndown upon the monks' bald pates, laughing aloud when he saw them wince as\nthe sharp thorns pierced them.\n\nOn his way home Dietrich visited Etzel, King of the Huns, and further\nincreased his train by accepting the services of Amalung, Hornbogi's son,\nand of Herbrand the wide-traveled. On his arrival at Bern, he found that\nhis father, Dietmar, was dead, and thus Dietrich became King of the Amaling\nland (Italy).\n\n[Sidenote: Campaign against the Wilkina land.] Shortly after his accession\nto the throne, he went to help Etzel, who was warring against Osantrix,\nKing of the Wilkina land (Norway and Sweden). With none but his own\nfollowers, Dietrich invaded the Wilkina land, and throughout that glorious\ncampaign old Hildebrand rode ever ahead, bearing aloft his master's\nstandard, and dealing many memorable blows.\n\nIn one encounter, Wittich was thrown from his horse and stunned. Heime, who\nhad joined the army, seeing him apparently lifeless, snatched the sword\nMimung out of his nerveless grasp and bore it triumphantly away. Wittich,\nhowever, was not dead, but was soon after made prisoner by Hertnit, Earl of\nGreece, Osantrix's brother, who carried him back to the capital, where he\nput him in prison.\n\nWhen the campaign against the Wilkina men was ended, Dietrich and his army\nreturned to Bern, leaving Wildeber in Hungary to ascertain whether Wittich\nwere really dead, or whether he still required his companions' aid.\n\nWishing to penetrate unrecognized into the enemy's camp, Wildeber slew and\nflayed a bear, donned its skin over his armor, and, imitating the uncouth\nantics of the animal he personated, bade the minstrel Isung lead him thus\ndisguised to Hertnit's court.\n\n[Sidenote: Wittich rescued by Wildeber.] This plan was carried out, and\nthe minstrel and dancing bear were hailed with joy. But Isung was greatly\ndismayed when Hertnit insisted upon baiting his hunting hounds against the\nbear; who, however, strangled them all, one after another, without seeming\nto feel their sharp teeth. Hertnit was furious at the loss of all his pack,\nand sprang down into the pit with drawn sword; but all his blows glanced\naside on the armor concealed beneath the rough pelt. Suddenly the pretended\nbear stood up, caught the weapon which the king had dropped, and struck off\nhis head. Then, joining Isung, he rushed through the palace and delivered\nthe captive Wittich; whereupon, seizing swords and steeds on their way,\nthey all three rode out of the city before they could be stopped.\n\nWhen they arrived in Bern they were warmly welcomed by Dietrich, who forced\nHeime to give the stolen Mimung back to its rightful owner. The brave\nwarriors were not long allowed to remain inactive, however, for they were\nsoon asked to help Ermenrich against his revolted vassal, Rimstein. They\nbesieged the recalcitrant knight in his stronghold of Gerimsburg, which was\ngiven to Walther von Wasgenstein, while Wittich was rewarded for his\nservices by the hand of Bolfriana, the Lady of Drachenfels, and thus became\nthe vassal of Ermenrich.\n\n[Sidenote: Sibich.] The estates of Ermenrich were so extensive and so\ndifficult to govern that he was very glad indeed to secure as prime\nminister a capable nobleman by the name of Sibich. Unfortunately, this\nSibich had a remarkably beautiful wife, whom the emperor once insulted\nduring her husband's absence. As soon as Sibich returned from his journey\nhis wife told him all that had occurred, and the emperor's conduct so\nenraged the minister that he vowed that he would take a terrible revenge.\n\nThe better to accomplish his purpose, Sibich concealed his resentment, and\nso artfully poisoned Ermenrich's mind that the latter ordered his eldest\nson to be slain. To get rid of the second prince, Sibich induced him to\nenter a leaky vessel, which sank as soon as he was out at sea. Then, when\nthe prime minister saw the third son, Randwer, paying innocent attentions\nto his fair young stepmother, Swanhild, daughter of Siegfried and\nKriemhild, he so maliciously distorted the affair that Ermenrich ordered\nthis son to be hung, and his young wife to be trampled to death under the\nhoofs of wild horses.\n\nSibich, the traitor, having thus deprived the emperor of wife and children,\nnext resolved to rob him of all his kin, so that he might eventually murder\nhim and take undisputed possession of the empire. With this purpose in\nview, he forged letters which incited the emperor to war against his\nnephews, the Harlungs. These two young men, who were orphans, dwelt at\nBreisach, under the guardianship of their tutor, the faithful Eckhardt.\nThey were both cruelly slain, and the disconsolate tutor fled to the court\nof Dietrich, little thinking that Ermenrich would soon turn upon this his\nlast male relative, also.\n\n[Sidenote: Herbart and Hilde.] Dietrich, forsaken by Virginal, and anxious\nto marry again, had, in the mean while, sent his nephew Herbart to Arthur's\ncourt in the Bertanga land (Britain), to sue for the hand  of Hilde, his\nfair young daughter. But Arthur, averse to sending his child so far away,\nwould not at first permit the young ambassador to catch a glimpse of her\nface, and sent her to church guarded by ten warriors, ten monks, and ten\nduennas.\n\nIn spite of all these safeguards, Herbart succeeded in seeing the princess,\nand after ascertaining that she was very beautiful, he secured a private\ninterview, and told her of his master's wish to call her wife. Hilde,\nwishing to know what kind of a man her suitor was, begged Herbart to draw\nhis portrait; but finding him unprepossessing, she encouraged Herbart to\ndeclare his own love, and soon eloped with him.\n\n[Sidenote: Dietrich in exile.] Dietrich had no time to mourn for the loss\nof this expected bride, however, for the imperial army suddenly marched\ninto the Amaling land, and invested the cities of Garden, Milan, Raben\n(Ravenna), and Mantua. Of course these successes were owing to treachery,\nand not to valor, and Dietrich, to obtain the release of Hildebrand and a\nfew other faithful followers, who had fallen into the enemy's hands, was\nforced to surrender Bern and go off into exile.\n\nAs he had thus sacrificed his kingdom to obtain their freedom, it is no\nwonder that these men proudly accompanied him into banishment. They went to\nSusat, where they were warmly welcomed by Etzel and Helche (Herka), his\nwife, who promised to care for Diether, Dietrich's brother, and have him\nbrought up with her own sons.\n\nThere were in those days many foreigners at Etzel's court, for he had\nsecured as hostages Hagen of Tronje, from the Burgundians; the Princess\nHildegunde, from the Franks; and Walther von Wasgenstein from the Duke of\nAquitaine.\n\n[Sidenote: Walther of Aquitaine and Hildegunde.] During the twenty years\nwhich Dietrich now spent in the land of the Huns fighting for Etzel, peace\nwas concluded with Burgundy and Hagen was allowed to return home. Walther\nof Aquitaine (or von Wasgenstein), whose adventures are related in a Latin\npoem of the eighth or ninth century, had fallen in love with Hildegunde.\nSeeing that Etzel, in spite of his promises to set them both free, had no\nreal intention of doing so, he and his ladylove cleverly effected their\nescape, and fled to the Wasgenstein (Vosges), where they paused in a cave\nto recruit their exhausted strength. Gunther, King of Burgundy, and Hagen\nof Tronje, his ally, hearing that Walther and Hildegunde were in the\nneighborhood, and desirous of obtaining the large sum of gold which they\nhad carried away from Etzel's court, set out to attack them, with a force\nof twelve picked men. But Hildegunde was watching while Walther slept, and,\nseeing them draw near, warned her lover. He, inspired by her presence, slew\nall except Gunther and Hagen, who beat a hasty retreat.\n\nThey did not return to Worms, however, but lay in ambush beside the road,\nand when Walther and Hildegunde passed by they attacked the former with\ngreat fury. In spite of the odds against him, the poem relates that Walther\ntriumphantly defeated them both, putting out one of Hagen's eyes and\ncutting off one of Gunther's hands and one of his feet.\n\nThe conflict ended, Hildegunde bound up the wounds of all three of the\ncombatants, who then sat down to share a meal together, indulged in much\njocularity about their wounds, and, parting amicably, sought their\nrespective homes. Walther and Hildegunde were next joyously welcomed by\ntheir relatives, duly married, and reigned together over Aquitaine for many\na long year.\n\nIn the mean while Dietrich had been engaged in warring against Waldemar,\nKing of Reussen (Russia and Poland), in behalf of Etzel, who, however,\nforsook him in a cowardly way, and left him in a besieged fortress, in the\nmidst of the enemy's land, with only a handful of men. In spite of all his\ncourage, Dietrich would have been forced to surrender had not R\u00fcdiger of\nBechlaren come to his rescue. By their combined efforts, Waldemar was\nslain, and his son was brought captive to Susat.\n\n[Sidenote: Dietrich and Queen Helche.] Dietrich and his noble prisoner were\nboth seriously wounded; but while Queen Helche herself tenderly cared for\nthe young prince of Reussen, who was her kinsman, Dietrich lay neglected\nand alone in a remote part of the palace. The young prince was no sooner\ncured, however, than he took advantage of Etzel's absence to escape,\nalthough Helche implored him not to do so, and assured him that she would\nhave to pay for his absence with her life.\n\nIn her distress Helche now thought of Dietrich, who, weak and wounded, rose\nfrom his couch, pursued the fugitive, overtook and slew him, and brought\nhis head back to her. The Queen of the Huns never forgot that she owed her\nlife to Dietrich, and ever after showed herself his faithful friend.\n\nTwenty years had passed since Dietrich left his native land ere he asked to\nreturn. Helche promised him the aid of her sons, Erp and Ortwine, whom she\narmed herself, and furnished one thousand men. Etzel, seeing this, also\noffered his aid, and Dietrich marched back to the Amaling land with all his\ncompanions, and with an army commanded by the two Hun princes and R\u00fcdiger's\nonly son, Nudung.\n\nThe van of the army took Garden and Padauwe (Padua), and with Dietrich at\nits head made a triumphant entrance into Bern. But, hearing that Ermenrich\nwas coming against him, Dietrich now went to meet him, and fought a\nterrible battle near Raben in 493. The hero of Bern distinguished himself,\nas usual, in this fray, until, hearing that Nudung, the two Hun princes,\nand his young brother, Diether, had all been slain, he became almost insane\nwith grief.\n\nIn his fury he wildly pursued Wittich, his former servant and Diether's\nmurderer, and would have slain him had the latter not saved himself by\nplunging into the sea. Here his ancestress, the swan maiden Wachilde, took\ncharge of him, and conveyed him to a place of safety. Then, although\nvictorious, Dietrich discovered that he had no longer enough men left to\nmaintain himself in his reconquered kingdom, and mournfully returned to\nSusat with the bodies of the slain.\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage of Dietrich and Herrat.] It was during his second\nsojourn at the court of the Huns that Dietrich married Herrat (Herand),\nPrincess of Transylvania, a relative of Helche. The latter died soon after\ntheir union. Three years later Etzel married Kriemhild, Siegfried's widow;\nand now occurred the fall of the brave Nibelung knights, recorded in the\n\"Nibelungenlied.\" Dietrich, as we have seen, took an active part in the\nclosing act of this tragedy, and joined in the final lament over the bodies\nof the slain.\n\nTen years after the terrible battle of Raben, Dietrich again resolved to\nmake an attempt to recover his kingdom, and set out with only a very few\nfollowers. As Ermenrich had succumbed, either under the swords of\nSwanhild's brothers, as already related, or by the poison secretly\nadministered by the traitor Sibich, the crown was now offered to Dietrich,\nwho was glad to accept it.\n\nAll the lost cities were gradually recovered, and Hildebrand, coming to\nGarden, encountered his son Hadubrand (Alebrand), who, having grown up\nduring his absence, did not recognize him, and challenged him to fight.\nMighty blows were exchanged between father and son, each of whom, in the\npauses of the combat, anxiously besought the other to reveal his name. It\nwas only when their strength was exhausted that Hadubrand revealed who he\nwas, and father and son, dropping their bloody swords, embraced with tears.\n\n    \"So spake Hadubrand,\n    Son of Hildebrand:\n    'Said unto me\n    Some of our people,\n    Shrewd and old,\n    Gone hence already,\n    That Hildebrand was my father called,--\n    I am called Hadubrand.\n    Erewhile he eastward went,\n    Escaping from Odoaker,\n    Thither with Theodoric\n    And his many men of battle,\n    Here he left in the land,\n    Lorn and lonely,\n    Bride in bower,\n    Bairn ungrown,\n    Having no heritage.'\"\n           _Song of Hildebrand_ (Bayard Taylor's tr.).\n\nHildebrand then rejoined his wife, Ute, and Dietrich, having slain the\ntraitor Sibich, who had made an attempt to usurp the throne, marched on to\nRomaburg (Rome), where he was crowned Emperor of the West, under the name\nof Theodoric. Some time after his accession, Dietrich lost his good wife\nHerrat, whom, according to some accounts, he mourned as long as he lived.\nAccording to others he married again, taking as wife Liebgart, widow of\nOrtnit.\n\nEtzel, according to this version, having been lured by Aldrian, Hagen's\nson, into the cave where the Nibelungen hoard was kept, was locked up\nthere, and died of hunger while contemplating the gold he coveted. His\nestates then became the property of Dietrich, who thus became undisputed\nruler of nearly all the southern part of Europe.\n\n[Sidenote: Dietrich and the coal-black steed.] In his old age Dietrich,\nweary of life and imbittered by its many trials, ceased to take pleasure in\nanything except the chase. One day, while he was bathing in a limpid\nstream, his servant came to tell him that there was a fine stag in sight.\nDietrich immediately called for his horse, and as it was not instantly\nforthcoming, he sprang upon a coal-black steed standing near, and was borne\nrapidly away.\n\nThe servant rode after as fast as possible, but could never overtake\nDietrich, who, the peasants aver, was spirited away, and now leads the Wild\nHunt upon the same sable steed, which he is doomed to ride until the\njudgment day.\n\nIn spite of this fabulous account, however, the tomb of Theodoric is still\nto be seen near Verona, but history demonstrates the impossibility of the\nstory of Dietrich von Bern, by proving that Theodoric was not born until\nafter the death of Attila, the unmistakeable original of the Etzel in the\n\"Heldenbuch.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE TOMB OF THEODORIC.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n\nCHARLEMAGNE AND HIS PALADINS.\n\n\nOne of the favorite heroes of early mediaeval literature is Charlemagne,\nwhose name is connected with countless romantic legends of more or less\nantique origin. The son of Pepin and Bertha the \"large footed,\" this\nmonarch took up his abode near the Rhine to repress the invasions of the\nnorthern barbarians, awe them into submission, and gradually induce them to\naccept the teachings of the missionaries he sent to convert them.\n\n[Sidenote: The champion of Christianity.] As Charlemagne destroyed the\nIrminsul, razed heathen temples and groves, abolished the Odinic and\nDruidic forms of worship, conquered the Lombards at the request of the\nPope, and defeated the Saracens in Spain, he naturally became the champion\nof Christianity in the chronicles of his day. All the heroic actions of his\npredecessors (such as Charles Martel) were soon attributed to him, and when\nthese legends were turned into popular epics, in the tenth and eleventh\ncenturies, he became the principal hero of France. The great deeds of his\npaladins, Roland, Oliver, Ogier the Dane, Renaud de Montauban, and others,\nalso became the favorite theme of the poets, and were soon translated into\nevery European tongue.\n\nThe Latin chronicle, falsely attributed to Bishop Turpin, Charlemagne's\nprime minister, but dating from 1095, is one of the oldest versions of\nCharlemagne's fabulous adventures now extant. It contains the mythical\naccount of the battle of Roncesvalles (Vale of Thorns), told with infinite\nrepetition and detail so as to give it an appearance of reality.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Chanson de Roland.] Einhard, the son-in-law and historian of\nCharlemagne, records a partial defeat in the Pyrenees in 777-778, and adds\nthat Hroudlandus was slain. From this bald statement arose the mediaeval\n\"Chanson de Roland,\" which was still sung at the battle of Hastings. The\nprobable author of the French metrical version is Turoldus; but the poem,\nnumbering originally four thousand lines, has gradually been lengthened,\nuntil now it includes more than forty thousand. There are early French,\nLatin, German, Italian, English, and Icelandic versions of the adventures\nof Roland, which in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were turned into\nprose, and formed the basis of the \"Romans de Chevalerie,\" which were\npopular for so many years. Numerous variations can, of course, be noted in\nthese tales, which have been worked over again by the Italian poets Ariosto\nand Boiardo, and even treated by Buchanan in our day.\n\nIt would be impossible to give in this work a complete synopsis of all the\n_chansons de gestes_ referring to Charlemagne and his paladins, so we will\ncontent ourselves with giving an abstract of the most noted ones and\ntelling the legends which are found in them, which have gradually been\nwoven around those famous names and connected with certain localities.\n\n[Sidenote: Charlemagne and the heavenly message.] We are told that\nCharlemagne, having built a beautiful new palace for his use, overlooking\nthe Rhine, was roused from his sleep during the first night he spent there\nby the touch of an angelic hand, and, to his utter surprise, thrice heard\nthe heavenly messenger bid him go forth and steal. Not daring to disobey,\nCharlemagne stole unnoticed out of the palace, saddled his steed, and,\narmed cap-a-pie, started out to fulfill the angelic command.\n\nHe had not gone far when he met an unknown knight, evidently bound on the\nsame errand. To challenge, lay his lance in rest, charge, and unhorse his\nopponent, was an easy matter for Charlemagne. When he learned that he had\ndisarmed Elbegast (Alberich), the notorious highwayman, he promised to let\nhim go free if he would only help him steal something that night.\n\nGuided by Elbegast, Charlemagne, still incognito, went to the castle of one\nof his ministers, and, thanks to Elbegast's cunning, penetrated unseen into\nhis bedroom. There, crouching in the dark, Charlemagne overheard him\nconfide to his wife a plot to murder the emperor on the morrow. Patiently\nbiding his time until they were sound asleep, Charlemagne picked up a\nworthless trifle, and noiselessly made his way out, returning home unseen.\nOn the morrow, profiting by the knowledge thus obtained, he cleverly\noutwitted the conspirators, whom he restored to favor only after they had\nsolemnly sworn future loyalty. As for Elbegast, he so admired the only man\nwho had ever succeeded in conquering him that he renounced his dishonest\nprofession to enter the emperor's service.\n\nIn gratitude for the heavenly vision vouchsafed him, the emperor named his\nnew palace Ingelheim (Home of the Angel), a name which the place has borne\never since. This thieving episode is often alluded to in the later romances\nof chivalry, where knights, called upon to justify their unlawful\nappropriation of another's goods, disrespectfully remind the emperor that\nhe too once went about as a thief.\n\n[Sidenote: Frastrada's magic ring.] When Charlemagne's third wife died, he\nmarried a beautiful Eastern princess by the name of Frastrada, who, aided\nby a magic ring, soon won his most devoted affection. The new queen,\nhowever, did not long enjoy her power, for a dangerous illness overtook\nher. When at the point of death, fearful lest her ring should be worn by\nanother while she was buried and forgotten, Frastrada slipped the magic\ncirclet into her mouth just before she breathed her last.\n\nSolemn preparations were made to bury her in the cathedral of Mayence\n(where a stone bearing her name could still be seen a few years ago), but\nthe emperor refused to part with the beloved body. Neglectful of all\nmatters of state, he remained in the mortuary chamber day after day. His\ntrusty adviser, Turpin, suspecting the presence of some mysterious\ntalisman, slipped into the room while the emperor, exhausted with fasting\nand weeping, was wrapped in sleep. After carefully searching for the magic\njewel, Turpin discovered it, at last, in the dead queen's mouth.\n\n    \"He searches with care, though with tremulous haste,\n    For the spell that bewitches the king;\n    And under her tongue, for security placed,\n    Its margin with mystical characters traced,\n    At length he discovers a ring.\"\n                                    SOUTHEY, _King Charlemain_.\n\n[Sidenote: Turpin and the magic ring.] To secure this ring and slip it on\nhis finger was but the affair of a moment; but just as Turpin was about to\nleave the room the emperor awoke. With a shuddering glance at the dead\nqueen, Charlemagne flung himself passionately upon the neck of his prime\nminister, declaring that he would never be quite inconsolable as long as he\nwas near.\n\nTaking advantage of the power thus secured by the possession of the magic\nring, Turpin led Charlemagne away, forced him to eat and drink, and after\nthe funeral induced him to resume the reins of the government. But he soon\nwearied of his master's constant protestations of undying affection, and\nardently longed to get rid of the ring, which, however, he dared neither to\nhide nor to give away, for fear it should fall into unscrupulous hands.\n\nAlthough advanced in years, Turpin was now forced to accompany Charlemagne\neverywhere, even on his hunting expeditions, and to share his tent. One\nmoonlight night the unhappy minister stole noiselessly out of the imperial\ntent, and wandered alone in the woods, cogitating how to dispose of the\nunlucky ring. As he walked thus he came to a glade in the forest, and saw a\ndeep pool, on whose mirrorlike surface the moonbeams softly played.\nSuddenly the thought struck him that the waters would soon close over and\nconceal the magic ring forever in their depths; and, drawing it from his\nfinger, he threw it into the pond. Turpin then retraced his steps, and soon\nfell asleep. On the morrow he was delighted to perceive that the spell was\nbroken, and that Charlemagne had returned to the old undemonstrative\nfriendship which had bound them for many a year.\n\n    \"Overjoy'd, the good prelate remember'd the spell,\n    And far in the lake flung the ring;\n    The waters closed round it; and, wondrous to tell,\n    Released from the cursed enchantment of hell,\n    His reason return'd to the king.\"\n                                    SOUTHEY, _King Charlemain_.\n\nCharlemagne, however, seemed unusually restless, and soon went out to hunt.\nIn the course of the day, having lost sight of his suite in the pursuit of\ngame, he came to the little glade, where, dismounting, he threw himself on\nthe grass beside the pool, declaring that he would fain linger there\nforever. The spot was so charming that he even gave orders, ere he left it\nthat night, that a palace should be erected there for his use; and this\nbuilding was the nucleus of his favorite capital, Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen).\n\n    \"But he built him a palace there close by the bay,\n    And there did he love to remain;\n    And the traveler who will, may behold at this day\n    A monument still in the ruins at Aix\n    Of the spell that possess'd Charlemain.\"\n                                      SOUTHEY, _King Charlemain_.\n\nAccording to tradition, Charlemagne had a sister by the name of Bertha,\nwho, against his will, married the brave young knight Milon. Rejected by\nthe emperor, and therefore scorned by all, the young couple lived in\nobscurity and poverty. They were very happy, however, for they loved each\nother dearly, and rejoiced in the beauty of their infant son Roland, who\neven in babyhood showed signs of uncommon courage and vigor.\n\n[Sidenote: Charlemagne and the boy Roland.] One version of the story\nrelates, however, that Milon perished in a flood, and that Bertha was\nalmost dying of hunger while her brother, a short distance away, was\nentertaining all his courtiers at his board. Little Roland, touched by his\nmother's condition, walked fearlessly into the banquet hall, boldly\nadvanced to the table, and carried away a dishful of meat. As the emperor\nseemed amused at the little lad's fearlessness, the servants did not dare\nto interfere, and Roland bore off the dish in triumph.\n\nA few minutes later he reentered the hall, and with equal coolness laid\nhands upon the emperor's cup, full of rich wine. Challenged by Charlemagne,\nthe child then boldly declared that he wanted the meat and wine for his\nmother, a lady of high degree. In answer to the emperor's bantering\nquestions, he declared that he was his mother's cupbearer, her page, and\nher gallant knight, which answers so amused Charlemagne that he sent for\nher. He then remorsefully recognized her, treated her with kindness as long\nas she lived, and took her son into his own service.\n\nAnother legend relates that Charlemagne, hearing that the robber knight of\nthe Ardennes had a priceless jewel set in his shield, called all his\nbravest noblemen together, and bade them sally forth separately, with only\na page as escort, in quest of the knight. Once found, they were to\nchallenge him in true knightly fashion, and at the point of the lance win\nthe jewel he wore. A day was appointed when, successful or not, the\ncourtiers were to return, and, beginning with the lowest in rank, were to\ngive a truthful account of their adventures while on the quest.\n\nAll the knights departed and scoured the forest of the Ardennes, each\nhoping to meet the robber knight and win the jewel. Among them was Milon,\naccompanied by his son Roland, a lad of fifteen, whom he had taken as page\nand armor-bearer. Milon had spent many days in vain search for the knight,\nwhen, exhausted by his long ride, he dismounted, removed his heavy armor,\nand lay down under a tree to sleep, bidding Roland keep close watch during\nhis slumbers.\n\n[Sidenote: Roland and the jewel.] Roland watched faithfully for a while;\nthen, fired by a desire to distinguish himself, he donned his father's\narmor, sprang on his steed, and rode into the forest in search of\nadventures. He had not gone very far when he saw a gigantic horseman coming\nto meet him, and, by the dazzling glitter of a large stone set in his\nshield, he recognized in him the invincible knight of the Ardennes. Afraid\nof nothing, however, the lad laid his lance in rest when challenged to\nfight, and charged so bravely that he unhorsed the knight. A fearful battle\non foot ensued, where many gallant blows were given and received; yet the\nvictory finally remained with Roland. He slew his adversary, and wrenching\nthe jewel from his shield, hid it in his breast. Then, riding rapidly back\nto his sleeping father, Roland laid aside the armor, and removed all traces\nof a bloody encounter. When Milon awoke he resumed the quest, and soon came\nupon the body of the dead knight. When he saw that another had won the\njewel, he was disappointed indeed, and sadly rode back to court, to be\npresent on the appointed day.\n\nCharlemagne, seated on his throne, bade the knights appear before him, and\nrelate their adventures. One after another strode up the hall, followed by\nan armor-bearer holding his shield, and all told of finding the knight\nslain and the jewel gone, and produced head, hands, feet, or some part of\nhis armor, in token of the truth of their story. Last of all came Milon,\nwith lowering brows, although Roland walked close behind him, proudly\nholding his shield, in the center of which the jewel shone radiant. Milon\nrelated his search, and reported that he too had found the giant knight\nslain and the jewel gone. A shout of incredulity made him turn his head.\nBut when he saw the jewel blazing on his shield he appeared so amazed that\nCharlemagne questioned Roland, and soon learned how it had been obtained.\nIn reward for his bravery in this encounter, Roland was knighted and\nallowed to take his place among his uncle's paladins, of which he soon\nbecame the most renowned.\n\nCharlemagne, according to the old _chanson de geste_ entitled \"Ogier le\nDanois,\" made war against the King of Denmark, defeated him, and received\nhis son Ogier (Olger or Holger Danske) as hostage. The young Danish prince\nwas favored by the fairies from the time of his birth, six of them having\nappeared to bring him gifts while he was in his cradle. The first five\npromised him every earthly bliss; while the sixth, Morgana, foretold that\nhe would never die, but would dwell with her in Avalon.\n\n[Sidenote: Ogier king of Denmark.] Ogier the Dane, owing to a violation of\nthe treaty on his father's part, was soon confined in the prison of St.\nOmer. There he beguiled the weariness of captivity by falling in love with,\nand secretly marrying, the governor's daughter Bellissande. Charlemagne,\nbeing about to depart for war, and wishing for the hero's help, released\nhim from captivity; and when Ogier returned again to France he heard that\nBellissande had borne him a son, and that, his father having died, he was\nnow the lawful king of Denmark.\n\nOgier the Dane then obtained permission to return to his native land, where\nhe spent several years, reigning so wisely that he was adored by all his\nsubjects. Such is the admiration of the Danes for this hero that the common\npeople still declare that he is either in Avalon, or sleeping in the vaults\nof Elsinore, and that he will awaken, like Frederick Barbarossa, to save\nhis country in the time of its direst need.\n\n    \"'Thou know'st it, peasant! I am not dead;\n    I come back to thee in my glory.\n    I am thy faithful helper in need,\n    As in Denmark's ancient story.'\"\n                                INGEMANN, _Holder Danske_.\n\nAfter some years spent in Denmark, Ogier returned to France, where his son,\nnow grown up, had a dispute with Prince Chariot [Ogier and Charlemagne.]\nover a game of chess. The dispute became so bitter that the prince used the\nchessboard as weapon, and killed his antagonist with it. Ogier, indignant\nat the murder, and unable to find redress at the hands of Charlemagne,\ninsulted him grossly, and fled to Didier (Desiderius), King of Lombardy,\nwith whom the Franks were then at feud.\n\nSeveral ancient poems represent Didier on his tower, anxiously watching the\napproach of the enemy, and questioning his guest as to the personal\nappearance of Charlemagne. These poems have been imitated by Longfellow in\none of his \"Tales of a Wayside Inn.\"\n\n    \"Olger the Dane, and Desiderio,\n    King of the Lombards, on a lofty tower\n    Stood gazing northward o'er the rolling plains,\n    League after league of harvests, to the foot\n    Of the snow-crested Alps, and saw approach\n    A mighty army, thronging all the roads\n    That led into the city. And the King\n    Said unto Olger, who had passed his youth\n    As hostage at the court of France, and knew\n    The Emperor's form and face, 'Is Charlemagne\n    Among that host?' And Olger answered, 'No.'\"\n                          LONGFELLOW, _Tales of a Wayside Inn_.\n\nThis poet, who has made this part of the legend familiar to all English\nreaders, then describes the vanguard of the army, the paladins, the clergy,\nall in full panoply, and the gradually increasing terror of the Lombard\nking, who, long before the emperor's approach, would fain have hidden\nhimself underground. Finally Charlemagne appears in iron mail, brandishing\naloft his invincible sword \"Joyeuse,\" and escorted by the main body of his\narmy, grim fighting men, at the mere sight of whom even Ogier the Dane is\nstruck with fear.\n\n    \"This at a single glance Olger the Dane\n    Saw from the tower; and, turning to the King,\n    Exclaimed in haste: 'Behold! this is the man\n    You looked for with such eagerness!' and then\n    Fell as one dead at Desiderio's feet.\"\n                         LONGFELLOW, _Tales of a Wayside Inn_.\n\nCharlemagne soon overpowered the Lombard king, and assumed the iron crown,\nwhile Ogier escaped from the castle in which he was besieged. Shortly\nafter, however, when asleep near a fountain, the Danish hero was surprised\nby Turpin. When led before Charlemagne, he obstinately refused all proffers\nof reconciliation, and insisted upon Charlot's death, until an angel from\nheaven forbade his asking the life of Charlemagne's son. Then, foregoing\nhis revenge and fully reinstated in the royal good graces, Ogier, according\nto a thirteenth-century epic by Adenet, successfully encountered a\nSaracenic giant, and in reward for his services received the hand of\nClarice, Princess of England, and became king of that realm.\n\n[Sidenote: Ogier in the East.] Weary of a peaceful existence, Ogier finally\nleft England, and journeyed to the East, where he successfully besieged\nAcre, Babylon and Jerusalem. On his way back to France, the ship was\nattracted by the famous lodestone rock which appears in many mediaeval\nromances, and, all his companions having perished, Ogier wandered alone\nashore. There he came to an adamantine castle, invisible by day, but\nradiant at night, where he was received by the famous horse Papillon, and\nsumptuously entertained. On the morrow, while wandering across a flowery\nmeadow, Ogier encountered Morgana the fay, who gave him a magic ring.\nAlthough Ogier was then a hundred years old, he no sooner put it on than he\nbecame young once more. Then, having donned the golden crown of oblivion,\nhe forgot his home, and joined Arthur, Oberon, Tristan, and Lancelot, with\nwhom he spent two hundred years in unchanged youth, enjoying constant\njousting and fighting.\n\nAt the end of that time, his crown having accidentally dropped off, Ogier\nremembered the past, and returned to France, riding on Papillon. He reached\nthe court during the reign of one of the Capetian kings. He was, of course,\ngreatly amazed at the changes which had taken place, but bravely helped to\ndefend Paris against an invasion from the Normans.\n\n[Sidenote: Ogier carried to Avalon.] Shortly after this, his magic ring was\nplayfully drawn from his finger and put upon her own by the Countess of\nSenlis, who, seeing that it restored her vanished youth, would fain have\nkept it always. She therefore sent thirty champions to wrest it from Ogier,\nwho, however, defeated them all, and triumphantly retained his ring. The\nking having died, Ogier next married the widowed queen, and would thus have\nbecome King of France had not Morgana the fay, jealous of his affections,\nspirited him away in the midst of the marriage ceremony and borne him off\nto the Isle of Avalon, whence he, like Arthur, will return only when his\ncountry needs him.\n\n[Sidenote: Roland and Oliver.] Another _chanson de geste_, a sort of\ncontinuation of \"Ogier le Danois,\" is called \"Meurvin,\" and purports to\ngive a faithful account of the adventures of a son of Ogier and Morgana, an\nancestor of Godfrey of Bouillon, King of Jerusalem. In \"Guerin de\nMontglave,\" we find that Charlemagne, having quarreled with the Duke of\nGenoa, proposed that each should send a champion to fight in his name.\nCharlemagne selected Roland, while the Duke of Genoa chose Oliver as his\ndefender. The battle, if we are to believe some versions of the legend,\ntook place on an island in the Rhone, and Durandana, Roland's sword, struck\nmany a spark from Altecler (Hautecler), the blade of Oliver. The two\nchampions were so well matched, and the blows were dealt with such equal\nstrength and courage, that \"giving a Roland for an Oliver\" has become a\nproverbial expression.\n\nAfter fighting all day, with intermissions to interchange boasts and\ntaunts, and to indulge in sundry discussions, neither had gained any\nadvantage. They would probably have continued the struggle indefinitely,\nhowever, had not an angel of the Lord interfered, and bidden them embrace\nand become fast friends. It was on this occasion, we are told, that\nCharlemagne, fearing for Roland when he saw the strength of Oliver, vowed a\npilgrimage to Jerusalem should his nephew escape alive.\n\n[Sidenote: Charlemagne's pilgrimage to Jerusalem.] The fulfillment of this\nvow is described in \"Galyen Rhetor\u00e9.\" Charlemagne and his peers reached\nJerusalem safely in disguise, but their anxiety to secure relics soon\nbetrayed their identity. The King of Jerusalem, Hugues, entertained them\nsumptuously, and, hoping to hear many praises of his hospitality, concealed\nhimself in their apartment at night. The eavesdropper, however, only heard\nthe vain talk of Charlemagne's peers, who, unable to sleep, beguiled the\nhours in making extraordinary boasts. Roland declared that he could blow\nhis horn Olivant loud enough to bring down the palace; Ogier, that he could\ncrumble the principal pillar to dust in his grasp; and Oliver, that he\ncould marry the princess in spite of her father.\n\nThe king, angry at hearing no praises of his wealth and hospitality,\ninsisted upon his guests fulfilling their boasts on the morrow, under\npenalty of death. He was satisfied, however, by the success of Oliver's\nundertaking, and the peers returned to France. Galyen, Oliver's son by\nHugues's daughter, followed them thither when he reached manhood, and\njoined his father in the valley of Roncesvalles, just in time to receive\nhis blessing ere he died. Then, having helped Charlemagne to avenge his\npeers, Galyen returned to Jerusalem, where he found his grandfather dead\nand his mother a captive. His first act was, of course, to free his mother,\nafter which he became king of Jerusalem, and his adventures came to an end.\n\nThe \"Chronicle\" of Turpin, whence the materials for many of the poems about\nRoland were taken, declares that Charlemagne, having conquered nearly the\nwhole of Europe, retired to his palace to seek repose. But one evening,\nwhile gazing at the stars, he saw a bright cluster move from the \"Friesian\nsea, by way of Germany and France, into Galicia.\" This prodigy, twice\nrepeated, greatly excited Charlemagne's wonder, and was explained to him by\nSt. James in a vision. The latter declared that the progress of the stars\nwas emblematic of the advance of the Christian army towards Spain, and\ntwice bade the emperor deliver his land from the hands of the Saracens.\n\n[Sidenote: Charlemagne in Spain.] Thus admonished, Charlemagne set out for\nSpain with a large army, and invested the city of Pamplona, which showed no\nsigns of surrender at the end of a two months' siege. Recourse to prayer on\nthe Christians' part, however, produced a great miracle, for the walls\ntottered and fell like those of Jericho. All the Saracens who embraced\nChristianity were spared, but the remainder were slain before the emperor\njourneyed to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela to pay his\ndevotions.\n\nA triumphant march through the country then ensued, and Charlemagne\nreturned to France, thinking the Saracens subdued. He had scarcely crossed\nthe border, however, when Aigolandus, one of the pagan monarchs, revolted,\nand soon recovered nearly all the territory his people had lost. When\nCharlemagne heard these tidings, he sent back an army, commanded by Milon,\nRoland's father, who perished gloriously in this campaign. The emperor\nspeedily followed his brother-in-law with great forces, and again besieged\nAigolandus in Pamplona. During the course of the siege the two rulers had\nan interview, which is described at length, and indulged in sundry\nreligious discussions, which, however, culminated in a resumption of\nhostilities. Several combats now took place, in which the various heroes\ngreatly distinguished themselves, the preference being generally given to\nRoland, who, if we are to believe the Italian poet, was as terrible in\nbattle as he was gentle in time of peace.\n\n    \"On stubborn foes he vengeance wreak'd,\n      And laid about him like a Tartar;\n    But if for mercy once they squeak'd,\n      He was the first to grant them quarter.\n    The battle won, of Roland's soul\n      Each milder virtue took possession;\n    To vanquished foes he o'er a bowl\n      His heart surrender'd at discretion.\"\n                  ARIOSTO, _Orlando Furioso_ (Dr. Burney's tr.).\n\nAigolandus being slain, and the feud against him thus successfully ended,\nCharlemagne carried the war into Navarre, where he was challenged by the\ngiant Ferracute (Ferragus) to meet him in single combat. Although the\nmetrical \"Romances\" describe Charlemagne as twenty feet in height, and\ndeclare that he slept in a hall, his bed surrounded by one hundred lighted\ntapers and one hundred knights with drawn swords, the emperor felt himself\nno match for the giant, whose personal appearance was as follows:--\n\n    \"So hard he was to-fond [proved],\n    That no dint of brond\n    No grieved him, I plight.\n    He had twenty men's strength;\n    And forty feet of length\n    Thilke [each] paynim had;\n    And four feet in the face\n    Y-meten [measured] on the place;\n    And fifteen in brede [breadth].\n    His nose was a foot and more;\n    His brow as bristles wore;\n    (He that saw it said)\n    He looked lothliche [loathly],\n    And was swart [black] as pitch;\n    Of him men might adrede!\"\n                      _Roland and Ferragus_.\n\n[Sidenote: Roland and Ferracute.] After convincing himself of the danger of\nmeeting this adversary, Charlemagne sent Ogier the Dane to fight him, and\nwith dismay saw his champion not only unhorsed, but borne away like a\nparcel under the giant's arm, fuming and kicking with impotent rage. Renaud\nde Montauban met Ferracute on the next day, with the same fate, as did\nseveral other champions. Finally Roland took the field, and although the\ngiant pulled him down from his horse, he continued the battle all day.\nSeeing that his sword Durandana had no effect upon Ferracute, Roland armed\nhimself with a club on the morrow.\n\nIn the pauses of the battle the combatants talked together, and Ferracute,\nrelying upon his adversary's keen sense of honor, even laid his head upon\nRoland's knee during their noonday rest. While resting thus, he revealed\nthat he was vulnerable in only one point of his body. When called upon by\nRoland to believe in Christianity, he declared that the doctrine of the\nTrinity was more than he could accept. Roland, in answer, demonstrated that\nan almond is but one fruit, although composed of rind, shell, and kernel;\nthat a harp is but one instrument, although it consists of wood, strings,\nand harmony. He also urged the threefold nature of the sun,--i.e., heat,\nlight, and splendor; and these arguments having satisfied Ferracute\nconcerning the Trinity, he removed his doubts concerning the incarnation by\nequally forcible reasoning. The giant, however, utterly refused to believe\nin the resurrection, although Roland, in support of his creed, quoted the\nmediaeval belief that a lion's cubs are born into the world dead, but come\nto life on the third day at the sound of their father's roar, or under the\nwarm breath of their mother. As Ferracute would not accept this doctrine,\nbut sprang to his feet proposing a continuation of the fight, the struggle\nwas renewed.\n\n    \"Quath Ferragus: 'Now ich wot\n     Your Christian law every grot;\n     Now we will fight;\n     Whether law better be,\n     Soon we shall y-see,\n     Long ere it be night.'\"\n                      _Roland and Ferragus_.\n\nRoland, weary with his previous efforts, almost succumbed beneath the\ngiant's blows, and in his distress had recourse to prayer. He was\nimmediately strengthened and comforted by an angelic vision and a promise\nof victory. Thus encouraged, he dealt Ferracute a deadly blow in the\nvulnerable spot. The giant fell, calling upon Mohammed, while Roland\nlaughed and the Christians triumphed.\n\nThe poem of Sir Otuel, in the Auchinleck manuscript, describes how Otuel, a\nnephew of Ferracute, his equal in size and strength, came to avenge his\ndeath, and, after a long battle with Roland, yielded to his theological\narguments, and was converted at the sight of a snowy dove alighting on\nCharlemagne's helmet in answer to prayer. He then became a devoted adherent\nof Charlemagne, and served him much in war.\n\nCharlemagne, having won Navarre, carried the war to the south of Spain,\nwhere the Saracens frightened the horses of his host by beating drums and\nwaving banners. Having suffered a partial defeat on account of this device,\nCharlemagne had the horses' ears stopped with wax, and their eyes\nblindfolded, before he resumed the battle. Thanks to this precaution, he\nsucceeded in conquering the Saracen army. The whole country had now been\nagain subdued, and Charlemagne was preparing to return to France, when he\nremembered that Marsiglio (Marsilius), a Saracen king, was still intrenched\nat Saragossa.\n\n    \"Carle, our most noble Emperor and King,\n    Hath tarried now full seven years in Spain,\n    Conqu'ring the highland regions to the sea;\n    No fortress stands before him unsubdued,\n    Nor wall, nor city left, to be destroyed,\n    Save Sarraguce, high on a mountain set.\n    There rules the King Marsile, who loves not God,\n    Apollo worships, and Mohammed serves;\n    Nor can he from his evil doom escape.\"\n                             _Chanson de Roland_ (Rabillon's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Battle of Roncesvalles.] The emperor wished to send an embassy\nto him to arrange the terms of peace, but discarded Roland's offer of\nservice because of his impetuosity. Then, following the advice of Naismes\nde Bavi\u00e8re, \"the Nestor of the Carolingian legends,\" he selected Ganelon,\nRoland's stepfather, as ambassador. This man was a traitor, and accepted a\nbribe from the Saracen king to betray Roland and the rear guard of the\nFrench army into his power. Advised by Ganelon, Charlemagne departed from\nSpain at the head of his army, leaving Roland to bring up the rear. The\nmain part of the army passed through the Pyrenees unmolested, but the rear\nguard of twenty thousand men, under Roland, was attacked by a superior\nforce of Saracens in ambush, as it was passing through the denies of\nRoncesvalles. A terrible encounter took place here.\n\n    \"The Count Roll\u00e0nd rides through the battlefield\n    And makes, with Durendal's keen blade in hand,\n    A mighty carnage of the Saracens.\n    Ah! had you then beheld the valiant Knight\n    Heap corse on corse; blood drenching all the ground;\n    His own arms, hauberk, all besmeared with gore,\n    And his good steed from neck to shoulder bleed!\"\n                                 _Chanson de Roland_ (Rabillon's tr.).\n\n[Illustration: THE DEATH OF ROLAND.--Keller.]\n\nAll the Christians were slain except Roland and a few knights, who\nsucceeded in repulsing the first onslaught of the painims. Roland then\nbound a Saracen captive to a tree, wrung from him a confession of the\ndastardly plot, and, discovering where Marsiglio was to be found, rushed\ninto the very midst of the Saracen army and slew him. The Saracens,\nterrified at the apparition of the hero, beat a hasty retreat, little\nsuspecting that their foe had received a mortal wound, and would shortly\nbreathe his last.\n\nDuring the first part of the battle, Roland, yielding to Oliver's entreaty,\nsounded a blast on his horn Olivant, which came even to Charlemagne's ear.\nFearing lest his nephew was calling for aid, Charlemagne would fain have\ngone back had he not been deterred by Ganelon, who assured him that Roland\nwas merely pursuing a stag.\n\n    \"Rolland raised to his lips the olifant,\n     Drew a deep breath, and blew with all his force.\n     High are the mountains, and from peak to peak\n     The sound re\u00ebchoes; thirty leagues away\n    'Twas heard by Carle and all his brave compeers.\n     Cried the king: 'Our men make battle!' Ganelon\n     Retorts in haste: 'If thus another dared\n     To speak, we should denounce it as a lie.'\n                      Aoi\"\n                     _Chanson de Roland_ (Rabillon's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Steed Veillantif slain.] Wounded and faint, Roland now slowly\ndragged himself to the entrance of the pass of Cisaire,--where the Basque\npeasants aver they have often seen his ghost, and heard the sound of his\nhorn,--and took leave of his faithful steed Veillantif, which he slew with\nhis own hand, to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy.\n\n    \"'Ah, nevermore, and nevermore, shall we to battle ride!\n    Ah, nevermore, and nevermore, shall we sweet comrades be!\n    And Veillintif, had I the heart to die forgetting thee?\n    To leave thy mighty heart to break, in slavery to the foe?\n    I had not rested in the grave, if it had ended so.\n    Ah, never shall we conquering ride, with banners bright unfurl'd,\n    A shining light 'mong lesser lights, a wonder to the world.'\"\n                                             BUCHANAN, _Death of Roland_.\n\n[Sidenote: Sword Durandana destroyed.] Then the hero gazed upon his sword\nDurandana, which had served him faithfully for so many years, and to\nprevent its falling into the hands of the pagans, he tried to dispose of it\nalso. According to varying accounts, he either sank it deep into a poisoned\nstream, where it is still supposed to lie, or, striking it against the\nmighty rocks, cleft them in two, without even dinting its bright blade.\n\n    \"And Roland thought: 'I surely die; but, ere I end,\n    Let me be sure that thou art ended too, my friend!\n    For should a heathen hand grasp thee when I am clay,\n    My ghost would grieve full sore until the judgment day!'\n    Then to the marble steps, under the tall, bare trees,\n    Trailing the mighty sword, he crawl'd on hands and knees,\n    And on the slimy stone he struck the blade with might--\n    The bright hilt, sounding, shook, the blade flash'd sparks of light;\n    Wildly again he struck, and his sick head went round,\n    Again there sparkled fire, again rang hollow sound;\n    Ten times he struck, and threw strange echoes down the glade,\n    Yet still unbroken, sparkling fire, glitter'd the peerless blade.\"\n                                               BUCHANAN, _Death of Roland_.\n\nFinally, despairing of disposing of it in any other way, the hero, strong\nin death, broke Durandana in his powerful hands and threw the shards away.\n\nHorse and sword were now disposed of, and the dying hero, summoning his\nlast strength, again put his marvelous horn Olivant to his lips, and blew\nsuch a resounding blast that the sound was heard far and near. The effort,\nhowever, was such that his temples burst, as he again sank fainting to the\nground.\n\nOne version of the story (Turpin's) relates that the blast brought, not\nCharlemagne, but the sole surviving knight, Theodoricus, who, as Roland had\nbeen shriven before the battle, merely heard his last prayer and reverently\nclosed his eyes. Then Turpin, while celebrating mass before Charlemagne,\nwas suddenly favored by a vision, in which he beheld a shrieking crew of\ndemons bearing Marsiglio's soul to hell, while an angelic host conveyed\nRoland's to heaven.\n\nTurpin immediately imparted these revelations to Charlemagne, who, knowing\nnow that his fears were not without foundation, hastened back to\nRoncesvalles. Here the scriptural miracle was repeated, for the sun stayed\nits course until the emperor had routed the Saracens and found the body of\nhis nephew. He pronounced a learned funeral discourse or lament over the\nhero's remains, which were then embalmed and conveyed to Blaive for\ninterment.\n\nAnother version relates that Bishop Turpin himself remained with Roland in\nthe rear, and, after hearing a general confession and granting full\nabsolution to all the heroes, fought beside them to the end. It was he who\nheard the last blast of Roland's horn instead of Theodoricus, and came to\nclose his eyes before he too expired.\n\nThe most celebrated of all the poems, however, the French epic \"Chanson de\nRoland,\" gives a different version and relates that, in stumbling over the\nbattlefield, Roland came across the body of his friend Oliver, over which\nhe uttered a touching lament.\n\n    \"'Alas for all thy valor, comrade dear!\n    Year after year, day after day, a life\n    Of love we led; ne'er didst thou wrong to me,\n    Nor I to thee. If death takes thee away,\n    My life is but a pain.'\"\n                           _Chanson de Roland_ (Rabillon's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Roland.] Slowly and painfully now--for his death was\nnear--Roland climbed up a slope, laid himself down under a pine tree, and\nplaced his sword and horn beneath him. Then, when he had breathed a last\nprayer, to commit his soul to God, he held up his glove in token of his\nsurrender.\n\n    \"His right hand glove he offered up to God;\n    Saint Gabriel took the glove.--With head reclined\n    Upon his arm, with hands devoutly joined,\n    He breathed his last. God sent his Cherubim,\n    Saint Raphael, _Saint Michiel del Peril._\n    The soul of Count Rolland to Paradise.\n                                        Aoi.\"\n                              _Chanson de Roland_ (Rabillon's tr.).\n\nIt was here, under the pine, that Charlemagne found his nephew ere he\nstarted out to punish the Saracens, as already related. Not far off lay the\nbodies of Ogier, Oliver, and Renaud, who, according to this version, were\nall among the slain.\n\n    \"Here endeth Otuel, Roland, and Olyvere,\n    And of the twelve dussypere,\n    That dieden in the batayle of Runcyvale:\n    Jesu lord, heaven king,\n    To his bliss hem and us both bring,\n    To liven withouten bale!\"\n                               _Sir Otuel_.\n\nOn his return to France Charlemagne suspected Ganelon of treachery, and had\nhim tried by twelve peers, who, unable to decide the question, bade him\nprove his innocence in single combat with Roland's squire, Thiedric.\nGanelon, taking advantage of the usual privilege to have his cause defended\nby a champion, selected Pinabel, the most famous swordsman of the time. In\nspite of all his valor, however, this champion was defeated, and the\n\"judgment of God\"--the term generally applied to those judicial\ncombats--was in favor of Thiedric. Ganelon, thus convicted of treason, was\nsentenced to be drawn and quartered, and was executed at Aix-la-Chapelle,\nin punishment for his sins.\n\n                \"Ere long for this he lost\n    Both limb and life, judged and condemned at Aix,\n    There to be hanged with thirty of his race\n    Who were not spared the punishment of death.\n                                              Aoi.\"\n                               _Chanson de Roland_ (Rabillon's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Roland and Aude.] Roland, having seen Aude, Oliver's sister, at\nthe siege of Viane, where she even fought against him, if the old epics are\nto be believed, had been so smitten with her charms that he declared that\nhe would marry none but her. When the siege was over, and lifelong\nfriendship had been sworn between Roland and Oliver after their memorable\nduel on an island in the Rhone, Roland was publicly betrothed to the\ncharming Aude. Before their nuptials could take place, however, he was\nforced to leave for Spain, where, as we have seen, he died an heroic death.\nThe sad news of his demise was brought to Paris, where the Lady Aude was\nawaiting him. When she heard that he would never return, she died of grief,\nand was buried at his side in the chapel of Blaive.\n\n    \"In Paris Lady Alda sits, Sir Roland's destined bride.\n    With her three hundred maidens, to tend her, at her side;\n    Alike their robes and sandals all, and the braid that binds their\n          hair,\n    And alike the meal, in their Lady's hall, the whole three hundred\n          share.\n    Around her, in her chair of state, they all their places hold;\n    A hundred weave the web of silk, and a hundred spin the gold,\n    And a hundred touch their gentle lutes to sooth that Lady's pain,\n    As she thinks on him that's far away with the host of Charlemagne.\n    Lulled by the sound, she sleeps, but soon she wakens with a\n          scream;\n    And, as her maidens gather round, she thus recounts her dream:\n    'I sat upon a desert shore, and from the mountain nigh,\n    Right toward me, I seemed to see a gentle falcon fly;\n    But close behind an eagle swooped, and struck that falcon down,\n    And with talons and beak he rent the bird, as he cowered beneath\n          my gown.'\n    The chief of her maidens smiled, and said; 'To me it doth not\n          seem\n    That the Lady Alda reads aright the boding of her dream.\n    Thou art the falcon, and thy knight is the eagle in his pride,\n    As he comes in triumph from the war, and pounces on his bride.'\n    The maiden laughed, but Alda sighed, and gravely shook her head.\n    'Full rich,' quoth she, 'shall thy guerdon be, if thou the truth hast\n           said.'\n    'Tis morn; her letters, stained with blood, the truth too plainly tell,\n    How, in the chase of Ronceval, Sir Roland fought and fell.\"\n                              _Lady Alda's Dreams_ (Sir Edmund Head's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Legend of Roland and Hildegarde.] A later legend, which has\ngiven rise to sundry poems, connects the name of Roland with one of the\nmost beautiful places on the Rhine. Popular tradition avers that he sought\nshelter one evening in the castle of Drachenfels, where he fell in love\nwith Hildegarde, the beautiful daughter of the Lord of Drachenfels. The\nsudden outbreak of the war in Spain forced him to bid farewell to his\nbetrothed, but he promised to return as soon as possible to celebrate their\nwedding. During the campaign, many stories of his courage came to\nHildegarde's ears, and finally, after a long silence, she heard that Roland\nhad perished at Roncesvalles.\n\nBroken-hearted, the fair young mourner spent her days in tears, and at last\nprevailed upon her father to allow her to enter the convent on the island\nof Nonnenworth, in the middle of the river, and within view of the gigantic\ncrag where the castle ruins can still be seen.\n\n    \"The castled crag of Drachenfels\n    Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,\n    Whose breast of water broadly swells\n    Between the banks which bear the vine,\n    And hills all rich with blossomed trees,\n    And fields which promise corn and wine,\n    And scattered cities crowning these,\n    Whose fair white walls along them shine.\"\n                                       BYRON, _Childe Harold_.\n\nWith pallid cheeks and tear-dimmed eyes, Hildegarde now spent her life\neither in her tiny cell or in the convent chapel, praying for the soul of\nher beloved, and longing that death might soon come to set her free to join\nhim. The legend relates, however, that Roland was not dead, as she\nsupposed, but had merely been sorely wounded at Roncesvalles.\n\nWhen sufficiently recovered to travel, Roland painfully made his way back\nto Drachenfels, where he presented himself late one evening, eagerly\ncalling for Hildegarde. A few moments later the joyful light left his eyes\nforever, for he learned that his beloved had taken irrevocable vows, and\nwas now the bride of Heaven.\n\nThat selfsame day Roland left the castle of Drachenfels, and riding to an\neminence overlooking the island of Nonnenw\u00f6rth, he gazed long and tearfully\nat a little light twinkling in one of the convent windows. As he could not\nbut suppose that it illumined Hildegarde's cell and lonely vigils, he\nwatched it all night, and when morning came he recognized his beloved's\nform in the long procession of nuns on their way to the chapel.\n\n[Sidenote: Rolandseck.] This view of the lady he loved seemed a slight\nconsolation to the hero, who built a retreat on this rock, which is known\nas Rolandseck. Here he spent his days in penance and prayer, gazing\nconstantly at the island at his feet, and the swift stream which parted him\nfrom Hildegarde.\n\nOne wintry day, many years after he had taken up his abode on the rocky\nheight, Roland missed the graceful form he loved, and heard, instead of the\nusual psalm, a dirge for the dead. Then he noticed that six of the nuns\nwere carrying a coffin, which they lowered into an open tomb.\n\nRoland's nameless fears were confirmed in the evening, when the convent\npriest visited him, and gently announced that Hildegarde was at rest.\nCalmly Roland listened to these tidings, begged the priest to hear his\nconfession as usual, and, when he had received absolution, expressed a\ndesire to be buried with his face turned toward the convent where\nHildegarde had lived and died.\n\nThe priest readily promised to observe this request, and departed. When he\ncame on the morrow, he found Roland dead. They buried him reverently on the\nvery spot which bears his name, with his face turned toward Nonnenw\u00f6rth,\nwhere Hildegarde lay at rest.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\n\nTHE SONS OF AYMON.\n\n\nThe different _chansons de gestes_ relating to Aymon and the necromancer\nMalagigi (Malagis), probably arose from popular ballads commemorating the\nstruggles of Charles the Bald and his feudatories. These ballads are of\ncourse as old as the events which they were intended to record, but the\n_chansons de gestes_ based upon them, and entitled \"Duolin de Mayence,\"\n\"Aymon, Son of Duolin de Mayence,\" \"Maugis,\" \"Rinaldo de Trebizonde,\" \"The\nFour Sons of Aymon,\" and \"Mabrian,\" are of much later date, and were\nparticularly admired during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.\n\nOne of the most famous of Charlemagne's peers was doubtless the noble Aymon\nof Dordogne; and when the war against the Avars in Hungary had been\nsuccessfully closed, owing to his bravery, his adherents besought the king\nto bestow upon this knight some reward. Charlemagne, whom many of these\nlater _chansons de gestes_ describe as mean and avaricious, refused to\ngrant any reward, declaring that were he to add still further to his\nvassal's already extensive territories, Aymon would soon be come more\npowerful than his sovereign.\n\n[Sidenote: War between Aymon and Charlemagne.] This unjust refusal\ndispleased Lord Hug of Dordogne, who had pleaded for his kinsman, so that\nhe ventured a retort, which so incensed the king that he slew him then and\nthere. Aymon, learning of the death of Lord Hug, and aware of the failure\nof his last embassy, haughtily withdrew to his own estates, whence he now\nbegan to wage war against Charlemagne.\n\nInstead of open battle, however, a sort of guerrilla warfare was carried\non, in which, thanks to his marvelous steed Bayard, which his cousin\nMalagigi, the necromancer, had brought him from hell, Aymon always won the\nadvantage. At the end of several years, however, Charlemagne collected a\nlarge host, and came to lay siege to the castle where Aymon had intrenched\nhimself with all his adherents.\n\n[Sidenote: Loss of the horse Bayard.] During that siege, Aymon awoke one\nmorning to find that his beloved steed had vanished. Malagigi, hearing him\nbewail his loss, bade him be of good cheer, promising to restore Bayard ere\nlong, although he would be obliged to go to Mount Vulcanus, the mouth of\nhell, to get him. Thus comforted, Aymon ceased to mourn, while Malagigi set\nto work to fulfill his promise. As a brisk wind was blowing from the castle\ntowards the camp, he flung upon the breeze some powdered hellebore, which\ncaused a violent sneezing throughout the army. Then, while his foes were\nwiping their streaming eyes, the necromancer, who had learned his black art\nin the famous school of Toledo, slipped through their ranks unseen, and\njourneyed on to Mount Vulcanus, where he encountered his Satanic Majesty.\n\nHis first act was to offer his services to Satan, who accepted them gladly,\nbidding him watch the steed Bayard, which he had stolen because he\npreferred riding a horse to sitting astride a storm cloud as usual. The\nnecromancer artfully pretended great anxiety to serve his new master, but\nhaving discovered just where Bayard was to be found, he made use of a\nsedative powder to lull Satan to sleep. Then, hastening to the angry steed,\nMalagigi made him tractable by whispering his master's name in his ear;\nand, springing on his back, rode swiftly away.\n\nSatan was awakened by the joyful whinny of the flying steed, and\nimmediately mounted upon a storm cloud and started in pursuit, hurling a\nred-hot thunderbolt at Malagigi to check his advance. But the necromancer\nmuttered a magic spell and held up his crucifix, and the bolt fell short;\nwhile the devil, losing his balance, fell to the earth, and thus lamed\nhimself permanently.\n\n[Sidenote: Bayard restored by Malagigi.] Count Aymon, in the mean while,\nhad been obliged to flee from his besieged castle, mounted upon a sorry\nsteed instead of his fleet-footed horse. When the enemy detected his\nflight, they set out in pursuit, tracking him by means of bloodhounds, and\nwere about to overtake and slay him when Malagigi suddenly appeared with\nBayard. To bound on the horse's back, draw his famous sword Flamberge,\nwhich had been made by the smith Wieland, and charge into the midst of his\nfoes, was the work of a few seconds. The result was that most of Aymon's\nfoes bit the dust, while he rode away unharmed, and gathering many\nfollowers, he proceeded to win back all the castles and fortresses he had\nlost.\n\nFrightened by Aymon's successes, Charlemagne finally sent Roland, his\nnephew and favorite, bidding him offer a rich ransom to atone for the\nmurder of Lord Hug, and instructing him to secure peace at any price. Aymon\nat first refused these overtures, but consented at last to cease the feud\nupon receipt of six times Lord Hug's weight in gold, and the hand of the\nking's sister, Aya, whom he had long loved.\n\nThese demands were granted, peace was concluded, and Aymon, having married\nAya, led her to the castle of Pierlepont, where they dwelt most happily\ntogether, and became the parents of four brave sons, Renaud, Alard,\nGuiscard, and Richard. Inactivity, however, was not enjoyable to an\ninveterate fighter like Aymon, so he soon left home to journey into Spain,\nwhere the bitter enmity between the Christians and the Moors would afford\nhim opportunity to fight to his heart's content.\n\nYears now passed by, during which Aymon covered himself with glory; for,\nmounted on Bayard, he was the foremost in every battle, and always struck\nterror into the hearts of his foes by the mere flash of his blade\nFlamberge. Thus he fought until his sons attained manhood, and Aya had long\nthought him dead, when a messenger came to Pierlepont, telling them that\nAymon lay ill in the Pyrenees, and wished to see his wife and his children\nonce more.\n\nIn answer to these summons Aya hastened southward, and found her husband\nold and worn, yet not so changed that she could not recognize him. Aymon,\nsick as he was, rejoiced at the sight of his manly sons. He gave the three\neldest the spoil he had won during those many years' warfare, and promised\nRenaud (Reinold) his horse and sword, if he could successfully mount and\nride the former.\n\n[Sidenote: Bayard won by Renaud.] Renaud, who was a skillful horseman,\nfancied the task very easy, and was somewhat surprised when his father's\nsteed caught him by the garments with his teeth, and tumbled him into the\nmanger. Undismayed by one failure, however, Renaud sprang boldly upon\nBayard; and, in spite of all the horse's efforts, kept his seat so well\nthat his father formally gave him the promised mount and sword.\n\nWhen restored to health by the tender nursing of his loving wife, Aymon\nreturned home with his family. Then, hearing that Charlemagne had returned\nfrom his coronation journey to Rome, and was about to celebrate the\nmajority of his heir, Aymon went to court with his four sons.\n\nDuring the tournament, held as usual on such festive occasions, Renaud\nunhorsed every opponent, and even defeated the prince. This roused the\nanger of Charlot, or Berthelot as he is called by some authorities, and\nmade him vow revenge. He soon discovered that Renaud was particularly\nattached to his brother Alard, so he resolved first to harm the latter.\nAdvised by the traitor Ganelon, Chariot challenged Alard to a game of\nchess, and insisted that the stakes should be the players' heads.\n\nThis proposal was very distasteful to Alard, for he knew that he would\nnever dare lay any claim to the prince's head even if he won the game, and\nfeared to lose his own if he failed to win. Compelled to accept the\nchallenge, however, Alard began the game, and played so well that he won\nfive times in succession. Then Charlot, angry at being so completely\ncheckmated, suddenly seized the board and struck his antagonist such a\ncruel blow that the blood began to flow. Alard, curbing his wrath, simply\nwithdrew; and it was only when Renaud questioned him very closely that he\ntold how the quarrel had occurred.\n\nRenaud was indignant at the insult offered his brother, and went to the\nemperor with his complaint. The umpires reluctantly testified that the\nprince had forfeited his head, so Renaud cut it off in the emperor's\npresence, and effected his escape with his father and brothers before any\none could lay hands upon them. Closely pursued by the imperial troops,\nAymon and his sons were soon brought to bay, and fought so bravely that\nthey slew many of their assailants. At last, seeing that all their horses\nexcept the incomparable Bayard had been slain, Renaud bade his brothers\nmount behind him, and they dashed away. The aged Aymon had already fallen\ninto the hands of the emperor's adviser, Turpin, who solemnly promised that\nno harm should befall him. But in spite of this oath, and of the\nremonstrances of all his peers, Charlemagne prepared to have Aymon publicly\nhanged, and consented to release him only upon condition that Aymon would\npromise to deliver his sons into the emperor's hands, were it ever in his\npower to do so.\n\nThe four young men, knowing their father safe, and unwilling to expose\ntheir mother to the unpleasant experiences of the siege which would have\nfollowed had they remained at Pierlepont, now journeyed southward, and\nentered the service of Saforet, King of the Moors. With him they won many\nvictories; but, seeing at the end of three years that this monarch had no\nintention of giving them the promised reward, they slew him, and offered\ntheir swords to Iwo, Prince of Tarasconia.\n\n[Sidenote: Fortress of Montauban.] Afraid of these warriors, yet wishing to\nbind them to him by indissoluble ties, Iwo gave Renaud his daughter\nClarissa in marriage, and helped him build an impregnable fortress at\nMontauban. This stronghold was scarcely finished when Charlemagne came up\nwith a great army to besiege it; but at the end of a year of fruitless\nattempts, the emperor reluctantly withdrew, leaving Montauban still in the\nhands of his enemies.\n\nSeven years had now elapsed since the four young men had seen their mother;\nand, anxious to embrace her once more, they went in pilgrims' robes to the\ncastle of Pierlepont. Here the chamberlain recognized them and betrayed\ntheir presence to Aymon, who, compelled by his oath, prepared to bind his\nfour sons fast and take them captive to his sovereign. The young men,\nhowever, defended themselves bravely, secured their father instead, and\nsent him in chains to Charlemagne. Unfortunately the monarch was much\nnearer Pierlepont at the time than the young men supposed. Hastening\nonward, he entered the castle before they had even become aware of his\napproach, and secured three of them. The fourth, Renaud, aided by his\nmother, escaped in pilgrim's garb, and returned to Montauban. Here he found\nBayard, and without pausing to rest, he rode straight to Paris to deliver\nhis brothers from the emperor's hands.\n\nOvercome by fatigue after this hasty journey, Renaud dismounted shortly\nbefore reaching Paris, and fell asleep. When he awoke he found that his\nsteed had vanished, and he reluctantly continued his journey on foot,\nbegging his way. He was joined on the way by his cousin Malagigi, who also\nwore a pilgrim's garb, and who promised to aid Renaud, not only in freeing\nhis brothers, but also in recovering Bayard.\n\n[Sidenote: Malagigi's stratagem.] Unnoticed, the beggars threaded their way\nthrough the city of Paris and came to the palace. There a great tournament\nwas to be held, and the emperor had promised to the victor of the day the\nfamous steed Bayard. To stimulate the knights to greater efforts by a view\nof the promised prize, the emperor bade a groom lead forth the renowned\nsteed. The horse seemed restive, but suddenly paused beside two beggars,\nwith a whinny of joy. The groom, little suspecting that the horse's real\nmaster was hidden under the travel-stained pilgrim's robe, laughingly\ncommented upon Bayard's bad taste. Then Malagigi, the second beggar,\nsuddenly cried aloud that his poor companion had been told that he would\nrecover from his lameness were he only once allowed to bestride the famous\nsteed. Anxious to witness a miracle, the emperor gave orders that the\nbeggar should be placed upon Bayard; and Renaud, after feigning to fall off\nthrough awkwardness, suddenly sat firmly upon his saddle, and dashed away\nbefore any one could stop him.\n\nAs for Malagigi, having wandered among the throng unheeded, he remained in\nParis until evening. Then, making his way into the prison by means of the\nnecromantic charm \"Abracadabra,\" which he continually repeated, he\ndelivered the other sons of Aymon from their chains. He next entered the\npalace of the sleeping emperor, spoke to him in his sleep, and forced him,\nunder hypnotic influence, to give up the scepter and crown, which he\ntriumphantly bore away.\n\n[Treachery of Iwo.] When Charlemagne awoke on the morrow, found his\nprisoners gone, and realized that what had seemed a dream was only too\ntrue, and that the insignia of royalty were gone, he was very angry indeed.\nMore than ever before he now longed to secure the sons of Aymon; so he\nbribed Iwo, with whom the brothers had taken refuge, to send them to him.\nClarissa suspected her father's treachery, and implored Renaud not to\nbelieve him; but the brave young hero, relying upon Iwo's promise, set out\nwithout arms to seek the emperor's pardon. On the way, however, the four\nsons of Aymon fell into an ambuscade, whence they would scarcely have\nescaped alive had not one of the brothers drawn from under his robe the\nweapons Clarissa had given him.\n\nThe emperor's warriors, afraid of the valor of these doughty brethren now\nthat they were armed, soon withdrew to a safe distance, whence they could\nwatch the young men and prevent their escape. Suddenly, however, Malagigi\ncame dashing up on Bayard, for Clarissa had warned him of his kinsmen's\ndanger, and implored him to go to their rescue. Renaud immediately mounted\nhis favorite steed, and brandishing Flamberge, which his uncle had brought\nhim, he charged so gallantly into the very midst of the imperial troops\nthat he soon put them to flight.\n\n[Sidenote: Renaud and Roland.] The emperor, baffled and angry, suspected\nthat Iwo had warned his son-in-law of the danger and provided him with\nweapons. In his wrath he had Iwo seized, and sentenced him to be hanged.\nBut Renaud, seeing Clarissa's tears, vowed that he would save his\nfather-in-law from such an ignominious death. With his usual bravery he\ncharged into the very midst of the executioners, and unhorsed the valiant\nchampion, Roland. During this encounter, Iwo effected his escape, and\nRenaud followed him, while Roland slowly picked himself up and prepared to\nfollow his antagonist and once more try his strength against him.\n\nOn the way to Montauban, Roland met Richard, one of the four brothers, whom\nhe carried captive to Charlemagne. The emperor immediately ordered the\nyoung knight to be hanged, and bade some of his most noble followers to see\nthe sentence executed. They one and all refused, however, declaring death\non the gallows too ignominious a punishment for a knight.\n\nThe discussions which ensued delayed the execution and enabled Malagigi to\nwarn Renaud of his brother's imminent peril. Mounted upon Bayard, Renaud\nrode straight to Montfaucon, accompanied by his two other brothers and a\nfew faithful men. There they camped under the gallows, to be at hand when\nthe guard came to hang the prisoner on the morrow. But Renaud and his\ncompanions slept so soundly that they would have been surprised had not the\nintelligent Bayard awakened his master by a very opportune kick. Springing\nto his feet, Renaud roused his companions, vaulted upon his steed, and\ncharged the guard. He soon delivered his captive brother and carried him\noff in triumph, after hanging the knight who had volunteered to act as\nexecutioner.\n\n[Sidenote: Montauban besieged by Charlemagne.] Charlemagne, still anxious\nto seize and punish these refractory subjects, now collected an army and\nbegan again to besiege the stronghold of Montauban. Occasional sallies and\na few bloody encounters were the only variations in the monotony of a\nseveral-years' siege. But finally the provisions of the besieged became\nvery scanty. Malagigi, who knew that a number of provision wagons were\nexpected, advised Renaud to make a bold sally and carry them off, while he,\nthe necromancer, dulled the senses of the imperial army by scattering one\nof his magic sleeping powders in the air. He had just begun his spell when\nOliver perceived him and, pouncing upon him, carried him off to the\nemperor's tent. Oliver, on the way thither, never once relinquished his\ngrasp, although the magician tried to make him do so by throwing a pinch of\nhellebore in his face.\n\nWhile sneezing loudly the paladin told how he had caught the magician, and\nthe emperor vowed that the rascal should be hanged on the very next day.\nWhen he heard this decree, Malagigi implored the emperor to give him a good\nmeal, since this was to be his last night on earth, pledging his word not\nto leave the camp without the emperor. This promise so reassured\nCharlemagne that he ordered a sumptuous repast, charging a few knights to\nwatch Malagigi, lest, after all, he should effect his escape. The meal\nover, the necromancer again had recourse to his magic art to plunge the\nwhole camp into a deep sleep. Then, proceeding unmolested to the imperial\ntent, he bore off the sleeping emperor to the gates of Montauban, which\nflew open at his well-known voice.\n\nCharlemagne, on awaking, was as surprised as dismayed to find himself in\nthe hands of his foes, who, however, when they saw his uneasiness,\ngallantly gave him his freedom without exacting any pledge or ransom in\nreturn. But when Malagigi heard of this foolhardy act of generosity, he\nburned up his papers, boxes, and bags, and, when asked why he acted thus,\nreplied that he was about to leave his mad young kinsmen to their own\ndevices, and take refuge in a hermitage, where he intended to spend the\nremainder of his life in repenting of his sins. Soon after this he\ndisappeared, and Aymon's sons, escaping secretly from Montauban just before\nit was forced to surrender, took refuge in a castle they owned in the\nArdennes.\n\nHere the emperor pursued them, and kept up the siege until Aya sought him,\nimploring him to forgive her sons and to cease persecuting them.\nCharlemagne yielded at last to her entreaties, and promised to grant the\nsons of Aymon full forgiveness provided the demoniacal steed Bayard were\ngiven over to him to be put to death. Aya hastened to Renaud to tell him\nthis joyful news, but when he declared that nothing would ever induce him\nto give up his faithful steed, she besought him not to sacrifice his\nbrothers, wife, and sons, out of love for his horse.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Bayard.] Thus adjured, Renaud, with breaking heart,\nfinally consented. The treaty was signed, and Bayard, with feet heavily\nweighted, was led to the middle of a bridge over the Seine, where the\nemperor had decreed that he should be drowned. At a given signal from\nCharlemagne the noble horse was pushed into the water; but, in spite of the\nweights on his feet, he rose to the surface twice, casting an agonized\nglance upon his master, who had been forced to come and witness his death.\nAya, seeing her son's grief, drew his head down upon her motherly bosom,\nand when Bayard rose once more and missed his beloved master's face among\nthe crowd, he sank beneath the waves with a groan of despair, and never\nrose again.\n\nRenaud, maddened by the needless cruelty of this act, now tore up the\ntreaty and flung it at the emperor's feet. He then broke his sword\nFlamberge and cast it into the Seine, declaring that he would never wield\nsuch a weapon again, and returned to Montauban alone and on foot. There he\nbade his wife and children farewell, after committing them to the loyal\nprotection of Roland. He then set out for the Holy Land, where he fought\nagainst the infidels, using a club as weapon, so as not to break his vow.\nThis evidently proved no less effective in his hands than the noted\nFlamberge, for he was offered the crown of Jerusalem in reward for his\nservices. As he had vowed to renounce all the pomps and vanities of the\nworld, Renaud passed the crown on to Godfrey of Bouillon. Then, returning\nhome, he found that Clarissa had died, after having been persecuted for\nyears by the unwelcome attentions of many suitors, who would fain have\npersuaded her that her husband was dead.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Renaud.] According to one version of the story, Renaud\ndied in a hermitage, in the odor of sanctity; but if we are to believe\nanother, he journeyed on to Cologne, where the cathedral was being built,\nand labored at it night and day. Exasperated by his constant activity,\nwhich put them all to shame, his fellow-laborers slew him and flung his\nbody into the Rhine. Strange to relate, however, his body was not carried\naway by the strong current, but lingered near the city, until it was\nbrought to land and interred by some pious people.\n\nMany miracles having taken place near the spot where he was buried, the\nemperor gave orders that his remains should be conveyed either to\nAix-la-Chapelle or to Paris. The body was therefore laid upon a cart, which\nmoved of its own accord to Dortmund, in Westphalia, where it stopped, and\nwhere a church was erected in honor of Renaud in 811. Here the saintly\nwarrior's remains were duly laid to rest, and the church in Dortmund still\nbears his name. A chapel in Cologne is also dedicated to him, and is\nsupposed to stand on the very spot where he was so treacherously slain\nafter his long and brilliant career.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\n\nHUON OF BORDEAUX.\n\n\nIt is supposed that this _chanson de geste_ was first composed in the\nthirteenth century; but the version which has come down to us must have\nbeen written shortly before the discovery of printing. Although this poem\nwas deservedly a favorite composition during the middle ages, no manuscript\ncopy of it now exists. Such was the admiration that it excited that Lord\nBerners translated it into English under Henry VIII. In modern times it has\nbeen the theme of Wieland's finest poem, and of one of Weber's operas, both\nof which works are known by the title of \"Oberon.\" It is from this work\nthat Shakespeare undoubtedly drew some of the principal characters for his\n\"Midsummer-Night's Dream,\" where Oberon, king of the fairies, plays no\nunimportant part.\n\n[Sidenote: Charlot slain by Huon.] The hero of this poem, Huon of Bordeaux,\nand his brother Girard, were on their way from Guienne to Paris to do\nhomage to Charlemagne for their estates. Charlot, the monarch's eldest son,\nwho bears a very unenviable reputation in all the mediaeval poems,\ntreacherously waylaid the brothers, intending to put them both to death. He\nattacked them separately; but, after slaying Girard, was himself slain by\nHuon, who, quite unconscious of the illustrious birth of his assailant,\ncalmly proceeded on his way.\n\nThe rumor of the prince's death soon followed Huon to court, and\nCharlemagne, incensed, vowed that he would never pardon him until he had\nproved his loyalty and repentance by journeying to Bagdad, where he was to\ncut off the head of the great bashaw, to kiss the Sultan's daughter, and\nwhence he was to bring back a lock of that mighty potentate's gray beard\nand four of his best teeth.\n\n    \"'Yet hear the terms; hear what no earthly power\n    Shall ever change!' He spoke, and wav'd below\n    His scepter, bent in anger o'er my brow.--\n    'Yes, thou may'st live;--but, instant, from this hour,\n    Away! in exile rove far nations o'er;\n    Thy foot accurs'd shall tread this soil no more,\n    Till thou, in due obedience to my will\n    Shalt, point by point, the word I speak fulfill;\n    Thou diest, if this unwrought thou touch thy native shore.\n\n    \"'Go hence to Bagdad; in high festal day\n    At his round table, when the caliph, plac'd\n    In stately pomp, with splendid emirs grac'd,\n    Enjoys the banquet rang'd in proud array,\n    Slay him who lies the monarch's left beside,\n    Dash from his headless trunk the purple tide.\n    Then to the right draw near; with courtly grace\n    The beauteous heiress of his throne embrace;\n    And thrice with public kiss salute her as thy bride.\n\n    \"'And while the caliph, at the monstrous scene,\n    Such as before ne'er shock'd a caliph's eyes,\n    Stares at thy confidence in mute surprise,\n    Then, as the Easterns wont, with lowly mien\n    Fall on the earth before his golden throne,\n    And gain (a trifle, proof of love alone)\n    That it may please him, gift of friend to friend,\n    Four of his grinders at my bidding send,\n    And of his beard a lock with silver hair o'ergrown.\"\n                                        WIELAND. _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Illustration: HUON BEFORE THE POPE--Gabriel Max.]\n\n[Sidenote: Huon's quest.] Huon regretfully, left his native land to begin\nthis apparently hopeless quest; and, after visiting his uncle, the Pope, in\nRome, he tried to secure heavenly assistance by a pilgrimage to the holy\nsepulcher. Then he set out for Babylon, or Bagdad, for, with the visual\nmediaeval scorn for geography, evinced in all the _chansons de gestes_,\nthese are considered interchangeable names for the same town. As the hero\nwas journeying towards his goal by way of the Red Sea, it will not greatly\nsurprise the modern reader to hear that he lost his way and came to a\npathless forest. Darkness soon overtook him, and Huon was blindly stumbling\nforward, leading his weary steed by the bridle, when he perceived a light,\ntoward which he directed his way.\n\n    \"Not long his step the winding way pursued,\n    When on his wistful gaze, to him beseems,\n    The light of distant fire delightful gleams.\n    His cheek flash'd crimson as the flame he view'd.\n    Half wild with hope and fear, he rushed to find\n    In these lone woods some glimpse of human kind,\n    And, ever and anon, at once the ray\n    Flash'd on his sight, then sunk at once away,\n    While rose and fell the path as hill and valley wind.\"\n                                         WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Sherasmin.] Huon at last reached a cave, and found a gigantic\nold man all covered with hair, which was his sole garment. After a few\nmoments' fruitless attempt at conversation in the language of the country,\nHuon impetuously spoke a few words in his mother tongue. Imagine his\nsurprise when the uncouth inhabitant of the woods answered him fluently,\nand when he discovered, after a few rapid questions, that the man was\nSherasmin (Gerasmes), an old servant of his father's! This old man had\nescaped from the hands of his Saracen captors, and had taken refuge in\nthese woods, where he had already dwelt many years. After relating his\nadventures, Huon entreated Sherasmin to point out the nearest way to\nBagdad, and learned with surprise that there were two roads, one very long\nand comparatively safe, even for an inexperienced traveler, and the other\nfar shorter, but leading through an enchanted forest, where countless\ndangers awaited the venturesome traveler.\n\nThe young knight of course decided to travel along the most perilous way;\nand, accompanied by Sherasmin, who offered his services as guide, he set\nout early upon the morrow to continue his quest. On the fourth day of their\njourney they saw a Saracen struggling single-handed against a band of\nArabs, whom Huon soon put to flight with a few well directed strokes from\nhis mighty sword.\n\nAfter resting a few moments, Huon bade Sherasmin lead the way into the\nneighboring forest, although his guide and mentor again strove to dissuade\nhim from crossing it by explaining that the forest was haunted by a goblin\nwho could change men into beasts. The hero, who was on his way to insult\nthe proudest ruler on earth, was not to be deterred by a goblin; and as\nSherasmin still refused to enter first, Huon plunged boldly into the\nenchanted forest. Sherasmin followed him reluctantly, finding cause for\nalarm in the very silence of the dense shade, and timorously glancing from\nside to side in the gloomy recesses, where strange forms seemed to glide\nnoiselessly about.\n\n\n    \"Meanwhile the wand'ring travelers onward go\n    Unawares within the circuit of a wood,\n    Whose mazy windings at each step renew'd,\n    In many a serpent-fold, twin'd to and fro,\n    So that our pair to lose themselves were fain.\"\n                                 WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Meeting with Oberon.] The travelers lost their way entirely as\nthey penetrated farther into the forest, and they came at last to a little\nglade, where, resting under the spreading branches of a mighty oak, they\nwere favored with the vision of a castle. Its golden portals opened wide to\npermit of the egress of Oberon, king of the fairies, the son of Julius\nCaesar and Morgana the fay. He came to them in the radiant guise of the god\nof love, sitting in a chariot of silver, drawn by leopards.\n\nSherasmin, terrified at the appearance of this radiant creature, and under\nthe influence of wild, unreasoning fear, seized the bridle of his master's\nsteed and dragged him into the midst of the forest, in spite of all his\nremonstrances. At last he paused, out of breath, and thought himself safe\nfrom further pursuit; but he was soon made aware of the goblin's wrath by\nthe sudden outbreak of a frightful storm.\n\n\n    \"A tempest, wing'd with lightning, storm, and rain,\n    O'ertakes our pair: around them midnight throws\n    Darkness that hides the world: it peels, cracks, blows,\n    As if the uprooted globe would split in twain;\n    The elements in wild confusion flung,\n    Each warr'd with each, as fierce from chaos sprung.\n    Yet heard from time to time amid the storm,\n    The gentle whisper of th' a\u00ebrial form\n    Breath'd forth a lovely tone that died the gales among.\"\n                                        WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nAll Sherasmin's efforts to escape from the spirit of the forest had been in\nvain. Oberon's magic horn had called forth the raging tempest, and his\npower suddenly stayed its fury as Huon and his companion overtook a company\nof monks and nuns. These holy people had been celebrating a festival by a\npicnic, and were now hastening home, drenched, bedraggled, and in a sorry\nplight. They had scarcely reached the convent yard, however, where\nSherasmin fancied all would be quite safe from further enchantment, when\nOberon suddenly appeared in their midst like a brilliant meteor.\n\n    \"At once the storm is fled; serenely mild\n    Heav'n smiles around, bright rays the sky adorn,\n    While beauteous as an angel newly born\n    Beams in the roseate dayspring, glow'd the child.\n    A lily stalk his graceful limbs sustain'd,\n    Round his smooth neck an ivory horn was chain'd;\n    Yet lovely as he was, on all around\n    Strange horror stole, for stern the fairy frown'd,\n    And o'er each sadden'd charm a sullen anger reign'd.\"\n                                  WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Oberon's aid promised.] The displeasure of the king of the\nfairies had been roused by Huon and Sherasmin's discourteous flight, but he\nmerely vented his anger and showed his power by breathing a soft strain on\nhis magic horn. At the same moment, monks, nuns, and Sherasmin, forgetting\ntheir age and calling, began to dance in the wildest abandon. Huon alone\nremained uninfluenced by the music, for he had had no wish to avoid an\nencounter with Oberon.\n\nThe king of the fairies now revealed to Huon that as his life had been pure\nand his soul true, he would help him in his quest. Then, at a wave from the\nlily wand the magic music ceased, and the charm was broken. Sherasmin was\ngraciously forgiven by Oberon, who, seeing the old man well-nigh exhausted,\noffered him a golden beaker of wine, bidding him drink without fear. But\nSherasmin was of a suspicious nature, and it was only when he found that\nthe draught had greatly refreshed him that he completely dismissed his\nfears.\n\n[Sidenote: The magic horn.] After informing Huon that he was fully aware of\nthe peculiar nature of his quest, Oberon gave him the golden beaker,\nassuring him that it would always be full of the richest wine for the\nvirtuous, but would burn the evil doer with a devouring fire. He also\nbestowed his magic horn upon him, telling him that a gentle blast would\ncause all the hearers to dance, while a loud one would bring to his aid the\nking of the fairies himself.\n\n    \"Does but its snail-like spiral hollow sing,\n    A lovely note soft swell'd with gentle breath,\n    Though thousand warriors threaten instant death,\n    And with advancing weapons round enring;\n    Then, as thou late hast seen, in restless dance\n    All, all must spin, and every sword and lance\n    Fall with th' exhausted warriors to the ground.\n    But if thou peal it with impatient sound,\n    I at thy call appear, more swift than lightning glance.\"\n                                     WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nAnother wave of his lily wand, and Oberon disappeared, leaving a subtle\nfragrance behind him; and had it not been for the golden beaker and the\nivory horn which he still held, Huon might have been tempted to consider\nthe whole occurrence a dream.\n\nThe journey to Bagdad was now resumed in a more hopeful spirit; and when\nthe travelers reached Tourmont they found that it was governed by one of\nHuon's uncles, who, captured in his youth by the Saracens, had turned\nMussulman, and had gradually risen to the highest dignity. Seeing Huon\nrefresh some of the Christians of his household with a draught of wine from\nthe magic cup, he asked to be allowed to drink from it too. He had no\nsooner taken hold of it, however, than he was unmercifully burned, for he\nwas a renegade, and the magic cup refreshed only the true believers.\n\nIncensed at what he fancied a deliberate insult, the governor of Tourmont\nplanned to slay Huon at a great banquet. But the young hero defended\nhimself bravely, and, after slaying sundry assailants, disposed of the\nremainder by breathing a soft note upon his magic horn, and setting them\nall to dancing wildly, until they sank breathless and exhausted upon their\ndivans.\n\n[Sidenote: The giant Angoulaffre.] As Huon had taken advantage of the spell\nto depart and continue his journey, he soon reached the castle of the giant\nAngoulaffre. The latter had stolen from Oberon a magic ring which made the\nwearer invulnerable, and thus suffered him to commit countless crimes with\nimpunity. When Huon came near the castle he met an unfortunate knight who\nimformed him that the giant detained his promised bride captive, together\nwith several other helpless damsels.\n\nLike a true knight errant, Huon vowed to deliver these helpless ladies,\nand, in spite of the armed guards at every doorway, he passed unmolested\ninto Angoulaffre's chamber. There he found the giant plunged in a lethargy,\nbut was rapturously welcomed by the knight's fair betrothed, who had long\nsighed for a deliverer. In a few hurried sentences she told him that her\ncaptor constantly forced his unwelcome attentions upon her; but that, owing\nto the protection of the Virgin, a trance overtook him and made him\nhelpless whenever he tried to force her inclinations and take her to wife.\n\n    \"'As oft the hateful battle he renews,\n    As oft the miracle his force subdues;\n    The ring no virtue boasts whene'er that sleep assails.'\"\n                                     WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nPrompted by this fair princess, whose name was Angela, Huon secured the\nring, and donned a magic hauberk hanging near. But, as he scorned to take\nany further advantage of a sleeping foe, he patiently awaited the giant's\nawakening to engage in one of those combats which the mediaeval poets loved\nto describe.\n\n[Sidenote: Angela and Alexis.] Of course Huon was victorious, and after\nslaying Angoulaffre, he restored the fair Angela to her lover, Alexis, and\ngave a great banquet, which was attended by the fifty rescued damsels, and\nby fifty knights who had come to help Alexis. Although this gay company\nwould fain have had him remain with them, Huon traveled on. When too\nexhausted to continue his way, he again rested under a tree, where Oberon\ncaused a tent to be raised by invisible hands. Here Huon had a wonderful\ndream, in which he beheld his future ladylove, and was warned of some of\nthe perils which still awaited him before he could claim her as his own.\n\nThe journey was then resumed, and when they reached the banks of the Red\nSea, Oberon sent one of his spirits, Malebron, to carry them safely over.\nThey traveled through burning wastes of sand, refreshed and strengthened by\noccasional draughts from the magic goblet, and came at last to a forest,\nwhere they saw a Saracen about to succumb beneath the attack of a monstrous\nlion. Huon immediately flew to his rescue, slew the lion, and, having drunk\ndeeply from his magic cup, handed it to the Saracen, on whose lips the\nrefreshing wine turned to liquid flame.\n\n    \"With evil eye, from Huon's courteous hand,\n    Filled to the brim, the heathen takes the bowl--\n    Back from his lip th' indignant bubbles roll!\n    The spring is dried, and hot as fiery brand,\n    Proof of internal guilt, the metal glows.\n    Far from his grasp the wretch the goblet throws,\n    Raves, roars, and stamps.\"\n                           WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nWith a blasphemous exclamation the Saracen flung aside the cup, and seeing\nthat his own steed had been slain by the lion, he sprang unceremoniously\nupon Huon's horse, and rode rapidly away.\n\n[Sidenote: Princess Rezia.] As there was but one mount left for them both,\nHuon and Sherasmin were now obliged to proceed more slowly to Bagdad, where\nthey found every hostelry full, as the people were all coming thither to\nwitness the approaching nuptials of the princess, Rezia (Esclamonde), and\nBabican, King of Hyrcania. Huon and Sherasmin, after a long search, finally\nfound entertainment in a little hut, where an old woman, the mother of the\nprincess's attendant, entertained them by relating that the princess was\nvery reluctant to marry. She also told them that Rezia had lately been\ntroubled by a dream, in which she had seen herself in the guise of a hind\nand pursued through a pathless forest by Babican. In this dream she was\nsaved and restored to her former shape by a radiant little creature, who\nrode in a glistening silver car, drawn by leopards. He was accompanied by a\nfair-haired knight, whom he presented to her as her future bridegroom.\n\n    \"The shadow flies; but from her heart again\n     He never fades--the youth with golden hair;\n     Eternally his image hovers there,\n     Exhaustless source of sweetly pensive pain,\n     In nightly visions, and in daydreams shown.\"\n                           WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nHuon listened in breathless rapture, for he now felt assured that the\nprincess Rezia was the radiant creature he had seen in his dream, and that\nOberon intended them for each other. He therefore assured the old woman\nthat the princess should never marry the detested Babican. Then, although\nSherasmin pointed out to him that the way to a lady's favor seldom consists\nin cutting off the head of her intended bridegroom, depriving her father of\nfour teeth and a lock of his beard, and kissing her without the usual\npreliminary of \"by your leave,\" the young hero persisted in his resolution\nto visit the palace on the morrow.\n\n[Sidenote: Oberon again to the rescue.] That selfsame night, Huon and Rezia\nwere again visited by sweet dreams, in which Oberon, their guardian spirit,\npromised them his aid. While the princess was arraying herself for her\nnuptials on the morrow, the old woman rushed into her apartment and\nannounced that a fair-haired knight, evidently the promised deliverer, had\nslept in her humble dwelling the night before. Comforted by these tidings,\nRezia made a triumphant entrance into the palace hall, where her father,\nthe bridegroom, and all the principal dignitaries of the court, awaited her\nappearance.\n\n    \"Emirs and viziers, all the courtly crowd\n    Meantime attendant at the sultan's call,\n    With festal splendor grace the nuptial hall.\n    The banquet waits, the cymbals clang aloud.\n    The gray-beard caliph from his golden door\n    Stalks mid the slaves that fall his path before;\n    Behind, of stately gesture, proud to view,\n    The Druse prince, though somewhat pale of hue,\n    Comes as a bridegroom deck'd with jewels blazing o'er.\"\n                                    WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nIn the mean while Huon, awaking at early dawn, found a complete suit of\nSaracenic apparel at his bedside. He donned it joyfully, entered the palace\nunchallenged, and passed into the banquet hall, where he perceived the\ngray-bearded caliph, and recognized in the bridegroom at his left the\nSaracen whom he had delivered from the lion, and who had so discourteously\nstolen his horse.\n\n[Sidenote: Huon's success.] One stride forward, a flash of his curved\nscimitar, and the first part of Charlemagne's order was fulfilled, for the\nSaracen's head rolled to the ground. The sudden movement caused Huon's\nturban to fall off, however, and the princess, seated at the caliph's\nright, gazed spellbound upon the knight, whose golden locks fell in rich\ncurls about his shoulders.\n\nThere are several widely different versions of this part of the story. The\nmost popular, however, states that Huon, taking advantage of the first\nmoments of surprise, kissed Rezia thrice, slipping on her finger, in sign\nof betrothal, the magic ring which he had taken from Angoulaffre. Then,\nseeing the caliph's guards about to fall upon him, he gently breathed soft\nmusic on his magic horn, and set caliph and court a-dancing.\n\n    \"The whole divan, one swimming circle glides\n    Swift without stop: the old bashaws click time,\n    As if on polish'd ice; in trance sublime\n    The iman hoar with some spruce courtier slides.\n    Nor rank nor age from capering refrain;\n    Nor can the king his royal foot restrain!\n    He too must reel amid the frolic row,\n    Grasp the grand vizier by his beard of snow,\n    And teach the aged man once more to bound amain!\"\n                               WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Flight of Rezia.] While they were thus occupied, Huon conducted\nthe willing Rezia to the door, where Sherasmin was waiting for them with\nfleet steeds, and with Fatima, the princess's favorite attendant. While\nSherasmin helped the ladies to mount, Huon hastened back to the palace\nhall, and found that the exhausted caliph had sunk upon a divan. With the\nprescribed ceremonies, our hero politely craved a lock of his beard and\nfour of his teeth as a present for Charlemagne. This impudent request so\nincensed the caliph that he vociferated orders to his guards to slay the\nstranger. Huon was now forced to defend himself with a curtain pole and a\ngolden bowl, until, needing aid, he suddenly blew a resounding peal upon\nhis magic horn. The earth shook, the palace rocked, Oberon appeared in the\nmidst of rolling thunder and flashing lightning, and with a wave of his\nlily wand plunged caliph and people into a deep sleep. Then he placed his\nsilver car at Huon's disposal, to bear him and his bride and attendants to\nAscalon, where a ship was waiting to take them back to France.\n\n       \"'So haste, thou matchless pair!\n    On wings of love, my car, that cuts the air,\n    Shall waft you high above terrestrial sight,\n    And place, ere morning melt the shades of night,\n    On Askalon's far shore, beneath my guardian care.'\"\n                                WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Oberon's warning.] When Huon and Rezia were about to embark at\nAscalon, Oberon appeared. He claimed his chariot, which had brought them\nthither, and gave the knight a golden and jeweled casket, which contained\nthe teeth of the caliph and a lock of his beard. One last test of Huon's\nloyalty was required, however; for Oberon, at parting, warned him to make\nno attempt to claim Rezia as his wife until their union had been blessed at\nRome by the Pope.\n\n    \"'And deep, O Huon! grave it in your brain!\n    Till good Sylvester, pious father, sheds\n    Heaven's holy consecration on your heads,\n    As brother and as sister chaste remain!\n    Oh, may ye not, with inauspicious haste,\n    The fruit forbidden prematurely taste!\n    Know, if ye rashly venture ere the time,\n    That Oberon, in vengeance of your crime,\n    Leaves you, without a friend, on life's deserted waste!'\"\n                                    WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nThe first part of the journey was safely accomplished; but when they\nstopped at Lepanto, on the way, Huon insisted upon his mentor, Sherasmin,\ntaking passage on another vessel, which sailed direct to France, that he\nmight hasten ahead, lay the golden casket at Charlemagne's feet, and\nannounce Huon's coming with his Oriental bride.\n\n[Illustration: HUON AND AMANDA LEAP OVERBOARD.--Gabriel Max.]\n\nWhen Sherasmin had reluctantly departed, and they were again on the high\nseas, Huon expounded the Christian faith to Rezia, who not only was\nconverted, but was also baptized by a priest on board. He gave her the\nChristian name of Amanda, in exchange for her pagan name of Rezia or\nEsclarmonde. This same priest also consecrated their marriage; and while\nHuon intended to await the Pope's blessing ere he claimed Amanda as his\nwife, his good resolutions were soon forgotten, and the last injunction of\nOberon disregarded.\n\n[Sidenote: Disobedience and punishment.] This disobedience was immediately\npunished, for a frightful tempest suddenly arose, threatening to destroy\nthe vessel and all on board. The sailors, full of superstitious fears, cast\nlots to discover who should be sacrificed to allay the fury of the storm.\nWhen the choice fell upon Huon, Amanda flung herself with him into the\ntumultuous waves. As the lovers vanished overboard the storm was suddenly\nappeased, and, instead of drowning together, Huon and Amanda, by the magic\nof the ring she wore, drifted to a volcanic island, where they almost\nperished from hunger and thirst.\n\nMuch search among the rocks was finally rewarded by the discovery of some\ndates, which were particularly welcome, as the lovers had been bitterly\ndeluded by the sight of some apples of Sodom. The fruit, however, was soon\nexhausted, and, after untold exertions, Huon made his way over the\nmountains to a fertile valley, the retreat of Titania, queen of the\nfairies, who had quarreled with Oberon, and who was waiting here until\nrecalled to fairyland.\n\nThe only visible inhabitant of the valley, however, was a hermit, who\nwelcomed Huon, and showed him a short and convenient way to bring Amanda\nthither. After listening attentively to the story of Huon's adventures, the\nhermit bade him endeavor to recover the favor of Oberon by voluntarily\nliving apart from his wife, and leading a life of toil and abstinence.\n\n    \"'Blest,' says the hermit, 'blest the man whom fate\n    Guides with strict hand, but not unfriendly aim!\n    How blest! whose slightest fault is doom'd to shame!\n    Him, trained to virtue, purest joys await,--\n    Earth's purest joys reward each trying pain!\n    Think not the fairy will for aye remain\n    Inexorable foe to hearts like thine:\n    Still o'er you hangs his viewless hand divine;\n    Do but deserve his grace, and ye his grace obtain.\"\n                         WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Huon's penance.] Huon was ready and willing to undergo any\npenance which would enable him to deliver his beloved Amanda from the isle,\nand after building her a little hut, within call of the cell he occupied\nwith the hermit, he spent all his time in tilling the soil for their\nsustenance, and in listening to the teachings of the holy man.\n\nTime passed on. One day Amanda restlessly wandered a little way up the\nmountain, and fell asleep in a lovely grotto, which she now for the first\ntime discovered. When she awoke from a blissful dream she found herself\nclasping her new-born babe, who, during her slumbers, had been cared for by\nthe fairies. This child, Huonet, was, of course, a great comfort to Amanda,\nwho was devoted to him.\n\nWhen the babe was a little more than a year old the aged monk died. Huon\nand Amanda, despairing of release from the desert island, were weary of\nliving apart; and Titania, who foresaw that Oberon would send new\nmisfortunes upon them to punish them in case they did not stand the second\ntest, carried little Huonet off to fairyland, lest he should suffer for his\nparents' sins.\n\n[Sidenote: Amanda and the pirates.] Huon and Amanda, in the mean time,\nsearched frantically for the missing babe, fancying it had wandered off\ninto the woods. During their search they became separated, and Amanda,\nwhile walking along the seashore, was seized by pirates. They intended to\ncarry her away and sell her as a slave to the Sultan. Huon heard her cries\nof distress, and rushed to her rescue; but in spite of his utmost efforts\nto join her he saw her borne away to the waiting vessel, while he was bound\nto a tree in the woods, and left there to die.\n\n    \"Deep in the wood, at distance from the shore,\n    They drag their victim, that his loudest word\n    Pour'd on the desert air may pass unheard.\n    Then bind the wretch, and fasten o'er and o'er\n    Arm, leg, and neck, and shoulders, to a tree.\n    To heaven he looks in speechless agony,\n    O'ercome by woe's unutterable weigfit.\n    Thus he--the while, with jocund shout elate\n    The crew bear off their prey, and bound along the sea.\"\n                                   WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nOberon, however, had pity at last upon the unfortunate knight, and sent one\nof his invisible servants, who not only unbound him, but transported him,\nwith miraculous rapidity, over land and sea, and deposited him at the door\nof a gardener's house in Tunis.\n\n[Sidenote: Sherasmin's search.] After parting from his master at Lepanto,\nSherasmin traveled on until he came to the gates of the palace with his\nprecious casket. Then only did he realize that Charlemagne would never\ncredit his tale unless Huon were there with his bride to vouch for its\ntruth. Instead of entering the royal abode he therefore hastened back to\nRome, where for two months he awaited the arrival of the young couple.\nThen, sure that some misfortune had overtaken them, the faithful Sherasmin\nwandered in pilgrim guise from place to place seeking them, until he\nfinally came to Tunis, where Fatima, Amanda's maid, had been sold into\nslavery, and where he sorrowfully learned of his master's death.\n\nTo be near Fatima, Sherasmin took a gardener's position in the Sultan's\npalace, and when he opened the door of his humble dwelling one morning he\nwas overjoyed to find Huon, who had been brought there by the messenger of\nOberon. An explanation ensued, and Huon, under the assumed name of Hassan,\nbecame Sherasmin's assistant in the Sultan's gardens.\n\nThe pirates, in the mean while, hoping to sell Amanda to the Sultan\nhimself, had treated her with the utmost deference; but as they neared the\nshore of Tunis their vessel suffered shipwreck, and all on board perished\nmiserably, except Amanda. She was washed ashore at the Sultan's feet.\nCharmed by her beauty, the Sultan conveyed her to his palace, where he\nwould immediately have married her had she not told him that she had made a\nvow of chastity which she was bound to keep for two years.\n\n[Sidenote: Huon and Amanda reunited.] Huon, unconscious of Amanda's\npresence, worked in the garden, where the Sultan's daughter saw him and\nfell in love with him. As she failed to win him, she became very jealous.\nSoon after this Fatima discovered Amanda's presence in the palace, and\ninformed Huon, who made a desperate effort to reach her. This was\ndiscovered by the jealous princess, and since Huon would not love her, she\nwas determined that he should not love another. She therefore artfully laid\nher plans, and accused him of a heinous crime, for which the Sultan,\nfinding appearances against him, condemned him to death. Amanda, who was\nwarned by Fatima of Huon's danger, rushed into the Sultan's presence to\nplead for her husband's life; but when she discovered that she could obtain\nit only at the price of renouncing him forever and marrying the Sultan, she\ndeclared that she preferred to die, and elected to be burned with her\nbeloved. The flames were already rising around them both, when Oberon,\ntouched by their sufferings and their constancy, suddenly appeared, and\nagain hung his horn about Huon's neck.\n\nThe knight hailed this sign of recovered favor with rapture, and, putting\nthe magic horn to his lips, showed his magnanimity by blowing only a soft\nnote and making all the pagans dance.\n\n    \"No sooner had the grateful knight beheld,\n    With joyful ardor seen, the ivory horn,\n    Sweet pledge of fairy grace, his neck adorn,\n    Than with melodious whisper gently swell'd,\n    His lip entices forth the sweetest tone\n    That ever breath'd through magic ivory blown:\n    He scorns to doom a coward race to death.\n    'Dance! till ye weary gasp, depriv'd of breath--\n    Huon permits himself this slight revenge alone'\"\n                         WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Huon and Amanda in fairyland.] While all were dancing, much\nagainst their will, Huon and Amanda, Sherasmin and Fatima, promptly stepped\ninto the silvery car which Oberon placed at their disposal, and were\nrapidly transported to fairyland. There they found little Huonet in perfect\nhealth. Great happiness now reigned, for Titania, having secured the ring\nwhich Amanda had lost in her struggle with the pirates on the sandy shore,\nhad given it back to Oberon. He was propitiated by the gift, and as the\nsight of Huon and Amanda's fidelity had convinced him that wives could be\ntrue, he took Titania back into favor, and reinstated her as queen of his\nrealm.\n\nWhen Huon and Amanda had sojourned as long as they wished in fairyland,\nthey were wafted in Oberon's car to the gates of Paris. There Huon arrived\njust in time to win, at the point of his lance, his patrimony of Guienne,\nwhich Charlemagne had offered as prize at a tournament. Bending low before\nhis monarch, the young hero then revealed his name, presented his wife,\ngave him the golden casket containing the lock of hair and the four teeth,\nand said that he had accomplished his quest.\n\n    \"Our hero lifts the helmet from his head;\n    And boldly ent'ring, like the god of day,\n    His golden ringlets down his armor play.\n    All, wond'ring, greet the youth long mourn'd as dead,\n    Before the king his spirit seems to stand!\n    Sir Huon with Amanda, hand in hand,\n    Salutes the emperor with respectful bow--\n    'Behold, obedient to his plighted vow,\n    Thy vassal, sovereign liege, returning to thy land!\n\n    \"'For by the help of Heaven this arm has done\n    What thou enjoin'dst--and lo! before thine eye\n    The beard and teeth of Asia's monarch lie,\n    At hazard of my life, to please thee, won;\n    And in this fair, by every peril tried,\n    The heiress of his throne, my love, my bride!'\n    He spoke; and lo! at once her knight to grace,\n    Off falls the veil that hid Amanda's face,\n    And a new radiance gilds the hall from side to side.\"\n                                   WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).\n\nThe young couple, entirely restored to favor, sojourned a short time at\ncourt and then traveled southward to Guienne, where their subjects received\nthem with every demonstration of extravagant joy. Here they spent the\nremainder of their lives together in happiness and comparative peace.\n\n[Sidenote: An earlier version of the story.] According to an earlier\nversion of the story, Esclarmonde, whom the pirates intended to convey to\nthe court of her uncle, Yvoirin of Montbrand, was wrecked near the palace\nof Galafre, King of Tunis, who respected her vow of chastity but\nobstinately refused to give her up to her uncle when he claimed her. Huon,\ndelivered from his fetters on the island, was borne by Malebron, Oberon's\nservant, to Yvoirin's court, where he immediately offered himself as\nchampion to defy Galafre and win back his beloved wife at the point of the\nsword. No sooner did Huon appear in martial array at Tunis than Galafre\nselected Sherasmin (who had also been shipwrecked off his coast, and had\nthus become his slave) as his champion. Huon and Sherasmin met, but,\nrecognizing each other after a few moments' struggle, they suddenly\nembraced, and, joining forces, slew the pagans and carried off Esclarmonde\nand Fatima. They embarked upon a swift sailing vessel, and soon arrived at\nRome, where Huon related his adventures to the Pope, who gave him his\nblessing.\n\nAs they were on their way to Charlemagne's court, Girard, a knight who had\ntaken possession of Huon's estates, stole the golden casket from Sherasmin,\nand sent Huon and Esclarmonde in chains to Bordeaux. Then, going to court,\nhe informed Charlemagne that although Huon had failed in his quest, he had\ndared to return to France. Charlemagne, whose anger had not yet cooled,\nproceeded to Bordeaux, tried Huon, and condemned him to death. But just as\nthe knight was about to perish, Oberon appeared, bound the emperor and\nGirard fast, and only consented to restore them to freedom when Charlemagne\npromised to reinstate Huon.\n\nOberon then produced the missing casket, revealed Girard's treachery, and,\nafter seeing him punished, bore Huon and Esclarmonde off to fairyland. Huon\neventually became ruler of this realm in Oberon's stead; and his daughter,\nClaretie, whose equally marvelous adventures are told at great length in\nanother, but far less celebrated, _chanson de geste_, is represented as the\nancestress of all the Capetian kings of France.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\n\nTITUREL AND THE HOLY GRAIL.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of the legend.] The most mystical and spiritual of all\nthe romances of chivalry is doubtless the legend of the Holy Grail. Rooted\nin the mythology of all primitive races is the belief in a land of peace\nand happiness, a sort of earthly paradise, once possessed by man, but now\nlost, and only to be attained again by the virtuous. The legend of the Holy\nGrail, which some authorities declare was first known in Europe by the\nMoors, and christianized by the Spaniards, was soon introduced into France,\nwhere Robert de Borron and Chrestien de Troyes wrote lengthy poems about\nit. Other writers took up the same theme, among them Walter Map, Archdeacon\nof Oxford, who connected it with the Arthurian legends. It soon became\nknown in Germany, where, in the hands of Gottfried von Strassburg, and\nespecially of Wolfram von Eschenbach, it assumed its most perfect and\npopular form. The \"Parzival\" of Eschenbach also forms the basis of a recent\nwork, the much-discussed last opera of the great German composer,\nWagner.[1] [Footnote 1: See Guerber's Stories of the Wagner Opera.]\n\nThe story of the Grail is somewhat confused, owing to the many changes made\nby the different authors. The account here given, while mentioning the most\nstriking incidents of other versions, is in general an outline of the\n\"Titurel\" and \"Parzival\" of Von Eschenbach.\n\n[Sidenote: The Holy Grail.] When Lucifer was cast out of heaven, one stone\nof great beauty as detached from the marvelous crown which sixty thousand\nangels had tendered him. This stone fell upon earth, and from it was carved\na vessel of great beauty, which came, after many ages, into the hands of\nJoseph of Arimathea. He offered it to the Savior, who made use of it in the\nLast Supper. When the blood flowed from the Redeemer's side, Joseph of\nArimathea caught a few drops of it in this wonderful vessel; and, owing to\nthis circumstance, it was thought to be endowed with marvelous powers.\n\"Wherever it was there were good things in abundance. Whoever looked upon\nit, even though he were sick unto death, could not die that week; whoever\nlooked at it continually, his cheeks never grew pale, nor his hair gray.\"\n\nOnce a year, on the anniversary of the Savior's death, a white dove brought\na fresh host down from heaven, and placed it on the vessel, which was borne\nby a host of angels, or by spotless virgins. The care of it was at times\nintrusted to mortals, who, however, had to prove themselves worthy of this\nexalted honor by leading immaculate lives. This vessel, called the \"Holy\nGrail,\" remained, after the crucifixion, in the hands of Joseph of\nArimathea. The Jews, angry because Joseph had helped to bury Christ, cast\nhim into a dungeon, and left him there for a whole year without food or\ndrink. Their purpose in doing so was to slay Joseph, as they had already\nslain Nicodemus, so that should the Romans ever ask them to produce\nChrist's body, they might declare that it had been stolen by Joseph of\nArimathea.\n\nThe Jews little suspected, however, that Joseph, having the Holy Grail with\nhim, could suffer no lack. When Vespasian, the Roman emperor, heard the\nstory of Christ's passion, as related by a knight who had just returned\nfrom the Holy Land, he sent a commission to Jerusalem to investigate the\nmatter and bring back some holy relic to cure his son Titus of leprosy.\n\nIn due time the ambassadors returned, giving Pilate's version of the story,\nand bringing with them an old woman (known after her death as St.\nVeronica). She produced the cloth with which she had wiped the Lord's face,\nand upon which his likeness had been stamped by miracle. The mere sight of\nthis holy relic sufficed to restore Titus, who now proceeded with Vespasian\nto Jerusalem. There they vainly tried to compel the Jews to produce the\nbody of Christ, until one of them revealed, under pressure of torture, the\nplace where Joseph was imprisoned. Vespasian proceeded in person to the\ndungeon, and was hailed by name by the perfectly healthy prisoner. Joseph\nwas set free, but, fearing further persecution from the Jews, soon departed\nwith his sister, Enig\u00e9e, and her husband, Brons, for a distant land. The\npilgrims found a place of refuge near Marseilles, where the Holy Grail\nsupplied all their needs, until one of them committed a sin. Then divine\ndispleasure became manifest by a terrible famine.\n\nAs none knew who had sinned, Joseph was instructed in a vision to discover\nthe culprit by the same means with which the Lord had revealed the guilt of\nJudas. Still following divine commands, Joseph made a table, and directed\nBrons to catch a fish. The Grail was placed before Joseph's seat at table,\nwhere all who implicitly believed were invited to take a seat. Eleven seats\nwere soon occupied, and only Judas's place remained empty. Moses, a\nhypocrite and sinner, attempted to sit there, but the earth opened wide\nbeneath him and ingulfed him.\n\nIn another vision Joseph was now informed that the vacancy would only be\nfilled on the day of doom. He was also told that a similar table would be\nconstructed by Merlin. Here the grandson of Brons would honorably occupy\nthe vacant place, which is designated in the legend as the \"Siege\nPerilous,\" because it proved fatal to all for whom it was not intended.\n\nIn the \"Great St. Grail,\" one of the longest poems on this theme, there are\ncountless adventures and journeys, \"transformations of fair females into\nfoul fiends, conversions wholesale and individual, allegorical visions,\nmiracles, and portents. Eastern splendor and northern weirdness, angelry\nand deviltry, together with abundant fighting and quite a phenomenal amount\nof swooning, which seem to reflect a strange medley of Celtic, pagan, and\nmythological traditions, and Christian legends and mysticism, alternate in\na kaleidoscopic maze that defies the symmetry which modern aesthetic canons\nassociate with every artistic production.\"\n\nThe Holy Grail was, we are further told, transported by Joseph of Arimathea\nto Glastonbury, where it long remained visible, and whence it vanished only\nwhen men became too sinful to be permitted to retain it in their midst.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Titurel.] Another legend relates that a rich man from\nCappadocia, Berillus, followed Vespasian to Rome, where he won great\nestates. He was a very virtuous man, and his good qualities were inherited\nby all his descendants. One of them, called Titurisone, greatly regretted\nhaving no son to continue his race. When advised by a soothsayer to make a\npilgrimage to the holy sepulcher, and there to lay a crucifix of pure gold\nupon the altar, the pious Titurisone hastened to do so. On his return he\nwas rewarded for his pilgrimage by the birth of a son, called Titurel.\n\nThis child, when he had attained manhood, spent all his time in warring\nagainst the Saracens, as all pagans are called in these metrical romances.\nThe booty he won he gave either to the church or to the poor, and his\ncourage and virtue were only equaled by his piety and extreme humility.\n\nOne day, when Titurel was walking alone in the woods, he was favored by the\nvision of an angel. The celestial messenger sailed down to earth out of the\nblue, and announced in musical tones that the Lord had chosen him to be the\nguardian of the Holy Grail on Montsalvatch (which some authors believe to\nhave been in Spain), and that it behooved him to set his house in order and\nobey the voice of God.\n\nWhen the angel had floated upward and out of sight, Titurel returned home.\nAfter disposing of all his property, reserving nothing but his armor and\ntrusty sword, he again returned to the spot where he had been favored with\nthe divine message. There he saw a mysterious white cloud, which seemed to\nbeckon him onward. Titurel followed it, passed through vast solitudes and\nalmost impenetrable woods, and eventually began to climb a steep mountain,\nwhose ascent at first seemed impossible. Clinging to the rocks, and gazing\never ahead at the guiding cloud, Titurel came at last to the top of the\nmountain, where, in a beam of refulgent light, he beheld the Holy Grail,\nborne in the air by invisible hands. He raised his heart in passionate\nprayer that he might be found worthy to guard the emerald-colored wonder\nwhich was thus intrusted to his care, and in his rapture hardly heeded the\nwelcoming cries of a number of knights in shining armor, who hailed him as\ntheir king.\n\nThe vision of the Holy Grail was as evanescent as beautiful, and soon\ndisappeared; but Titurel, knowing that the spot was holy, guarded it with\nall his might against the infidels, who would fain have climbed the\nmountain.\n\nAfter several years had passed without the Holy Grail's coming down to\nearth, Titurel conceived the plan of building a temple suitable for its\nreception. The knights who helped to build and afterward guarded this\ntemple were called \"Templars.\" Their first effort was to clear the mountain\ntop, which they found was one single onyx of enormous size. This they\nleveled and polished until it shone like a mirror, and upon this foundation\nthey prepared to build their temple.\n\n[Sidenote: Temple of the Holy Grail.] As Titurel was hesitating what plan\nto adopt for the building, he prayed for guidance, and when he arose on the\nmorrow he found the ground plan all traced out and the building materials\nready for use. The knights labored piously from morning till night, and\nwhen they ceased, invisible hands continued to work all night. Thus pushed\nonward, the work was soon completed, and the temple rose on the mountain\ntop in all its splendor. \"The temple itself was one hundred fathoms in\ndiameter. Around it were seventy-two chapels of an octagonal shape. To\nevery pair of chapels there was a tower six stories high, approachable by a\nwinding stair on the outside. In the center stood a tower twice as big as\nthe others, which rested on arches. The vaulting was of blue sapphire, and\nin the center was a plate of emerald, with the lamb and the banner of the\ncross in enamel. All the altar stones were of sapphire, as symbols of the\npropitiation of sins. Upon the inside of the cupola surmounting the temple,\nthe sun and moon were represented in diamonds and topazes, and shed a light\nas of day even in the darkness of the night. The windows were of crystal,\nberyl, and other transparent stones. The floor was of translucent crystal,\nunder which all the fishes of the sea were carved out of onyx, just like\nlife. The towers were of precious stones inlaid with gold; their roofs of\ngold and blue enamel. Upon every tower there was a crystal cross, and upon\nit a golden eagle with expanded wings, which, at a distance, appeared to be\nflying. At the summit of the main tower was an immense carbuncle, which\nserved, like a star, to guide the Templars thither at night. In the center\nof the building, under the dome, was a miniature representation, of the\nwhole, and in this the holy vessel was kept.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Descent of the Holy Grail.] When all the work was finished, the\ntemple was solemnly consecrated, and as the priests chanted the psalms a\nsweet perfume filled the air, and the holy vessel was seen to glide down on\na beam of light. While it hovered just above the altar the wondering\nassembly heard the choir of the angels singing the praises of the Most\nHigh. The Holy Grail, which had thus come down upon earth, was faithfully\nguarded by Titurel and his knights, who were fed and sustained by its\nmarvelous power, and whose wounds were healed as soon as they gazed upon\nit. From time to time it also delivered a divine message, which appeared in\nletters of fire inscribed about its rim, and which none of the Templars\never ventured to disregard.\n\nBy virtue of the miraculous preservative influence of the Holy Grail,\nTiturel seemed but forty when he was in reality more than four hundred\nyears old. His every thought had been so engrossed by the care of the\nprecious vessel that he was somewhat surprised when he read upon its rim a\nluminous command to marry, so that his race might not become extinct. When\nthe knights of the temple had been summoned, and had all perused the divine\ncommand, they began to consider where a suitable helpmate could be found\nfor their beloved king. They soon advised him to woe Richoude, the daughter\nof a Spaniard. An imposing embassy was sent to the maiden, who, being\npiously inclined, immediately consented to the marriage.\n\nRichoude was a faithful wife for twenty years, and when she died she left\ntwo children,--a son, Frimoutel, and a daughter, Richoude,--to comfort the\nsorrowing Titurel for her loss. These children both married in their turn,\nand Frimoutel had two sons, Amfortas and Trevrezent, and three daughters,\nHerzeloide, Josiane, and Repanse de Joie. As these children grew up,\nTiturel became too old to bear the weight of his armor, and spent all his\ndays in the temple, where he finally read on the Holy Grail a command to\nanoint Frimoutel king. Joyfully the old man obeyed, for he had long felt\nthat the defense of the Holy Grail should be intrusted to a younger man\nthan he.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Parzival.] Although he renounced the throne in favor of\nhis son, Titurel lived on, witnessed the marriage of Josiane, and mourned\nfor her when she died in giving birth to a little daughter, called Sigune.\nThis child, being thus deprived of a mother's care, was intrusted to\nHerzeloide, who brought her up with Tchionatulander, the orphaned son of a\nfriend. Herzeloide married a prince named Gamuret, and became the happy\nmother of Parzival, who, however, soon lost his father in a terrible\nbattle.\n\nFearful lest her son, when grown up, should want to follow his father's\nexample, and make war against even the most formidable foes, Herzeloide\ncarried him off into the forest of Soltane (which some authors locate in\nBrittany), and there brought him up in complete solitude and ignorance.\n\n    \"The child her falling tears bedew;\n    No wife was ever found more true.\n    She teemed with joy and uttered sighs;\n    And tears midst laughter filled her eyes\n    Her heart delighted in his birth;\n    In sorrow deep was drowned her mirth.\"\n                    WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, _Parzival_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\n[Illustration: PARZIVAL UNCOVERING THE HOLY GRAIL.--Pixis.]\n\n[Sidenote: Amfortas's wound.] While she was living there, Frimoutel, weary\nof the dull life on Montsalvatch, went out into the world, and died of a\nlance wound when far away from home. Amfortas, his son, who was now crowned\nin obedience to the command of the Holy Grail, proved equally restless, and\nwent out also in search of adventures. Like his father, he too was wounded\nby a poisoned lance; but, instead of dying, he lived to return to the Holy\nGrail. But since his wound had not been received in defense of the holy\nvessel, it never healed, and caused him untold suffering.\n\nTiturel, seeing this suffering, prayed ardently for his grandson's release\nfrom the pain which imbittered every moment of his life, and was finally\ninformed by the glowing letters on the rim of the Holy Grail that a chosen\nhero would climb the mountain and inquire the cause of Amfortas's pain. At\nthis question the evil spell would be broken, Amfortas healed, and the\nnewcomer appointed king and guardian of the Holy Grail.\n\nThis promise of ultimate cure saved Amfortas from utter despair, and all\nthe Templars lived in constant anticipation of the coming hero, and of the\nquestion which would put an end to the torment which they daily witnessed.\n\n[Sidenote: Parzival's early life.] Parzival, in the mean while, was growing\nup in the forest, where he amused himself with a bow and arrow of his own\nmanufacture. But when for the first time he killed a tiny bird, and saw it\nlying limp and helpless in his hand, he brought it tearfully to his mother\nand inquired what it meant. In answering him she, for the first time also,\nmentioned the name of God; and when he eagerly questioned her about the\nCreator, she said to him: \"Brighter is God than e'en the brightest day; yet\nonce he took the form and face of man.\"\n\nThus brought up in complete ignorance, it is no wonder that when young\nParzival encountered some knights in brilliant armor in the forest, he fell\ndown and offered to worship them. Amused at the lad's simplicity, the\nknights told him all about the gay world of chivalry beyond the forest, and\nadvised him to ride to Arthur's court, where, if worthy, he would receive\nthe order of knighthood, and perchance be admitted to the Round Table.\nBeside himself with joy at hearing all these marvelous things, and eager to\nset out immediately, Parzival returned to his mother to relate what he had\nseen, and to implore her to give him a horse, that he might ride after the\nknights.\n\n    \"'I saw four men, dear mother mine;\n    Not brighter is the Lord divine.\n    They spoke to me of chivalry;\n    Through Arthur's power of royalty,\n    In knightly honor well arrayed,\n    I shall receive the accolade.'\"\n                   WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, _Parzival_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nThe mother, finding herself unable to detain him any longer, reluctantly\nconsented to his departure, and, hoping that ridicule and lack of success\nwould soon drive him back to her, prepared for him the motley garb of a\nfool and gave him a very sorry nag to ride.\n\n    \"The boy, silly yet brave indeed,\n    Oft from his mother begged a steed.\n    That in her heart she did lament;\n    She thought: 'Him must I make content,\n    Yet must the thing an evil be.'\n    Thereafter further pondered she:\n    'The folk are prone to ridicule.\n    My child the garments of a fool\n    Shall on his shining body wear.\n    If he be scoffed and beaten there,\n    Perchance he'll come to me again.'\"\n                  WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, _Parzival_ (Bayard Taylor's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Parzival's journey into the world.] Thus equipped, his mind well\nstored with all manner of unpractical advice given by his mother in further\nhopes of making a worldly career impossible for him, the young hero set\nout. As he rode away from home, his heart was filled with regret at leaving\nand with an ardent desire to seek adventures abroad,--conflicting emotions\nwhich he experienced for the first time in his life. Herzeloide accompanied\nher son part way, kissed him good-by, and, as his beloved form disappeared\nfrom view in the forest paths, her heart broke and she breathed her last!\n\nParzival rode onward and soon came to a meadow, in which some tents were\npitched. He saw a beautiful lady asleep in one of these tents, and,\ndismounting, he wakened her with a kiss, thus obeying one of his mother's\ninjunctions--to kiss every fair lady he met. To his surprise, however, the\nlady seemed indignant; so he tried to pacify her by telling her that he had\noften thus saluted his mother. Then, slipping the bracelet from off her\narm, and carrying it away as a proof that she was not angry, he rode on.\nLord Orilus, the lady's husband, hearing from her that a youth had kissed\nher, flew into a towering rage, and rode speedily away, hoping to overtake\nthe impudent varlet and punish him.\n\nParzival, in the mean while, had journeyed on, and, passing through the\nforest, had seen a maiden weeping over the body of her slain lover. In\nanswer to his inquiries she told him that she was his cousin, Sigune, and\nthat the dead man, Tchionatulander, had been killed in trying to fulfill a\ntrifling request--to recover her pet dog, which had been stolen. Parzival\npromised to avenge Tchionatulander as soon as possible, and to remember\nthat the name of the murderer was Orilus.\n\nNext he came to a river, where he was ferried across, and repaid the\nboatman by giving him the bracelet he had taken from Orilus's wife. Then,\nhearing that Arthur was holding his court at Nantes, he proceeded thither\nwithout further delay.\n\nOn entering the city, Parzival encountered the Red Knight, who mockingly\nasked him where he was going. The unabashed youth immediately retorted, \"To\nArthur's court to ask him for your arms and steed!\"\n\n[Sidenote: Parzival at Arthur's court.] A little farther on the youth's\nmotley garb attracted much attention, and the town boys made fun of him\nuntil Iwanet, one of the king's squires, came to inquire the cause of the\ntumult. He took Parzival under his protection, and conducted him to the\ngreat hall, where, if we are to believe some accounts, Parzival boldly\npresented himself on horseback. The sight of the gay company so dazzled the\ninexperienced youth that he wonderingly inquired why there were so many\nArthurs. When Iwanet told him that the wearer of the crown was the sole\nking, Parzival boldly stepped up to him and asked for the arms and steed of\nthe Red Knight.\n\nArthur wonderingly gazed at the youth, and then replied that he could have\nthem provided he could win them. This was enough. Parzival sped after the\nknight, overtook him, and loudly bade him surrender weapons and steed. The\nRed Knight, thus challenged, began to fight; but Parzival, notwithstanding\nhis inexperience, wielded his spear so successfully that he soon slew his\nopponent. To secure the steed was an easy matter, but how to remove the\narmor the youth did not know. By good fortune, however, Iwanet soon came up\nand helped Parzival to don the armor. He put it on over his motley garb,\nwhich he would not set aside because his mother had made it for him.\n\nSome time after, Parzival came to the castle of Gurnemanz, a noble knight,\nwith whom he remained for some time. Here he received valuable instructions\nin all a knight need know. When Parzival left this place, about a year\nlater, he was an accomplished knight, clad as beseemed his calling, and\nready to fulfill all the duties which chivalry imposed upon its votaries.\n\n[Sidenote: Parzival and Conduiramour.] He soon heard that Queen\nConduiramour was hard pressed, in her capital of Belripar, by an unwelcome\nsuitor. As he had pledged his word to defend all ladies in distress,\nParzival immediately set out to rescue this queen. A series of brilliant\nsingle fights disposed of the besiegers, and the citizens of Belripar, to\nshow their gratitude to their deliverer, offered him the hand of their\nqueen, Conduiramour, which he gladly accepted. But Parzival, even in this\nnew home, could not forget his sorrowing mother, and he soon left his wife\nto go in search of Herzeloide, hoping to comfort her. He promised his wife\nthat he would return soon, however, and would bring his mother to Belripar\nto share their joy. In the course of this journey homeward Parzival came to\na lake, where a richly dressed fisherman, in answer to his inquiry,\ndirected him to a neighboring castle where he might find shelter.\n\n[Sidenote: Castle of the Holy Grail.] Although Parzival did not know it, he\nhad come to the temple and castle on Montsalvatch. The drawbridge was\nimmediately lowered at his call, and richly clad servants bade him welcome\nwith joyful mien. They told him that he had long been expected, and after\narraying him in a jeweled garment, sent by Queen Repanse de Joie, they\nconducted him into a large, brilliantly illumined hall. There four hundred\nknights were seated on soft cushions, before small tables each laid for\nfour guests; and as they saw him enter a flash of joy passed over their\ngrave and melancholy faces. The high seat was occupied by a man wrapped in\nfurs, who was evidently suffering from some painful disease. He made a sign\nto Parzival to draw near, gave him a seat beside him, and presented him\nwith a sword of exquisite workmanship. To Parzival's surprise this man bade\nhim welcome also, and repeated that he had long been expected. The young\nknight, amazed by all he heard and saw, remained silent, for he did not\nwish to seem inquisitive,--a failing unworthy of a knight. Suddenly the\ngreat doors opened, and a servant appeared bearing the bloody head of a\nlance, with which he silently walked around the hall, while all gazed upon\nit and groaned aloud.\n\nThe servant had scarcely vanished when the doors again opened, and\nbeautiful virgins came marching in, two by two. They bore an embroidered\ncushion, an ebony stand, and sundry other articles, which they laid before\nthe fur-clad king. Last of all came the beautiful maiden, Repanse de Joie,\nbearing a glowing vessel; and as she entered and laid it before the king,\nParzival heard the assembled knights whisper that this was the Holy Grail.\n\n    \"Now after them advanced the Queen,\n    With countenance of so bright a sheen,\n    They all imagined day would dawn.\n    One saw the maiden was clothed on\n    With muslin stuffs of Araby.\n    On a green silk cushion she\n    The pearl of Paradise did bear.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n    The blameless Queen, proud, pure, and calm,\n    Before the host put down the Grail;\n    And Percival, so runs the tale,\n    To gaze upon her did not fail,\n    Who thither bore the Holy Grail.\"\n                    WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, _Parzival_(Bayard Taylor's\n                tr.).\n\nThe maidens then slowly retired, the knights and squires drew near, and now\nfrom the shining vessel streamed forth a supply of the daintiest dishes and\nrichest wines, each guest being served with the viands which he liked best.\nAll ate sadly and in silence, while Parzival wondered what it might all\nmean, yet remained mute. The meal ended, the sufferer rose from his seat,\ngazed reproachfully at the visitor, who, by asking a question, could have\nsaved him such pain, and slowly left the room, uttering a deep sigh.\n\nWith angry glances the knights also left the hall, and sad-faced servants\nconducted Parzival past a sleeping room, where they showed him an old\nwhite-haired man who lay in a troubled sleep. Parzival wondered still more,\nbut did not venture to ask who it might be. Next the servants took him to\nan apartment where he could spend the night. The tapestry hangings of this\nroom were all embroidered with gorgeous pictures. Among them the young hero\nnoticed one in particular, because it represented his host borne down to\nthe ground by a spear thrust into his bleeding side. Parzival's curiosity\nwas even greater than before; but, scorning to ask a servant what he had\nnot ventured to demand of the master, he went quietly to bed, thinking that\nhe would try to secure an explanation on the morrow.\n\nWhen he awoke he found himself alone. No servant answered his call. All the\ndoors were fastened except those which led outside, where he found his\nsteed awaiting him. When he had passed the drawbridge it rose up slowly\nbehind him, and a voice called out from the tower, \"Thou art accursed; for\nthou hadst been chosen to do a great work, which thou hast left undone!\"\nThen looking upward, Parzival saw a horrible face gazing after him with a\nfiendish grin, and making a gesture as of malediction.\n\n[Sidenote: Sigune.] At the end of that day's journey, Parzival came to a\nlonely cell in the desert, where he found Sigune weeping over a shrine in\nwhich lay Tchionatulander's embalmed remains. She too received him with\ncurses, and revealed to him that by one sympathetic question only he might\nhave ended Amfortas's prolonged pain, broken an evil spell, and won for\nhimself a glorious crown.\n\nHorrified, now that he knew what harm he had done, Parzival rode away,\nfeeling as if he were indeed accursed. His greatest wish was to return to\nthe mysterious castle and atone for his remissness by asking the question\nwhich would release the king from further pain. But alas! the castle had\nvanished; and our hero was forced to journey from place to place, seeking\ndiligently, and meeting with many adventures on the way.\n\nAt times the longing to give up the quest and return home to his young wife\nwas almost unendurable. His thoughts were ever with her, and the poem\nrelates that even a drop of blood fallen on the snow reminded, him most\nvividly of the dazzling complexion of Conduiramour, and of her sorrow when\nhe departed.\n\n    \"'Conduiramour, thine image is\n    Here in the snow now dyed with red\n    And in the blood on snowy bed.\n    Conduiramour, to them compare\n    Thy forms of grace and beauty rare.'\"\n                  WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, _Parzival_ (Dippold's tr.).\n\nAlthough exposed to countless temptations, Parzival remained true to his\nwife as he rode from place to place, constantly seeking the Holy Grail. His\noft-reiterated questions concerning it caused him to be considered a madman\nor a fool by all he met.\n\nIn the course of his journeys, he encountered a lady in chains, led by a\nknight who seemed to take pleasure in torturing her. Taught by Gurnemanz to\nrescue all ladies in distress, Parzival challenged and defeated this\nknight. Then only did he discover that it was Sir Orilus, who had led his\nwife about in chains to punish her for accepting a kiss from a strange\nyouth. Of course Parzival now hastened to give an explanation of the whole\naffair, and the defeated knight, at his request, promised to treat his wife\nwith all kindness in future.\n\nAs Parzival had ordered all the knights whom he had defeated to journey\nimmediately to Arthur's court and tender him their services, the king had\nwon many brave warriors. He was so pleased by these constant arrivals, and\nso delighted at the repeated accounts of Parzival's valor, that he became\nvery anxious to see him once more.\n\n[Sidenote: Parzival knighted.] To gratify this wish several knights were\nsent in search of the wanderer, and when they finally found him they bade\nhim come to court. Parzival obeyed, was knighted by Arthur's own hand, and,\naccording to some accounts, occupied the \"Siege Perilous\" at the Round\nTable. Other versions state, however, that just as he was about to take\nthis seat the witch Kundrie, a messenger of the Holy Grail, appeared in the\nhall. She vehemently denounced him, related how sorely he had failed in his\nduty, and cursed him, as the gate keeper had done, for his lack of\nsympathy. Thus reminded of his dereliction, Parzival immediately left the\nhall, to renew the quest which had already lasted for many months. He was\nclosely followed by Gawain, one of Arthur's knights, who thought that\nParzival had been too harshly dealt with.\n\n[Sidenote: Gawain's quest.] Four years now elapsed,--four years of penance\nand suffering for Parzival, and of brilliant fighting and thrilling\nadventures for Gawain. Seeking Parzival, meeting many whom he had helped or\ndefeated, Gawain journeyed from land to land, until at last he decided that\nhis quest would end sooner if he too sought the Holy Grail, the goal of all\nhis friend's hopes.\n\nOn the way to Montsalvatch Gawain met a beautiful woman, to whom he made a\ndeclaration of love; but she merely answered that those who loved her must\nserve her, and bade him fetch her palfrey from a neighboring garden. The\ngardener told him that this lady was the Duchess Orgueilleuse; that her\nbeauty had fired many a knight; that many had died for her sake; and that\nAmfortas, King of the Holy Grail, had braved the poisoned spear which\nwounded him, only to win her favor. Gawain, undeterred by this warning,\nbrought out the lady's palfrey, helped her to mount, and followed her\nsubmissively through many lands. Everywhere they went the proud lady\nstirred up some quarrel, and always called upon Gawain to fight the enemies\nwhom she had thus wantonly made. After much wandering, Gawain and his\nladylove reached the top of a hill, whence they could look across a valley\nto a gigantic castle, perched on a rock, near which was a pine tree.\nOrgueilleuse now informed Gawain that the castle belonged to her mortal\nenemy, Gramoflaus. She bade him bring her a twig of the tree, and conquer\nthe owner of the castle, who would challenge him as soon as he touched it,\nand promised that if he obeyed her exactly she would be his faithful wife.\n\n[Sidenote: Klingsor's castle.] Gawain, emboldened by this promise, dashed\ndown into the valley, swam across the moat, plucked a branch from the tree,\nand accepted the challenge which Gramoflaus promptly offered. The meeting\nwas appointed for eight days later, in front of Klingsor's castle, whither\nGawain immediately proceeded with the Lady Orgueilleuse. On the way she\ntold him that this castle, which faced her father's, was occupied by a\nmagician who kept many noble ladies in close confinement, and had even\ncruelly laden them with heavy chains.\n\nGawain, on hearing this, vowed that he would punish the magician; and,\nhaving seen Orgueilleuse safely enter her ancestral home, he crossed the\nriver and rode toward Klingsor's castle. As night drew on the windows were\nbrilliantly illumined, and at each one he beheld the pallid, tear-stained\nfaces of some of the captives, whose years ranged from early childhood to\nwithered old age.\n\nCalling for admittance at this castle, Gawain was allowed to enter, but, to\nhis surprise, found hall and court deserted. He wandered from room to room,\nmeeting no one; and, weary of his vain search, prepared at last to occupy a\ncomfortable couch in one of the chambers. To his utter amazement, however,\nthe bed retreated as he advanced, until, impatient at this trickery, he\nsprang boldly upon it. A moment later a rain of sharp spears and daggers\nfell upon his couch, but did him no harm, for he had not removed his heavy\narmor. When the rain of weapons was over, a gigantic peasant, armed with a\nhuge club, stalked into the room, closely followed by a fierce lion. When\nthe peasant perceived that the knight was not dead, as he expected, he beat\na hasty retreat, leaving the lion to attack him alone.\n\nIn spite of the size and fury of the lion, Gawain defended himself so\nbravely that he finally slew the beast, which was Klingsor in disguise. As\nthe monster expired the spell was broken, the captives were released, and\nthe exhausted Gawain was tenderly cared for by his mother and sister\nItonie, who were among those whom his courage had set free. The news of\nthis victory was immediately sent to Arthur, who now came to witness the\nbattle between Gawain and a champion who was to appear for Gramoflaus.\n\nGawain's strength and courage were about to give way before the stranger's\nterrible onslaught, when Itonie implored the latter to spare Gawain, whose\nname and valor were so well known. At the sound of this name the knight\nsheathed his sword, and, raising his visor, revealed the sad but beautiful\ncountenance of Parzival.\n\nThe joy of reunion over, Parzival remained there long enough to witness the\nmarriage of Gawain and Orgueilleuse, and of Itonie and Gramoflaus, and to\nbe solemnly admitted to the Round Table. Still, the general rejoicing could\nnot dispel his sadness or the recollection of Amfortas and his grievous\nwound; and as soon as possible Parzival again departed, humbly praying that\nhe might at last find the Holy Grail, and right the wrong he had\nunconsciously done.\n\n[Sidenote: Parzival and the hermit.] Some months later, exhausted by\nconstant journeys, Parzival painfully dragged himself to a hermit's hut.\nThere he learned that the lonely penitent was Trevrezent, the brother of\nAmfortas, who, having also preferred worldly pleasures to the service of\nthe Holy Grail, had accompanied him on his fatal excursion. When Trevrezent\nsaw his brother sorely wounded, he repented of his sins, and, retiring into\nthe woods, spent his days and nights in penance and prayer. He told\nParzival of the expected stranger, whose question would break the evil\nspell, and related how grievously he and all the Templars had been\ndisappointed when such a man had actually come and gone, but without\nfulfilling their hopes. Parzival then penitently confessed that it was he\nwho had thus disappointed them, related his sorrow and ceaseless quest, and\ntold the story of his early youth and adventures. Trevrezent, on hearing\nhis guest's name, exclaimed that they must be uncle and nephew, as his\nsister's name was Herzeloide. He then informed Parzival of his mother's\ndeath, and, after blessing him and giving him some hope that sincere\nrepentance would sometime bring its own reward, allowed him to continue his\nsearch for the Holy Grail.\n\n[Sidenote: Fierefiss.] Soon after this meeting Parzival encountered a\nknight, who, laying lance in rest, challenged him to fight. In one of the\npauses of the battle he learned that his brave opponent was his\nstepbrother, Fierefiss, whom he joyfully embraced, and who now followed him\non his almost endless quest. At last they came to a mountain, painfully\nclimbed its steep side, and, after much exertion, found themselves in front\nof a castle, which seemed strangely familiar to Parzival.\n\nThe doors opened, willing squires waited upon both brothers, and led them\ninto the great hall, where the pageant already described was repeated. When\nQueen Repanse de Joie entered bearing the Holy Grail, Parzival, mindful of\nhis former failure to do the right thing, humbly prayed aloud for divine\nguidance to bring about the promised redemption. An angel voice now seemed\nto answer, \"Ask!\" Then Parzival bent kindly over the wounded king, and\ngently inquired what ailed him. At those words the spell was broken, and a\nlong cry of joy arose as Amfortas, strong and well, sprang to his feet.\n\nA very aged man, Parzival's great-grandfather, Titurel, now drew near,\nbearing the crown, which he placed on the young hero's head, as he hailed\nhim as guardian and defender of the Holy Grail. This cry was taken up by\nall present, and even echoed by the angelic choir.\n\n    \"'Hail to thee, Percival, king of the Grail!\n    Seemingly lost forever,\n    Now thou art blessed forever.\n    Hail to thee, Percival, king of the Grail!'\"\n                     WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH (McDowall's tr.).\n\nThe doors now opened wide once more to admit Conduiramour and her twin\nsons, summoned thither by the power of the Holy Grail, that Parzival's\nhappiness might be complete. All the witnesses of this happy reunion were\nflooded with the light of the Holy Grail, except Fierefiss, who, being a\nMoor and a pagan, still remained in outer darkness. These miracles,\nhowever, converted him to the Christian faith, and made him beg for\nimmediate baptism. The christening was no sooner performed than he too\nbeheld and was illumined by the holy vase. Fierefiss, now a true believer,\nmarried Repanse de Joie, and they were the parents of a son named John, who\nbecame a noted warrior, and was the founder of the historic order of the\nKnights Templars.\n\nTiturel, having lived to see the recovery of his son, blessed all his\ndescendants, told them that Sigune had joined her lover's spirit in the\nheavenly abode, and, passing out of the great hall, was never seen again;\nand the witch Kundrie died of joy.\n\nAnother version of the legend of the Holy Grail relates that Parzival,\nhaving cured his uncle, went to Arthur's court. There he remained until\nAmfortas died, when he was called back to Montsalvatch to inherit his\npossessions, among which was the Holy Grail. Arthur and all the knights of\nthe Round Table were present at his coronation, and paid him a yearly\nvisit. When he died, \"the Sangreal, the sacred lance, and the silver\ntrencher or paten which covered the Grail, were carried up to the holy\nheavens in presence of the attendants, and since that time have never\nanywhere been seen on earth.\"\n\nOther versions relate that Arthur and his knights sought the Holy Grail in\nvain, for their hearts were not pure enough to behold it. Still others\ndeclare that the sacred vessel was conveyed to the far East, and committed\nto the care of Prester John.\n\nThe legend of Lohengrin, which is connected with the Holy Grail, is in\noutline as follows:\n\n[Sidenote: Lohengrin.] Parzival and Conduiramour dwelt in the castle of the\nHoly Grail. When their sons had grown to man's estate, Kardeiss, the elder,\nbecame ruler of his mother's kingdom of Belripar, while Lohengrin, the\nyounger, remained in the service of the Holy Grail, which was now borne\ninto the hall by his young sister, Aribadale, Repanse de Joie having\nmarried.\n\nWhenever a danger threatened, or when the services of one of the knights\nwere required, a silver bell rang loudly, and the letters of flame around\nthe rim of the holy vessel revealed the nature of the deed to be performed.\nOne day the sound of the silvery bell was heard pealing ever louder and\nlouder, and when the knights entered the hall, they read on the vase that\nLohengrin had been chosen to defend the rights of an innocent person, and\nwould be conveyed to his destination by a swan. As the knights of the Grail\nnever disputed its commands, the young man immediately donned the armor of\nsilver which Amfortas had worn, and, bidding farewell to his mother and\nsister, left the temple. Parzival, his father, accompanied him to the foot\nof the mountain, where, swimming gracefully over the smooth waters of the\nlake, they saw a snowy swan drawing a little boat after her.\n\nLohengrin received a horn from his father, who bade him sound it thrice on\narriving at his destination, and an equal number of times when he wished to\nreturn to Montsalvatch. Then he also reminded him that a servant of the\nGrail must reveal neither his name nor his origin unless asked to do so,\nand that, having once made himself known, he was bound to return without\ndelay to the holy mountain.\n\nThus reminded of the custom of all the Templars, Lohengrin sprang into the\nboat, and was rapidly borne away, to the sound of mysterious music.\n\n[Sidenote: Else of Brabant.] While Lohengrin was swiftly wafted over the\nwaters, Else, Duchess of Brabant, spent her days in tears. She was an\norphan, and, as she possessed great wealth and extensive lands, many were\nanxious to secure her hand. Among these suitors her guardian, Frederick of\nTelramund, was the most importunate; and when he saw that she would never\nconsent to marry him, he resolved to obtain her inheritance in a different\nway.\n\nOne day, while Else was wandering alone in the forest, she rested for a\nmoment under a tree, where she dreamed that a radiant knight came to greet\nher, and offered her a little bell, saying that she need but ring it\nwhenever she required a champion. The maiden awoke, and as she opened her\neyes a falcon came gently sailing down from the sky and perched upon her\nshoulder. Seeing that he wore a tiny bell like the one she had noticed in\nher dream, Else unfastened it; and as the falcon flew away, she hung it on\nher rosary.\n\nA few days later Else was in prison, for Frederick of Telramund had accused\nher of a great crime. He said that she had received the attentions of a man\nbeneath her, or, according to another version, that she had been guilty of\nthe murder of her brother. Henry the Fowler, Emperor of Germany, hearing of\nthis accusation, came to Cleves, where, as the witnesses could not agree,\nhe ordered that the matter should be settled by a judicial duel.\n\n[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF LOHENGRIN.--Pixis.]\n\nFrederick of Telramund, proud of his strength, challenged any man to prove\nhim mistaken at the point of the sword. But no champion appeared to fight\nfor Else, who, kneeling in her cell, beat her breast with her rosary, until\nthe little silver bell attached to it rang loudly as she fervently prayed,\n\"O Lord, send me a champion.\" The faint tinkling of the bell floated out of\nthe window, and was wafted away to Montsalvatch. It grew louder and louder\nthe farther it traveled, and its sound called the knights into the temple,\nwhere Lohengrin received his orders from the Holy Grail.\n\nThe day appointed for the duel dawned, and just as the heralds sounded the\nlast call for Else's champion to appear, the swan boat glided up the Rhine,\nand Lohengrin sprang into the lists, after thrice blowing his magic horn.\n\n[Sidenote: Else rescued by Lohengrin.] With a God-sent champion opposed to\na liar, the issue of the combat could not long remain doubtful. Soon\nFrederick of Telramund lay in the dust and confessed his guilt, while the\npeople hailed the Swan Knight as victor. Else, touched by his prompt\nresponse to her appeal, and won by his passionate wooing, then consented to\nbecome his wife, without even knowing his name. Their nuptials were\ncelebrated at Antwerp, whither the emperor went with them and witnessed\ntheir marriage.\n\nLohengrin had cautioned Else that she must never ask his name; but she\nwished to show that he was above the people who, envying his lot, sought to\ninjure him by circulating malicious rumors, so she finally asked the fatal\nquestion. Regretfully Lohengrin led her into the great hall, where, in the\npresence of the assembled knights, he told her that he was Lohengrin, son\nof Parzival, the guardian of the Holy Grail. Then, embracing her tenderly,\nhe told her that \"love cannot live without faith,\" and that he must now\nleave her and return to the holy mountain. When he had thrice blown his\nmagic horn, the sound of faint music again heralded the approach of the\nswan; Lohengrin sprang into the boat, and soon vanished, leaving Else\nalone.\n\nSome versions of the story relate that she did not long survive his\ndeparture, but that her released spirit followed him to Montsalvatch, where\nthey dwelt happy forever. Other accounts, however, aver that when Lohengrin\nvanished Else's brother returned to champion her cause and prevent her ever\nbeing molested again.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\n\nMERLIN.\n\n\nAs Saintsbury so ably expressed it, \"The origin of the legends of King\nArthur, of the Round Table, of the Holy Grail, and of all the adventures\nand traditions connected with these centers, is one of the most intricate\nquestions in the history of mediaeval literature.\" Owing to the loss of\nmany ancient manuscripts, the real origin of all these tales may never be\ndiscovered; and whether the legends owe their birth to Celtic, Breton, or\nWelsh poetry we may never know, as the authorities fail to agree. These\ntales, apparently almost unknown before the twelfth century, soon became so\npopular that in the course of the next two centuries they had given birth\nto more than a dozen poems and prose romances, whence Malory drew the\nmaterials for his version of the story of King Arthur. Nennius, Geoffrey of\nMonmouth, Walter Map, Chrestien de Troyes, Robert de Borron, Gottfried von\nStrassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Hartmann von Aue, Tennyson, Matthew\nArnold, Swinburne, and Wagner have all written of these legends in turn,\nand to these writers we owe the most noted versions of the tales forming\nthe Arthurian cycle. They include, besides the story of Arthur himself, an\naccount of Merlin, of Lancelot, of Parzival, of the love of Tristan and\nIseult, and of the quest of the Holy Grail.\n\nThe majority of these works were written in French, which was the court\nlanguage of England in the mediaeval ages; but the story was \"Englished\" by\nMalory in the fourteenth century. In every European language there are\nversions of these stories, which interested all hearers alike, and which\nexerted a softening influence upon the rude customs of the age,\n\"communicated a romantic spirit to literature,\" and taught all men\ncourtesy.\n\n[The Real Merlin] The first of these romances is that of Merlin the\nenchanter, in very old French, ascribed to Robert de Borron. The following\noutline of the story is modified and supplemented from other sources. The\nreal Merlin is said to have been a bard of the fifth century, and is\nsupposed to have served the British chief Ambrosius Aurelianus, and then\nKing Arthur. This Merlin lost his reason after the battle of Solway Firth,\nbroke his sword, and retired into the forest, where he was soon after found\ndead by a river bank.\n\nThe mythical Merlin had a more exciting and interesting career, however.\nKing Constans, who drove Hengist from England, was the father of three\nsons,--Constantine, Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendragon. When dying he\nleft the throne to his eldest son, Constantine, who chose Vortigern as his\nprime minister. Shortly after Constantine's accession, Hengist again\ninvaded England, and Constantine, deserted by his minister, was\ntreacherously slain. In reward for his defection at this critical moment,\nVortigern was offered the crown, which he accepted, and which he hoped to\nretain, although Constans's two other sons, who, according to another\nversion of the story, were called Uther and Pendragon, were still in\nexistence.\n\nTo defend himself against any army which might try to deprive him of the\nthrone, Vortigern resolved to build a great fortress on the Salisbury\nplains. But, although the masons worked diligently by day, and built walls\nwide and thick, they always found them overturned in the morning. The\nastrologers, when consulted in reference to this strange occurrence,\ndeclared that the walls would not stand until the ground had been watered\nwith the blood of a child who could claim no human father.\n\nFive years previous to this prediction, the demons, seeing that so many\nsouls escaped them owing to the redemption procured by a child of divine\norigin, thought that they could regain lost ground by engendering a demon\nchild upon a human virgin. A beautiful, pious maiden was chosen for this\npurpose; and as she daily went to confess her every deed and thought to a\nholy man, Blaise, he soon discovered the plot of the demons, and resolved\nto frustrate it.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of the mythical Merlin.] By his advice the girl, instead\nof being immediately put to death, as the law required, was locked up in a\ntower, where she gave birth to her son. Blaise, the priest, more watchful\nthan the demons, no sooner heard of the child's birth than he hastened to\nbaptize him, giving him the name of Merlin. The holy rite annulled the evil\npurpose of the demons, but, owing to his uncanny origin, the child was\ngifted with all manner of strange powers, of which he made use on sundry\noccasions.\n\n        \"To him\n    Great light from God gave sight of all things dim,\n    And wisdom of all wondrous things, to say\n    What root should bear what fruit of night or day;\n    And sovereign speech and counsel above man:\n    Wherefore his youth like age was wise and wan,\n    And his age sorrowful and fain to sleep.\"\n                               SWINBURNE, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.\n\nThe child thus baptized soon gave the first proof of his marvelous power;\nfor, when his mother embraced him and declared that she must soon die, he\ncomforted her by speaking aloud and promising to prove her innocent of all\ncrime. The trial took place soon after this occurrence, and although Merlin\nwas but a few days old, he sat up boldly in his mother's lap and spoke so\nforcibly to the judges that he soon secured her acquittal. Once when he was\nfive years old, while playing in the street, he saw the messengers of\nVortigern. Warned by his prophetic instinct that they were seeking him, he\nran to meet them, and offered to accompany them to the king. On the way\nthither he saw a youth buying shoes, and laughed aloud. When questioned\nconcerning the cause of his mirth, he predicted that the youth would die\nwithin a few hours.\n\n    \"Then said Merlin, 'See ye nought\n    That young man, that hath shoon bought,\n    And strong leather to do hem clout [patch],\n    And grease to smear hem all about?\n    He weeneth to live hem to wear:\n    But, by my soul, I dare well swear,\n    His wretched life he shall for-let [lose],\n    Ere he come to his own gate.'\"\n                         ELLIS, _Merlin_.\n\n[Sidenote: Merlin as a prophet.] A few more predictions of an equally\nuncanny and unpleasant nature firmly established his reputation as a\nprophet even before he reached court. There he boldly told the king that\nthe astrologers, wishing to destroy the demon's offspring, who was wiser\nthan they, had demanded his blood under pretext that the walls of Salisbury\nwould stand were it only shed. When asked why the walls continually fell\nduring the night, Merlin attributed it to the nightly conflict of a red and\na white dragon concealed underground. In obedience to his instructions,\nsearch was made for these monsters, and the assembled court soon saw a\nfrightful struggle between them. This battle finally resulted in the death\nof the red dragon and the triumph of the white.\n\n    \"With long tailis, fele [many] fold,\n    And found right as Merlin told.\n    That one dragon was red as fire,\n    With eyen bright, as basin clear;\n    His tail was great and nothing small;\n    His body was a rood withal.\n    His shaft may no man tell;\n    He looked as a fiend from hell.\n    The white dragon lay him by,\n    Stern of look, and griesly.\n    His mouth and throat yawned wide;\n    The fire brast [burst] out on ilka [each] side.\n    His tail was ragged as a fiend,\n    And, upon his tail's end,\n    There was y-shaped a griesly head,\n    To fight with the dragon red.\"\n                          ELLIS, _Merlin_.\n\nThe white dragon soon disappeared also, and the work of the castle now\nproceeded without further hindrance. Vortigern, however, was very uneasy,\nbecause Merlin had not only said that the struggle of the red and the white\ndragon represented his coming conflict with Constans's sons, but further\nadded that he would suffer defeat. This prediction was soon fulfilled.\nUther and his brother Pendragon landed in Britain with the army they had\nassembled, and Vortigern was burned in the castle he had just completed.\n\nShortly after this victory a war arose between the Britons under Uther and\nPendragon, and the Saxons under Hengist. Merlin, who had by this time\nbecome the prime minister and chief adviser of the British kings, predicted\nthat they would win the victory, but that one would be slain. This\nprediction was soon verified, and Uther, adding his brother's name to his\nown, remained sole king. His first care was to bury his brother, and he\nimplored Merlin to erect a suitable monument to his memory; so the\nenchanter conveyed great stones from Ireland to England in the course of a\nsingle night, and set them up at Stonehenge, where they can still be seen.\n\n    \"How Merlin by his skill, and magic's wondrous might,\n    From Ireland hither brought the Stonendge in a night.\"\n                                  DRAYTON, _Polyolbion_.\n\n[Sidenote: Round Table established by Merlin.] Proceeding now to Carduel\n(Carlisle), Merlin, who is represented as a great architect and\nwonder-worker, built Uther Pendragon a beautiful castle, and established\nthe Round Table, in imitation of the one which Joseph of Arimathea had once\ninstituted. There were places for a large number of knights around this\nboard (the number varying greatly with different writers), and a special\nplace was reserved for the Holy Grail, which, having vanished from Britain\nbecause of the sinfulness of the people, the knights still hoped to have\nrestored when they became sufficiently pure.\n\n    \"This table gan [began] Uther the wight;\n    Ac [but] it to ende had he no might.\n    For, theygh [though] alle the kinges under our lord\n    Hadde y-sitten [sat] at that bord,\n    Knight by knight, ich you telle,\n    The table might nought fulfille,\n    Till they were born that should do all\n    Fulfill the mervaile of the Greal.\"\n                         ELLIS, _Merlin_.\n\nA great festival was announced for the institution of the Round Table, and\nall the knights came to Carduel, accompanied by their wives. Among the\nlatter the fairest was Yguerne, wife of Gorlois, Lord of Tintagel in\nCornwall, and with her Uther fell desperately in love.\n\n    \"This fest was noble ynow, and nobliche y-do [done];\n    For mony was the faire ledy, that y-come was thereto.\n    Yguerne, Gorloys wyf, was fairest of echon [each one],\n    That was contasse of Cornewail, for so fair was there non.\"\n                                     ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER.\n\nYguerne had already three or four daughters, famous in the Arthurian\nlegends as mothers of the knights Gawain, Gravain, Ywain, and others. One\nof the king's councilors, Ulfin, revealed the king's passion to Yguerne,\nand she told her husband. Indignant at the insult offered him, Gorlois\npromptly left court, locked his wife up in the impregnable fortress of\nTintagel, and, gathering together an army, began to fight against Uther\nPendragon.\n\nThe day before the battle, Merlin changed Uther into the form of Gorlois,\nand himself and Ulfin into those of the squires of the Duke of Cornwall.\nThus disguised, the three went to Tintagel, where Yguerne threw the gates\nopen at their call and received Uther as her husband, without suspecting\nthe deception practiced upon her.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Arthur.] On the morrow the battle took place. Gorlois\nwas slain. Shortly after, Uther married Yguerne, who never suspected that\nthe child which was soon born, and which Uther immediately confided to\nMerlin, was not a son of Gorlois. Arthur, the child who had thus come into\nthe world, was intrusted to the care of Sir Hector, who brought him up with\nhis own son, Sir Kay, little suspecting his royal descent. This child grew\nup rapidly, and when but fifteen years of age was handsome, accomplished,\nand dearly loved by all around him.\n\n    \"He was fair, and well agr\u00e9 [agreeable],\n    And was a thild [child] of gret noblay.\n    He was curteys, faire and gent,\n    And wight [brave], and hardi, veramen [truly].\n    Curteyslich [courteously] and fair he spac [spake].\n    With him was none evil lack [fault].\"\n                        ELLIS, _Merlin_.\n\nWhen Uther died without leaving any heir, there was an interregnum, for\nMerlin had promised that the true king should be revealed by a miracle.\nThis prophecy was duly fulfilled, as will be shown hereafter. Merlin became\nthe royal adviser as soon as Arthur ascended the throne, helped him win\nsignal victories over twelve kings, and in the course of a single night\nconveyed armies over from France to help him.\n\nAs Merlin could assume any shape he pleased, Arthur often used him as\nmessenger; and one of the romances relates that the magician, in the guise\nof a stag, once went to Rome to bear the king's challenge to Julius Caesar\n(not the conqueror of Gaul but the mythical father of Oberon) to single\ncombat. Merlin was also renowned for the good advice which he gave, not\nonly to Vortigern and Uther Pendragon, but also to Arthur, and for his\nnumerous predictions concerning the glorious future of England, all of\nwhich, if we are to believe tradition, have been fulfilled.\n\n    \"O goodly River! near unto thy sacred spring\n    Prophetic Merlin sate, when to the British King\n    The changes long to come, auspiciously he told.\"\n                                   DRAYTON, _Polyolbion_.\n\n[Sidenote: Palace at Camelot.] Merlin also won great renown as a builder\nand architect. Besides the construction of Stonehenge, and of the castle\nfor Uther Pendragon, he is said to have built Arthur's beautiful palace at\nCamelot. He also devised sundry magic fountains, which are mentioned in\nother mediaeval romances. One of these is referred to by Spenser in the\n\"Faerie Queene,\" and another by Ariosto in his \"Orlando Furioso.\"\n\n    \"This Spring was one of those four fountains rare,\n    Of those in France produced by Merlin's sleight,\n    Encompassed round about with marble fair,\n    Shining and polished, and than milk more white.\n    There in the stones choice figures chiseled were,\n    By that magician's god-like labour dight;\n    Some voice was wanting, these you might have thought\n    Were living, and with nerve and spirit fraught.\"\n                                 ARIOSTO, _Orlando Furioso_ (Rose's tr.).\n\nMerlin was also supposed to have made all kinds of magic objects, among\nwhich the poets often mention a cup. This would, reveal whether the drinker\nhad led a pure life, for it always overflowed when touched by polluted\nlips. He was also the artificer of Arthur's armor, which no weapon could\npierce, and of a magic mirror in which one could see whatever one wished.\n\n    \"It Merlin was, which whylome did excel\n    All living wightes in might of magicke spell:\n    Both shield, and sword, and armour all he wrought\n    For this young Prince, when first to armes he fell.\"\n                                        SPENSER, _Faerie Queene_.\n\n[Sidenote: Merlin and Vivian.] Merlin, in spite of all his knowledge and\nskill, yielded often to the entreaties of his fair mistress, Vivian, the\nLady of the Lake. She followed him wherever he went, and made countless\nefforts to learn all his arts and to discover all his magic spells. In\norder to beguile the aged Merlin into telling her all she wished to know,\nVivian pretended great devotion, which is admirably related in Tennyson's\n\"Idylls of the King,\" one of which treats exclusively of Merlin and Vivian.\n\nThis enchantress even went with him to the fairy-haunted forest of\nBroceliande, in Brittany, where she finally beguiled him into revealing a\nmagic spell whereby a human being could be inclosed in a hawthorn tree,\nwhere he must dwell forever.\n\n    \"And then she follow'd Merlin all the way,\n    E'en to the wild woods of Broceliande.\n    For Merlin once had told her of a charm,\n    The which if any wrought on any one\n    With woven paces and with waving arms,\n    The man so wrought on ever seem'd to lie\n    Closed in the four walls of a hollow tower,\n    From which was no escape for evermore;\n    And none could find that man for evermore,\n    Nor could he see but him who wrought the charm\n    Coming and going; and he lay as dead\n    And lost to life and use and name and fame.\"\n                                  TENNYSON, _Merlin and Vivien_.\n\nThis charm having been duly revealed, the Lady of the Lake, weary of her\naged lover, and wishing to rid herself of him forever now that she had\nlearned all he could teach her, lured him into the depths of the forest.\nThere, by aid of the spell, she imprisoned him in a thorn bush, whence, if\nthe tales of the Breton peasants can be believed, his voice can be heard to\nissue from time to time.\n\n    \"They sate them down together, and a sleep\n    Fell upon Merlin, more like death, so deep.\n    Her finger on her lips, then Vivian rose,\n    And from her brown-lock'd head the wimple throws,\n    And takes it in her hand, and waves it over\n    The blossom'd thorn tree and her sleeping lover.\n    Nine times she waved the fluttering wimple round,\n    And made a little plot of magic ground.\n    And in that daised circle, as men say,\n    Is Merlin prisoner till the judgment day;\n    But she herself whither she will can rove--\n    For she was passing weary of his love.\"\n                               MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Tristram and Iseult_.\n\n[Illustration: THE BEGUILING OF MERLIN.--Burne-Jones.]\n\nAccording to another version of the tale, Merlin, having grown very old\nindeed, once sat down on the \"Siege Perilous,\" forgetting that none but a\nsinless man could occupy it with impunity. He was immediately swallowed up\nby the earth, which yawned wide beneath his feet, and he never visited the\nearth again.\n\nA third version says that Vivian through love imprisoned Merlin in an\nunderground palace, where she alone could visit him. There he dwells,\nunchanged by the flight of time, and daily increasing the store of\nknowledge for which he was noted.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n\n\nTHE ROUND TABLE.\n\n\nFortunately \"the question of the actual existence and acts of Arthur has\nvery little to do with the question of the origin of the Arthurian cycle.\"\nBut although some authorities entirely deny his existence, it is probable\nthat he was a Briton, for many places in Wales, Scotland, and England are\nconnected with his name.\n\nOn the very slightest basis, many of the mediaeval writers constructed long\nand fabulous tales about this hero. Such was the popularity of the\nArthurian legends all over Europe that prose romances concerning him were\namong the first works printed, and were thus brought into general\ncirculation. An outline of the principal adventures of Arthur and of his\nknights is given here. It has been taken from many works, whose authors\nwill often be mentioned as we proceed.\n\nKing Uther Pendragon, as we have already seen, intrusted his new-born son,\nArthur, to the care of the enchanter Merlin, who carried him to the castle\nof Sir Hector (Anton), where the young prince was brought up as a child of\nthe house.\n\n        \"Wherefore Merlin took the child,\n    And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight\n    And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife\n    Nursed the young prince, and rear'd him with her own;\n    And no man knew.\"\n                     TENNYSON, _The Coming of Arthur_.\n\n[Sidenote: The magic sword.] Two years later King Uther Pendragon died, and\nthe noblemen, not knowing whom to choose as his successor, consulted\nMerlin, promising to abide by his decision. By his advice they all\nassembled in St. Stephen's Church, in London, on Christmas Day. When mass\nwas over they beheld a large stone which had mysteriously appeared in the\nchurchyard. This stone was surmounted by a ponderous anvil, in which the\nblade of a sword was deeply sunk. Drawing near to examine the wonder, they\nread an inscription upon the jeweled hilt, to the effect that none but the\nman who could draw out the sword should dare to take possession of the\nthrone. Of course all present immediately tried to accomplish this feat,\nbut all failed.\n\nSeveral years passed by ere Sir Hector came to London with his son, Sir\nKay, and his foster son, young Arthur. Sir Kay, who, for the first time in\nhis life, was to take part in a tournament, was greatly chagrined, on\narriving there, to discover that he had forgotten his sword; so Arthur\nvolunteered to ride back and get it. He found the house closed; yet, being\ndetermined to secure a sword for his foster brother, he strode hastily into\nthe churchyard, and easily drew from the anvil the weapon which all had\nvainly tried to secure.\n\n[Sidenote: Arthur made king.] This mysterious sword was handed to Sir Kay,\nand Sir Hector, perceiving it, and knowing whence it came, immediately\ninquired how Arthur had secured it. He even refused at first to believe the\nevidence of his own eyes; but when he and all the principal nobles of the\nrealm had seen Arthur replace and draw out the sword, after all had again\nvainly tried their strength, they gladly hailed the young man king.\n\nAs Merlin was an enchanter, it was popularly rumored that Arthur was not,\nas he now declared, the son of Uther Pendragon and Yguerne, but a babe\nmysteriously brought up from the depths of the sea, on the crest of the\nninth wave, and cast ashore at the wizard's feet. Hence many people\ndistrusted the young king, and at first refused to obey him.\n\n        \"Watch'd the great sea fall,\n    Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,\n    Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep,\n    And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged\n    Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame:\n    And down the wave and in the flame was borne\n    A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet,\n    Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried 'The King!\n    Here is an heir for Uther!'\"\n                             TENNYSON, _The Coming of Arthur_.\n\nAmong the unbelievers were some of the king's own kindred, and notably his\nfour nephews, Gawain, Gaheris, Agravaine, and Gareth. Arthur was therefore\nobliged to make war against them; but although Gawain's strength increased\nin a truly marvelous fashion from nine to twelve in the morning, and from\nthree to six in the afternoon, the king succeeded in defeating him by\nfollowing Merlin's advice and taking advantage of his comparatively weak\nmoments.\n\n[Sidenote: Sir Pellinore.] Arthur, aided by Merlin, ruled over the land\nwisely and well, redressed many wrongs, re\u00ebstablished order and security,\nwhich a long interregnum had destroyed, and brandished his sword in many a\nfight, in which he invariably proved victor. But one day, having drawn his\nblade upon Sir Pellinore, who did not deserve to be thus attacked, it\nsuddenly failed him and broke. Left thus without any means of defense, the\nking would surely have perished had not Merlin used his magic arts to put\nSir Pellinore to sleep and to bear his charge to a place of safety.\n\nArthur, thus deprived of his magic sword, bewailed its loss; but while he\nstood by a lake, wondering how he should procure another, he beheld a\nwhite-draped hand and arm rise out of the water, holding aloft a jeweled\nsword which the Lady of the Lake, who appeared beside him, told him was\nintended for his use.\n\n                       \"'Thou rememberest how\n    In those old days, one summer noon, an arm\n    Rose up from out the bosom of the lake,\n    Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,\n    Holding the sword--and how I row'd across\n    And took it, and have worn it, like a king;\n    And, wheresoever I am sung or told\n    In aftertime, this also shall be known.'\"\n                             TENNYSON, _The Passing of Arthur_.\n\n[Sidenote: Excalibur.] Arthur rowed out into the middle of the lake and\nsecured the sword which is known by the name Excalibur. He was then told by\nthe Lady of the Lake that it was gifted with magic powers, and that as long\nas the scabbard remained in his possession he would suffer neither wound\nnor defeat.\n\nThus armed, Arthur went back to his palace, where, hearing that the Saxons\nhad again invaded the country, he went to wage war against them, and won\nmany victories. Shortly after this Arthur heard that Leodegraunce, King of\nScotland, was threatened by his brother Ryance, King of Ireland, who was\ndetermined to complete a mantle furred with the beards of kings, and wanted\nto secure one more at any price. Arthur hastened to this monarch's\nassistance, and delivered him from the clutches of Ryance. He not only\nkilled this savage monarch, but appropriated his mantle and carried it away\nin triumph as a trophy of the war.\n\n    \"And for a trophy brought the Giant's coat away\n    Made of the beards of Kings.\"\n                                        DRAYTON, _Polyolbion_.\n\n[Sidenote: Arthur's marriage with Guinevere.] After these martial exploits\nArthur returned to the court of Leodegraunce, where he fell in love with\nthe latter's fair daughter, Guinevere. The king sued successfully for her\nhand, but Merlin would not allow him to marry this princess until he had\ndistinguished himself by a campaign in Brittany. The wedding was then\ncelebrated with true mediaeval pomp; and Arthur, having received, besides\nthe princess, the Round Table once made for his father, conveyed his bride\nand wedding gift to Camelot (Winchester), where he bade all his court be\npresent for a great feast at Pentecost.\n\n    \"The nearest neighboring flood to Arthur's ancient seat,\n    Which made the Britons' name through all the world so great.\n    Like Camelot, what place was ever yet renown'd?\n    Where, as at Carlion, oft, he kept the Table-Round,\n    Most famous for the sports at Pentecost so long,\n    From whence all knightly deeds, and brave achievements sprong.\"\n                                           DRAYTON,--_Polyolbion_.\n\n[Sidenote: Knights of the Round Table.] Arthur had already warred\nsuccessfully against twelve revolted kings, whose remains were interred at\nCamelot by his order. There Merlin erected a marvelous castle, containing a\nspecial hall for the reception of the Round Table. This hall was adorned\nwith the lifelike statues of all the conquered kings, each holding a\nburning taper which the magician declared would burn brightly until the\nHoly Grail should appear. Hoping to bring that desirable event to pass,\nArthur bade Merlin frame laws for the knights of the Round Table. As\ndistinctive mark, each of the noblemen admitted to a seat at this marvelous\ntable adopted some heraldic device. The number of these knights varies from\ntwelve to several hundred, according to the different poets or romancers.\n\n    \"The fellowshipp of the Table Round,\n    Soe famous in those dayes;\n    Whereatt a hundred noble knights\n    And thirty sat alwayes;\n    Who for their deeds and martiall feates,\n    As bookes done yett record,\n    Amongst all other nations\n    Wer feared through the world.\"\n                            _Legend of King Arthur_ (Old Ballad).\n\nMerlin, by virtue of his magic powers, easily selected the knights worthy\nto belong to this noble institution, and the Archbishop of Canterbury duly\nblessed them and the board around which they sat. All the places were soon\nfilled except two; and as the knights arose from their seats after the\nfirst meal they noticed that their names were inscribed in letters of gold\nin the places they had occupied. But one of the empty seats was marked\n\"Siege Perilous,\" and could only be occupied by a peerless knight.\n\n[Sidenote: Lancelot du Lac.]\n\nAmong all the knights of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot du Lac, who is the\nhero of several lengthy poems and romances bearing his name, was the most\npopular. Chrestien de Troyes, Geoffrey de Ligny, Robert de Borron, and Map\nhave all written about him, and he was so well known that his name was\ngiven to one of the knaves on the playing cards invented at about this\ntime. Malory, in his prose version of the \"Morte d'Arthur,\" has drawn\nprincipally from the poems treating of Lancelot, whose early life was\nsomewhat extraordinary, too.\n\nSome accounts relate that Lancelot was the son of King Ban and Helen. When\nhe was but a babe, his parents were obliged to flee from their besieged\ncastle in Brittany. Before they had gone far, the aged Ban, seeing his home\nin flames, sank dying to the ground. Helen, eager to minister to her\nhusband, laid her baby boy down on the grass near a lake, and when she\nagain turned around, she saw him in the arms of Vivian, the Lady of the\nLake, who plunged with him into the waters.\n\n    \"In the wife's woe, the mother was forgot.\n      At last (for I was all earth held of him\n    Who had been all to her, and now was not)\n      She rose, and looked with tearless eyes, but dim,\n    In the babe's face the father still to see;\n    And lo! the babe was on another's knee!\n\n    \"Another's lips had kissed it into sleep,\n      And o'er the sleep another watchful smiled;\n    The Fairy sate beside the lake's still deep,\n      And hush'd with chaunted charms the orphan child!\n    Scared at the mother's cry, as fleets a dream,\n    Both Child and Fairy melt into the stream.\"\n                                 BULWER LYTTON, _King Arthur_.\n\nThe bereaved wife and mother now sorrowfully withdrew into a convent, while\nLancelot was brought up in the palace of the Lady of the Lake, with his two\ncousins, Lyonel and Bohort. Here he remained until he was eighteen, when\nthe fairy herself brought him to court and presented him to the king.\nArthur then and there made him his friend and confidant, and gave him an\nhonored place at the Round Table. He was warmly welcomed by all the other\nknights also, whom he far excelled in beauty and courage.\n\n    \"But one Sir Lancelot du Lake,\n    Who was approved well,\n    He for his deeds and feats of armes\n    All others did excell.\"\n                   _Sir Lancelot du Lake_ (Old Ballad).\n\n[Sidenote: Lancelot and Guinevere.] Lancelot, however, was doomed to much\nsorrow, for he had no sooner beheld Queen Guinevere than he fell deeply in\nlove with her. The queen fully returned his affection, granted him many\nmarks of her favor, and encouraged him to betray his friend and king on\nsundry occasions, which form the themes of various episodes in the romances\nof the time. Lancelot, urged in one direction by passion, in another by\nloyalty, led a very unhappy life, which made him relapse into occasional\nfits of insanity, during which he roamed aimlessly about for many years.\nWhen restored to his senses, he always returned to court, where he\naccomplished unheard-of deeds of valor, delivered many maidens in distress,\nrighted the wrong wherever he found it, won all the honors at the\ntournaments, and ever remained faithful in his devotion to the queen,\nalthough many fair ladies tried to make him forget her.\n\nSome of the poems, anxious to vindicate the queen, declare that there were\ntwo Guineveres, one pure, lovely, and worthy of all admiration, who\nsuffered for the sins of the other, an unprincipled woman. When Arthur\ndiscovered his wife's intrigue with Lancelot, he sent her away, and\nGuinevere took refuge with her lover in Joyeuse Garde (Berwick), a castle\nhe had won at the point of his lance to please her. But the king, having\nascertained some time after that the real Guinevere had been wrongfully\naccused, reinstated her in his favor, and Lancelot again returned to court,\nwhere he continued to love and serve the queen.\n\n[Illustration: SIR LANCELOT DU LAC.--Sir John Gilbert.]\n\nOn one occasion, hearing that she had been made captive by Meleagans,\nLancelot rushed after Guinevere to rescue her, tracing her by a comb and\nringlet she had dropped on the way. His horse was taken from him by\nenchantment, so Lancelot, in order sooner to overtake the queen, rode on in\na cart. This was considered a disgraceful mode of progress for a knight, as\na nobleman in those days was condemned to ride in a cart in punishment for\ncrimes for which common people were sentenced to the pillory.\n\nLancelot succeeded in reaching the castle of Guinevere's kidnaper,  whom he\nchallenged and defeated. The queen, instead of showing herself grateful for\nthis devotion, soon became needlessly jealous, and in a fit of anger\ntaunted her lover about his journey in the cart. This remark sufficed to\nunsettle the hero's evidently very tottering reason, and he roamed wildly\nabout until the queen recognized her error, and sent twenty-three knights\nin search of him. They journeyed far and wide for two whole years without\nfinding him.\n\n        \"'Then Sir Bors had ridden on\n    Softly, and sorrowing for our Lancelot,\n    Because his former madness, once the talk\n    And scandal of our table, had return'd;\n    For Lancelot's kith and kin so worship him\n    That ill to him is ill to them.'\"\n                             TENNYSON, _The Holy Grail_.\n\nFinally a fair and pious damsel took pity upon the frenzied knight, and\nseeing that he had atoned by suffering for all his sins, she had him borne\ninto the chamber where the Holy Grail was kept; \"and then there came a holy\nman, who uncovered the vessel, and so by miracle, and by virtue of that\nholy vessel, Sir Lancelot was all healed and recovered.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Gareth and Lynette.] Sane once more, Lancelot now returned to\nCamelot, where the king, queen, and all the knights of the Round Table\nrejoiced to see him. Here Lancelot knighted Sir Gareth, who, to please his\nmother, had concealed his true name, and had acted as kitchen vassal for a\nwhole year. The new-made knight immediately started out with a fair maiden\ncalled Lynette, to deliver her captive sister. Thinking him nothing but the\nkitchen vassal he seemed, the damsel insulted Gareth in every possible way.\nHe bravely endured her taunts, courageously defeated all her adversaries,\nand finally won her admiration and respect to such a degree that she bade\nhim ride beside her, and humbly asked his pardon for having so grievously\nmisjudged him.\n\n    \"'Sir,--and, good faith, I fain had added Knight,\n    But that I heard thee call thyself a knave,--\n    Shamed am I that I so rebuked, reviled,\n    Missaid thee; noble I am; and thought the King\n    Scorn'd me and mine; and now thy pardon, friend,\n    For thou hast ever answer'd courteously,\n    And wholly bold thou art, and meek withal\n    As any of Arthur's best, but, being knave,\n    Hast mazed my wit: I marvel what thou art.'\"\n                                 TENNYSON, _Gareth and Lynette_.\n\nGranting her full forgiveness, Gareth now rode beside her, fought more\nbravely still, and, after defeating many knights, delivered her sister from\ncaptivity, and secured Lynette's promise to become his wife as soon as he\nhad been admitted to the Round Table. When he returned to Arthur's court\nthis honor was immediately awarded him, for his prowess had won the\nadmiration of all, and he was duly married on St. Michaelmas Day.\n\n    \"And he that told the tale in older times\n    Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyoners,\n    But he that told it later, says Lynette.\"\n                           TENNYSON, _Gareth and Lynette_.\n\n[Sidenote: Geraint and Enid.] Gareth's brother, Geraint, was also an\nhonored member of the Round Table. After distinguishing himself by many\ndeeds of valor he married Enid the Fair, the only daughter of an old and\nimpoverished knight whom he delivered from the tyranny of his oppressor and\nrestored to all his former state. Taking his fair wife away with him to his\nlonely manor, Geraint surrounded her with every comfort, and, forgetting\nhis former high aspirations, spent all his time at home, hoping thereby to\nplease her.\n\n    \"He compass'd her with sweet observances\n    And worship, never leaving her, and grew\n    Forgetful of his promise to the King.\n    Forgetful of the falcon and the hunt,\n    Forgetful of the tilt and tournament,\n    Forgetful of his glory and his name,\n    Forgetful of his princedom and its cares.\n    And this forgetfulness was hateful to her.\"\n                            TENNYSON, _Geraint and Enid_.\n\nEnid, however, soon perceived that her husband was forgetting both honor\nand duty to linger by her side. One day, while he lay asleep before her,\nshe, in an outburst of wifely love, poured out her heart, and ended her\nconfession by declaring that since Geraint neglected everything for her\nsake only, she must be an unworthy wife.\n\nGeraint awoke too late to overhear the first part of her speech; but,\nseeing her tears, and catching the words \"unworthy wife,\" he immediately\nimagined that she had ceased to love him, and that she received the\nattentions of another. In his anger Geraint (whom the French and German\npoems call Erec) rose from his couch, and sternly bade his wife don her\nmeanest apparel and silently follow him through the world.\n\n    \"The page he bade with speed\n    Prepare his own strong steed,\n    Dame Enid's palfrey there beside;\n    He said that he would ride\n    For pastime far away:\n    So forward hastened they.\"\n                HARTMANN VON AVE, _Erek and Enid_ (Bayard Taylor's tr.)\n\nPatiently Enid did her husband's bidding, watched him fight the knights by\nthe way, and bound up his wounds. She suffered intensely from his\nincomprehensible coldness and displeasure; but she stood all his tests so\nnobly that he finally recognized how greatly he had misjudged her. He then\nrestored her to her rightful place, and loved her more dearly than ever\nbefore.\n\n        \"Nor did he doubt her more,\n    But rested in her fealty, till he crown'd\n    A happy life with a fair death, and fell\n    Against the heathen of the Northern Sea\n    In battle, fighting for the blameless King.\"\n                             TENNYSON,--_Geraint and Enid_.\n\n[Sidenote: Sir Galahad.] One Pentecost Day, when all the knights were\nassembled, as usual, around the table at Camelot, a distressed damsel\nsuddenly entered the hall and implored Lancelot to accompany her to the\nneighboring forest, where a young warrior was hoping to receive knighthood\nat his hands. This youth was Sir Galahad, the peerless knight, whom some\nauthorities call Lancelot's son, while others declare that he was not of\nmortal birth.\n\nOn re\u00ebntering the hall after performing this ceremony, Lancelot heard that\na miracle had occurred, and rushed with the king and his companions down to\nthe riverside. There the rumor was verified, for they all saw a heavy stone\nfloating down the stream, and perceived that a costly weapon was sunk deep\nin the stone. On this weapon was an inscription, declaring that none but a\npeerless knight should attempt to draw it out, upon penalty of a grievous\npunishment. As all the knights of the Round Table felt guilty of some sin,\nthey modestly refused to touch it.\n\nWhen they returned into the hall an aged man came in, accompanied by\nGalahad, and the latter, fearless by right of innocence, sat down in the\n\"Siege Perilous.\" As his name then appeared upon it, all knew that he was\nthe rightful occupant, and hailed his advent with joy. Then, noticing that\nhe wore an empty scabbard, and hearing him state that he had been promised\na marvelous sword, they one and all escorted him down to the river, where\nhe easily drew the sword out of the stone. This fitted exactly in his empty\nsheath, and all vowed that it was evidently meant for him.\n\nThat selfsame night, after evensong, when all the knights were seated about\nthe Round Table at Camelot, they heard a long roll of thunder, and felt the\npalace shake. The brilliant lights held by the statues of the twelve\nconquered kings grew strangely dim, and then, gliding down upon a beam of\nrefulgent celestial light, they all beheld a dazzling vision of the Holy\nGrail. Covered by white samite, and borne by invisible hands, the sacred\nvessel was slowly carried all around the great hall, while a delicious\nperfume was wafted throughout the huge edifice. All the knights of the\nRound Table gazed in silent awe at this resplendent vision, and when it\nvanished as suddenly and as mysteriously as it had come, each saw before\nhim the food which he liked best.\n\nSpeechless at first, and motionless until the wonted light again illumined\nthe hall, the knights gave fervent thanks for the mercy which had been\nvouchsafed them, and then Lancelot, springing impetuously to his feet,\nvowed that he would ride forth in search of the Holy Grail and would know\nno rest until he had beheld it unveiled. This vow was echoed by all the\nknights of the Round Table; and when Arthur now questioned them closely, he\ndiscovered that none had seen the vessel unveiled. Still he could not\nprevent his knights from setting out in quest of it, because they had\nsolemnly vowed to do so.\n\n    \"'Nay, lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light,\n    But since I did not see the Holy Thing,\n    I sware a vow to follow it till I saw.'\n\n    \"Then when he ask'd us, knight by knight, if any\n    Had seen it, all their answers were as one:\n    'Nay, lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.'\"\n                                    TENNYSON, _The Holy Grail_.\n\n[Sidenote: Quest of the Holy Grail.] During this quest the knights traveled\nseparately or in pairs all through the world, encountered many dangers, and\nin true mediaeval fashion defended damsels in distress, challenged knights,\nand covered themselves with scars and glory. Some of the legends declare\nthat Parzival alone saw the Holy Grail, while others aver that Lancelot saw\nit through a veil faintly. The pure Galahad, having never sinned at all,\nand having spent years in prayer and fasting, finally beheld it just as his\nimmaculate soul was borne to heaven by the angels.\n\nThe rest of the knights, realizing after many years' fruitless search that\nthey were unworthy of the boon, finally returned to Camelot, where they\nwere duly entertained by the queen. While they were feasting at her table,\none of their number, having partaken of a poisonous draught, fell lifeless\nto the ground. As the incident had happened at the queen's side, some of\nher detractors accused her of the crime, and bade her confess, or prove her\ninnocence by a judicial duel. Being her husband, Arthur was debarred by law\nof the privilege of fighting for her in the lists of Camelot, and the poor\nqueen would have been condemned to be burned alive for lack of a champion\nhad not Lancelot appeared incognito, and forced her accuser to retract his\nwords.\n\nThroughout his reign Arthur had been wont to encourage his knights by\nyearly tournaments, the victor's prize being each time a precious jewel. It\nseems that these jewels had come into his possession in a peculiar way.\nWhile wandering as a lad in Lyonesse, Arthur found the moldering bones of\ntwo kings. Tradition related that these monarchs had slain each other, and,\nas they were brothers, the murder seemed so heinous that none dared touch\ntheir remains. There among the rusty armor lay a kingly crown studded with\ndiamonds, which Arthur picked up and carelessly set upon his own head. At\nthat very moment a prophetic voice was heard declaring to him that he\nshould rule. Arthur kept the crown, and made each jewel set in it the\nobject of a brilliant pageant when the prophecy had been fulfilled.\n\n    \"And Arthur came, and laboring up the pass,\n    All in a misty moonshine, unawares\n    Had trodden that crown'd skeleton, and the skull\n    Brake from the nape, and from the skull the crown\n    Roll'd into light, and turning on its rims\n    Fled like a glittering rivulet to the tarn.\n    And down the shingly scaur he plunged, and caught,\n    And set it on his head, and in his heart\n    Heard murmurs,--'Lo! thou likewise shalt be King.'\"\n                                 TENNYSON, _Lancelot and Elaine_.\n\n[Sidenote: Lancelot's prowess.] Lancelot had been present at every one of\nthese knightly games, and had easily borne away the prize, for his very\nname was almost enough to secure him the victory. When the time for the\nlast tournament came, he pretended to take no interest in it; but, riding\noff to Astolat (Guildford), he asked Elaine, the fair maiden who dwelt\nthere, to guard his blazoned shield and give him another in exchange.\n\nThis fair lady, who had fallen in love with Lancelot at first sight,\nimmediately complied with his request, and even timidly suggested that he\nshould wear her colors in the coming fray. Lancelot had never worn any\nfavors except Guinevere's, but thinking that it would help to conceal his\nidentity, he accepted the crimson, pearl-embroidered sleeve she offered,\nand fastened it to his helmet in the usual way.\n\n    \"'Lady, thy sleeve thou shalt off-shear,\n    I wol it take for the love of thee;\n    So did I never no lady's ere [before]\n    But one, that most hath loved me.'\"\n                              ELLIS, _Lancelot du Lac_.\n\nThus effectually disguised, and accompanied by Sir Lawaine, Elaine's\nbrother, Lancelot rode on to the tournament, where, still unknown, he\nunhorsed every knight and won the prize. His last encounter, however,\nnearly proved fatal, for in it he received a grievous wound. As he felt\nfaint, and was afraid to be recognized, Lancelot did not wait to claim the\nprize, but rode immediately out of the town. He soon fainted, but was\nconveyed to the cell of a neighboring hermit. Here his wound was dressed,\nand he was carefully nursed by Elaine, who had heard that he was wounded,\nand had immediately set out in search of him.\n\n[Sidenote: Lancelot and Elaine.] When Lancelot, entirely recovered, was\nabout to leave Elaine after claiming his own shield, she timidly confessed\nher love, hoping that it was returned. Gently and sorrowfully Lancelot\nrepulsed her, and, by her father's advice, was even so discourteous as to\nleave her without a special farewell. Unrequited love soon proved too much\nfor the \"lily maid of Astolat,\" who pined away very rapidly. Feeling that\nher end was near, she dictated a farewell letter to Lancelot, which she\nmade her father promise to put in her dead hand. She also directed that her\nbody should be laid in state on a barge, and sent in charge of a mute\nboatman to Camelot, where she was sure she would receive a suitable burial\nfrom the hands of Lancelot.\n\nIn the meanwhile the hero of the tournament had been sought everywhere by\nGawain, who was the bearer of the diamond won at such a cost. Coming to\nAstolat before Lancelot was cured, Gawain had learned the name of the\nvictor, which he immediately proclaimed to Guinevere. The queen, however,\nhearing a vague rumor that Lancelot had worn the colors of the maiden of\nAstolat, and was about to marry her, grew so jealous that when Lancelot\nreappeared at court she received him very coldly, and carelessly flung his\npresent (a necklace studded with the diamonds he had won at various\ntournaments) into the river flowing beneath the castle walls.\n\n                                     \"She seized,\n    And, thro' the casement standing wide for heat,\n    Flung them, and down they flash'd, and smote the stream.\n    Then from the smitten surface flash'd, as it were,\n    Diamonds to meet them, and they passed away.\"\n                                 TENNYSON, _Lancelot and Elaine_.\n\n[Illustration: ELAINE--Rosenthal.]\n\n[Sidenote: The funeral barge.] As he leaned out of the window to trace them\nin their fall, Lancelot saw a barge slowly drifting down the stream. Its\npeculiar appearance attracted his attention, and as it passed close by him\nhe saw that it bore a corpse. A moment later he had recognized the features\nof the dead Elaine. The mute boatman paused at the castle steps, and Arthur\nhad the corpse borne into his presence. The letter was found and read aloud\nin the midst of the awestruck court. Arthur, touched by the girl's love,\nbade Lancelot fulfill her last request and lay her to rest. Lancelot then\nrelated the brief story of the maiden, whose love he could not return, but\nwhose death he sincerely mourned.\n\n    \"'My lord liege Arthur, and all ye that hear,\n    Know that for this most gentle maiden's death\n    Right heavy am I; for good she was and true,\n    But loved me with a love beyond all love\n    In women, whomsoever I have known.\n    Yet to be loved makes not to love again;\n    Not at my years, however it hold in youth.\n    I swear by truth and knighthood that I gave\n    No cause, not willingly, for such a love:\n    To this I call my friends in testimony,\n    Her brethren, and her father, who himself\n    Besought me to be plain and blunt, and use,\n    To break her passion, some discourtesy\n    Against my nature: what I could, I did.\n    I left her and I bade her no farewell;\n    Tho', had I dreamt the damsel would have died,\n    I might have put my wits to some rough use,\n    And help'd her from herself.'\"\n                            TENNYSON, _Lancelot and Elaine_.\n\nHaunted by remorse for this involuntary crime, Lancelot again wandered away\nfrom Camelot, but returned in time to save Guinevere, who had again been\nfalsely accused. In his indignation at the treatment to which she had been\nexposed, Lancelot bore her off to Joyeuse Garde, where he swore he would\ndefend her even against the king. Arthur, whose mind, in the mean while,\nhad been poisoned by officious courtiers, besieged his recreant wife and\nknight; but although repeatedly challenged, the loyal Lancelot ever refused\nto bear arms directly against his king.\n\nWhen the Pope heard of the dissension in England he finally interfered; and\nLancelot, assured that Guinevere would henceforth be treated with all due\nrespect, surrendered her to the king and retreated to his paternal estate\nin Brittany. As Arthur's resentment against Lancelot had not yet cooled, he\nleft Guinevere under the care and protection of Mordred, his nephew,--some\nversions say his son,--and then, at the head of a large force, departed for\nBrittany.\n\n[Sidenote: Treachery of Mordred.] Mordred the traitor immediately took\nadvantage of his uncle's absence to lay claim to the throne; and loudly\ndeclaring that Arthur had been slain, he tried to force Guinevere to marry\nhim. As she demurred, he kept her a close prisoner, and set her free only\nwhen she pretended to agree with his wishes, and asked permission to go to\nLondon to buy wedding finery.\n\nWhen Guinevere arrived in that city she intrenched herself in the Tower,\nand sent word to her husband of her perilous position. Without any delay\nArthur abandoned the siege of Lancelot's stronghold, and, crossing the\nchannel, encountered Mordred's army near Dover.\n\nNegotiations now took place, and it was finally agreed that Arthur and a\ncertain number of knights should meet Mordred with an equal number, and\ndiscuss the terms of peace. It had been strictly enjoined on both parties\nthat no weapon should be drawn, and all would have gone well had not an\nadder been lurking in the grass. One of the knights drew his sword to kill\nit, and this unexpected movement proved the signal for one of the bloodiest\nbattles described in mediaeval poetry.\n\n    \"An addere crept forth of a bushe,\n    Stunge one o' th' king's knightes on the knee.\n    Alacke! it was a woefulle chance,\n    As ever was in Christientie;\n    When the knighte founde him wounded sore,\n    And sawe the wild worme hanginge there,\n    His sworde he from the scabbarde drewe;\n    A piteous case, as ye shall heare;\n    For when the two hostes saw the sworde,\n    They joyned in battayle instantlye;\n    Till of so manye noble knightes,\n    On one side there was left but three.\"\n                              _King Arthur's Death_.\n\n[Sidenote: Arthur wounded.] On both sides the knights fought with the\nutmost courage, and when nearly all were slain, Arthur encountered the\ntraitor Mordred. Summoning all his strength, the exhausted king finally\nslew the usurper, who, in dying, dealt Arthur a mortal blow. This would\nnever have occurred, however, had not Morgana the fay, Arthur's sister,\npurloined his magic scabbard and substituted another. All the enemy's host\nhad perished, and of Arthur's noble army only one man remained alive, Sir\nBedivere, a knight of the Round Table. He hastened to the side of his\nfallen master, who in faltering accents now bade him take the brand\nExcalibur, cast it far from him into the waters of the lake, and return to\nreport what he should see. The knight, thinking it a pity to throw away so\nvaluable a sword, concealed it twice; but the dying monarch detected the\nfraud, and finally prevailed upon Bedivere to fulfill his wishes. As the\nmagic blade touched the waters Sir Bedivere saw a hand and arm rise up from\nthe depths to seize it, brandish it thrice, and disappear.\n\n    \"'Sir King, I closed mine eyelids, lest the gems\n    Should blind my purpose; for I never saw,\n    Nor shall see, here or elsewhere, till I die,\n    Not tho' I live three lives of mortal men,\n    So great a miracle as yonder hilt.\n    Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him;\n    But when I look'd again, behold an arm,\n    Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,\n    That caught him by the hilt, and brandish'd him\n    Three times, and drew him under in the mere.'\"\n                                  TENNYSON, _The Passing of Arthur_.\n\nArthur gave a sigh of relief when he heard this report; and after telling\nhis faithful squire that Merlin had declared that he should not die, he\nbade the knight lay him in a barge, all hung with black, wherein he would\nfind Morgana the fay, the Queen of Northgallis, and the Queen of the\nWesterlands.\n\nSir Bedivere obeyed all these orders exactly; and then, seeing his beloved\nking about to leave him, he implored permission to accompany him. This,\nhowever, Arthur could not grant, for it had been decreed that he should go\nalone to the island of Avalon, where he hoped to be cured of his grievous\nwound, and some day to return to his sorrowing people.\n\n    \"'But now farewell. I am going a long way\n    With these thou seest--if indeed I go\n    (For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)--\n    To the island-valley of Avilion;\n    Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,\n    Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies\n    Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns\n    And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,\n    Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.'\"\n                                  TENNYSON, _The Passing of Arthur_.\n\n[Sidenote: Arthur in Avalon.] It was because Arthur thus disappeared and\nwas never seen again, according to one version of the myth, and because\nnone knew whether he were living or dead, that he was popularly supposed to\nbe enjoying perpetual youth and bliss in the fabled island of Avalon,\nwhence they averred he would return when his people needed him. This belief\nwas so deeply rooted in England that Philip of Spain, upon marrying Mary,\nwas compelled to take a solemn oath whereby he bound himself to relinquish\nthe crown in favor of Arthur should he appear to claim it.\n\n    \"Still look the Britons for the day\n    Of Arthur's coming o'er the sea.\"\n                             LAYAMON, _Brut_.\n\nOther romances and poems relate that Arthur was borne in the sable-hung\nbarge to Glastonbury, where his remains were laid in the tomb, while\nGuinevere retired into the nunnery at Almesbury. There she was once more\nvisited by the sorrowing Lancelot, who, in spite of all his haste, had come\nupon the scene too late to save or be reconciled to the king, to whom he\nwas still devotedly attached. In his sorrow and remorse the knight withdrew\ninto a hermitage, where he spent six years in constant penance and prayer.\nAt last he was warned in a vision that Guinevere was no more. He hastened\nto Almesbury, and found her really dead. After burying her by Arthur's\nside, in the chapel of Glastonbury, Lancelot again withdrew to his cell.\nSix weeks later, worn to a shadow by abstinence and night watches, he\npeacefully passed away, and a priest watching near him said that he had\nseen the angels receive and bear his ransomed spirit straight up to heaven.\n\nLancelot was buried either at Arthur's feet or at Joyeuse Garde. He was\ndeeply mourned by all his friends, and especially by his heir, Sir Ector de\nMaris, who eulogized him in the following touching terms: \"'Ah, Sir\nLancelot,' he said, 'thou were head of all Christian knights; and now I\ndare say,' said Sir Ector, 'that, Sir Lancelot, there thou liest, thou were\nnever matched of none earthly knight's hands; and thou were the courtliest\nknight that ever bare shield; and thou were the truest friend to thy lover\nthat ever bestrode horse; and thou were the truest lover of a sinful man\nthat ever loved woman; and thou were the kindest man that ever struck with\nsword; and thou were the goodliest person that ever came among press of\nknights; and thou were the meekest man, and the gentlest, that ever ate in\nhall among ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that\never put spear in rest.'\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n\n\nTRISTAN AND ISEULT.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of the story.] The story of Tristan, which seems to have\nbeen current from earliest times, refers, perhaps, to the adventures of a\nknight, the contemporary of Arthur or of Cassivellaunus. The tale seems to\nhave already been known in the sixth century, and was soon seized upon by\nthe bards, who found it a rich theme for their metrical romances. It is\nquite unknown whether it was first turned into Latin, French, or Welsh\nverse; but an established fact is that it has been translated into every\nEuropean language, and was listened to with as much interest by the\ninhabitants of Iceland as by those of the sunny plains of Greece.\n\nWe know that there are metrical versions, or remains of metrical versions,\nattributed to Thomas of Ercildoune (the Rhymer), to Raoul de Beauvais,\nChrestien de Troyes, Rusticien de Pise, Luces de Cast, Robert and H\u00e9lie de\nBorron, and Gottfried von Strassburg, and that in our day it has been\nretold by Matthew Arnold and Swinburne, and made the subject of an opera by\nWagner. These old metrical versions, recited with manifold variations by\nthe minstrels, were finally collected into a prose romance, like most of\nthe mediaeval poems of this kind.\n\nThe outline of the story, collected from many different sources, is as\nfollows:\n\nMeliadus (Rivalin, or Roland Rise) was Lord of Lyonesse (Ermonie, or\nParmenia), and after warring for some time against Morgan, he entered into\na seven-years' truce. This time of respite was employed by Meliadus in\nvisiting Mark, King of Cornwall, who dwelt at Tintagel, where he was\nholding a great tournament. Many knights of tried valor hurried thither to\nwin laurels, but none were able to unhorse Meliadus, who obtained every\nprize.\n\nHis courage was such that he even won the heart of Blanchefleur, the sister\nof the king. As the monarch refused to consent to their union, the young\npeople were secretly married, or eloped, if we are to believe another\nversion of the story.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Tristan.] According to the first account, Blanchefleur\nremained at court, where, hearing that her husband had died, she breathed\nher last in giving birth to a son, whom she called Tristan (Tristrem),\nbecause he had come into the world under such sad circumstances. The second\nversion relates that Blanchefleur died as Morgan entered the castle over\nher husband's dead body, and that her faithful retainer, Kurvenal (Rohand,\nRual), in order to save her son, claimed him as his own.\n\nThe child Tristan grew up without knowing his real parentage, learned all\nthat a knight was expected to know, and became especially expert as a\nhunter and as a harp player. One day he strolled on board of a Norwegian\nvessel which had anchored in the harbor near his ancestral home, and\naccepted the challenge of the Norsemen to play a game of chess for a\ncertain wager.\n\nAs Tristan played at chess as well as upon the harp, he soon won the game;\nbut the Northmen, rather than pay their forfeited wager, suddenly raised\nthe anchor and sailed away, intending to sell the kidnaped youth as a\nslave.\n\n    \"Ther com a ship of Norway,\n      To Sir Rohandes hold,\n    With haukes white and grey,\n      And panes fair y-fold:\n    Tristrem herd it say,\n      On his playing he wold\n    Tventi schilling to lay,\n      Sir Rohand him told,\n                    And taught;\n    For hauke silver he gold;\n      The fairest men him raught.\"\n                     SCOTT, _Sir Tristrem_.\n\nThey had not gone far, however, before a terrible tempest arose, which\nthreatened to sink the vessel and drown all on board. The mariners,\nsupposing in their terror that this peril had come upon them because they\nhad acted dishonorably, made a solemn vow to liberate the youth if they\nescaped.\n\nThe vow having been made, the wind ceased to blow; and anchoring in the\nnearest bay, the Norsemen bade Tristan land, and paid him the sum he had\nwon at chess.\n\n[Sidenote: Tristan in Cornwall.] Thus forsaken on an unknown shore, with\nnothing but his harp and bow, Tristan wandered through an extensive forest,\nwhere, coming across a party of huntsmen who had just slain a deer, he gave\nthem valuable and lengthy instructions in matters pertaining to the chase,\nand taught them how to flay and divide their quarry according to the most\napproved mediaeval style. Then, accompanying them to the court of their\nmaster, King Mark, he charmed every one with his minstrelsy, and was\ninvited to tarry there as long as he pleased. His foster father, Kurvenal,\nin the mean while, had set out to seek him; and in the course of his\nwanderings he too came to Mark's court, where he was overjoyed to find\nTristan, whose parentage he revealed to the king.\n\nTristan now for the first time heard the story of his father's death, and\nrefused to rest until he had avenged him. He immediately set out, slew\nMorgan, and recovered his father's estate of Lyonesse, which he intrusted\nto Kurvenal's care, while he himself went back to Cornwall. On arriving at\nTintagel he was surprised to find all the court plunged in sorrow. Upon\ninquiring the cause he was informed that Morold, brother of the King of\nIreland, had come to claim the usual tribute of three hundred pounds of\nsilver and tin and three hundred promising youths to be sold into slavery.\n\nIndignant at this claim, which had been enforced ever since Mark had been\ndefeated in battle by the Irish king, Tristan boldly strode up to the\nemissary, tore the treaty in two, flung the pieces in his face, and\nchallenged him to single combat. Morold, confident in his strength,--for he\nwas a giant,--and relying particularly upon his poisoned sword, immediately\naccepted the challenge. When the usual preliminaries had been settled, the\nbattle began.\n\n    \"Sir Morold rode upon his steed,\n    And flew against Tristan with speed\n    Still greater than is falcons' flight;\n    But warlike too was Tristan's might.\"\n                GOTTFRIED VON STRASSBURG (Dippold's tr.).\n\nTerrible blows were given and received, and at last Tristan sank to the\nground on one knee, for his opponent's poisoned weapon had pierced his\nside.\n\nMorold then called upon him to acknowledge himself beaten, promising to\nobtain a balsam from his sister Iseult (Isolde, Ysolde), who knew a remedy\nfor such a dangerous wound. But Tristan, remembering that, if he\nsurrendered, three hundred innocent children would be sold as slaves, made\na last despairing effort, and slew Morold. Such was the force of the blow\nhe dealt that he cut through the helmet and pierced Morold's skull, which\nwas so hard that a fragment of his sword remained imbedded within the\nwound.\n\nThe people of Cornwall were, of course, delighted; and while the Irish\nheralds returned empty-handed to Dublin with Morold's remains, the King of\nCornwall loudly proclaimed that as he had no son, Tristan should be his\nheir.\n\n[Sidenote: Tristan's wound.] Tristan, however, was far from happy, for the\nwound in his side refused to heal, and gradually became so offensive that\nno one could bear his presence. As none of the court doctors could relieve\nhim, he remembered Morold's words, and resolved to go to Ireland, in hopes\nthat Iseult would cure him. Conscious, however, that she would never\nconsent to help him if she suspected his identity, he embarked alone, or\nwith Kurvenal, in a small vessel, taking only his harp, and drifted toward\nIreland, where he arrived at the end of fifteen days. When he appeared at\ncourt, Tristan declared that he was a wandering minstrel called Tantris,\nand bespoke the kind offices of the queen, Iseult. Charmed by his music,\nshe hastened to cure him of the grievous wound from which he had suffered\nso much.\n\nTristan, still unknown, remained at the Irish court for some time, spending\nmany hours with Iseult, the daughter and namesake of the queen, whom he\ninstructed daily in the art of music. After some months passed thus in\npleasant intercourse, Tristan returned to Cornwall, where he related to\nMark the story of his cure, and so extolled the beauty of young Iseult that\nthe king finally expressed a desire to marry her. By the advice of the\ncourtiers, who were jealous of Tristan, and who hoped that this mission\nwould cost him his life, the young hero was sent to Ireland with an\nimposing retinue, to sue for the maiden's hand and to escort her safely to\nCornwall.\n\nOn landing in Dublin, Tristan immediately became aware that the people were\nlaboring under an unusual excitement. Upon questioning them he learned that\na terrible dragon had taken up its station near the city, that it was\ndevastating the country, and that the king had promised the hand of Iseult\nto the man who would slay the monster. Tristan immediately concluded that\nby killing the dragon he would have the best chance of successfully\ncarrying out his uncle's wishes, so he sallied forth alone to attack it.\n\n    \"This dragon had two furious wings,\n      Each one upon each shoulder;\n    With a sting in his tayl as long as a flayl,\n      Which made him bolder and bolder.\n\n    \"He had long claws, and in his jaws\n      Four and forty teeth of iron;\n    With a hide as tough as any buff\n      Which did him round environ.\"\n               _Dragon of Wantly_ (Old Ballad).\n\n[Sidenote: Tristan and the dragon.] In spite of the fearful appearance of\nthis dragon, and of the volumes of fire and venom which it belched forth,\nTristan encountered it bravely, and finally slew it. Then, cutting out the\nmonster's tongue, he thrust it into his pocket, intending to produce it at\nthe right moment. He had gone only a few steps, however, when, exhausted by\nhis prolonged conflict, stunned by the poisonous fumes which he had\ninhaled, and overcome by the close contact with the dragon's tongue, he\nsank fainting to the ground. A few moments later the butler of the Irish\nking rode up. He saw the dragon dead, with his conqueror lifeless beside\nhim, and quickly resolved to take advantage of this fortunate chance to\nsecure the hand of the fair princess. He therefore cut off the dragon's\nhead, and, going to court, boasted of having slain the monster just as it\nhad killed a strange knight. Iseult and her mother, well aware that the man\nwas a coward, refused to believe his story, and hastened off to the scene\nof the conflict, where they found the fainting Tristan with the dragon's\ntongue in his pocket.\n\nTo remove the poisonous substance, (which they, however, preserved,) convey\nthe knight to the palace, and restore him by tender care, was the next\nimpulse of these brave women. Then, while Iseult the younger sat beside her\npatient, watching his slumbers, she idly drew his sword from the scabbard.\nSuddenly her eye was caught by a dint in the blade, which she soon\ndiscovered was of exactly the same shape and size as the fragment of steel\nwhich she had found in her uncle's skull.\n\n    \"Then all at once her heart grew cold\n    In thinking of that deed of old.\n    Her color changed through grief and ire\n    From deadly pale to glowing fire.\n    With sorrow she exclaimed: 'Alas!\n    Oh, woe! what has now come to pass?\n    Who carried here this weapon dread,\n    By which mine uncle was struck dead?\n    And he who slew him, Tristan hight.\n    Who gave it to this minstrel knight?'\"\n                      GOTTFRIED VON STRASSBURG (Dippold's tr.).\n\nMorold's murderer lay helpless before her, and Iseult, animated by the\nspirit of vengeance, which was considered a sacred duty among the people of\nthe time, was about to slay Tristan, when he opened his eyes and disarmed\nher by a glance. Her mother further hindered her carrying out her hostile\nintentions by telling her that Tristan had atoned for his crime by\ndelivering the people from the power of the dragon.\n\nAs soon as Tristan had quite recovered, he appeared at court, where he\noffered to prove at the point of his sword that the butler had no claim to\nthe princess's hand. A duel was arranged, and the butler, disarmed by\nTristan, confessed his lie. Tristan then produced the dragon's tongue and\ntold his adventures; but, to the general surprise, instead of suing for\nIseult's hand for himself, he now asked it in the name of his uncle, King\nMark of Cornwall.\n\n[Sidenote: The love potion.] The young princess was none too well pleased\nat this unexpected turn of affairs; but, as princesses never had much to\nsay about the choice of a husband, she obediently prepared to accompany the\nembassy to Tintagel. Her mother, wishing to preserve her from a loveless\nmarriage, now sought out all manner of herbs wherewith to brew one of those\nmagic love potions which were popularly supposed to have unlimited powers.\n\n    \"Bethought her with her secret soul alone\n    To work some charm for marriage unison,\n    And strike the heart of Iseult to her lord\n    With power compulsive more than stroke of sword.\"\n                          SWINBURNE, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.\n\nThis magic potion was put in a golden cup and intrusted to Brangwaine, the\nattendant of Iseult, with strict injunctions to guard the secret well, and\nto give the draught to her mistress and Mark to quaff together on their\nwedding day.\n\n    \"Therefore with marvelous herbs and spells she wrought\n    To win the very wonder of her thought,\n    And brewed it with her secret hands, and blest\n    And drew and gave out of her secret breast\n    To one her chosen and Iseult's handmaiden,\n    Brangwain, and bade her hide from sight of men\n    This marvel covered in a golden cup,\n    So covering in her heart the counsel up\n    As in the gold the wondrous wine lay close.\"\n                          SWINBURNE, _Tristram of Lyonesse_.\n\nBrangwaine carefully carried this potion on board the ship, and placed it\nin a cupboard, whence she intended to produce it when the suitable moment\ncame. Iseult embarked with the escort sent from Cornwall, and Tristan, in\norder to beguile the long, weary hours of the journey, entertained her with\nall the songs and stories that he knew. One day, after singing for some\ntime, he asked his fair young mistress for a drink; and she, going to the\ncupboard, drew out the magic potion, little guessing its power.\n\nAs was customary in those days in offering wine to an honored guest, she\nfirst put it to her own lips and then handed it to the thirsty minstrel,\nwho drained it greedily. They had no sooner drunk, however, than the\ndraught, working with subtle power, suddenly kindled in their hearts a\npassionate love, destined to last as long as they both lived.\n\n    \"Now that the maiden and the man,\n    Fair Iseult and Tristan,\n    Both drank the drink, upon them pressed\n    What gives the world such sore unrest,--\n    Love, skilled in sly and prowling arts,--\n    And swiftly crept in both their hearts;\n    So, ere of him they were aware,\n    Stood his victorious banners there.\n    He drew them both into his power;\n    One and single were they that hour\n    That two and twofold were before.\"\n                           GOTTFRIED VON STRASSBURG (Bayard Taylor's tr.).\n\nAfter the first few hours of rapture had passed, the young people, who\nhonorably intended to keep their word and conquer the fatal passion which\nhad overwhelmed them, remained apart, and when Iseult landed in Cornwall\nher marriage was celebrated with Mark. Brangwaine, who knew all that had\npassed, tried to shield her mistress in every way, and blind the king, who\nis depicted as a very unheroic monarch, but little fitted to secure the\naffections of the proud young Iseult.\n\n[Sidenote: Tristan and Iseult.] This story of a love potion whose magic\npower none could resist, and of the undying love which it kindled in the\nunsuspecting hearts of Tristan and Iseult, has been treated in many ways by\nthe different poets and prose writers who have handled it. In many of the\nolder versions we have lengthy descriptions of stolen interviews,\nhairbreadth escapes, and tests of love, truth, and fidelity without number.\n\nIn many respects the story is a parallel of that of Lancelot and Guinevere,\nalthough it contains some incidents which are duplicated in the\n\"Nibelungenlied\" only. But throughout, the writers all aver that, owing to\nthe magic draught, the lovers, however good their intentions, could not\nlong exist without seeing each other.\n\nBy means of this boundless love Tristan is said to have had an intuitive\nknowledge of Iseult's peril, for he hastened to rescue her from danger\nwhenever events took a turn which might prove fatal to her. There are in\nsome of these old romances pretty descriptions of scenery and of the\nsignals used by the lovers to communicate with each other when forced by\nadverse circumstances to remain apart. One of the poems, for instance, says\nthat Tristan's love messages were written on chips of wood, which he\nfloated down the little stream which flowed past his sylvan lodge and\ncrossed the garden of the queen.\n\n[Sidenote: Meliadus.] The inevitable villain of the tale is one of Mark's\nsquires, the spy Meliadus, also a very unheroic character, who told the\nking of Tristan's love for Iseult. Mark, who all through the story seems\nstrangely indifferent to his beautiful wife, was not aware of the magic\ndraught and its powerful effect, but Meliadus roused him temporarily from\nhis apathy.\n\n[Illustration:  ISEULT SIGNALS TRISTAN.--Pixis.]\n\nAs the queen had been publicly accused, he compelled her to prove her\ninnocence by undergoing the ordeal of fire, or by taking a public oath that\nshe had shown favor to none but him. On her way to the place where this\nceremony was to take place, Iseult was carried across a stream by Tristan\ndisguised as a beggar, and, at his request, kissed him in reward for this\nservice.\n\nWhen called upon to take her oath before the judges and assembled court,\nIseult could truthfully swear that, with the exception of the beggar whom\nshe had just publicly kissed, no other man than the king could ever boast\nof having received any special mark of her favor.\n\nThus made aware of their danger, the lovers again decided to part, and\nTristan, deprived for a time of the sight of Iseult, went mad, and\nperformed many extraordinary feats; for mediaeval poets generally drove\ntheir heroes into a frenzy when they did not know what else to do with\nthem. Having recovered, and hoping to forget the fatal passion which had\nalready caused him so much sorrow, Tristan now wandered off to Arthur's\ncourt, where he performed many deeds of valor. Thence he went on to various\nstrange lands, distinguishing himself greatly everywhere, until he received\nfrom a poisoned arrow a wound which no doctor could heal.\n\n[Sidenote: Iseult of Brittany.] Afraid to expose himself again to the\nfascinations of Iseult of Cornwall, Tristan went to Brittany, where another\nIseult,--with the White Hands,--equally well skilled in medicine, tenderly\nnursed him back to health. This maiden, as good and gentle as she was\nbeautiful, soon fell in love with the handsome knight, and hearing him sing\na passionate lay in honor of Iseult, she fancied that her affections were\nreturned, and that it was intended for her ear.\n\n    \"I know her by her mildness rare,\n    Her snow-white hands, her golden hair;\n    I know her by her rich silk dress,\n    And her fragile loveliness,--\n    The sweetest Christian soul alive,\n    Iseult of Brittany.\"\n                  MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Tristram and Iseult_.\n\nThe brother of this fair Iseult saw her love for Tristan, and offered him\nher hand, which he accepted more out of gratitude than love, and in the\nhope that he might at last overcome the effects of the fatal draught. But,\nin spite of all his good resolutions, he could not forget Iseult of\nCornwall, and treated his wife with such polite coolness that her brother's\nsuspicions were finally roused.\n\nTristan, having conquered a neighboring giant and magician by the name of\nBeliagog, had granted him his life only upon condition that he would build\na marvelous palace in the forest, and adorn it with paintings and\nsculptures, true to life, and representing all the different stages of his\npassion for Iseult of Cornwall. When his brother-in-law, therefore, asked\nwhy he seemed to find no pleasure in the society of his young wife, Tristan\nled him to the palace, showed him the works of art, and told him all.\nGanhardin, the brother-in-law, must evidently have considered the excuse a\ngood one, for he not only forgave Tristan, but implored him to take him to\nCornwall, for he had fallen in love with the picture of Brangwaine, and\nhoped to win her for wife. On the way thither the young knights met with\nsundry adventures, delivered Arthur from the power of the Lady of the Lake,\nand carried off Iseult, whom the cowardly Mark was ill treating, to\nLancelot's castle of Joyeuse Garde. There she became acquainted with\nGuinevere, and remained with her until Arthur brought about a general\nreconciliation.\n\nThen Tristan once more returned to Brittany, resumed his wonted knightly\nexistence, and fought until he was wounded so sorely that Iseult of\nBrittany could not cure him. His faithful steward Kurvenal, hoping yet to\nsave him, sailed for Cornwall to bring the other Iseult to the rescue; and\nas he left he promised his master to change the black sails of the vessel\nfor white in case his quest were successful.\n\nTristan now watched impatiently for the returning sail, but just as it came\ninto view he breathed his last. Some ill-advised writers have ventured to\nstate that Iseult of Brittany, whose jealousy had been aroused, was guilty\nof Tristan's death by falsely averring, in answer to his feverish inquiry,\nthat the long-expected vessel was wafted along by black sails; but,\naccording to other authorities, she remained gentle and lovable to the end.\n\n[Sidenote: Miracle of the plants.] Iseult of Cornwall, speeding to the\nrescue of her lover, whom nothing could make her forget, and finding him\ndead, breathed her last upon his corpse. Both bodies were then carried to\nCornwall, where they were interred in separate graves by order of King\nMark. But from the tomb of the dead minstrel there soon sprang a creeper,\nwhich, finding its way along the walls, descended into Iseult's grave.\nThrice cut down by Mark's orders, the plant persisted in growing, thus\nemphasizing by a miracle the passionate love which made this couple\nproverbial in the middle ages. There are in subsequent literature many\nparallels of the miracle of the plant which sprang from Tristan's tomb, as\nis seen by the Ballad of Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, and of Lord Lovel,\nwhere, as in later versions of the Tristan legend, a rose and a vine grew\nout of the respective graves and twined tenderly around each other.\n\n    \"And out of her breast there grew a red rose,\n    And out of his breast a brier.\"\n                            _Ballad of Lord Lovel_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF FRITHIOF.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Northern sagas.] Norse, Danish, and Swedish writers have\nfrequently called public attention to the vast literary treasures which are\ncontained in the old sagas or tales of their forefathers. The work of\nnorthern scalds whose names in most cases are unknown to us, these stories\nrelate the lives and adventures of the gods and heroes of the North. Many\nof these old sagas have been translated into various other European\nlanguages; but Tegn\u00e9r, a Swedish writer of this century, has done most to\nrevive a taste for them by making one of them the basis of a poem which is\ngenerally considered a masterpiece.\n\nTegn\u00e9r's \"Frithiof Saga\" has been translated once at least into every\nEuropean tongue, and more than eighteen times into English and German.\nGoethe spoke of the work with the greatest enthusiasm, and the tale, which\ngives a matchless picture of the life of our heathen ancestors in the\nNorth, has been the source of inspiration for important works of art.\n\nAlthough Tegn\u00e9r has chosen for his theme the Frithiof saga only, we find\nthat that tale is the sequel to the older but less interesting Thorsten\nsaga, of which we give here a very brief outline, merely to enable the\nreader to understand clearly every allusion in the more modern poem.\n\nAs is so frequently the case with these ancient tales, the story begins\nwith Haloge (Loki), who came north with Odin, and began to reign over north\nNorway, which from him was called Halogaland. According to northern\nmythology, this god had two lovely daughters. They were carried off by bold\nsuitors, who, banished from the mainland by Haloge's curses and magic\nspells, took refuge with their newly won wives upon neighboring islands.\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Viking.] Thus it happened that Haloge's grandson,\nViking, was born upon the island of Bornholm, in the Balitic Sea, where he\ndwelt until he was fifteen, and where he became the largest and strongest\nman of his time. Rumors of his valor finally reached Hunvor, a Swedish\nprincess; and, as she was oppressed by the attentions of a gigantic suitor\nwhom none dared drive away, she quickly sent for Viking to deliver her.\n\nThus summoned, the youth departed, after having received from his father a\nmagic sword named Angurvadel, whose blows would prove fatal even to the\ngiant suitor of Hunvor. A \"holmgang,\"  the northern name for a duel,\nensued, and Viking, having slain his antagonist, could have married the\nprincess had it not been considered disgraceful for a Northman to marry\nbefore he was twenty.\n\nTo beguile the time of waiting, Viking set out in a well-manned dragon\nship; and, cruising about the northern and southern seas, he met with\ncountless adventures. During this time he was particularly persecuted by\nthe slain giant's kin, who were adepts in magic, and caused him to\nencounter innumerable perils by land and by sea.\n\nAided and abetted by his bosom friend, Halfdan, Viking escaped every\ndanger, slew many of his foes, and, after recovering his promised bride,\nHunvor, whom the enemy had carried off to India, he settled down in Sweden.\nHis friend, faithful in peace as well as in war, settled near him, and\nmarried also, choosing for his wife Ingeborg, Hunvor's attendant.\n\nThe saga now describes the long, peaceful winters, when the warriors\nfeasted and listened to the tales of the scalds, rousing themselves to\nenergetic efforts only when returning spring again permitted them to launch\ntheir dragon ships and set out once more upon their favorite piratical\nexpeditions. In the olden story the bards relate with great gusto every\nphase of attack and defense during cruise and raid, describe every blow\ngiven and received, and spare us none of carnage, or lurid flames which\nenvelop both enemies and ships in common ruin. A fierce fight is often an\nearnest of future friendship, however, for we are told that Halfdan and\nViking, having failed to conquer Njorfe, even after a most obstinate\nstruggle, sheathed their swords and accepted him as a third in their close\nbond of friendship.\n\nOn returning home after one of these customary raids, Viking lost his\nbeloved wife; and, after intrusting her child, Ring, to the care of a\nfoster father, and undergoing a short period of mourning, the brave warrior\nmarried again. This time his marital bliss was more lasting, for the saga\nreports that his second wife bore him nine stalwart sons.\n\nNjorfe, King of Uplands, in Norway, had, in the mean while, followed\nViking's example, and he too rejoiced in a large family, numbering also\nnine brave sons. Now, although their fathers were united in bonds of the\nclosest friendship, having sworn blood brotherhood according to the true\nnorthern rites, the young men were jealous of one another, and greatly\ninclined to quarrel.\n\n[Sidenote: Early ball games.] Notwithstanding this smoldering animosity,\nthese youths often met; and the saga relates that they used to play ball\ntogether, and gives a description of the earliest ball game on record in\nthe northern annals. Viking's sons, as tall and strong as he, were inclined\nto be rather reckless of their opponents' welfare, and, judging from the\nfollowing account, translated from the old saga, the players were often\nleft in as sorry a condition as after a modern game.\n\n\"The next morning the brothers went to the games, and generally had the\nball during the day; they pushed men and let them fall roughly, and beat\nothers. At night three men had their arms broken, and many were bruised or\nmaimed.\"\n\nThe game between Njorfe's and Viking's sons culminated in a disagreement,\nand one of the former nine struck one of the latter a dangerous and\ntreacherous blow. Prevented from taking his revenge then and there by the\ninterference of the spectators, the injured man made a trivial excuse to\nreturn to the ball ground alone; and, meeting his assailant there, he\nkilled him.\n\nWhen Viking heard that one of his sons had slain one of his friend's\nchildren, he was very indignant, and, mindful of his oath to avenge all\nNjorfe's wrongs, he banished the young murderer. The other brothers, on\nhearing this sentence, all vowed that they would accompany the exile, and\nso Viking sorrowfully bade them farewell, giving his sword Angurvadel to\nThorsten, the eldest, and cautioning him to remain quietly on an island in\nLake Wener until all danger of retaliation on the part of Njorfe's\nremaining sons was over.\n\nThe young men obeyed; but Njorfe's sons, who had no boats to take them\nacross the lake, soon made use of a conjuror's art to bring about a great\nfrost, and, accompanied by many armed men, stole noiselessly over the ice\nto attack Thorsten and his brothers. A terrible carnage ensued, and only\ntwo of the attacking party managed to escape, leaving, as they fancied, all\ntheir foes among the dead.\n\nBut when Viking came to bury his sons, he found that two of them, Thorsten\nand Thorer, were still alive, and he secretly conveyed them to a cellar\nbeneath his dwelling, where they recovered from their wounds.\n\nBy magic arts Njorfe's two sons discovered that their opponents were not\ndead, and soon made a second desperate but vain attempt to kill them.\nViking saw that the quarrel would be incessantly renewed if his sons\nremained at home; so he now sent them to Halfdan, whose court they reached\nafter a series of adventures which in many points resemble those of Theseus\non his way to Athens.\n\nWhen spring came Thorsten embarked on a piratical excursion, and\nencountered Jokul, Njorfe's eldest son, who, in the mean while, had taken\nforcible possession of the kingdom of Sogn, after killing the king,\nbanishing his heir, Bel\u00e9, and changing his beautiful daughter, Ingeborg,\ninto the form of an old witch.\n\nThroughout the story Jokul is represented as somewhat of a coward, for he\nresorted by preference to magic when he wished to injure Viking's sons.\nThus he stirred up great tempests, and Thorsten, after twice suffering\nshipwreck, was saved from the waves by the witch Ingeborg, whom he promised\nto marry in gratitude for her good services.\n\nThorsten, advised by her, went in search of Bel\u00e9, replaced him on his\nhereditary throne, swore eternal friendship with him, and, the baleful\nspell being removed, married the beautiful Ingeborg, who dwelt with him at\nFramn\u00e4s.\n\n[Sidenote: Thorsten and Bel\u00e9.] Every spring Thorsten and Bel\u00e9 now set out\ntogether in their ships; and, joining forces with Angantyr, a foe whose\nmettle they had duly tested, they proceeded to recover possession of a\npriceless treasure, a magic dragon ship named Ellida, which Aegir, god of\nthe sea, had once given to Viking in reward for hospitable treatment, and\nwhich had been stolen from him.\n\n    \"A royal gift to behold, for the swelling planks of its framework\n    Were not fastened with nails, as is wont, but _grown_ in together.\n    Its shape was that of a dragon when swimming, but forward\n    Its head rose proudly on high, the throat with yellow gold flaming;\n    Its belly was spotted with red and yellow, but back by the rudder\n    Coiled out its mighty tail in circles, all scaly with silver;\n    Black wings with edges of red; when all were expanded\n    Ellida raced with the whistling storm, but outstript the eagle.\n    When filled to the edge with warriors, it sailed o'er the waters,\n    You'd deem it a floating fortress, or warlike abode of a monarch.\n    The ship was famed far and wide, and of ships was first in the North.\"\n                             TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nThe next season, Thorsten, Bel\u00e9, and Angantyr conquered the Orkney Islands,\nwhich were given as kingdom to the latter, he voluntarily pledging himself\nto pay a yearly tribute to Bel\u00e9. Next Thorsten and Bel\u00e9 went in quest of a\nmagic ring, or armlet, once forged by V\u00f6lund, the smith, and stolen by\nSot\u00e9, a famous pirate.\n\nThis bold robber was so afraid lest some one should gain possession of the\nmagic ring, that he had buried himself alive with it in a mound in\nBretland. Here his ghost was said to keep constant watch over it, and when\nThorsten entered his tomb, Bel\u00e9 heard the frightful blows given and\nreceived, and saw lurid gleams of supernatural fire.\n\nWhen Thorsten finally staggered out of the mound, pale and bloody, but\ntriumphant, he refused to speak of the horrors he had encountered to win\nthe coveted treasure, nor would he ever vouchsafe further information than\nthis:\n\n          \"'Dearly bought is the prize,' said he often,\n    'For I trembled but once in my life, and 'twas when I seized it!'\"\n                            TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Birth of Frithiof and Ingeborg.] Thus owner of the three\ngreatest treasures in the North, Thorsten returned home to Framn\u00e4s, where\nIngeborg bore him a fine boy, Frithiof, the playmate of Halfdan and Helg\u00e9,\nBel\u00e9's sons. The three youths were already well grown when Ingeborg, Bel\u00e9's\nlittle daughter, was born, and as she was intrusted to the care of Hilding,\nFrithiof's foster father, the children grew up in perfect amity.\n\n    \"Jocund they grew, in guileless glee;\n    Young Frithiof was the sapling tree;\n    In budding beauty by his side,\n    Sweet Ingeborg, the garden's pride.\"\n                       TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\nFrithiof soon became hardy and fearless under his foster father's training,\nand Ingeborg rapidly developed all the sweetest traits of female\nloveliness. Both, however, were happiest when together; and as they grew\nolder their childish affection daily became deeper and more intense, until\nHilding, perceiving this state of affairs, bade the youth remember that he\nwas only a subject, and therefore no mate for the king's only daughter.\n\n    \"But Hilding said, 'O foster son,\n    Set not thy heart her love upon,\n    For Destiny thy wish gainsaid;\n    King Bel\u00e9's daughter is the maid!\n\n    \"'From Odin's self, in starry sky,\n    Descends her ancestry so high;\n    But thou art Thorsten's son, so yield,\n    And leave to mightier names the field.'\"\n                        TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.)\n\n[Sidenote: Frithiof's love for Ingeborg.] These wise admonitions came too\nlate, however, and Frithiof vehemently declared that he would win the fair\nIngeborg for his bride in spite of all obstacles and his comparatively\nhumble origin.\n\nShortly after this Bel\u00e9 and Thorsten met for the last time, near the\nmagnificent shrine of Balder, where the king, feeling that his end was\nnear, had convened a solemn assembly, or Thing, of all his principal\nsubjects, in order to present his sons Helg\u00e9 and Halfdan to the people as\nhis chosen successors. The young heirs were very coldly received on this\noccasion, for Helg\u00e9 was of a somber and taciturn disposition, and inclined\nto the life of a priest, and Halfdan was of a weak, effeminate nature, and\nnoted for his cowardice. Frithiof, who was present, and stood beside them,\ncast them both in the shade, and won many admiring glances from the throng.\n\n    \"But after them came Frithiof, in mantle blue--\n    He by a head was taller than th' other two.\n    He stood between the brethren, as day should light\n    Between the rosy morning and darksome night.\"\n                              TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.)\n\nAfter giving his last instructions to his sons, and speaking kindly to\nFrithiof, who was his favorite, the old king turned to his lifelong\ncompanion, Thorsten, to take leave of him, but the old warrior declared\nthat they would not long be parted. Bel\u00e9 then spoke again to his sons, and\nbade them erect his howe, or funeral mound, within sight of that of\nThorsten, that their spirits might commune, and not be sundered even in\ndeath.\n\n    \"'But lay us gently, children, where the blue wave,\n    Beating harmonious cadence, the shore doth lave;\n    Its murmuring song is pleasant unto the soul,\n    And like a lamentation its ceaseless roll.\n\n    \"'And when the moon's pale luster around us streams,\n    And midnight dim grows radiant with silver beams,\n    There will we sit, O Thorsten, upon our graves,\n    And talk of bygone battles by the dark waves.\n\n    \"'And now, farewell, my children! Come here no more;\n    Our road lies to Allfather's far-distant shore,\n    E'en as the troubled river sweeps to the sea:\n    By Frey and Thor and Odin blessed may ye be.'\"\n                            TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Helg\u00e9 and Halfdan.] These instructions were all piously obeyed\nwhen the aged companions had breathed their last. Then the brothers, Helg\u00e9\nand Halfdan, began to rule their kingdom, while Frithiof, their former\nplaymate, withdrew to his own place at Framn\u00e4s, a very fertile homestead,\nlying in a snug valley closed in by the towering mountains and the\never-changing ocean.\n\n    \"Three miles extended around the fields of the homestead; on\n          three sides\n    Valleys and mountains and hills, but on the fourth side was the\n          ocean.\n    Birch-woods crowned the summits, but over the down-sloping\n          hillsides\n    Flourished the golden corn, and man-high was waving the rye-\n          field.\"\n                              TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\nBut although surrounded by faithful retainers, and blessed with much wealth\nand the possession of the famous sword Angurvadel, the V\u00f6lund ring, and the\nmatchless dragon ship Ellida, Frithiof was unhappy, because he could no\nlonger see the fair Ingeborg daily. With the returning spring, however, all\nhis former spirits returned, for both kings came to visit him, accompanied\nby their fair sister, with whom he lived over the happy childish years, and\nspent long hours in cheerful companionship. As they were thus constantly\nthrown together, Frithiof soon made known to Ingeborg his deep affection,\nand received in return an avowal of her love.\n\n    \"He sat by her side, and he pressed her soft hand,\n    And he felt a soft pressure responsive and bland;\n    Whilst his love-beaming gaze\n    Was returned as the sun's in the moon's placid rays.\"\n                           TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote:  Frithiof's suit.] When the visit was over and the guests had\ndeparted, Frithiof informed his confidant and chief companion, Bj\u00f6rn, of\nhis determination to follow them and openly ask for Ingeborg's hand. His\nship was prepared, and after a swift sail touched the shore near Balder's\nshrine. Discerning the royal brothers seated in state on Bel\u00e9's tomb to\nlisten to the petitions of their subjects, Frithiof immediately presented\nhimself before them, and manfully made his request, adding that the old\nking had always loved him and would surely have granted his prayer.\n\n    \"They were seated on Bel\u00e8's tomb, and o'er\n    The common folk administered law.\n    But Frithiof speaks,\n    And his voice re-echoes round valleys and peaks.\n\n    \"'Ye kings, my love is Ingborg fair;\n    To ask her in marriage I here repair;\n    And what I require\n    I here maintain was King Bel\u00e8's desire.\n\n    \"'He let us grow in Hilding's care,\n    Like two young saplings, year by year;\n    And therefore, kings,\n    Unite the full-grown trees with golden rings.'\"\n                     TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nBut although he promised lifelong fealty and the service of his strong\nright arm in exchange for the boon he craved, Helg\u00e9 contemptuously\ndismissed him. Enraged at the insult thus publicly received, Frithiof\nraised his invincible sword; but, remembering that he stood on a\nconsecrated spot, he spared the king, only cutting the royal shield in two\nto show the strength of his blade, and striding back to his ship, he\nembarked and sailed away in sullen silence.\n\n                  \"And lo! cloven in twain at a stroke\n    Fell King Helg\u00e9's gold shield from its pillar of oak:\n    At the clang of the blow,\n    The live started above, the dead started below.\"\n                    TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Sigurd Ring a suitor.] Just after his departure came messengers\nfrom Sigurd Ring, the aged King of Ringric, in Norway, who, having lost his\nwife, sent to Helg\u00e9 and Halfdan to ask Ingeborg's hand in marriage. Before\nanswering this royal suitor, Helg\u00e9 consulted the Vala, or prophetess, and\nthe priests, and as they all declared that the omens were not in favor of\nthis marriage, he gave an insolent refusal to the messengers. This\nimpolitic conduct so offended the would-be suitor that he immediately\ncollected an army and prepared to march against the Kings of Sogn to avenge\nthe insult with his sword. When the rumor of his approach reached the\ncowardly brothers they were terrified, and fearing to encounter the foe\nalone, they sent Hilding to Frithiof to implore his aid.\n\nHilding gladly undertook the mission, although he had not much hope of its\nsuccess. He found Frithiof playing chess with a friend, Bj\u00f6rn, and\nimmediately made known his errand.\n\n                   \"'From Bel\u00e9's high heirs\n    I come with courteous words and prayers:\n    Disastrous tidings rouse the brave;\n    On thee a nation's hope relies.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n     In Balder's fane, grief's loveliest prey,\n     Sweet Ing'borg weeps the livelong day:\n     Say, can her tears unheeded fall,\n     Nor call her champion to her side?'\"\n                       TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\nBut Frithiof was so deeply offended that even this appeal in the name of\nhis beloved could not move him. Quietly he continued his game of chess,\nand, when it was ended, told Hilding that he had no answer to give. Rightly\nconcluding that Frithiof would lend the kings no aid, Hilding returned to\nHelg\u00e9 and Halfdan, who, forced to fight without their bravest leader,\npreferred to make a treaty with Sigurd Ring, promising to give him not only\ntheir sister Ingeborg, but also a yearly tribute.\n\n[Sidenote: At Balder's shrine.] While they were thus engaged at Sogn Sound,\nFrithiof hastened to Balder's temple, where, as Hilding had declared, he\nfound Ingeborg a prey to grief. Now although it was considered a sacrilege\nfor man and woman to exchange a word in the sacred building, Frithiof could\nnot see his beloved in tears without attempting to console her; and,\nforgetting all else, he spoke to her and comforted her. He repeated how\ndearly he loved her, quieted all her apprehensions of the gods' anger by\nassuring her that Balder, the good, must view their innocent passion with\napproving eyes, said that love as pure as theirs could defile no sanctuary,\nand plighted his troth to her before the shrine.\n\n[Illustration: THE LOVERS AT BALDER'S SHRINE.--Kepler.]\n\n    \"'What whisper you of Balder's ire?\n    The pious god--he is not wrath.\n    He loves himself, and doth inspire\n    Our love--the purest he calls forth.\n    The god with true and steadfast heart,\n    The sun upon his glittering form,\n    Is not his love for Nanna part\n    Of his own nature, pure and warm?\n\n    \"'There is his image; he is near.\n    How mild he looks on me--how kind!\n    A sacrifice to him I'll bear,\n    The offer of a loving mind.\n    Kneel down with me; no better gift,\n    No fairer sure for Balder is,\n    Than two young hearts, whose love doth lift\n    Above the world almost like his.'\"\n                        TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nReassured by this reasoning, Ingeborg no longer refused to see and converse\nwith Frithiof; and during the kings' absence the young lovers met every\nday, and plighted their troth with Volund's ring, which Ingeborg solemnly\npromised to send back to her lover should she break her promise to live for\nhim alone. Frithiof lingered there until the kings' return, when, for love\nof Ingeborg the fair, he again appeared before them, and pledged himself to\nfree them from their thraldom to Sigurd Ring if they would only reconsider\ntheir decision and promise him their sister's hand.\n\n                                   \"'War is abroad,\n    And strikes his echoing shield within our borders;\n    Thy crown and land, King Helg\u00e9, are in danger;\n    Give me thy sister's hand, and I will use\n    Henceforth my warlike force in thy defense.\n    Let then the wrath between us be forgotten,\n    Unwillingly I strive 'gainst Ingborg's brother.\n    Secure, O king, by one fraternal act\n    Thy golden crown and save thy sister's heart.\n    Here is my hand. By Thor, I ne'er again\n    Present it here for reconciliation.'\"\n                       TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Frithiof in disgrace.] But although this offer was hailed with\nrapture by the assembled warriors, it was again scornfully rejected by\nHelg\u00e9, who declared that he would have granted it had not Frithiof proved\nhimself unworthy of all confidence by defiling the temple of the gods.\nFrithiof tried to defend himself; but as he had to plead guilty to the\naccusation of having conversed with Ingeborg at Balder's shrine, he was\nconvicted of having broken the law, and, in punishment therefor, condemned\nto sail off to the Orkney Islands to claim tribute from the king, Angantyr.\n\nBefore he sailed, however, he once more sought Ingeborg, and vainly tried\nto induce her to elope with him by promising her a home in the sunny south,\nwhere her happiness should be his law, and where she should rule over his\nsubjects as his honored wife. Ingeborg sorrowfully refused to accompany\nhim, saying that, since her father was no more, she was in duty bound to\nobey her brothers implicitly, and could not marry without their consent.\n\n                   \"'But Helg\u00e9 is my father,\n    Stands in my father's place; on his consent\n    Depends my hand, and Bel\u00e9's daughter steals not\n    Her earthly happiness, how near it be.'\"\n                      TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nAfter a heartrending parting scene, Frithiof embarked upon Ellida, and\nsorrowfully sailed out of the harbor, while Ingeborg wept at his departure.\nWhen the vessel was barely out of sight, Helg\u00e9 sent for two witches named\nHeid and Ham, bidding them begin their incantations, and stir up such a\ntempest at sea that it would be impossible for even the god-given vessel\nEllida to withstand its fury, and all on board would perish. The witches\nimmediately complied; and with Helg\u00e9's aid they soon stirred up a storm\nunparalleled in history.\n\n    \"Helg\u00e9 on the strand\n    Chants his wizard-spell,\n    Potent to command\n    Fiends of earth or hell.\n    Gathering darkness shrouds the sky;\n    Hark, the thunder's distant roll!\n    Lurid lightnings, as they fly,\n    Streak with blood the sable pole.\n    Ocean, boiling to its base,\n    Scatters wide its wave of foam;\n    Screaming, as in fleetest chase,\n    Sea-birds seek their island home.\"\n                         TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: The tempest.] In spite of tossing waves and whistling blasts,\nFrithiof sang a cheery song to reassure his frightened crew; but when the\nperil grew so great that his exhausted men gave themselves up for lost, he\nbade Bj\u00f6rn hold the rudder, and himself climbed up to the mast top to view\nthe horizon. While perched up there he descried a whale, upon which the two\nwitches were riding at ease. Speaking to his good ship, which was gifted\nwith the power of understanding and obeying his words, he now ran down both\nwitches and whale, and the sea was reddened with their blood. No sooner had\nthey sunk than the wind fell, the waves ceased to heave and toss as before,\nand soon fair weather again smiled over the seas.\n\n    \"Now the storm has flown,\n    The sea is calm awhile;\n    A gentle swell is blown\n    Against the neighboring isle.\n\n    \"Then at once the sun arose,\n    Like a king who mounts his throne,\n    Vivifies the world and throws\n    His light on billow, field, and stone.\n    His new-born beams adorn awhile\n    A dark green grove on rocky top,\n    All recognize a sea-girt isle,\n    Amongst the distant Orkney's group.\"\n                         TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nExhausted by their previous superhuman efforts and by the bailing of their\nwater-logged vessel, the men were too weak to land when they at last\nreached the Orkney Islands, and had to be carried ashore by Bj\u00f6rn and\nFrithiof, who gently laid them down on the sand, bidding them rest and\nrefresh themselves after all the hardships they had endured.\n\n    \"Tired indeed are all on board,\n    All the crew of Frithiofs men,\n    Scarce supported by a sword,\n    Can they raise themselves again.\n    Bj\u00f6rn takes four of them ashore,\n    On his mighty shoulders wide,\n    Frithiof singly takes twice four,\n    Places them the fire beside.\n    'Blush not, ye pale ones,\n    The sea's a valiant viking;\n    'Tis hard indeed to fight\n    Against the rough sea waves.\n    Lo! there comes the mead horn\n    On golden feet descending,\n    To warm our frozen limbs.\n    Hail to Ingeborg!'\"\n                 TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nThe arrival of Frithiof and his men had been seen by the watchman of\nAngantyr's castle, who immediately informed his master of all he had seen.\nThe jarl exclaimed that the ship which had weathered such a gale could be\nnone but Ellida, and that its captain was doubtless Frithiof, Thorsten's\ngallant son. At these words one of his Berserkers, Atl\u00e9, caught up his\nweapons and strode out of the hall, vowing that he would challenge\nFrithiof, and thus satisfy himself concerning the veracity of the tales he\nhad heard of the young hero's courage.\n\n[Sidenote: Atl\u00e9's challenge.] Although still greatly exhausted, Frithiof\nimmediately accepted Atl\u00e9's challenge, and, after a sharp encounter, threw\nhis antagonist, whom he would have slain then and there had his sword been\nwithin reach. Atl\u00e9 saw his intention, and bade him go in search of a\nweapon, promising to remain motionless during his absence. Frithiof,\nknowing that such a warrior's promise was inviolable, immediately obeyed;\nbut when he returned with his sword, and found his antagonist calmly\nawaiting death, he relented, and bade Atl\u00e9 rise and live.\n\n    \"With patience long not gifted,\n    Frithiof the foe would kill,\n    And Angurvadel lifted,\n    But Atl\u00e9 yet lay still.\n    This touched the hero's soul;\n    He stayed the sweeping brand\n    Before it reached its goal,\n    And took the fall'n one's hand.\"\n                       TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_(Spalding's tr.).\n\nTogether these doughty warriors then wended their way to Angantyr's halls,\nwhere they found a festal board awaiting them, and there they ate and\ndrank, sang songs, and recounted stories of thrilling adventure by land and\nby sea.\n\nAt last, however, Frithiof made known his errand. Angantyr said that he\nowed no tribute to Helg\u00e9, and would pay him none; but that he would give\nthe required sum as a free gift to his old friend Thorsten's son, leaving\nhim at liberty to dispose of it as he pleased. Then, since the season was\nunpropitious, and storms continually swept over the sea, the king invited\nFrithiof to tarry with him; and it was only when the gentle spring breezes\nwere blowing once more that he at last allowed him to depart.\n\nAfter sailing over summer seas, wafted along by favorable winds for six\ndays, Frithiof came in sight of his home, Framn\u00e4s, which had been reduced\nto a shapeless heap of ashes by Helg\u00e9's orders. Sadly steering past the\nruins, he arrived at Baldershage, where Hilding met him and informed him\nthat Ingeborg was now the wife of Sigurd Ring. When Frithiof heard these\ntidings he flew into a Berserker rage, and bade his men destroy all the\nvessels in the harbor, while he strode up to the temple alone in search of\nHelg\u00e9. He found him there before the god's image, roughly flung Angantyr's\nheavy purse of gold in his face, and when, as he was about to leave the\ntemple, he saw the ring he had given Ingeborg on the arm of Helg\u00e9's wife,\nhe snatched it away from her. In trying to recover it she dropped the god's\nimage, which she had just been anointing, into the fire, where it was\nrapidly consumed, and the rising flames soon set the temple roof in a\nblaze.\n\nFrithiof, horror-stricken at the sacrilege which he had involuntarily\noccasioned, after vainly trying to extinguish the flames and save the\ncostly sanctuary, escaped to his ship and waiting companions, to begin the\nweary life of an outcast and exile.\n\n    \"The temple soon in ashes lay,\n    Ashes the temple's bower;\n    Wofully Frithiof goes his way,\n    Weeps in the morning hour.\"\n                   TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Frithiof an exile.] Helg\u00e9's men started in pursuit, hoping to\novertake and punish him; but when they reached the harbor they could not\nfind a single seaworthy craft, and were forced to stand on the shore in\nhelpless inactivity while Ellida's great sails slowly sank beneath the\nhorizon. It was thus that Frithiof sadly saw his native land vanish from\nsight; and as it disappeared he breathed a tender farewell to the beloved\ncountry which he never expected to see again.\n\n    \"'World-circle's brow,\n    Thou mighty North!\n    I may not go\n    Upon thine earth;\n    But in no other\n    I love to dwell;\n    Now, hero-mother,\n    Farewell, farewell!\n\n    \"'Farewell, thou high\n    And heavenly one,\n    Night's sleeping eye,\n    Midsummer sun.\n    Thou clear blue sky,\n    Like hero's soul,\n    Ye stars on high,\n    Farewell, farewell!\n\n    \"'Farewell, ye mounts\n    Where Honour thrives,\n    And Thor recounts\n    Good warriors' lives.\n    Ye azure lakes,\n    I know so well,\n    Ye woods and brakes,\n    Farewell, farewell!\n\n    \"'Farewell, ye tombs,\n    By billows blue,\n    The lime tree blooms\n    Its snow on you.\n    The Saga sets\n    In judgment-veil\n    What earth forgets;\n    Farewell, farewell!\n\n    \"'Farewell the heath,\n    The forest hoar\n    I played beneath,\n    By streamlet's roar.\n    To childhood's friends\n    Who loved me well,\n    Remembrance sends\n    A fond farewell!\n\n    \"'My love is foiled,\n    My rooftree rent,\n    Mine honour soiled,\n    In exile sent!\n    We turn from earth,\n    On ocean dwell,\n    But, joy and mirth,\n    Farewell, farewell!'\"\n                   TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nAfter thus parting from his native land, Frithiof took up the life of a\npirate, rover, or viking, whose code was never to settle anywhere, to sleep\non his shield, to fight and neither give nor take quarter, to protect the\nships which paid him tribute and sack the others, and to distribute all the\nbooty to his men, reserving for himself nothing but the glory of the\nenterprise. Sailing and fighting thus, Frithiof visited many lands, and\ncame to the sunny isles of Greece, whither he would fain have carried\nIngeborg as his bride; but wherever he went and whatever he did, he was\nalways haunted by the recollection of his beloved and of his native land.\n\n[Sidenote: At the court of Sigurd Ring.] Overcome at last by homesickness,\nFrithiof returned northward, determined to visit Sigurd Ring's court and\nascertain whether Ingeborg was really well and happy. Steering his vessel\nup the Vik (the main part of the Christiania-Fiord), he intrusted it to\nBj\u00f6rn's care, and alone, on foot, and enveloped in a tattered mantle, which\nhe used as disguise, he went to the court of Sigurd Ring, arriving there\njust as the Yuletide festivities were being held. As if in reality nothing\nmore than the aged beggar he appeared, Frithiof sat down upon the bench\nnear the door, where he became the butt of the courtiers' rough jokes; but\nwhen one of his tormentors approached too closely he caught him in his\npowerful grasp and swung him high above his head.\n\nTerrified by this proof of great strength, the courtiers silently withdrew,\nwhile Sigurd Ring invited the old man to remove his mantle, take a seat\nbeside him, and share his good cheer. Frithiof accepted the invitation thus\ncordially given, and when he had laid aside his squalid outward apparel all\nstarted with surprise to see a handsome warrior, richly clad, and adorned\nwith a beautiful ring.\n\n    \"Now from the old man's stooping head is loosed the sable hood,\n     When lo! a young man smiling stands, where erst the old one stood.\n     See! From his lofty forehead, round shoulders broad and strong,\n     The golden locks flow glistening, like sunlight waves along.\n\n    \"He stood before them glorious in velvet mantle blue,\n     His baldrics broad, with silver worked, the artist's skill did shew;\n     For round about the hero's breast and round about his waist,\n     The beasts and birds of forest wild, embossed, each other chased.\n\n    \"The armlet's yellow luster shone rich upon his arm;\n     His war sword by his side--in strife a thunderbolt alarm.\n     Serene the hero cast his glance around the men of war;\n     Bright stood he there as Balder, as tall as Asa Thor.\"\n                              TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\n[Illustration: FRITHIOF AT THE COURT OF KING RING.--Kepler.]\n\nBut although his appearance was so unusual, none of the people present\nrecognized him save Ingeborg only; and when the king asked him who he was\nhe evasively replied that he was Thiolf (a thief), that he came from Ulf's\n(the wolf's), and had been brought up in Anger (sorrow or grief).\nNotwithstanding this unenticing account of himself, Sigurd Ring invited him\nto remain; and Frithiof, accepting the proffered hospitality, became the\nconstant companion of the king and queen, whom he accompanied wherever they\nwent.\n\nOne day, when the royal couple were seated in a sleigh and skimming along a\nfrozen stream, Frithiof sped on his skates before them, performing graceful\nevolutions, and cutting Ingeborg's name deep in the ice. All at once the\nice broke and the sleigh disappeared; but Frithiof, springing forward,\ncaught the horse by the bridle, and by main force dragged them all out of\ntheir perilous position.\n\nWhen spring came, Sigurd Ring invited Frithiof to accompany him on a\nhunting expedition. The king became separated from all the rest of his\nsuite, and saying that he was too weary to continue the chase, he lay down\nto rest upon the cloak which Frithiof spread out for him, resting his head\nupon his young guest's knee.\n\n     \"Then threw Frithiof down his mantle, and upon the greensward\n              spread,\n     And the ancient king so trustful laid on Frithiof's knee his head;\n     Slept, as calmly as the hero sleepeth after war's alarms\n     On his shield, calm as an infant sleepeth in its mother's arms.\"\n                      TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Longfellow's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Frithiof's loyalty.]While the aged king was thus reposing, the\nbirds and beasts of the forest softly drew near, bidding Frithiof take\nadvantage of his host's unconsciousness to slay him and recover the bride\nof whom he had been unfairly deprived. But although Frithiof understood\nthe language of birds and beasts, and his hot young heart clamored for his\nbeloved, he utterly refused to listen to them; and, fearing lest he should\ninvoluntarily harm his trusting host, he impulsively flung his sword far\nfrom him into a neighboring thicket.\n\nA few moments later Sigurd Ring awoke from his feigned sleep, and after\ntelling Frithiof that he had recognized him from the first, had tested him\nin many ways, and had always found his honor fully equal to his vaunted\ncourage, he bade him be patient a little longer, for his end was very near,\nand said that he would die happy if he could leave Ingeborg, his infant\nheir, and his kingdom in such good hands. Then, taking the astonished\nFrithiof's arm, Sigurd Ring returned home, where, feeling death draw near,\nhe dedicated himself anew to Odin by carving the Geirs-odd, or sacrificial\nrunes, deeply in his aged chest.\n\n          \"Bravely he slashes\n          Odin's red letters,\n    Blood-runes of heroes, on arm and on breast.\n          Brightly the splashes\n          Of life's flowing fetters\n    Drip from the silver of hair-covered chest.\"\n                         TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nWhen this ceremony was finished, Sigurd Ring laid Ingeborg's hand in\nFrithiof's, and, once more commending her to the young hero's loving care,\nclosed his eyes and breathed his last.\n\n[Sidenote: Betrothal of Frithiof and Ingeborg.] All the nation assembled to\nraise a mound for Sigurd Ring; and by his own request the funeral feast was\nclosed by a banquet to celebrate the betrothal of Ingeborg and Frithiof.\nThe latter had won the people's enthusiastic admiration; but when they\nwould fain have elected him king, Frithiof raised Sigurd Ring's little son\nup on his shield and presented him to the assembled nobles as their future\nking, publicly swearing to uphold him until he was of age to defend\nhimself. The child, weary of his cramped position on the shield, boldly\nsprang to the ground as soon as Frithiof's speech was ended, and alighted\nupon his feet. This act of daring in so small a child was enough to win the\naffection and admiration of all his rude subjects.\n\nAccording to some accounts, Frithiof now made war against Ingeborg's\nbrothers, and after conquering them, allowed them to retain their kingdom\nonly upon condition of their paying him a yearly tribute. Then he and\nIngeborg remained in Ringric until the young king was able to assume the\ngovernment, when they repaired to Hordaland, a kingdom Frithiof had\nobtained by conquest, and which he left to his sons Gungthiof and Hunthiof.\n\n[Sidenote: Frithiofs vision.] But according to Tegn\u00e9r's poem, Frithiof,\nsoon after his second betrothal to Ingeborg, made a pious pilgrimage to his\nfather's resting place, and while seated on the latter's funeral mound,\nplunged in melancholy and remorse at the sight of the desolation about him,\nhe was favored by a vision of a new temple, more beautiful than the first,\nwithin whose portals he beheld the three Norns.\n\n    \"And lo! reclining on their runic shields\n     The mighty Nornas now the portal fill;\n     Three rosebuds fair which the same garden yields,\n     With aspect serious, but charming still.\n     Whilst Urda points upon the blackened fields,\n     The fairy temple Skulda doth reveal.\n     When Frithiof first his dazzled senses cleared,\n     Rejoiced, admired, the vision disappeared.\"\n                              TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\nThe hero immediately understood that the gods had thus pointed out to him a\nmeans of atonement, and spared neither wealth nor pains to restore Balder's\ntemple and grove, which soon rose out of the ashes in more than their\nformer splendor.\n\nWhen the temple was all finished, and duly consecrated to Balder's service,\nFrithiof received Ingeborg at the altar from her brothers' hands, and ever\nafter lived on amicable terms with them.\n\n                         \"Now stepped Halfdan in\n    Over the brazen threshold, and with wistful look\n    Stood silent, at a distance from the dreaded one.\n    Then Frithiof loosed the Harness-hater from his thigh,\n    Against the altar placed the golden buckler round,\n    And forward came unarmed to meet his enemy:\n    'In such a strife,' thus he commenced, with friendly voice,\n    'The noblest he who first extends the hand of peace.'\n    Then blushed King Halfdan deep, and drew his gauntlet off,\n    And long-divided hands now firmly clasped each other,\n    A mighty pressure, steadfast as the mountain's base.\n    The old man then absolved him from the curse which lay\n    Upon the Varg i Veum,[1] on the outlawed man.\n    And as he spake the words, fair Ingeborg came in,\n    Arrayed in bridal dress, and followed by fair maids,\n    E'en as the stars escort the moon in heaven's vault.\n    Whilst tears suffused her soft and lovely eyes, she fell\n    Into her brother's arms, but deeply moved he led\n    His cherished sister unto Frithiof's faithful breast,\n    And o'er the altar of the god she gave her hand\n    Unto her childhood's friend, the darling of her heart.\"\n                   TEGN\u00c9R, _Frithiof Saga_ (Spalding's tr.).\n\n[Footnote 1: Wolf in the sanctuaries.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n\n\nRAGNAR LODBROK.\n\n\n    \"Last from among the Heroes one came near,\n     No God, but of the hero troop the chief--\n     Regner, who swept the northern sea with fleets,\n     And ruled o'er Denmark and the heathy isles,\n     Living; but Ella captured him and slew;--\n     A king whose fame then fill'd the vast of Heaven,\n     Now time obscures it, and men's later deeds.\"\n                      MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Balder Dead_.\n\n[Sidenote: Ragnar Lodbrok saga.] Ragnar Lodbrok, who figures in history as\nthe contemporary of Charlemagne, is one of the great northern heroes, to\nwhom many mythical deeds of valor are ascribed. His story has given rise\nnot only to the celebrated Ragnar Lodbrok saga, so popular in the\nthirteenth century, but also to many poems and songs by ancient scalds and\nmodern poets. The material of the Ragnar Lodbrok saga was probably largely\nborrowed from the Volsunga saga and from the saga of Dietrich von Bern, the\nchief aim of the ancient composers being to connect the Danish dynasty of\nkings with the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fafnir, and thereby to\nprove that their ancestor was no less a person than Odin.\n\nThe hero of this saga was Ragnar, the son of Sigurd Ring and his first\nwife, Alfild. According to one version of the story, as we have seen,\nSigurd Ring married Ingeborg, and died, leaving Frithiof to protect his\nyoung son. According to another, Sigurd Ring appointed Ragnar as his\nsuccessor, and had him recognized as future ruler by the Thing before he\nset out upon his last military expedition.\n\nThis was a quest for a new wife named Alfsol, a princess of Jutland, with\nwhom, in spite of his advanced years, he had fallen passionately in love.\nHer family, however, rudely refused Sigurd Ring's request. When he came to\nwin his bride by the force of arms, and they saw themselves defeated, they\npoisoned Alfsol rather than have her fall alive into the viking's hands.\n\nSigurd Ring, finding a corpse where he had hoped to clasp a living and\nloving woman, was so overcome with grief that he now resolved to die too.\nBy his orders Alfsol's body was laid in state on a funeral pyre on his best\nship. Then, when the fire had been kindled, and the ship cut adrift from\nits moorings, Sigurd Ring sprang on board, and, stabbing himself, was\nburned with the fair maiden he loved.\n\nRagnar was but fifteen years old when he found himself called upon to\nreign; but just as he outshone all his companions in beauty and\nintelligence, so he could match the bravest heroes in courage and daring,\nand generally escaped uninjured from every battle, owing to a magic shirt\nwhich his mother had woven for him.\n\n    \"'I give thee the long shirt,\n    Nowhere sewn,\n    Woven with a loving mind,\n    Of hair----[obscure word].\n    Wounds will not bleed\n    Nor will edges bite thee\n    In the holy garment;\n    It was consecrated to the gods.'\"\n                   _Ragnar Lodbrok Saga_.\n\nOf course the young hero led out his men every summer upon some exciting\nviking expedition, to test their courage and supply them with plunder; for\nall the northern heroes proudly boasted that the sword was their god and\ngold was their goddess.\n\n[Sidenote: Lodgerda.] On one occasion Ragnar landed in a remote part of\nNorway, and having climbed one of the neighboring mountains, he looked down\nupon a fruitful valley inhabited by Lodgerda, a warrior maiden who\ndelighted in the chase and all athletic exercises, and ruled over all that\npart of the country. Ragnar immediately resolved to visit this fair maiden;\nand, seeing her manifold attractions, he soon fell in love with her and\nmarried her. She joined him in all his active pursuits; but in spite of all\nhis entreaties, she would not consent to leave her native land and\naccompany him home.\n\nAfter spending three years in Norway with Lodgerda, the young viking became\nrestless and unhappy; and learning that his kingdom had been raided during\nhis prolonged absence, he parted from his wife in hot haste. He pursued his\nenemies to Whitaby and to Lym-Fiord, winning a signal victory over them in\nboth places, and then reentered his capital of Hledra in triumph, amid the\nacclamations of his joyful people.\n\nHe had not been resting long upon his newly won laurels when a northern\nseer came to his court, and showed him in a magic mirror the image of\nThora, the beautiful daughter of Jarl Herrand in East Gothland. Ragnar, who\nevidently considered himself freed from all matrimonial bonds by his wife's\nrefusal to accompany him home, eagerly questioned the seer concerning the\nradiant vision.\n\nThis man then revealed to him that Thora, having at her father's request\ncarefully brought up a dragon from an egg hatched by a swan, had at last\nseen it assume such colossal proportions that it coiled itself all around\nthe house where she dwelt. Here it watched over her with jealous care,\nallowing none to approach except the servant who brought the princess her\nmeals and who provided an ox daily for the monster's sustenance. Jarl\nHerrand had offered Thora's hand in marriage, and immense sums of gold, to\nany hero brave enough to slay this dragon; but none dared venture within\nreach of its powerful jaws, whence came fire, venom, and noxious vapors.\n\nRagnar, who as usual thirsted for adventure, immediately made up his mind\nto go and fight this dragon; and, after donning a peculiar leather and\nwoolen garment, all smeared over with pitch, he attacked and successfully\nslew the monster.\n\n                   \"'Nor long before\n    In arms I reached the Gothic shore,\n    To work the loathly serpent's death.\n    I slew the reptile of the heath.'\"\n                       _Death Song of Regner Lodbrock_ (Herbert's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of name Lodbrok.] In commemoration of this victory,\nRagnar ever after bore also the name of Lodbrok (Leather Hose), although\nhe laid aside this garment as soon as possible, and appeared in royal\ngarb, to receive his prize, the beautiful maiden Thora, whom he had\ndelivered, and whom he now took to be his wife.\n\n    \"'My prize was Thora; from that fight,\n     'Mongst warriors am I Lodbrock hight.\n     I pierced the monster's scaly side\n     With steel, the soldier's wealth and pride.'\"\n                          _Death Song of Regner Lodbrock_ (Herbert's tr.).\n\nThora gladly accompanied Ragnar back to Hledra, lived happily with him for\nseveral years, and bore him two sturdy sons, Agnar and Erik, who soon gave\nproof of uncommon courage. Such was Ragnar's devotion to his new wife that\nhe even forbore to take part in the usual viking expeditions, to linger by\nher side. All his love could not long avail to keep her with him, however,\nfor she soon sickened and died, leaving him an inconsolable widower.\n\nTo divert him from his great sorrow, his subjects finally proposed that he\nshould resume his former adventurous career, and prevailed upon him to\nlaunch his dragon ship once more and to set sail for foreign shores. Some\ntime during the cruise their bread supply failed, and Ragnar steered his\nvessel into the port of Spangarhede, where he bade his men carry their\nflour ashore and ask the people in a hut which he descried there to help\nthem knead and bake their bread. The sailors obeyed; but when they entered\nthe lowly hut and saw the filthy old woman who appeared to be its sole\noccupant, they hesitated to bespeak her aid.\n\nWhile they were deliberating what they should do, a beautiful girl, poorly\nclad, but immaculately clean, entered the hut; and the old woman,\naddressing her as Krake (Crow), bade her see what the strangers wanted.\nThey told her, and admiringly watched her as she deftly fashioned the dough\ninto loaves and slipped them into the hot oven. She bade the sailors watch\nthem closely, lest they should burn; but these men forgot all about their\nloaves to gaze upon her as she flitted about the house, and the result was\nthat their bread was badly burned.\n\nWhen they returned to the vessel, Ragnar Lodbrok reproved them severely for\ntheir carelessness, until the men, to justify themselves, began describing\nthe maiden Krake in such glowing terms that the chief finally expressed a\ndesire to see her. With the view of testing her wit and intelligence, as\nwell as her beauty, Ragnar sent a message bidding her appear before him\nneither naked nor clad, neither alone nor unaccompanied, neither fasting\nnor yet having partaken of any food.\n\nThis singular message was punctually delivered, and Krake, who was as\nclever as beautiful, soon presented herself, with a fish net wound several\ntimes around her graceful form, her sheep dog beside her, and the odor of\nthe leek she had bitten into still hovering over her ruby lips.\n\nRagnar, charmed by her ingenuity no less than by her extreme beauty, then\nand there proposed to marry her. But Krake, who was not to be so lightly\nwon, declared that he must first prove the depth of his affection by\nremaining constant to her for one whole year, at the end of which time she\nwould marry him if he still cared to claim her hand.\n\n[Sidenote: Marriage of Ragnar and Krake.] The year passed by; Ragnar\nreturned to renew his suit, and Krake, satisfied that she had inspired no\nmomentary passion, forsook the aged couple and accompanied the great viking\nto Hledra, where she became queen of Denmark. She bore Ragnar four\nsons--Ivar, Bj\u00f6rn, Hvitserk, and Rogenwald,--who from earliest infancy\nlonged to emulate the prowess of their father, Ragnar, and of their\nstep-brothers, Erik and Agnar, who even in their youth were already great\nvikings.\n\nThe Danes, however, had never fully approved of Ragnar's last marriage, and\nmurmured frequently because they were obliged to obey a lowborn queen, and\none who bore the vulgar name of Krake. Little by little these murmurs grew\nlouder, and finally they came to Ragnar's ears while he was visiting\nEystein, King of Svithiod (Sweden). Craftily his courtiers went to work,\nand finally prevailed upon him to sue for the princess's hand. He did so,\nand left Sweden promising to divorce Krake when he reached home, and to\nreturn as soon as possible to claim his bride.\n\nAs Ragnar entered the palace at Hledra, Krake came, as usual, to meet him.\nHis conscience smote him, and he answered all her tender inquiries so\nroughly that she suddenly turned and asked him why he had made arrangements\nto divorce her and take a new wife. Surprised at her knowledge, for he\nfancied the matter still a secret, Ragnar Lodbrok asked who had told her.\nThereupon Krake explained that, feeling anxious about him, she had sent her\npet magpies after him, and that the birds had come home and revealed all.\n\n[Sidenote: Aslaug.] This answer, which perhaps gave rise to the common\nexpression, \"A little bird told me,\" greatly astonished Ragnar. He was\nabout to try to excuse himself when Krake, drawing herself up proudly,\ndeclared that while she was perfectly ready to depart, it was but just that\nhe should now learn that her extraction was far less humble than he\nthought. She then proceeded to tell him that her real name was Aslaug, and\nthat she was the daughter of Sigurd Fafnisbane (the slayer of Fafnir) and\nthe beautiful Valkyr Brunhild. Her grandfather, or her foster father,\nHeimir, to protect her from the foes who would fain have taken her life,\nhad hidden her in his hollow harp when she was but a babe. He had tenderly\ncared for her until he was treacherously murdered by peasants, who had\nfound her in the hollow harp instead of the treasure they sought there.\n\n    \"Let be--as ancient stories tell--\n    Full knowledge upon Ragnar fell\n    In lapse of time, that this was she\n    Begot in the felicity\n    Swift-fleeting of the wondrous twain,\n    Who afterwards through change and pain\n    Must live apart to meet in death.\"\n                        WILLIAM MORRIS, _The Fostering of Aslaug_.\n\nIn proof of her assertion, Aslaug then produced a ring and a letter which\nhad belonged to her illustrious mother, and foretold that her next child, a\nson, would bear the image of a dragon in his right eye, as a sign that he\nwas a grandson of the Dragon Slayer, whose memory was honored by all.\n\nConvinced of the truth of these statements, Ragnar no longer showed any\ndesire to repudiate his wife; but, on the contrary, he besought her to\nremain with him, and bade his subjects call her Aslaug.\n\n[Sidenote: Sigurd the Snake-eyed.] Shortly after this reconciliation the\nqueen gave birth to a fifth son, who, as she had predicted, came into the\nworld with a peculiar birthmark, to which he owed his name--Sigurd the\nSnake-eyed. As it was customary for kings to intrust their sons to some\nnoted warrior to foster, this child was given to the celebrated Norman\npirate, Hastings, who, as soon as his charge had attained a suitable age,\ntaught him the art of viking warfare, and took him, with his four elder\nbrothers, to raid the coasts of all the southern countries.\n\nIvar, the eldest of Ragnar and Aslaug's sons, although crippled from birth,\nand unable to walk a step, was always ready to join in the fray, into the\nmidst of which he was borne on a shield. From this point of vantage he shot\narrow after arrow, with fatal accuracy of aim. As he had employed much of\nhis leisure time in learning runes[1] and all kinds of magic arts, he was\noften of great assistance to his brothers, who generally chose him leader\nof their expeditions. [Footnote 1: See Guerber's Myths of Northern Lands,\np. 39.]\n\nWhile Ragnar's five sons were engaged in fighting the English at Whitaby to\npunish them for plundering and setting fire to some Danish ships, Rogenwald\nfell to rise no more.\n\n[Sidenote: The enchanted cow.] Eystein, the Swedish king, now assembled a\nlarge army and declared war against the Danes, because their monarch had\nfailed to return at the appointed time and claim the bride for whom he had\nsued. Ragnar would fain have gone forth to meet the enemy in person, but\nAgnar and Erik, his two eldest sons, craved permission to go in his stead.\nThey met the Swedish king, but in spite of their valor they soon succumbed\nto an attack made by an enchanted cow.\n\n    \"'We smote with swords; at dawn of day\n    Hundred spearmen gasping lay,\n    Bent beneath the arrowy strife.\n    Egill reft my son of life;\n    Too soon my Agnar's youth was spent,\n    The scabbard thorn his bosom rent.'\"\n                      _Death Song of Regner Lodbrock_ (Herbert's tr.).\n\nRagnar was about to sally forth to avenge them, when Hastings and the other\nsons returned. Then Aslaug prevailed upon her husband to linger by her side\nand delegate the duty of revenge to his sons. In this battle Ivar made use\nof his magic to slay Eystein's cow, which could make more havoc than an\narmy of warriors. His brothers, having slain Eystein and raided the\ncountry, then sailed off to renew their depredations elsewhere.\n\nThis band of vikings visited the coasts of England, Ireland, France, Italy,\nGreece, and the Greek isles, plundering, murdering, and burning wherever\nthey went. Assisted by Hastings, the brothers took Wiflisburg (probably the\nRoman Aventicum), and even besieged Luna in Etruria.\n\n[Illustration: STRATEGY OF HASTINGS--Keller.]\n\nAs this city was too strongly fortified and too well garrisoned to yield to\nan assault, the Normans (as all the northern pirates were indiscriminately\ncalled in the South) resolved to secure it by stratagem. They therefore\npretended that Hastings, their leader, was desperately ill, and induced a\nbishop to come out of the town to baptize him, so that he might die in the\nChristian faith. Three days later they again sent a herald to say that\nHastings had died, and that his last wish had been to be buried in a\nChristian church. They therefore asked permission to enter the city\nunarmed, and bear their leader to his last resting place, promising not\nonly to receive baptism, but also to endow with great wealth the church\nwhere Hastings was buried.\n\n[Sidenote: Hastings's stratagem.] The inhabitants of Luna, won by these\nspecious promises, immediately opened their gates, and the funeral\nprocession filed solemnly into the city. But, in the midst of the mass, the\ncoffin lid flew open, and Hastings sprang out, sword in hand, and killed\nthe officiating bishop and priests. This example was followed by his\nsoldiers, who produced the weapons they had concealed upon their persons,\nand slew all the inhabitants of the town.\n\nThese lawless invaders were about to proceed to Romaburg (Rome), and sack\nthat city also, but were deterred by a pilgrim whom they met. He told them\nthat the city was so far away that he had worn out two pairs of iron-soled\nshoes in coming from thence. The Normans, believing this tale, which was\nonly a stratagem devised by the quick-witted pilgrim, spared the Eternal\nCity, and, reembarking in their vessels, sailed home.\n\nRagnar Lodbrok, in the mean while, had not been inactive, but had continued\nhis adventurous career, winning numerous battles, and bringing home much\nplunder to enrich his kingdom and subjects.\n\n    \"'I have fought battles\n    Fifty and one\n    Which were famous;\n    I have wounded many men.'\"\n                  _Ragnar's Sons' Saga_.\n\nThe hero's last expedition was against Ella, King of Northumberland. From\nthe very outset the gods seemed to have decided that Ragnar should not\nprove as successful as usual. The poets tell us that they even sent the\nValkyrs (battle maidens of northern mythology) to warn him of his coming\ndefeat, and to tell him of the bliss awaiting him in Valhalla.\n\n    \"'Regner! tell thy fair-hair'd bride\n    She must slumber at thy side!\n    Tell the brother of thy breast\n    Even for him thy grave hath rest!\n    Tell the raven steed which bore thee\n    When the wild wolf fled before thee,\n    He too with his lord must fall,--\n    There is room in Odin's Hall!'\"\n                       MRS. HEMANS, _Valkyriur Song_.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Ragnar Lodbrok.] In spite of this warning, Ragnar went\non. Owing to the magic shirt he wore, he stood unharmed in the midst of the\nslain long after all his brave followers had perished; and it was only\nafter a whole day's fighting that the enemy finally succeeded in making him\na prisoner. Then the followers of Ella vainly besought Ragnar to speak and\ntell his name. As he remained obstinately silent they finally flung him\ninto a den of snakes, where the reptiles crawled all over him, vainly\ntrying to pierce the magic shirt with their venomous fangs. Ella perceived\nat last that it was this garment which preserved his captive from death,\nand had it forcibly removed. Ragnar was then thrust back amid the writhing,\nhissing snakes, which bit him many times. Now that death was near, the\nhero's tongue was loosened, not to give vent to weak complaints, but to\nchant a triumphant death song, in which he recounted his manifold battles,\nand foretold that his brave sons would avenge his cruel death.\n\n    \"'Grim stings the adder's forked dart;\n    The vipers nestle in my heart.\n    But soon, I wot, shall Vider's wand,\n    Fixed in Ella's bosom stand.\n    My youthful sons with rage will swell,\n    Listening how their father fell;\n    Those gallant boys in peace unbroken\n    Will never rest, till I be wroken [avenged].'\"\n                        _Death Song of Regner Lodbrock_ (Herbert's tr.).\n\nThis heroic strain has been immortalized by ancient scalds and modern\npoets. They have all felt the same admiration for the dauntless old viking,\nwho, even amid the pangs of death, gloried in his past achievements, and\nlooked ardently forward to his sojourn in Valhalla. There, he fancied, he\nwould still be able to indulge in warfare, his favorite pastime, and would\nlead the einheriar (spirits of dead warriors) to their daily battles.\n\n    \"'Cease, my strain! I hear a voice\n    From realms where martial souls rejoice;\n    I hear the maids of slaughter call,\n    Who bid me hence to Odin's hall:\n    High seated in their blest abodes\n    I soon shall quaff the drink of gods.\n    The hours of life have glided by;\n    I fall, but smiling shall I die.'\"\n                       _Death Song of Regner Lodbrock_ (Herbert's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Founding of London.] Ragnar Lodbrok's sons had reached home, and\nwere peacefully occupied in playing chess, when a messenger came to\nannounce their father's sad end. In their impatience to avenge him they\nstarted out without waiting to collect a large force, and in spite of many\ninauspicious omens. Ella, who expected them, met them with a great host,\ncomposed not only of all his own subjects but also of many allies, among\nwhom was King Alfred. In spite of their valor the Normans were completely\ndefeated by the superior forces of the enemy, and only a few of them\nsurvived. Ivar and his remaining followers consented to surrender at last,\nprovided that Ella would atone for their losses by giving them as much land\nas an oxhide would inclose. This seemingly trifling request was granted\nwithout demur, nor could the king retract his promise when he saw that the\noxhide, cut into tiny strips, inclosed a vast space of land, upon which the\nNormans now proceeded to construct an almost impregnable fortress, called\nLunduna Burg (London).\n\nHere Ivar took up his permanent abode, while his brothers returned to\nHledra. Little by little he alienated the affections of Ella's subjects,\nand won them over to him by rich gifts and artful flattery. When sure of\ntheir allegiance, he incited them to revolt against the king; and as he had\nsolemnly sworn never to bear arms against Ella, he kept the letter of his\npromise by sending for his brothers to act as their leaders.\n\n[Sidenote: Death of Ella.] As a result of this revolution Ella was made\nprisoner. Then the fierce vikings stretched him out upon one of those rude\nstone altars which can still be seen in England, and ruthlessly avenged\ntheir father's cruel death by cutting the bloody eagle upon him.[1] After\nElla's death, Ivar became even more powerful than before, while his younger\nbrothers continued their viking expeditions, took an active part in all the\npiratical incursions of the time, and even, we are told, besieged Paris in\nthe reign of Louis the Fat. [Footnote 1: See Guerber's Myths of Northern\nLands, p. 85.]\n\nOther Danish and Scandinavian vikings were equally venturesome and\nsuccessful, and many eventually settled in the lands which they had\nconquered. Among these was the famous Rollo (Rolf Ganger), who, too\ngigantic in stature to ride horseback, always went on foot. He settled with\nhis followers in a fertile province in northern France, which owes to them\nits name of Normandy.\n\nThe rude independence of the Northmen is well illustrated by their behavior\nwhen called to court to do homage for this new fief. Rollo was directed to\nplace both his hands between those of the king, and take his vow of\nallegiance; so he submitted with indifferent grace. But when he was told\nthat he must conclude the ceremony by kissing the monarch's foot, he\nobstinately refused  to do so. A proxy was finally suggested, and Rollo,\ncalling one of his Berserkers, bade him take his place. The stalwart giant\nstrode forward, but instead of kneeling, he grasped the king's foot and\nraised it to his lips. As the king did not expect such a jerk, he lost his\nbalance and fell heavily backward. All the Frenchmen present were, of\ncourse, scandalized; but the barbarian refused to make any apology, and\nstrode haughtily out of the place, vowing he would never come to court\nagain.\n\nAll the northern pirates were, as we have seen, called Normans. They did\nnot all settle in the North, however, for many of them found their way into\nItaly, and even to Constantinople. There they formed the celebrated\nVarangian Guard, and faithfully watched over the safety of the emperor. It\nwas probably one of these soldiers who traced the runes upon the stone lion\nwhich was subsequently transferred to Venice, where it now adorns the\nPiazza of St. Mark's.\n\n    \"Rose the Norseman chief Hardrada, like a lion from his lair;\n    His the fearless soul to conquer, his the willing soul to dare.\n    Gathered Skald and wild Varingar, where the raven banner shone,\n    And the dread steeds of the ocean, left the Northland's frozen zone.\"\n                                       VAIL, _Marri's Vision_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n\n\nTHE CID.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Ballads of the Cid.] The ballads of the Cid, which number about\ntwo hundred, and some of which are of undoubted antiquity, were not\ncommitted to writing until the twelfth century, when a poem of about three\nthousand lines was composed. This poem, descriptive of a national hero's\nexploits, was probably written about half a century after his death. The\nearliest manuscript of it now extant bears the date either 1245 or 1345.\nThe Cid was a real personage, named Rodrigo Diaz, or Ruy Diaz. He was born\nin Burgos, in the eleventh century, and won the name of \"Cid\" (Conqueror)\nby defeating five Moorish kings, when Spain had been in the hands of the\nArabs for more than three centuries.\n\n    \"Mighty victor, never vanquish'd,\n      Bulwark of our native land,\n    Shield of Spain, her boast and glory,\n      Knight of the far-dreaded brand,\n    Venging scourge of Moors and traitors,\n      Mighty thunderbolt of war,\n    Mirror bright of chivalry,\n      Ruy, my Cid Campeador!\"\n                     _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nRodrigo was still a young and untried warrior when his aged father, Diego\nLaynez, was grossly and publicly insulted by Don Gomez, who gave him a blow\nin the face. Diego was far too feeble to seek the usual redress, arms in\nhand; but the insult rankled deep in his heart, preventing him from either\nsleeping or eating, and imbittering every moment of his life.\n\n    \"Sleep was banish'd from his eyelids;\n      Not a mouthful could he taste;\n    There he sat with downcast visage,--\n      Direly had he been disgrac'd.\n\n    \"Never stirr'd he from his chamber;\n      With no friends would he converse,\n    Lest the breath of his dishonor\n      Should pollute them with its curse.\"\n                       _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Don Gomez slain by Rodrigo.] At last, however, Diego confessed\nhis shame to his son Rodrigo, who impetuously vowed to avenge him. Armed\nwith his father's cross-hilted sword, and encouraged by his solemn\nblessing, Rodrigo marched into the hall of Don Gomez, and challenged him to\nfight. In spite of his youth, Rodrigo conducted himself so bravely in this\nhis first encounter that he slew his opponent, and by shedding his blood\nwashed out the stain upon his father's honor, according to the chivalric\ncreed of the time. Then, to convince Diego that he had been duly avenged,\nthe young hero cut off the head of Don Gomez, and triumphantly laid it\nbefore him.\n\n    \"'Ne'er again thy foe can harm thee;\n      All his pride is now laid low;\n    Vain his hand is now to smite thee,\n      And this tongue is silent now.'\"\n                       _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote:  Defeat of the Moors.] Happy once more, old Diego again left\nhome, and went to King Ferdinand's court, where he bade Rodrigo do homage\nto the king. The proud youth obeyed this command with indifferent grace,\nand his bearing was so defiant that the frightened monarch banished him\nfrom his presence. Rodrigo therefore departed with three hundred kindred\nspirits. He soon encountered the Moors, who were invading Castile, defeated\nthem in battle, took five of their kings prisoners, and released them only\nafter they had promised to pay tribute and to refrain from further warfare.\nThey were so grateful for their liberty that they pledged themselves to do\nhis will, and departed, calling him \"Cid,\" the name by which he was\nthenceforth known.\n\nAs Rodrigo had delivered the land from a great danger, King Ferdinand now\nrestored him to favor and gave him an honorable place among his courtiers,\nwho, however, were all somewhat inclined to be jealous of the fame the\nyoung man had won. Shortly after his triumphant return, Do\u00f1a Ximena,\ndaughter of Don Gomez, also appeared in Burgos, and, falling at the king's\nfeet, demanded justice. Then, seeing the Cid among the courtiers, she\nvehemently denounced him for having slain her father, and bade him take her\nlife also, as she had no wish to survive a parent whom she adored.\n\n    \"'Thou hast slain the best and bravest\n      That e'er set a lance in rest;\n    Of our holy faith the bulwark,--\n      Terror of each Paynim breast.\n\n    \"'Traitorous murderer, slay me also!\n      Though a woman, slaughter me!\n    Spare not--I'm Ximena Gomez,\n      Thine eternal enemy!\n\n    \"'Here's my throat--smite, I beseech thee!\n      Smite, and fatal be thy blow!\n    Death is all I ask, thou caitiff,--\n      Grant this boon unto thy foe.'\"\n                         _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nAs this denunciation and appeal remained without effect (for the king had\nbeen too well served by the Cid to listen to any accusation against him),\nthe distressed damsel departed, only to return to court three times upon\nthe same fruitless errand. During this time the valor and services of the\nCid had been so frequently discussed in her presence that on her fifth\nvisit to Ferdinand she consented to forego all further thoughts of\nvengeance, if the king would but order the young hero to marry her instead.\n\n    \"'I am daughter of Don Gomez,\n      Count of Gormaz was he hight,\n    Him Rodrigo by his valor\n      Did o'erthrow in mortal fight.\n\n    \"'King, I come to crave a favor--\n      This the boon for which I pray,\n    That thou give me this Rodrigo\n      For my wedded lord this day.'\"\n                         _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote:  Marriage of the Cid.] The king, who had suspected for some time\npast that the Cid had fallen in love with his fair foe, immediately sent\nfor him. Rodrigo entered the city with his suite of three hundred men,\nproposed marriage to Ximena, and was accepted on the spot. His men then\nproceeded to array him richly for his wedding, and bound on him his famous\nsword Tizona, which he had won from the Moors. The marriage was celebrated\nwith much pomp and rejoicing, the king giving Rodrigo the cities of\nValduerna, Solda\u00f1ia, Belforado, and San Pedro de Carde\u00f1a as a marriage\nportion. When the marriage ceremony was finished, Rodrigo, wishing to show\nhis wife all honor, declared that he would not rest until he had won five\nbattles, and would only then really consider himself entitled, to claim her\nlove.\n\n    \"'A man I slew--a man I give thee--\n      Here I stand thy will to bide!\n    Thou, in place of a dead father,\n      Hast a husband at thy side.'\"\n                      _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote:  The Cid's piety.] Before beginning this war, however, the Cid\nremembered a vow he had made; and, accompanied by twenty brave young\nhidalgos, he set out for a pious pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the\nshrine of the patron saint of Spain. On his way thither he frequently\ndistributed alms, paused to recite a prayer at every church and wayside\nshrine, and, meeting a leper, ate, drank, and even slept with him in a\nvillage inn. When Rodrigo awoke in the middle of the night, he found his\nbedfellow gone, but was favored by a vision of St. Lazarus, who praised his\ncharity, and promised him great temporal prosperity and eternal life.\n\n    \"'Life shall bring thee no dishonor--\n    Thou shalt ever conqueror be;\n    Death shall find thee still victorious,\n    For God's blessing rests on thee.'\"\n                       _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nWhen his pilgrimage was ended, Rodrigo further showed his piety by setting\naside a large sum of money for the establishment of a leper house, which,\nin honor of the saint who visited him, was called \"St. Lazarus.\" He then\nhastened off to Calahorra, a frontier town of Castile and Aragon, which was\na bone of contention between two monarchs.\n\nJust before the Cid's arrival, Don Ramiro of Aragon had arranged with\nFerdinand of Castile that their quarrel should be decided by a duel between\ntwo knights. Don Ramiro therefore selected as his champion Martin Gonzalez,\nwhile Ferdinand intrusted his cause to the Cid. The duel took place; and\nwhen the two champions found themselves face to face, Martin Gonzalez began\nto taunt Rodrigo, telling him that he would never again be able to mount\nhis favorite steed Babie\u00e7a, or see his wife, as he was doomed to die.\n\n    \"'Sore, Rodrigo, must thou tremble\n    Now to meet me in the fight,\n    Since thy head will soon be sever'd\n    For a trophy of my might.\n\n    \"'Never more to thine own castle\n    Wilt thou turn Babie\u00e7a's rein;\n    Never will thy lov'd Ximena\n    See thee at her side again.'\"\n                    _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThis boasting did not in the least dismay the Cid, who fought so bravely\nthat he defeated Martin Gonzalez, and won such plaudits that the jealousy\nof the Castilian knights was further excited. In their envy they even\nplotted with the Moors to slay Rodrigo by treachery. This plan did not\nsucceed, however, because the Moorish kings whom he had captured and\nreleased gave him a timely warning of the threatening danger.\n\nThe king, angry at this treachery, banished the jealous courtiers, and,\naided by Rodrigo, defeated the hostile Moors in Estremadura. There the\nChristian army besieged Coimbra in vain for seven whole months, and were\nabout to give up in despair of securing the city, when St. James appeared\nto a pilgrim, promising his help on the morrow.\n\n[Sidenote: Battle cry of the Spaniards.] When the battle began, the\nChristian knights were fired by the example of a radiant warrior, mounted\non a snow-white steed, who led them into the thickest of the fray and\nhelped them win a signal victory. This knight, whom no one recognized as\none of their own warriors, was immediately hailed as St. James, and it was\nhis name which the Spaniards then and there adopted as their favorite\nbattle cry.\n\nThe city of Coimbra having been taken, Don Rodrigo was duly knighted by the\nking; while the queen and princesses vied with one another in helping him\ndon the different pieces of his armor, for they too were anxious to show\nhow highly they valued his services.\n\nAfter a few more victories over his country's enemies, the triumphant Cid\nreturned to Zamora, where Ximena, his wife, was waiting for him, and where\nthe five Moorish kings sent not only the promised tribute, but rich gifts\nto their generous conqueror. Although the Cid rejoiced in these tokens, he\ngave all the tribute and the main part of the spoil to Ferdinand, his liege\nlord, for he considered the glory of success a sufficient reward for\nhimself.\n\nWhile the Cid was thus resting upon his laurels, a great council had been\nheld at Florence, where the Emperor (Henry III.) of Germany complained to\nthe Pope that King Ferdinand had not done him homage for his crown, and\nthat he refused to acknowledge his superiority. The Pope immediately sent a\nmessage to King Ferdinand asking for homage and tribute, and threatening a\ncrusade in case of disobedience. This unwelcome message greatly displeased\nthe Spanish ruler, and roused the indignation of the Cid, who declared that\nhis king was the vassal of no monarch, and offered to fight any one who\ndared maintain a contrary opinion.\n\n    \"'Never yet have we done homage--\n      Shall we to a stranger bow?\n    Great the honor God hath given us--\n      Shall we lose that honor now?\n\n    \"'Send then to the Holy Father,\n      Proudly thus to him reply--\n    Thou, the king, and I, Rodrigo,\n      Him and all his power defy.'\"\n                _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThis challenge was sent to the Pope, who, not averse to having the question\nsettled by the judgment of God, bade the emperor send a champion to meet\nRodrigo. This imperial champion was of course defeated, and all King\nFerdinand's enemies were so grievously routed by the ever-victorious Cid\nthat no further demands of homage or tribute were ever made.\n\nOld age had now come on, and King Ferdinand, after receiving divine warning\nof his speedy demise, died. He left Castile to his eldest son, Don Sancho,\nLeon to Don Alfonso, Galicia to Don Garcia, and gave his daughters, Do\u00f1a\nUrraca and Do\u00f1a Elvira, the wealthy cities of Zamora and Toro. Of course\nthis disposal of property did not prove satisfactory to all his heirs, and\nDon Sancho was especially displeased, because he coveted the whole realm.\nHe, however, had the Cid to serve him, and selected this doughty champion\nto accompany him on a visit to Rome, knowing that he would brook no insult\nto his lord. These previsions were fully justified, for the Cid, on\nnoticing that a less exalted seat had been prepared for Don Sancho than for\nthe King of France, became so violent that the Pope excommunicated him. But\nwhen the seats had been made of even height, the Cid, who was a good\nCatholic, humbled himself before the Pope, and the latter, knowing the\nhero's value as a bulwark against the heathen Moors, immediately granted\nhim full absolution.\n\n    \"'I absolve thee, Don Ruy Diaz,\n    I absolve thee cheerfully,\n    If, while at my court, thou showest\n    Due respect and courtesy.'\"\n                  _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: The Cid Campeador.] On his return to Castile, Don Sancho found\nhimself threatened by his namesake, the King of Navarre, and by Don Ramiro\nof Aragon. They both invaded Castile, but were ignominously repulsed by the\nCid. As some of the Moors had helped the invaders, the Cid next proceeded\nto punish them, and gave up the siege of Saragossa only when the\ninhabitants made terms with him. This campaign won for the Cid the title of\n\"Campeador\" (Champion), which he well deserved, as he was always ready to\ndo battle for his king.\n\nWhile Don Sancho and his invaluable ally were thus engaged, Don Garcia,\nKing of Galicia, who was also anxious to increase his kingdom, deprived his\nsister Do\u00f1a Urraca of her city of Zamora. In her distress the infanta came\nto Don Sancho and made her lament, thereby affording him the long-sought\npretext to wage war against his brother, and rob him of his kingdom.\n\nThis war, in which the Cid reluctantly joined, threatened at one time to\nhave serious consequences for Sancho. He even once found himself a prisoner\nof Garcia's army, shortly after Garcia had been captured by his. The Cid,\noccupied in another part of the field, no sooner heard of this occurrence\nthan he hastened to the Galician nobles to offer an exchange of prisoners;\nbut, as they rejected his offer with contempt, he soon left them in anger.\n\n    \"'Hie thee hence, Rodrigo Diaz,\n    An thou love thy liberty;\n    Lest, with this thy king, we take thee\n    Into dire captivity.'\"\n          _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe wrath which the Cid Campeador experienced at this discourteous\ntreatment so increased his usual strength that he soon put the enemy to\nflight, recovered possession of his king, and not only made Don Garcia a\nprisoner, but also secured Don Alfonso who had joined in the revolt. Don\nGarcia was sent in chains to the castle of Luna, where he eventually died,\nentreating that he might be buried, with his fetters, in the city of Leon.\n\n[Sidenote: Alfonso at Toledo.] As for Don Alfonso, Do\u00f1a Urraca pleaded his\ncause so successfully that he was allowed to retire into a monastery,\nwhence he soon effected his escape and joined the Moors at Toledo. There he\nbecame the companion and ally of Alimaymon, learned all his secrets, and\nonce, during a pretended nap, overheard the Moor state that even Toledo\ncould be taken by the Christians, provided they had the patience to begin a\nseven-years' siege, and to destroy all the harvests so as to reduce the\npeople to starvation. The information thus accidentally obtained proved\ninvaluable to Alfonso, as will be seen, and enabled him subsequently to\ndrive the Moors out of the city Toledo.\n\nIn the mean while Sancho, not satisfied with his triple kingdom, robbed\nDo\u00f1a Elvira of Toro, and began to besiege Do\u00f1a Urraca in Zamora, which he\nhoped to take also in spite of it almost impregnable position.\n\n    \"'See! where on yon cliff Zamora\n      Lifteth up her haughty brow;\n    Walls of strength on high begird her,\n      Duero swift and deep below.'\"\n          _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe king, utterly regardless of the Cid's openly expressed opinion that it\nwas unworthy of a knight to attempt to deprive a woman of her inheritance,\nnow bade him carry a message to Do\u00f1a Urraca, summoning her to surrender at\nonce. The hero went reluctantly, but only to be bitterly reproached by\nUrraca. She dismissed him after consulting her assembled people, who vowed\nto die ere they would surrender.\n\n    \"Then did swear all her brave vassals\n      In Zamora's walls to die,\n    Ere unto the king they'd yield it,\n      And disgrace their chivalry.\"\n                 _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Siege of Zamora.] This message so enraged Don Sancho that he\nbanished the Cid. The latter departed for Toledo, whence he was soon\nrecalled, however, for his monarch could do nothing without him. Thus\nrestored to favor, the Cid began the siege of Zamora, which lasted so long\nthat the inhabitants began to suffer all the pangs of famine.\n\nAt last a Zamoran by the name of Vellido (Bellido) Dolfos came out of the\ntown in secret, and, under pretense of betraying the city into Don Sancho's\nhands, obtained a private interview with him. Dolfos availed himself of\nthis opportunity to murder the king, and rushed back to the city before the\ncrime was discovered. He entered the gates just in time to escape from the\nCid, who had mounted hastily, without spurs, and thus could not urge\nBabie\u00e7a on to his utmost speed and overtake the murderer.\n\n    \"'Cursed be the wretch! and cursed\n      He who mounteth without spur!\n    Had I arm'd my heels with rowels,\n      I had slain the treacherous cur.'\"\n                       _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe grief in the camp at the violent death of the king was very great. Don\nDiego Ordo\u00f1ez immediately sent a challenge to Don Ar\u00ecas Gonzalo, who, while\naccepting the combat for his son, swore that none of the Zamorans knew of\nthe dastardly deed, which Dolfos alone had planned.\n\n    \"'Fire consume us, Count Gonzalo,\n      If in this we guilty be!\n    None of us within Zamora\n      Of this deed had privity.\n\n    \"'Dolfos only is the traitor;\n      None but he the king did slay.\n    Thou canst safely go to battle,\n      God will be thy shield and stay.'\"\n                        _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThis oath was confirmed by the outcome of the duel, and none of the\nbesiegers ever again ventured to doubt the honor of the Zamorans.\n\n[Sidenote: Alfonso king.] As Don Sancho had left no children to inherit his\nkingdom, it came by right of inheritance to Don Alfonso, who was still at\nToledo, a nominal guest, but in reality a prisoner. Do\u00f1a Urraca, who was\ndeeply attached to her brother, now managed to convey to him secret\ninformation of Don Sancho's death, and Don Alfonso cleverly effected his\nescape, turning his pursuers off his track by reversing his horse's shoes.\nWhen he arrived at Zamora, all were ready to do him homage except the Cid,\nwho proudly held aloof until Don Alfonso had publicly sworn that he had not\nbribed Dolfos to commit the dastardly crime which had called him to the\nthrone.\n\n    \"'Wherefore, if thou be but guiltless,\n      Straight I pray of thee to swear,--\n    Thou and twelve of these thy liegemen,\n      Who with thee in exile were,--\n    That in thy late brother's death\n      Thou hadst neither part nor share\n    That none of ye to his murder\n      Privy or consenting were.'\"\n                        _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe king, angry at being thus called upon to answer for his conduct to a\nmere subject, viewed the Cid with great dislike, and only awaited a\nsuitable occasion to take his revenge. During a war with the Moors he made\nuse of a trifling pretext to banish him, allowing him only nine days to\nprepare for departure. The Cid accepted this cruel decree with dignity,\nhoping that the time would never come when the king would regret his\nabsence, and his country need his right arm.\n\n    \"'I obey, O King Alfonso,\n      Guilty though in naught I be,\n    For it doth behoove a vassal\n      To obey his lord's decree;\n    Prompter far am I to serve thee\n      Than thou art to guerdon me.\n\n    \"'I do pray our Holy Lady\n      Her protection to afford,\n    That thou never mayst in battle\n      Need the Cid's right arm and sword.'\"\n                          _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nAmid the weeping people of Burgos, who dared not offer him help and shelter\nlest they should incur the king's wrath, lose all their property, and even\nforfeit their eyesight, the Cid slowly rode away, and camped without the\ncity to make his final arrangements. Here a devoted follower supplied him\nwith the necessary food, remarking that he cared \"not a fig\" for Alfonso's\nprohibitions, which is probably the first written record of the use of this\nnow popular expression.\n\n[Sidenote: The Cid in exile.] To obtain the necessary money the Cid pledged\ntwo locked coffers full of sand to the Jews. They, thinking that the boxes\ncontained vast treasures, or relying upon the Cid's promise to release them\nfor a stipulated sum, advanced him six hundred marks of gold. The Cid then\ntook leave of his beloved wife Ximena, and of his two infant daughters,\nwhom he intrusted to the care of a worthy ecclesiastic, and, followed by\nthree hundred men, he rode slowly away from his native land, vowing that he\nwould yet return, covered with glory, and bringing great spoil.\n\n    \"'Comrades, should it please high Heaven\n      That we see Castile once more,--\n    Though we now go forth as outcasts,\n      Sad, dishonor'd, homeless, poor,--\n    We'll return with glory laden\n      And the spellings of the Moor.'\"\n                 _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nSuch success attended the little band of exiles that within the next three\nweeks they won two strongholds from the Moors, and much spoil, among which\nwas the sword Colada, which was second only to Tizona. From the spoil the\nCid selected a truly regal present, which he sent to Alfonso, who in return\ngranted a general pardon to the Cid's followers, and published an edict\nallowing all who wished to fight against the Moors to join him. A few more\nvictories and another present so entirely dispelled Alfonso's displeasure\nthat he restored the Cid to favor, and, moreover, promised that thereafter\nthirty days should be allowed to every exile to prepare for his departure.\n\nWhen Alimaymon, King of Toledo, died, leaving Toledo in the hands of his\ngrandson Yahia, who was generally disliked, Alfonso thought the time\npropitious for carrying out his long-cherished scheme of taking the city.\nThanks to the valor of the Cid and the destruction of all the crops, the\nsiege of the city progressed favorably, and it finally fell into the hands\nof the Christian king.\n\nA second misunderstanding, occasioned principally by the jealous courtiers,\ncaused Alfonso to insult the Cid, who in anger left the army and made a\nsudden raid in Castile. During his absence, the Moors resumed courage, and\nbecame masters of Valencia. Hearing of this disaster, the Cid promptly\nreturned, recaptured the city, and, establishing his headquarters there,\nasked Alfonso to send him his wife and daughters. At the same time he sent\nmore than the promised sum of money to the Jews to redeem the chests which,\nas they now first learned, were filled with nothing but sand.\n\n    \"'Say, albeit within the coffers\n       Naught but sand they can espy,\n      That the pure gold of my truth\n       Deep beneath that sand doth lie.\"'\n                      _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: The Counts of Carrion.] As the Cid was now master of Valencia\nand of untold wealth, his daughters were soon sought in marriage by many\nsuitors. Among them were the Counts of Carrion, whose proposals were warmly\nencouraged by Alfonso. To please his royal master, the Cid consented to an\nalliance with them, and the marriage of both his daughters was celebrated\nwith much pomp. In the \"Chronicle of the Cid,\" compiled from all the\nancient ballads, these festivities are recorded thus: \"Who can tell the\ngreat nobleness which the Cid displayed at that wedding! the feasts and the\nbullfights, and the throwing at the target, and the throwing canes, and how\nmany joculars were there, and all the sports which are proper at such\nweddings!\"\n\nPleased with their sumptuous entertainment, the Infantes of Carrion\nlingered at Valencia two years, during which time the Cid had ample\nopportunity to convince himself that they were not the brave and upright\nhusbands he would fain have secured for his daughters. In fact, all soon\nbecame aware of the young men's cowardice, for when a lion broke loose from\nthe Cid's private menagerie and entered the hall where he was sleeping,\nwhile his guests were playing chess, the princes fled, one falling into an\nempty vat in his haste, and the other taking refuge behind the Cid's couch.\nAwakened by the noise, the Cid seized his sword, twisted his cloak around\nhis arm, and, grasping the lion by its mane, thrust it back into its cage,\nand calmly returned to his place.\n\n    \"Till the good Cid awoke; he rose without alarm;\n    He went to meet the lion, with his mantle on his arm.\n    The lion was abash'd the noble Cid to meet,\n    He bow'd his mane to earth, his muzzle at his feet.\n    The Cid by the neck and mane drew him to his den,\n    He thrust him in at the hatch, and came to the hall again;\n    He found his knights, his vassals, and all his valiant men.\n    He ask'd for his sons-in-law, they were neither of them there.\"\n                              _Chronicles of the Cid_ (Southey's tr.).\n\nThis cowardly conduct of the Infantes of Carrion could not fail to call\nforth some gibes from the Cid's followers. The young men, however,\nconcealed their anger, biding their time to take their revenge. During the\nsiege of Valencia, which took place shortly after this adventure, the\nInfantes did not manage to show much courage either; and it was only\nthrough the kindness of Felez Mu\u00f1oz, a nephew of the Cid, that one of them\ncould exhibit a war horse which he falsely claimed to have taken from the\nenemy.\n\nThanks to the valor of the Cid, the Moors were driven away from Valencia\nwith great loss, and peace was restored. The Infantes of Carrion then asked\npermission to return home with their brides, and the spoil and presents the\nCid had given them, among which were the swords Colada and Tizona. The Cid\nescorted them part way on their journey, bade farewell to his daughters\nwith much sorrow, and returned alone to Valencia, which appeared deserted\nwithout the presence of the children he loved.\n\n    \"The Cid he parted from his daughters,\n     Naught could he his grief disguise;\n    As he clasped them to his bosom,\n      Tears did stream from out his eyes.\"\n                    _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote: Cruelty of Infantes of Carrion.] After journeying on for some\ntime with their brides and Felez Mu\u00f1oz, who was acting as escort, the\nInfantes of Carrion camped near the Douro. Early the next day they sent all\ntheir suite ahead, and, being left alone with their wives, stripped them of\ntheir garments, lashed them with thorns, kicked them with their spurs, and\nfinally left them for dead on the blood-stained ground, and rode on to join\ntheir escort. Suspecting foul play, and fearing the worst, Felez Mu\u00f1oz\ncleverly managed to separate himself from the party, and, riding swiftly\nback to the banks of the Douro, found his unhappy cousins in a sorry\nplight. He tenderly cared for their wounds, placed them upon his horse, and\ntook them to the house of a poor man, whose wife and daughters undertook to\nnurse them, while Felez Mu\u00f1oz hastened back to Valencia to tell the Cid\nwhat had occurred. The Cid Campeador then swore that he would be avenged;\nand as Alfonso was responsible for the marriage, he applied to him for\nredress.\n\n    \"'Lo! my daughters have been outrag'd!\n      For thine own, thy kingdom's sake,\n    Look, Alfonso, to mine honor!\n      Vengeance thou or I must take.'\"\n                    _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe king, who had by this time learned to value the Cid's services, was\nvery angry when he heard how the Infantes of Carrion had insulted their\nwives, and immediately summoned them to appear before the Cortes, the\nSpanish assembly, at Toledo, and justify themselves, if it were possible.\nThe Cid was also summoned to the same assembly, where he began by claiming\nthe two precious blades Tizona and Colada, and the large dowry he had given\nwith his daughters. Then he challenged the young cowards to fight. When\nquestioned, they tried to excuse themselves by declaring that the Cid's\ndaughters, being of inferior birth, were not fit to mate with them.\n\n[Sidenote:  Embassy from Navarre.] The falseness of this excuse was shown,\nhowever, by an embassy from Navarre, asking the hands of the Cid's\ndaughters for the Infantes of that kingdom, who were far superior in rank\nto the Infantes of Carrion. The Cid consented to this new alliance, and\nafter a combat had been appointed between three champions of his selection\nand the Infantes of Carrion and their uncle, he prepared to return home.\n\nAs proof of his loyalty, however, he offered to give to Alfonso his\nfavorite steed Babie\u00e7a, an offer which the king wisely refused, telling him\nthat the best of warriors alone deserved that peerless war horse.\n\n    \"''Tis the noble Babie\u00e7a that is fam'd for speed and force,\n    Among the Christians nor the Moors there is not such another one,\n    My Sovereign, Lord, and Sire, he is fit for you alone;\n    Give orders to your people, and take him for your own.'\n    The King replied, 'It cannot be; Cid, you shall keep your horse;\n    He must not leave his master, nor change him for a worse;\n    Our kingdom has been honor'd by you and by your steed--\n    The man that would take him from you, evil may he speed.\n    A courser such as he is fit for such a knight,\n    To beat down Moors in battle, and follow them in flight.'\"\n                           _Chronicles of the Cid_ (Southey's tr.).\n\nShortly after, in the presence of the king, the Cid, and the assembled\nCortes, the appointed battle took place. The Infantes of Carrion and their\nuncle were defeated and banished, and the Cid returned in triumph to\nValencia. Here his daughters' second marriage took place, and here he\nreceived an embassy bringing him rich gifts from the Sultan of Persia, who\nhad heard of his fame.\n\nFive years later the Moors returned, under the leadership of Bucar, King of\nMorocco, to besiege Valencia. The Cid was about to prepare to do battle\nagainst this overwhelming force when he was favored by a vision of St.\nPeter. The saint predicted his death within thirty days, but assured him\nthat, even though he were dead, he would still triumph over the enemy whom\nhe had fought against for so many years.\n\n    \"'Dear art thou to God, Rodrigo,\n      And this grace he granteth thee:\n    When thy soul hath fled, thy body\n      Still shall cause the Moors to flee;\n    And, by aid of Santiago,\n      Gain a glorious victory.'\"\n                 _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe pious and simple-hearted warrior immediately began to prepare for the\nother world. He appointed a successor, gave instructions that none should\nbewail his death lest the news should encourage the Moors, and directed\nthat his embalmed body should be set upon Babie\u00e7a, and that, with Tizona in\nhis hand, he should be led against the enemy on a certain day, when he\npromised a signal victory.\n\n[Illustration: THE CID'S LAST VICTORY.--Rochegrosse.]\n\n    \"'Saddle next my Babie\u00e7a,\n      Arm him well as for the fight;\n    On his back then tie my body,\n      In my well-known armor dight.\n\n    \"'In my right hand place Tizona;\n      Lead me forth unto the war;\n    Bear my standard fast behind me,\n     As it was my wont of yore.'\"\n                 _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\n[Sidenote:  The Cid's last battle.] When these instructions had all been\ngiven, the hero died at the appointed time, and his successor and the brave\nXimena strove to carry out his every wish. A sortie was planned, and the\nCid, fastened upon his war horse, rode in the van. Such was the terror\nwhich his mere presence inspired that the Moors fled before him. Most of\nthem were slain, and Bucar beat a hasty retreat, thinking that seventy\nthousand Christians were about to fall upon him, led by the patron saint of\nSpain.\n\n    \"Seventy thousand Christian warriors,\n      All in snowy garments dight,\n    Led by one of giant stature,\n      Mounted on a charger white;\n\n    \"On his breast a cross of crimson,\n      In his hand a sword of fire,\n    With it hew'd he down the Paynims,\n      As they fled, with slaughter dire.\"\n                     _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nThe Christians, having routed the enemy, yet knowing, as the Cid had told\nthem, that they would never be able to hold Valencia when he was gone, now\nmarched on into Castile, the dead hero still riding Babie\u00e7a in their midst.\nThen Ximena sent word to her daughters of their father's demise, and they\ncame to meet him, but could scarcely believe that he was dead when they saw\nhim so unchanged.\n\nBy Alfonso's order the Cid's body was placed in the Church of San Pedro de\nCarde\u00f1a, where for ten years it remained seated in a chair of state, and in\nplain view of all. Such was the respect which the dead hero inspired that\nnone dared lay a finger upon him, except a sacrilegious Jew, who,\nremembering the Cid's proud boast that no man had ever dared lay a hand\nupon his beard, once attempted to do so. Before he could touch it, however,\nthe hero's lifeless hand clasped the sword hilt and drew Tizona a few\ninches out of its scabbard.\n\n    \"Ere the beard his fingers touched,\n    Lo! the silent man of death\n    Grasp'd the hilt, and drew Tizona\n    Full a span from out the sheath!\"\n                  _Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).\n\nOf course, in the face of such a miracle, the Jew desisted, and the Cid\nCampeador was reverently laid in the grave only when his body began to show\nsigns of decay. His steed Babie\u00e7a continued to be held in great honor, but\nno one was ever again allowed to bestride him.\n\n[Sidenote: Evacuation of Valencia.] As for the Moors, they rallied around\nValencia. After hovering near for several days, wondering at the strange\nsilence, they entered the open gates of the city, which they had not dared\nto cross for fear of an ambuscade, and penetrated into the court of the\npalace. Here they found a notice, left by the order of the Cid, announcing\nhis death and the complete evacuation of the city by the Christian army.\nThe Cid's sword Tizona became an heirloom in the family of the Marquis of\nFalies, and is said to bear the following inscriptions, one on either side\nof the blade: \"I am Tizona, made in era 1040,\" and \"Hail Maria, full of\ngrace.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n\n\nGENERAL SURVEY OF ROMANCE LITERATURE.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Cycles of romance.] In the preceding chapters we have given an\noutline of the principal epics which formed the staple of romance\nliterature in the middle ages. As has been seen, this style of composition\nwas used to extol the merits and describe the great deeds of certain famous\nheroes, and by being gradually extended it was made to include the prowess\nof the friends and contemporaries of these more or less fabulous\npersonages. All these writings, clustering thus about some great character,\neventually formed the so-called \"cycles of romance.\"\n\nThere were current in those days not only classical romances, but stories\nof love, adventure, and chivalry, all bearing a marked resemblance to one\nanother, and prevailing in all the European states during the four\ncenturies when knighthood flourished everywhere. Some of these tales, such\nas those of the Holy Grail, were intended, besides, to glorify the most\ncelebrated orders of knighthood,--the Templars and Knights of St. John.\n\nOther styles of imaginative writing were known at the same time also, yet\nthe main feature of the literature of the age is first the metrical, and\nlater the prose, romance, the direct outcome of the great national epics.\n\nWe have outlined very briefly, as a work of this character requires, the\nprincipal features of the Arthurian, Carolingian, and Teutonic cycles. We\nhave also touched somewhat upon the Anglo-Danish and Scandinavian\ncontributions to our literature.\n\nOf the extensive Spanish cycle we have given only a short sketch of the\nromance, or rather the chronicle, of the Cid, leaving out entirely the vast\nand deservedly popular cycles of Amadis of Gaul and of the Palmerins. This\nomission has been intentional, however, because these romances have left\nbut few traces in our literature. As they are seldom even alluded to, they\nare not of so great importance to the English student of letters as the\nFranco-German, Celto-Briton, and Scandinavian tales.\n\nThe stories of Amadis of Gaul and of the Palmerins are, moreover, very\nevident imitations of the principal romances of chivalry which we have\nalready considered. They are formed of an intricate series of adventures\nand enchantments, are, if anything, more extravagant than the other\nmediaeval romances, and are further distinguished by a tinge of Oriental\nmysticism and imagery, the result of the Crusades.\n\nThe Italian cycle, which we have not treated separately because it relates\nprincipally to Charlemagne and Roland, is particularly noted for its\nfelicity of expression and richness of description. Like the Spanish\nwriters, the Italians love to revel in magic, as is best seen in the\ngreatest gems of that age, the poems of \"Orlando Innamorato\" and \"Orlando\nFurioso,\" by Boiardo and Ariosto.\n\nMediaeval literature includes also a very large and so-called \"unaffiliated\ncycle\" of romances. This is composed of many stories, the precursors of the\nnovel and \"short story\" of the present age. We are indebted to this cycle\nfor several well-known works of fiction, such as the tale of patient\nGriseldis, the gentle and meek-spirited heroine who has become the\npersonification of long-suffering and charity. After the mediaeval writers\nhad made much use of this tale, it was taken up in turn by Boccaccio and\nChaucer, who have made it immortal.\n\nThe Norman tale of King Robert of Sicily, so beautifully rendered in verse\nby Longfellow in his \"Tales of a Wayside Inn,\" also belongs to this cycle,\nand some authorities claim that it includes the famous animal epic \"Reynard\nthe Fox,\" of which we have given an outline. The story of Reynard the Fox\nis one of the most important mediaeval contributions to the literature of\nthe world, and is the source from which many subsequent writers have drawn\nthe themes for their fables.\n\n[Sidenote: Classical cycle.] A very large class of romances, common to all\nEuropean nations during the middle ages, has also been purposely omitted\nfrom the foregoing pages. This is the so-called \"classical cycle,\" or the\nromances based on the Greek and Latin epics, which were very popular during\nthe age of chivalry. They occupy so prominent a place in mediaeval\nliterature, however, that we must bespeak a few moments' attention to their\nsubjects.\n\nIn these classical romances the heroes of antiquity have lost many of their\nnative characteristics, and are generally represented as knight-errants,\nand made to talk and act as such knights would. Christianity and mythology\nare jumbled up together in a most peculiar way, and history, chronology,\nand geography are set at defiance and treated with the same scorn of\nprobabilities.\n\nThe classical romances forming this great general cycle are subdivided into\nseveral classes or cycles. The interest of the first is mainly centered\nupon the heroes of Homer and Hesiod. The best-known and most popular of\nthese mediaeval works was the \"Roman de Troie,\" relating the siege and\ndownfall of Troy.\n\nBased upon post-classical Greek and Latin writings rather than upon the\ngreat Homeric epic itself, the story, which had already undergone many\nchanges to suit the ever-varying public taste, was further transformed by\nthe Anglo-Norman trouv\u00e8re, Beno\u00eet de Sainte-More, about 1184. He composed a\npoem of thirty thousand lines, in which he related not only the siege and\ndownfall of Troy, but also the Argonautic expedition, the wanderings of\nUlysses, the story of Aeneas, and many other mythological tales.\n\nThis poet, following the custom of the age, na\u00efvely reproduced the manners,\ncustoms, and, in general, the beliefs of the twelfth century. There is\nplenty of local color in his work, only the color belongs to his own\nlocality, and not to that of the heroes whose adventures he purports to\nrelate. In his work the old classical heroes are transformed into typical\nmediaeval knights, and heroines such as Helen and Medea, for instance, are\nportrayed as damsels in distress.\n\nThis prevalent custom of viewing the ancients solely from the mediaeval\npoint of view gave rise not only to grotesque pen pictures, but also to a\nnumber of paintings, such as Gozzoli's kidnapping of Helen. In this\ncomposition, Paris, in trunk hose, is carrying off the fair Helen\npickaback, notwithstanding the evident clamor raised by the assembled court\nladies, who are attired in very full skirts and mediaeval headdresses.\n\nOn account of these peculiarities, and because the customs, dress,\nfestivities, weapons, manners, landscapes, etc., of the middle ages are so\nminutely described, these romances have, with much justice, been considered\nas really original works.\n\n[Sidenote: The Roman de Troie.] The \"Roman de Troie\" was quite as popular\nin mediaeval Europe as the \"Iliad\" had been in Hellenic countries during\nthe palmy days of Greece, and was translated into every dialect. There are\nstill extant many versions of the romance in every European tongue, for it\npenetrated even into the frozen regions of Scandinavia and Iceland. It was\ntherefore recited in every castle and town by the wandering minstrels,\ntrouv\u00e8res, troubadours, minnesingers, and scalds, who thus individually and\ncollectively continued the work begun so many years before by the Greek\nrhapsodists. Thus for more than two thousand years the story which still\ndelights us has been familiar among high and low, and has served to beguile\nthe hours for old and young.\n\nThis cycle further includes a revised and much-transformed edition of the\nadventures of Aeneas and of the early history of Rome. But although all\nthese tales were first embodied in metrical romances, these soon gave way\nto prose versions of equally interminable length, which each relator varied\nand embellished according to his taste and skill.\n\nThe extreme popularity of Beno\u00eet de Sainte-More's work induced many\nimitations, and the numerous _chansons de gestes_, constructed on the same\ngeneral plan, soon became current everywhere. Sundry episodes of these\ntales, having been particularly liked, were worked over, added to, and\nelaborated, until they assumed the proportions of romances in themselves.\nSuch was, for example, the case with the story of Troilus and Cressida,\nwhich was treated by countless mediaeval poets, and finally given the form\nin which we know it best, first by Chaucer in his \"Canterbury Tales,\" and\nlastly by Shakespeare in his well-known play.\n\n[Sidenote: Alexandre le Grant.] Another great romance of the classical\ncycle is the one known as \"Alexandre le Grant.\" First written in verse by\nLambert le Cort, in a meter which is now exclusively known as Alexandrine,\nbecause it was first used to set forth the charms and describe the deeds of\nthis hero, it was recast by many poets, and finally turned into a prose\nromance also.\n\nThe first poetical version was probably composed in the eleventh century,\nand is said to have been twenty-two thousand six hundred lines long. Drawn\nfrom many sources,--for the Greek and Latin writers had been all more or\nless occupied with describing the career of the youthful conqueror and the\nmarvels he discovered in the far East,--the mediaeval writers still further\nadded to this heterogeneous material.\n\nThe romance of \"Alexandre le Grant,\" therefore, purports to relate the life\nand adventures of the King of Macedon; but as Lambert le Cort and his\nnumerous predecessors and successors were rather inclined to draw on\nimagination, the result is a very extravagant tale.\n\nIn the romance, as we know it, Alexander is described as a mediaeval rather\nthan an ancient hero. After giving the early history of Macedon, the poet\ntells of the birth of Alexander,--which is ascribed to divine\nintervention,--and dwells eloquently upon the hero's youthful prowess.\nPhilip's death and the consequent reign of Alexander next claim our\nattention. The conquest of the world is, in this romance, introduced by the\nsiege and submission of Rome, after which the young monarch starts upon his\nexpedition into Asia Minor, and the conquest of Persia. The war with Porus\nand the fighting in India are dwelt upon at great length, as are the riches\nand magnificence of the East. Alexander visits Amazons and cannibals, views\nall the possible and impossible wonders, and in his fabulous history we\nfind the first mention, in European literature, of the marvelous \"Fountain\nof Youth,\" the object of Ponce de Leon's search in Florida many years\nlater.\n\nWhen, in the course of this lengthy romance, Alexander has triumphantly\nreached the ends of the earth, he sighs for new worlds to conquer, and even\naspires to the dominion of the realm of the air. To wish is to obtain. A\nmagic glass cage, rapidly borne aloft by eight griffins, conveys the\nconqueror through the a\u00ebrial kingdom, where all the birds in turn do homage\nto him, and where he is enabled to understand their language, thanks to the\nkind intervention of a magician.\n\nBut Alexander's ambition is still insatiable; and, earth and air having\nboth submitted to his sway, and all the living creatures therein having\nrecognized him as master and promised their allegiance, he next proposes to\nannex the empire of the sea. Magic is again employed to gratify this wish,\nand Alexander sinks to the bottom of the sea in a peculiarly fashioned\ndiving bell. Here all the finny tribe press around to do him homage; and\nafter receiving their oaths of fealty, and viewing all the marvels of the\ndeep, as conceived by the mediaeval writer's fancy, Alexander returns to\nBabylon.\n\nEarth, air, and sea having all been subdued, the writer, unable to follow\nthe course of Alexander's conquests any further, now minutely describes a\ngrand coronation scene at Babylon, where, with the usual disregard for\nchronology which characterizes all the productions of this age, he makes\nthe hero participate in a solemn mass!\n\nThe story ends with a highly sensational description of the death of\nAlexander by poisoning, and an elaborate enumeration of the pomps of his\nobsequies.\n\n[Sidenote: Rome la Grant.] A third order of romances, also belonging to\nthis cycle, includes a lengthy poem known as \"Rome la Grant.\" Here Virgil\nappears as a common enchanter. With the exception of a few well-known\nnames, all trace of antiquity is lost. The heroes are now exposed to\nhairbreadth escapes; wonderful adventures succeed one another without any\npause; and there is a constant series of enchantments, such as the Italian\npoets loved to revel in, as is shown in the works by Boiardo and Ariosto\nalready mentioned.\n\nThese tales, and those on the same theme which had preceded them, gave rise\nto a generally accepted theory of European colonization subsequent to the\nTrojan war; and every man of note and royal family claimed to descend from\nthe line of Priam.\n\n[Sidenote: Story of Brutus.] As the Romans insisted that their city owed\nits existence to the descendants of Aeneas, so the French kings Dagobert\nand Charles the Bald claimed to belong to the illustrious Trojan race. The\nsame tradition appeared in England about the third century, and from Gildas\nand Nennius was adopted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is from this historian\nthat Wace drew the materials for the metrical tale of Brutus (Brute), the\nsupposed founder of the British race and kingdom. This poem is twenty\nthousand lines long, and relates the adventures and life of Brutus, the\ngreat-grandson of Aeneas.\n\nAt the time of Brutus' birth his parents were frightened by an oracle\npredicting that he would be the cause of the death of both parents, and\nonly after long wanderings would attain the highest pitch of glory. This\nprophecy was duly fulfilled. Brutus' mother, a niece of Lavinia, died at\nhis birth. Fifteen years later, while hunting, he accidentally slew his\nfather; and, expelled from Italy on account of this involuntary crime, he\nbegan his wanderings.\n\nIn the course of time Brutus went to Greece, where he found the descendants\nof Helenus, one of Priam's sons, languishing in captivity. Brutus headed\nthe revolted Trojans, and after helping them to defeat Pandrasus, King of\nGreece, obtained their freedom, and invited them to accompany him to some\ndistant land, where they could found a new kingdom.\n\nLed by Brutus, who in the mean while had married the daughter of Pandrasus,\nthe Trojans sailed away, and, landing on the deserted island of Leogecia,\nvisited the temple of Diana, and questioned her statue, which gave the\nfollowing oracle:\n\n    \"'Brutus! there lies beyond the Gallic bounds\n    An island which the western sea surrounds,\n    By giants once possessed; now few remain\n    To bar thy entrance, or obstruct thy reign.\n    To reach that happy shore thy sails employ;\n    There fate decrees to raise a second Troy,\n    And found an empire in thy royal line,\n    Which time shall ne'er destroy, nor bounds confine.'\"\n                            GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH (Giles's tr.).\n\nThus directed by miracle, Brutus sailed on, meeting with many adventures,\nand landed twice on the coast of Africa. The Pillars of Hercules once\npassed, the travelers beheld the sirens, and, landing once more, were\njoined by Corineus, who proposed to accompany them.\n\nBrutus then coasted along the shores of the kingdom of Aquitaine and up the\nLoire, where his men quarreled with the inhabitants. He found himself\ninvolved in a fierce conflict, in which, owing to his personal valor and to\nthe marvelous strength of Corineus, he came off victor in spite of the odds\nagainst him.\n\nIn this battle Brutus' nephew, Turonus, fell, and was buried on the spot\nwhere the city of Tours was subsequently built and named after the dead\nhero. After having subdued his foes, Brutus embarked again and landed on an\nisland called Albion. Here he forced the giants to make way for him, and in\nthe encounters with them Corineus again covered himself with glory.\n\nWe are told that the first germ of the nursery tale of Jack the Giant\nKiller is found in this poem, for Corineus, having chosen Corinea\n(Cornwall) as his own province, defeated there the giant Go\u00ebmagot, who was\ntwelve cubits high and pulled up an oak as if it were but a weed. Corineus,\nafter a famous wrestling bout, flung this Go\u00ebmagot into the sea, at a place\nlong known as Lam Go\u00ebmagot, but now called Plymouth.\n\n[Sidenote: The founding of London.] Brutus pursued his way, and finally\ncame to the Thames, on whose banks he founded New Troy, a city whose name\nwas changed in honor of Lud, one of his descendants, to London. Brutus\ncalled the newly won kingdom Britain, and his eldest sons, Locrine and\nCamber, gave their names to the provinces of Locria and Cambria when they\nbecame joint rulers of their father's kingdom, while Albanact, his third\nson, took possession of the northern part, which he called Albania\n(Scotland).\n\nAlbanact was not allowed to reign in peace, however, but was soon called\nupon to war against Humber, King of the Huns. The latter was defeated, and\ndrowned in the stream which still bears his name. Locrine's daughter,\nSabrina, also met with a watery death, and gave her name to the Severn.\n\n[Sidenote: King Leir.] The posterity of Brutus now underwent many other\nvicissitudes. There was fighting at home and abroad; and after attributing\nthe founding of all the principal cities to some ruler of this line, the\nhistorian relates the story of King Leir, the founder of Leicester. As this\nmonarch's life has been used by Shakespeare for one of his dramas,--the\ntragedy of \"King Lear,\"--and is familiar to all students of English\nliterature, there is no need to outline Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of\nthe tale.\n\nThe chronicler then resumes the account of Brutus' illustrious descendants,\nenumerating them all, and relating their adventures, till we come to the\nreign of Cassivellaunus and the invasion of Britain by the Romans. Shortly\nafter, under the reign of Cymbelinus, he mentions the birth of Christ, and\nthen resumes the thread of his fabulous history, and brings it down to the\nreign of Uther Pendragon, where it has been taken up in the Arthurian\ncycle.\n\nThis chronicle, which gave rise to many romances, was still considered\nreliable even in Shakespeare's time, and many poets have drawn freely from\nit. The mediaeval poets long used it as a mental quarry, and it has been\nfurther utilized by some more recent poets, among whom we must count\nDrayton, who makes frequent mention of these ancient names in his poem\n\"Polyolbion,\" and Spenser, who immortalizes many of the old legends in his\n\"Faerie Queene.\"\n\nThere are, of course, many other mediaeval tales and romances; but our aim\nhas been to enable the reader to gain some general idea of the principal\nexamples, leaving him to pursue the study in its many branches if he wishes\na more complete idea of the literature of the past and of the influence it\nhas exerted and still exerts upon the writers of our own day.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX TO POETICAL QUOTATIONS.\n\n\nAriosto, 141, 211.\nArnold, Matthew, 212, 243, 269.\nBeowulf, (translations by Conybeare, Keary, Longfellow, Metcalfe), 9, 10,\n  11, 12, 13, 14,  15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21.\nBuchanan, 145, 146.\nBulwer Lytton, 219.\nBurney, Dr. (translation), 141.\nByron, 150.\nChanson de Roland (translations by Rabillon), 144, 145, 147, 148.\nConybeare (translations), 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21.\nCursor Mundi, 4.\nDeath Song of Regner Lodbrock (translations by Herbert), 272, 276, 279.\nDippold, G. T., (translations, Great Epics of Mediaeval Germany, Roberts\n  Bros., Boston,), 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 188, 190,\n  195, 237, 239.\nDragon of Wantley, 238.\nDrayton, 208, 210, 217, 218.\nEllis, 207, 208, 209, 210, 227.\nEttin Langshanks, The, 115, 116.\nGeoffrey of Monmouth, 308.\nGiles (translation), 308.\nGoethe, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49 50, 52.\nGottfried von Strassburg, 237, 239, 241.\nGudrun, (translations by Dippold, Great Epics of mediaeval Germany,\n  Roberts Bros., Boston), 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34.\nHartmann von Aue, 223.\nHead, Sir Edmund, (Ticknor's Spanish Literature, Messrs. Harper Bros., New\n  York), 150.\nHeldenbuch (translations by Weber), 95, 96, 101, 105, 106, 107, 118, 119,\n  121.\nHemans, Mrs., 278.\nHerbert (translations), 272, 276, 279.\nHildebrand, Song of, (translation by Bayard Taylor, Studies in German\n  Literature, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York), 127.\nIngemann, 136.\nJamieson (translations), 115, 116.\nJones, J.C., 17.\nKeary (translation), 11.\nKing Arthur's Death, 230.\nLady Alda's Dream (translation by Head), 149.\nLayamon, 232.\nLegend of King Arthur, 218.\nLettsom (translations), 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66,\n  68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85.\nLockhart, (Ancient Spanish Ballads, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York), 282,\n  283, 284, 285, 286, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297,\n  298, 299, 300.\nLongfellow, (Poets and Poetry of Europe, and Poetical Works, Houghton,\n  Mifflin & Co., Boston), 12, 13, 95, 137, 251, 253, 254, 256, 258, 265.\nLord Lovel, Ballad of, 245.\nMcDowall (translation), 200.\nMetcalfe (translations), 16, 21.\nMorris, William, 275.\nNibelungenlied (translations by Lettsom), 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61,\n  62, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82,\n  83, 84, 85.\nNiendorf, 34.\nRabillon (translations), 144, 145, 147, 148.\nRagnar Lodbrok Saga, (The Viking Age, by Paul du Chaillu, Charles\n  Scribner's Sons, New York), 270.\nRagnar's Sons' Saga, (The Viking Age, by Paul du Chaillu, Charles\n  Scribner's Sons, New York), 277.\nRobert of Gloucester, 209.\nRogers (translations), 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50,\n  52.\nRoland and Ferragus, 141, 142, 143.\nRose (translation), 211.\nScott, Sir Walter, 235.\nSir Lancelot du Lake, 220.\nSir Otuel, 148.\nSotheby (translations), 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174,\n  175, 176, 177, 178, 179.\nSouthey, 132, 133, 295, 298.\nSpalding (translations), 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259,\n  260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 266, 267, 268.\nSpenser, 211.\nSwinburne, 206, 240, 241.\nTaylor, Bayard, (Studies in German Literature, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New\n  York,), 127, 190, 193, 223, 241.\nTegn\u00e9r, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262,\n  263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268.\nTennyson, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 228, 229,\n  231, 232.\nVail, 281.\nWeber (translations), 95, 96, 101, 105, 106, 107, 118, 119, 121.\nWieland, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178,\n  179.\nWolfram von Eschenbach, 188, 190, 193, 195, 200.\n\n\n\n\nGLOSSARY AND INDEX.\n\n\nAA'CHEN. See _Aix-la-Chapelle_.\nAB-RA-CA-DAB'RA. Malagigi's charm, 158.\nA'CRE. Ogier besieges, 138.\nADENET (\u00e4-de-na') Author of an epic on Ogier, 138.\nAE'GIR. Northern god of the sea, 250.\nAE-NE'AS. In mediaeval literature, 303;\n  adventures of, 304;\n  Romans claim, 307.\nAES'CHE-RE. Seized by Grendel's mother, 15;\n  Beowulf offers to avenge, 16.\nAF'RI-CA. Brutus lands in, 308.\nAG'NAR. Son of Ragnar and Thora, 272;\n  a great viking, 274;\n  fights Eystein, 276.\nAG'RA-VAINE. Doubts Arthur's title to throne, 216.\nAI-GO-LAN'DUS. Revolts against Charlemagne, 141.\nAIX-LA-CHA-PELLE'. Founding of, 133;\n  Ganelon executed at, 148;\n  Renaud's body to be taken to, 162.\nA'LARD. Son of Aymon, 154;\n  Renaud's affection for, 155;\n  plays chess with Chariot, 155;\n  prisoner of Charlemagne, 157;\n  freed by Malagigi, 158.\nAL'BA-NACT. Son of Brutus, 309;\n  wars against Humber, 309.\nAL-BA'NI-A. Name for Scotland, 309.\nAL'BER-ICH. Dwarf guardian of treasure, 61;\n  delivers hoard, 70;\n  meets Ortnit under tree, 96;\n  the father of Ortnit, 97;\n  helps Ortnit, 97;\n  warns Ortnit against dragons, 98;\n  receives magic ring, 98;\n  Wolfdietrich warned by, 107;\n  meets Dietrich, 111.\n  See _Laurin_ and _Elbegast_.\nAL'BI-ON. Brutus lands in, 308.\nAL'BOIN. Sent in quest of armor, 86;\n  and Rosamund, 87;\n  cruelty of, 87;\n  death of, 88.\nAL'DRI-AN. I. Father of Hagen, 75.\nAL'DRI-AN. II. Son of Hagen, 127;\n  betrays Etzel, 127.\nAL'E-BRAND. See _Hadubrand_.\nAL-EX-AN'DER. Hero of metrical romance, 305;\n  conquests of, 306;\n  death of, 307.\nAL-EX-AN'DRE LE GRANT. Synopsis of, 305.\nAL-EX-AN'DRINE METER. Origin of, 305.\nA-LEX'IS. Angela restored to, 170.\nAL'FER-ICH. See _Alberich_.\nAL'FILD. First wife of Sigurd Ring, 269.\nAL-FON'SO, DON. King of Leon, 288;\n  made prisoner, 290;\n  escapes to Toledo, 290;\n  hears of Don Sancho's death, 292;\n  escapes from Toledo, 292;\n  king of Castile, 292;\n  banishes Cid, 293;\n  restores Cid to favor, 294;\n  makes edict in favor of exiles, 294;\n  takes Toledo, 294;\n  defeated by Cid, 294;\n  encourages suit of Counts of Carrion, 295;\n  responsible for marriage of Cid's daughters, 297;\n  Cid seeks redress from, 297;\n  refuses Babie\u00e7a, 297;\n  gives orders for burial of Cid, 300.\nAL'FRED. An ally of Ella, 279.\nALF'SOL. Sigurd Ring wooes, 270;\n  death of, 270.\nAL-I-MAY'MON. Reveals how Toledo can be taken, 290;\n  death of, 294.\nALMES'BUR-Y. Guinevere at, 232;\n  Lancelot visits, 233;\n  Guinevere dies at, 233.\nAL'PRIS. See _Alberich_.\nAL'TE-CLER. Sword of Oliver, 139.\nAM'A-DIS OF GAUL. Cycle of, 302.\nAM'A-LING LAND. Italy called, 121;\n  Dietrich king of, 121;\n  invaded by imperial army, 123;\n  Dietrich returns to, 125.\nAM'A-LUNG. Son of Hornbogi, 121.\nA-MAN'DA. Rezia called, 175;\n  marriage of, 175;\n  in Titania's valley, 175;\n  mother of Huonet, 176;\n  loses her child, and is captured by pirates, 176;\n  shipwreck of, 177;\n  slave of the Sultan, 178;\n  visits fairyland, 179;\n  journeys to Paris, 179.\nAM'A-ZONS. Alexander visits, 306.\nAM-BRO'SI-US AU-RE-LI-A'NUS. British chief, 205.\nAM'E-LINGS. The, 100-109.\nAM'EL-RICH. Ferryman's signal, 76.\nAM-FOR'TAS. Son of Frimontel, 188;\n  king of Montsalvatch, 189;\n  wound of, 189;\n  agony of, 193;\n  brother of, 199;\n  cured, 200;\n  death of, 200;\n  armor of, 201.\nAN-GAN'TYR. Helps to recover ship Ellida, 250;\n  ruler of Orkney Islands, 250;\n  Frithiof sent to claim tribute from, 258;\n  Frithiof's landing seen by watchman of, 260;\n  Frithiof's visit to, 261;\n  purse of, 261.\nANGEL. Visits Charlemagne, 130;\n  visits Ogier, 137;\n  visits Oliver, 139.\nAN'GE-LA. Huon advised by, 170;\n  Huon delivers, 170.\nAN-GLO-SAX'ONS. \"Beowulf\" probably composed by, 9.\nAN-GOU-LAF'FRE. Castle of, 169;\n  Huon's encounter with, 169;\n  ring of, 173.\nAN-GUR-VA'DEL. Magic sword, 247;\n  Thorsten receives, 249;\n  Frithiof inherits, 253.\nAN'TON. See _Hector_.\nANT'WERP. Marriage of Else and Lohengrin at, 203.\nAN'ZI-US. Emperor of Constantinople, 100.\nA-POL'LO. Marsile worships, 144.\nA-PU'LI-A. Part of Rother's kingdom, 89.\nA-QUI-TAINE'. Walther son of duke of, 124;\n  Brutus coasts along, 308.\nAR'ABS. Huon defeats a band of, 166;\n  Spain under the, 282.\nAR'A-GON. Calahorra cause of quarrel in, 286;\n  Don Ramiro of, 286.\nARDENNES (\u00e4r-den'). Quest for robber knight of the, 134;\n  Aymon's sons take refuge in, 160.\nAR-GO-NAU'TIC EXPEDITION. In mediaeval literature, 303.\nA'RI-AS GON-ZA'LO, DON. Receives challenge, 291.\nA-RIB'A-DALE. Bearer of Holy Grail, 201.\nA-RI-OS'TO. Version of Roland by, 130;\n  Merlin's fountain mentioned by, 211;\n  works of, 302, 307.\nAR'NOLD, MATTHEW. Treats of Arthurian legend, 204;\n  version of Tristan and Iseult, 234.\nAR'THUR. Dietrich wooes daughter of, 123;\n  Ogier joins, 138;\n  in Avalon, 139;\n  Parzival sets out for court of, 189;\n  at Nantes, 191;\n  Parzival's request to, 192;\n  Parzival sends conquered knights to, 196;\n  knights Parzival, 196;\n  Gawain a knight of, 196;\n  hears of Gawain's prowess, 198;\n  Parzival visits, 200;\n  vain quest for Holy Grail, 201;\n  legend of King, 204, 214-233;\n  Merlin serves, 205, 210;\n  birth of, 210;\n  Merlin makes palace and armor for, 211;\n  adventures of, 214;\n  brought up by Sir Hector, 214;\n  comes to London, 215;\n  adventure with sword, 215;\n  overcomes Gawain, 216;\n  secures sword Excalibur, 217;\n  victories of, 217;\n  marriage of with Guinevere, 217;\n  receives Round Table, 217;\n  welcomes Lancelot, 220;\n  repudiates and reinstates Guinevere, 220;\n  questions knights, 225;\n  cannot defend Guinevere in judicial duel, 226;\n  yearly tournaments of, 226;\n  and Elaine, 229;\n  quarrels with Lancelot, 229;\n  leaves Guinevere with Mordred, 230;\n  wars against Mordred. 230;\n  mortal wound of. 231;\n  disposes of Excalibur, 231;\n  departs in barge. 232;\n  Philip II.'s oath in favor of. 232;\n  buried at Glastonbury. 232;\n  Lancelot buried at feet of. 233;\n  Tristan a contemporary of, 234;\n  Tristan goes to court of. 243;\n  Tristan delivers, 244;\n  reconciles Mark and Iseult, 244.\nAS'CA-LON. Huon at, 174.\nA'SI-A. Monarch of, 179;\n  Alexander sets out for, 306.\nASK'HER. See _Aeschere_.\nAS'LAUG. Same as Krake;\n  story of birth and childhood of, 274;\n  prediction of, 275;\n  sons of, 275;\n  begs that her sons may avenge Agnar and Erik, 276.\nAS'PRI-AN. King of northern giants, 90;\n  and the lion, 90;\n  carries off Imelot, 92.\nAS'TO-LAT. Lancelot at, 227;\n  Lancelot comes to, 227;\n  Elaine the lily-maid of, 228;\n  Gawain comes to, 228.\nAT'L\u00c9. Challenges Frithiof, 260.\nAT'LI. Same as Etzel, 53.\nAT'TI-LA. Same as Etzel, 94, 118;\n  Theodoric born after death of, 128.\nAUCH-IN-LECK' MANUSCRIPT. Sir Otuel in the, 143.\nAUDE. (od) Beloved by Roland, 149.\nAU'DOIN. King of Langobards, 86.\nAU-RE'LI-US AM-BRO'SI-US. Son of Constans, 205.\nAV'A-LON. Ogier to dwell in, 135;\n  Morgana takes Ogier to, 138;\n  Arthur in, 232.\nA'VARS. Aymon wars against the, 152.\nA-VEN'TI-CUM. See _Wiflisburg_.\nA'YA. Aymon marries, 154;\n  Aymon sends for, 154;\n  goes to find her husband, 155;\n  intercedes for her sons, 160;\n  and Renaud, 161.\nAY'MON. _Chansons de gestes_ relating to, 152;\n  a peer of Charlemagne, 152;\n  wages war against Charlemagne, 152;\n  helped by Bayard and Malagigi, 153;\n  besieged by Charlemagne, 153;\n  flight and victories of, 154;\n  Charlemagne makes peace with, 154;\n  marriage of, 154;\n  adventures of, 154;\n  distributes his property, 155;\n  recovery of, 155;\n  flees from court, 156;\n  a captive, 156;\n  Turpin's promise to, 156;\n  oath of, 156;\n  tries to seize his sons, 157;\n  Malagigi frees sons of, 158;\n  adventures of sons of, 158-161.\n\nBAR'I-CAN. King of Hyrcania, 171;\n  Rezia dreams of, 171.\nBA-BIE'\u00c7A. Steed of the Cid, 286;\n  Cid's ride to Zamora on, 291;\n  offered to Alfonso, 297;\n  Cid's last ride on, 298, 299;\n  end of, 300.\nBAB'Y-LON. Ogier besieges, 138;\n  same as Bagdad in mediaeval literature, 164;\n  Alexander crowned at, 306.\nBAG-DAD'. Huon to go to, 163, 163;\n  same as Babylon, 164;\n  Sherasmin indicates road to, 165;\n  Huon resumes journey to, 169;\n  Huon's adventures in, 171.\nBAL'DER. Shrine of, 254, 256, 257;\n  temple of, 267.\nBA'LI-AN. Seaport in Hagen's kingdom, 26.\nBAL'TIC  SEA. Bornholm, island in the, 247.\nBAN. Father of Lancelot, 219.\nBA'RI. Capital of Rother, 89;\n  arrival of magician's vessel at, 93.\nBAU'TA. A memorial stone for Beowulf, 21.\nBA-VA'RI-A. R\u00fcdiger rides through, 71.\nBAY'ARD. Aymon's marvelous steed, 153;\n  Satan steals, 153;\n  Malagigi recovers, 153;\n  Aymon saved by, 154;\n  given to Renaud, 155;\n  Renaud and his brothers escape on, 156;\n  Renaud's adventures in Paris with, 157;\n  Renaud's escape on, 158;\n  timely kick of, 159;\n  Charlemagne demands death of, 161.\nBECH-LAR'EN. R\u00fcdiger of, 71, 120;\n  Kriemhild at, 73;\n  Burgundians at, 76.\nBED'I-VERE, SIR. Finds Arthur dying, 231;\n  bids Arthur farewell, 232.\nBEE HUNTER. See _Beowulf_.\nBEL\u00c9 (be-la'). Heir of Sogn, 249;\n  replaced on throne, 250;\n  conquers Orkney Islands, 250;\n  helps Thorsten secure V\u00f6lund ring, 251;\n  sons of, 251;\n  last instructions of, 252;\n  kings seated on tomb of, 254.\nBEL-FO-RA'DO. Given to Rodrigo, 285.\nBEL-I-A'GOG. Tristan conquers, 244.\nBEL'LI-GAN. City of, 106.\nBEL-LIS-SAN'DE. Wife of Ogier, 136.\nBEL'LYN. Escort of Reynard, 46;\n  death of, 47;\n  deceived by Reynard, 48;\n  accused of treachery, 49.\nBEL'RI-PAR. Capital of Conduiramour, 192;\n  Kardeiss king of, 201.\nBE-NO\u00ceT' DE SAINTE-MORE. Poem of, 303;\n  popularity of work of, 305.\nBE'O-WULF, 9-21;\n  epic of, 9;\n  resolves to visit Denmark, 11;\n  honors won by, 12;\n  arrival in Denmark, 13;\n  guards Heorot and wounds Grendel, 13, 14;\n  receives Brisingamen, 15;\n  hears of Aeschere's death, 15;\n  and Grendel's mother, 16, 17;\n  regency of, 18;\n  reign of, 19;\n  adventure with dragon, 19, 20;\n  death and burial of, 21.\nBERCH'THER OF ME'RAN. Adviser of Rother, 89;\n  sons of, 89;\n  accompanies Rother, 90;\n  guardian of Hugdietrich, 100;\n  journey to Thessalonica, 101;\n  finds Wolfdietrich. 102;\n  foster father of Wolfdietrich, 103;\n  warns Wolfdietrich against Rauch-Else, 104;\n  Wolfdietrich remembers, 106;\n  sons of delivered from captivity, 108;\n  rewards given to sons of, 109.\nBERCH'TUNG. See _Berchther of Meran_.\nBE-RIL'LUS. Goes to Rome, 185.\nBERN. Same as Verona, 77, 110;\n  hero of, 115, 116, 126;\n  Heime in, 115;\n  Wittich in, 116;\n  Dietrich returns to, 117, 121;\n  Wildeber comes to. 117;\n  Laurin a prisoner in, 120;\n  Wittich's return to, 122;\n  Dietrich surrenders, 124;\n  Dietrich's triumphant entry into, 126.\nBER'NERS, LORD. Translates \"Huon of Bordeaux,\" 163.\nBER'SERK-ER. Rage, 24, 261;\n  Atl\u00e9 a, 260.\nBER-TAN'GA LAND. Same as Britain, 123.\nBER'THA. I. Mother of Charlemagne, 129.\nBER'THA. II. Sister of Charlemagne and mother of Roland, 133.\nBERTHE'LOT. Same as Charlot, 155.\nBER'WICK. See _Joyeuse Garde_.\nBI'BUNG. Dwarf protector of Virginal, 133.\nBJ\u00d6RN. I. Confidant of Frithiof, 254;\n  plays chess with Frithiof, 255;\n  steers Ellida, 259;\n  carries men ashore, 259;\n  takes charge of Ellida, 264.\nBJ\u00d6RN. II. Son of Ragnar, 274.\nBLAISE. A holy man who baptizes Merlin, 206.\nBLAIVE. Roland buried at, 147;\n  Lady Aude buried at, 149.\nBLANCHE'FLEUR. Wife of Meliadus and mother of Tristan, 235.\nBL\u00d6'DE-LIN. Kriemhild bribes, 80.\nBOC-CAC'CIO. Makes use of story of Griseldis, 302.\nBO'GEN. Son of Hildburg. 103.\nBO'HORT. Cousin of Lancelot, 219.\nBO-IAR'DO. Writer of a version of the adventures of Roland, 130, 302;\n  love of the marvelous shown in works of, 307.\nBOl-FRI-AN'A. Captivity of, 116;\n  Dietrich rescues, 117;\n  Wittich marries, 122.\nBOOK OF HEROES. Same as \"Heldenbuch,\" 86;\n  Dietrich principal character in, 110.\nBOR-DEAUX'. Huon in captivity in, 180.\nBORN'HOLM. Viking born in, 247.\nBOUILLON (boo-yon'). Godfrey  of, 139.\nBRA-BANT'. Else, Duchess of, 202.\nBRANG'WAINE. Attendant of Iseult, 240;\n  confidante of Iseult, 242;\n  Ganhardin falls in love with image of, 244.\nBREI'SACH. Harlungs dwell at, 123.\nBRE'KA. Enters into swimming match with Beowulf, 12.\nBRET'LAND. Sot\u00e9 buried in, 251.\nBRI-SIN'GA-MEN. Necklace given to Beowulf, 15.\nBRIT'AIN. Same as Bertanga land, 123;\n  Uther and Pendragon's wars in, 208;\n  Holy Grail vanishes from, 208;\n  named by Brutus, 309;\n  invaded by Romans, 309.\nBRITISH MUSEUM. Manuscripts in, 9.\nBRIT'ONS. War of, 208.\nBRIT'TA-NY. Soltane, forest in, 188;\n  Broceliande in, 212;\n  Arthur's campaign in, 217;\n  Ban king of, 219;\n  Lancelot retires to, 230;\n  Arthur's second campaign in, 230;\n  Tristan goes to, 243;\n  Tristan returns to, 244.\nBRO-CE-LI-AN'DE. Forest in Brittany, 212.\nBRONS. Brother-in-law of Joseph of Arimathea, 184.\nBROWN. Sent to summon Reynard, 39;\n  arrives at Malepartus, 39;\n  caught in tree trunk, 40;\n  returns to court, 41;\n  injuries of, 43;\n  imprisonment of, 46;\n  release of, 47.\nBRUN'HILD. Gunther wishes to marry, 58;\n  test of strength of, 60;\n  defeat of, 60;\n  leaves her own country, 62;\n  objects to Kriemhild's marriage, 62;\n  binds Gunther, 63;\n  is conquered by Siegfried, and loses fabulous strength, 63;\n  invites Siegfried and Kriemhild to Worms, 64;\n  quarrels with Kriemhild, 64;\n  in care of Rumolt, 75;\n  son of made king of Burgundy, 85;\n  Aslaug daughter of, 274.\nBRU'TE. See _Brutus_.\nBRU'TUS. Metrical romance of, 307;\n  descendant of Aeneas, 307;\n  adventures of, 307-309;\n  descendants of, 309.\nBU'CAR. Besieges Valencia, 298;\n  retreat of, 299.\nBUCH-AN'AN. Poem of on Roland, 130.\nBUR'GOS. Cid born at, 282;\n  Ximena at, 284;\n  inhabitants weep at Cid's departure from, 293.\nBUR-GUN'DI-ANS. Siegfried challenges, 56;\n  Nibelungs support king of, 61;\n  Nibelungs angry with, 69;\n  nobles escort Kriemhild, 73;\n  often called Nibelungs, 75;\n  warnings conveyed to, 77;\n  see hostility of Huns, 79;\n  kindly treated by Etzel, 79;\n  murder of squires of, 80;\n  bloody fight of, 81;\n  bravery of, 82;\n  slaughter of, 83;\n  name Gunther's son king, 85;\n  Hagen a hostage for, 124.\nBUR'GUN-DY. King and queen of, 53;\n  Siegfried goes to, 55;\n  threatened invasion of, 56;\n  Brunhild receives king of, 59;\n  Kriemhild remains in, 69;\n  Kriemhild wishes to leave, 71;\n  Kriemhild's brothers return to, 73;\n  chaplain returns to, 76;\n  Etzel promises to send his son to, 80;\n  Etzel makes peace with, 124;\n  Hagen returns to, 124;\n  Gunther, king of, 124.\nCA-LA-HOR'RA. On frontier between Castile and Aragon, 286.\nCAM'BER. Son of Brutus, names Cambria, 309.\nCAM'BRI-A. Named after Camber, 309.\nCAM'E-LOT. Palace at, 211, 218;\n  feast at, 217;\n  twelve kings buried at, 218;\n  Lancelot at, 220, 221;\n  knights assemble at, 224;\n  appearance of Holy Grail at, 225;\n  knights return to, 226;\n  Guinevere's feast at, 226;\n  funeral barge arrives at, 228;\n  Lancelot leaves and returns to, 229.\nCAM-PE-A-DOR'. Title given to Cid, 289, 290.\nCAN'TER-BUR-Y TALES. Troilus and Cressida in, 305.\nCA-PE'TIAN KINGS. Ogier reaches France during reign of one of, 138;\n  origin of race of, 181.\nCAP-PA-DO'CIA. Berillus from, 185.\nCAR'DU-EL. Same as Carlisle, 208;\n  knights assemble at, 209.\nCAR-LISLE'. See _Carduel_.\nCA-RO-LIN'GIAN LEGENDS, 129-181;\n  Naismes the Nestor of, 144.\nCAR'RI-ON, COUNTS or INFANTES OF. Marry Cid's daughters, 295;\n  cowardice of, 295;\n  Cid's followers gibe at, 296;\n  illtreat their wives, 296;\n  Alfonso's anger with, 297;\n  before the Cortes, 297;\n  challenged, 297;\n  defeat of, 298.\nCAS-SI-VEL-LAU'NUS. Tristan may be a contemporary of, 234;\n  a descendant of Brutus, 309.\nCAS-TILE'. Invasion of, 283, 289;\n  Calahorra near, 286;\n  Don Sancho king of, 288;\n  Cid and Don Sancho return to, 289;\n  Cid's raid in, 294.\nCHAMP DE MARS. The Frank assembly, 36.\nCHAN'SON DE RO'LAND. Sung at Hastings, 130;\n  most famous version of Roland's death, 147.\nCHAR'LE-MAGNE. Conquers Lombardy, 88, 129, 137;\n  and his paladins, 129-151;\n  favorite hero of mediaeval literature, 129;\n  champion of Christianity, 129;\n  fabulous adventures of, 129;\n  Einhard son-in-law of, 130;\n  _chansons de gestes_ referring to, 130;\n  receives angel's visit, 130;\n  conspirators punished by, 131;\n  and Frastrada, 131;\n  affection of for Turpin, 132;\n  founds Aix-la-Chapelle, 133;\n  and the boy Roland, 134;\n  asks for jewel of knight of the Ardennes, 134;\n  knights Roland, 135;\n  makes war against Denmark, 135;\n  releases Ogier, 136;\n  insulted by Ogier, 136;\n  appearance of, 136, 137, 141;\n  and Ogier, 137;\n  quarrels with Duke of Genoa, 139;\n  Roland champion of, 139;\n  vow and pilgrimage of, 139;\n  peers of, 139;\n  vision of, 140;\n  besieges Pamplona, 140;\n  pilgrimage of to Compostela, 140;\n  Aigolandus revolts against, 141;\n  challenged by Ferracute, 141;\n  sends Ogier to fight Ferracute, 142;\n  dove alights on, 143;\n  wars in Spain, 143;\n  sends embassy to Marsiglio, 144;\n  retreat of, 144;\n  hears Roland's horn, 145;\n  Turpin celebrates mass before, 147;\n  returns to Roncesvalles, 147;\n  orders trial of Ganelon, 148;\n  Aymon a peer of, 152;\n  character of, 152;\n  wars against Aymon, 153;\n  treats with Aymon, 154;\n  coronation of at Rome, 155;\n  hostility toward sons of Aymon, 156;\n  captures sons of Aymon, 157;\n  bribes Iwo, 158;\n  Richard carried captive to, 159;\n  besieges Montauban, 159;\n  and Malagigi, 160;\n  Aya intercedes with, 161;\n  and Bayard, 161;\n  Huon does homage to, 163;\n  gives orders to Huon, 163, 172;\n  tournament of 179;\n  pardons Huon, 181;\n  contemporary of Ragnar Lodbrok, 269;\n  Italian cycle treats of, 302.\nCHARLES THE BALD. Struggles of, 152;\n  claims descent from Trojan race, 307.\nCHARLES MAR-TEL'. Deeds of attributed to Charlemagne, 129.\nCHAR'LOT. Kills Ogier's son, 136;\n  Ogier demands death of, 137;\n  Renaud defeats, 155;\n  quarrels with Alard, 155;\n  death of, 163.\nCHAU'CER. Uses tale of Griseldis, 302;\n  uses Troilus and Cressida, 305.\nCHRESTIEN DE TROYES (kr[=a]-t[=e]-an' deh trw\u00e4'). Poems of, 182, 204, 219,\n  234.\nCHRIST. Jews angry against Joseph for burying, 183;\n  Vespasian hears story of, 183;\n  born during reign of Cymbelinus, 309.\nCHRISTIAN. Faith taught to Rezia 175;\n  legends, 184;\n  Fierefiss becomes a, 200;\n  faith, 277;\n  army besieges Coimbra, 287;\n  king takes Toledo, 294;\n  army evacuates Valencia, 300.\nCHRIS-TI-A'NI-A-FIORD. Frithiof in the, 264.\nCHRISTIANITY. Charlemagne champion of, 129;\n  Roland argues about, 142;\n  sadly mixed with mythology, 303.\nCHRISTIANS. Triumph in Spain, 143;\n  massacre of, 145;\n  enmity between Moors and, 154;\n  can take Toledo, 290;\n  Bucar retreats before, 299;\n  Moors routed by, 299.\nCHRONICLE OF TURPIN, 140.\nCID, THE, 282-300;\n  birth of, 282;\n  Ximena accuses, 284;\n  Ximena marries, 285;\n  pilgrimage of to Santiago de Compostela, 285;\n  adventure with leper, 286;\n  duel of with Martin Gonzalez, 286;\n  saved by Moorish kings, 287;\n  at Zamora with Ximena, 287;\n  defeats champion of Henry III., 288;\n  vassal of Don Sancho, 288;\n  victories of, 289;\n  conducts siege of Zamora, 291;\n  banished by Alfonso, 293;\n  at Valencia, 294;\n  cowardly sons-in-law of, 295;\n  daughters of illtreated, 296;\n  at the Cortes, 297;\n  offers Babie\u00e7a to Alfonso, 297;\n  returns to Valencia, 298;\n  warned of coming death, 298;\n  last instructions of, 298;\n  death of, 299:\n  last victory of, 299;\n  body of in state, 300;\n  sword of, 300;\n  chronicle of, 302.\nCI-SAIRE', PASS OF. Roland's ghost at, 145.\nCLARETIE (kla-re-tee'). Ancestress of Capetian race, 181.\nCLAR'ICE. Ogier marries, 138.\nCLA-RIS'SA. Wife of Renaud, 156;\n  treachery of father of, 158;\n  intercedes for her father, 159;\n  death of, 161.\nCLEVES. Henry the Fowler at, 202.\nCO-IM'BRA. Siege of, 287.\nCO-LA'DA. Sword won by Cid, 294;\n  given to Infante of Carrion, 296;\n  recovery of, 297.\nCO-LOGNE'. Death and burial of Renaud at, 162.\nCON-DUIR'A-MOUR. Parzival rescues and marries, 192;\n  Parzival reminded of, 195;\n  at Montsalvatch, 200;\n  children of, 201.\nCON'STANS. King of England, 205;\n  sons of, 205, 208.\nCON'STAN-TINE. I. Father of Oda, 89;\n  and Rother, 90-93;\n  II. Son of Constans, 205.\nCON-STAN-TI-NO'PLE. Embassy arrives at, 89;\n  Rother's visit to, 89-93, 100;\n  Anzius emperor of, 100;\n  Hildburg goes to, 102;\n  Wolfdietrich king of, 103, 108;\n  the Normans in, 281.\nCO-RI-NE'A. Same as Cornwall, 309.\nCO-RI-NE'US. Companion of Brutus, 308;\n  the original Jack the Giant Killer, 308;\n  kills Go\u00ebmagot. 309;\nCORN'WALL. Tintagel in, 209;\n  Gorlois duke of, 209;\n  Mark king of, 235, 240;\n  Tristan in, 236, 237, 238;\n  Iseult embarks for, 241;\n  Iseult lands in, 242;\n  Tristan's passion for Iseult of, 243, 244;\n  Kurvenal's journey to, 244;\n  arrival in Brittany of Iseult of, 245;\n  Tristan and Iseult buried in, 243, 244;\n  Corineus settles in, 309.\nCOR'TES. Infantes of Carrion at the, 297, 298.\nCRU-SADES'. Influence of on literature, 302.\nCYM-BE-LI'NUS. Christ born during reign of, 309.\n\nDAG'O-BERT. Claims descent from Trojan, race, 307.\nDANE. Hawart the, 81;\n  Dietlieb the, 117;\n  Ogier the, 129, 135.\nDANES. Beowulf escorted by, 16;\n  gratitude of, 18;\n  disapprove of Ragnar's marriage, 274;\n  Eystein declares war against, 276.\nDAN'ISH. Writers, 246;\n  dynasty connected with Sigurd, 269;\n  ships burned by English, 276;\n  kings make raids, 280;\n  settlements, 280.\nDANK'RAT. King of Burgundy, 53.\nDANK'WART. Under Siegfried's orders, 56;\n  accompanies Gunther to Issland, 59;\n  suspicion of, 59, 61;\n  goes to Hungary, 75;\n  helps Hagen, 76;\n  warns Hagen, 80.\nDAN'UBE. Journey of Kriemhild down the, 73;\n  Burgundians reach the, 75.\nDEN'MARK. Hrothgar king of, 9;\n  Beowulf sails for, 12;\n  Wealtheow queen of, 15;\n  Ludegast king of, 56;\n  Charlemagne defeats king of, 135;\n  Ogier king of, 136;\n  Krake queen of, 274.\nDES'ERT BAB-Y-LO'NI-A. Kingdom of Imelot, 91;\n  Constantine takes possession of, 92.\nDES-I-DE'RI-US. See _Didier_.\nDI-A'NA. Brutus in temple of, 308.\nDID'I-ER. Ogier flees to, 136.\nDIEGO LAYNEZ (dee-ay'go ly'nez). Insulted by Don Gomez, 282;\n  avenged by Rodrigo, 283;\n  takes Rodrigo to court, 283.\nDI-E'GO OR-DO'\u00d1EZ, DON. Sends challenge to Don Arias Gonzalo, 291.\nDIE-TE-LIN'DE. Daughter of R\u00fcdiger, 73;\n  Giselher betrothed to, 77.\nDIE'THER. Brought up by Hildebrand, 112;\n  Helche cares for, 124;\n  death of, 126.\nDIET'LIEB. Merry-making and athletic feats of, 117;\n  lord of Steiermark, 118;\n  and Laurin, 119, 120;\n  victory and reward of, 120.\nDIET'MAR. Grandson of Wolfdietrich, 109;\n  ruler of Bern, 110;\n  death of, 121.\nDIE'TRICH VON BERN. Warns Burgundians, 77;\n  defies Kriemhild, 78;\n  abstains from tournament, 79;\n  Kriemhild tries to bribe, 80;\n  a safe-conduct for, 81;\n  saves Etzel and Kriemhild, 81;\n  hears of R\u00fcdiger's death, 83;\n  fights and captures Gunther and Hagen, 84;\n  lament of, 85;\n  ancestors of, 109;\n  story of, 110-128;\n  birth of, 110;\n  fiery breath of, 110, 119;\n  Hildebrand friend and teacher of, 110;\n  adventure of with Hilde and Grim, 111;\n  wins sword Nagelring, 111;\n  fights with Sigenot, 112;\n  sees and rescues Virginal, 114;\n  marries Virginal, 114;\n  gains possession of Heime and Falke, 115;\n  Wittich's adventure with, 116;\n  adventures of with Ecke and Fasolt, 116;\n  delivers Sintram, 117;\n  visits Rome, 117;\n  and Laurin, 118-120;\n  visits Etzel, 121;\n  becomes king of Amaling land, 121;\n  victories in Wilkina land, 121;\n  wars against Rimstein, 122;\n  Eckhardt joins, 123;\n  Ermenrich wars against, 123;\n  wooes Hilde, 123;\n  exile of in Hungary, 124;\n  victories and wounds of, 125;\n  returns to Bern, 125;\n  fights against Ermenrich, 126;\n  marriage of, 126;\n  kills Sibich, 127;\n  made emperor of West, 127;\n  old age of, 128;\n  Wild Hunt led by, 128;\n  Ragnar saga like saga of, 269.\nDOL'FOS, VEL'LI-DO or BEL'LI-DO. Murders Don Sancho, 291.\nDOR-DOGNE'. Aymon of, 152;\n  Lord Hug of, 152.\nDORT'MUND. Renaud's body at, 162.\nDOU'RO. River in Spain, 296.\nDO'VER. Arthur encounters Mordred near, 230.\nDRA'CHEN-FELS. Dietrich saves lady of, 116;\n  Wittich marries lady of, 122;\n  Roland wooes maid of, 150;\n  Roland's return to, 151.\nDRAGON SLAYER. Surname of Siegfried, 275.\nDRAGONS. See _Beowulf, Siegfried, Ortnit, Wolfdietrich, Tristan, Ragnar._\nDRAY'TON. Author of \"Polyolbion,\" 310.\nDRU'SI-AN. Kidnaps Sigeminne, 105;\n  Wolfdietrich captive of, 105;\n  death of, 106.\nDUB'LIN. Morold's corpse carried to, 237;\n  Tristan's visit to, 238.\nDU'O-LIN DE MAY'ENCE. A _chanson de geste_, 152.\nDU-RAN-DA'NA. Sword of Roland, 139;\n  powerless upon Ferracute, 142;\n  Roland disposes of, 146.\n\nEAD'GILS. Son of Othere, 19.\nEAST. Ogier goes to the, 138;\n  Holy Grail in the far, 201;\n  Alexander's journey to the, 305;\n  wealth of the, 306.\nEAST GOTH'LAND. Thora dwells in, 271.\nECK'E. Giant killed by Falke, 116;\n  Dietrich takes sword of, 117.\nECK'EN-LIED. Story of Ecke, 116.\nECK'E-SAX. Sword of Ecke, 117.\nECK'E-WART I. Escorts Kriemhild, 64;\n  remains with Kriemhild, 70;\n  accompanies Kriemhild to Hungary, 72;\n  warns Burgundians, 76.\nECK'E-WART II. See _Eckhardt_.\nECK'HARDT. Fidelity of, 109, 123;\n  flees to Dietrich, 123.\nEC'TOR DE MA'RIS, SIR. Lancelot eulogized by, 233.\nED'DA. Hilde in the, 22;\n  Hedin in the, 25.\nEIN'HARD. Son-in-law of Charlemagne, 130.\nEIN-HE'RI-AR. Ragnar leader of the, 279.\nE-LAINE'. Story of, 227-229.\nEL'BE-GAST. Same as Alberich, 111;\n  Charlemagne's adventure with, 130, 131.\nE'LI-AS. See _Ylyas_.\nEL-KI'NAR. Isegrim bound to bell at, 42.\nEL'LA. King of Northumberland,\n  captures and kills Ragnar, 278;\n  defeats Ragnar's sons, 279;\n  gives land to Normans, 279;\n  Ivar kills, 280.\nEL-LI'DA. The dragon ship given to Viking by Aegir, 250;\n  belongs to Frithiof, 253;\n  in the storm, 258;\n  arrives at Orkney Islands, 259;\n  Frithiof sails in, 262.\nEL'SE. Story of Lohengrin and, 201-3.\nEL-SI-NORE'. Ogier sleeping in, 136.\nEL-VI'RA, DO\u00d1A. Receives Toro, 288;\n  robbed of Toro, 290.\nEM'ER-ALD ISLE, 23.\nENG'LAND. Invasion of, 9;\n  rhyme introduced in, 9;\n  Clarice, princess of, 138;\n  Ogier leaves, 138;\n  Hengist driven from, 205;\n  Merlin brings stones to, 208;\n  Merlin's predictions concerning future of, 210;\n  Arthur's name in, 214;\n  dissensions in, 229;\n  firm belief in concerning Arthur's return, 232;\n  vikings' raids in, 276;\n  stone altars in, 280;\n  tradition of Trojan descent in, 307.\nENG'LISH. Version of Roland, 130;\n  more than eighteen versions of Frithiof saga in, 246;\n  fight Ragnar's sons at Whitaby, 276.\nE'NID THE FAIR. Story of, 222-224.\nENIG\u00c9E (ay' nee-zhay). Sister of Joseph of Arimathea, 184.\nE'REC. Name for Geraint in French and German poems, 223.\nE'RIK. Son of Ragnar, 272;\n  a great viking, 274;\n  attacked by enchanted cow, 276.\nER'ME-LYN. Wife of Reynard, 45, 46, 47.\nER'MEN-RICH. Treasure of, 45;\n  emperor of the West, 110;\n  Dietrich's  visit to, 117;\n  Dietlieb rewarded by, 118;\n  Dietrich helps, 122;\n  and Sibich, 122, 123;\n  wars against Dietrich, 126;\n  death of, 126.\nER'MO-NIE. Meliadus lord of, 234.\nERP. Son of Helche, 125;\n  death of, 126.\nES-CLAR-MON'DE. Same as Rezia, 171, 175;\n  early version of story of, 180.\nES-TRE-MA-DU'RA. Moors defeated in, 287.\nE-TRU'RI-A. Luna in, 276.\nET'ZEL. Same as Atli, 53;\n  wooes Kriemhild, 71;\n  Kriemhild sets out for court of, 72;\n  Kriemhild wife of, 73;\n  invites Burgundians to Hungary, 74;\n  welcomes Burgundians, 78;\n  banquet of, 79;\n  promises to send son to Burgundy, 80;\n  saved from massacre, 81;\n  Burgundians wish to treat with, 82;\n  cannot save Hagen, 84;\n  lament of, 85;\n  Helche marries, 94;\n  Dietlieb serves, 118;\n  Dietrich visits, 121, 124;\n  Walther escapes from, 124;\n  gold stolen from, 124;\n  cowardice of, 125;\n  helps Dietrich, 125;\n  marries Kriemhild, 126;\n  killed by Aldrian, 127;\n  same as Attila, 128.\nEU'ROPE. \"Beowulf\" oldest relic of spoken language in, 9;\n  \"Reynard the Fox\" popular in, 35;\n  to be infested by dragons, 98;\n  Charlemagne conquers nearly all, 140;\n  introduction of legend of Holy Grail in, 182;\n  popularity of Arthurian legends in, 214;\n  popularity of \"Roman de Troie\" in, 304.\nEU-RO-PE'AN. Versions of legends, 205;\n  versions of Tristan, 234;\n  languages, sagas translated into, 246;\n  states, romances current in, 301;\n  nations, classical romances in, 303;\n  versions of Iliad, 304;\n  literature, mention of Fountain of Youth in, 306;\n  colonization, 307.\nEX-CAL'I-BUR. Arthur's sword, 217;\n  Arthur disposes of, 231.\nEY'STEIN. Ragnar visits, 274;\n  wars against Danes, 276;\n  magic cow of, 276.\n\nFA'E-RIE QUEENE. Merlin's fountain mentioned in, 211;\n  contains mediaeval legends, 310.\nFAF'NIR. Sigurd slayer of, 269, 274.\nFAF'NIS-BANE. Surname of Sigurd, 274.\nFAIR AN'NET. Loved by Lord Thomas, 245.\nFA'LIES, MARQUIS OF. Sword Tizona in family of, 300.\nFAL'KE. Horse of Dietrich, 115;\n  kills Ecke, 116.\nFAL'STER WOOD. Heime in the, 117.\nFA'SOLT. Dietrich defeats, 117.\nFA'TA MOR-GA'NA. Mirage called, 95.\nFAT'I-MA. Attendant of Rezia, 173;\n  in Tunis, 177;\n  finds Amanda, 178;\n  taken to fairyland, 179;\n  rescued by Huon and Sherasmin, 180.\nFE'LEZ MU-\u00d1OZ.' Nephew of Cid, 296;\n  rescues his cousins, 296.\nFER'DI-NAND. Rodrigo's first visit to, 283;\n  recalls Rodrigo, 284;\n  Ximena before, 284;\n  receives gifts from Cid, 287;\n  Henry III. complains of to Pope, 287;\n  threatened by Pope, 288;\n  Cid's victories for, 288;\n  death and legacies of, 288.\nFER'RA-CUTE. Challenges Charlemagne, 141;\n  defeats Ogier and Renaud, 142;\n  fights and argues with Roland, 142, 143;\n  Otuel, nephew of, 143.\nFER'RA-GUS. See _Ferracute_.\nFIEREFISS (fy\u00e2r-e-f[=e]s'). Encounters Parzival, 199;\n  conversion and marriage of, 200;\n  father of founder of Knights Templars, 200.\nFIRE'DRAKE. Ravages of the, 19;\n  slain by Beowulf, 20.\nFLAM'BERGE. Sword of Aymon, 154;\n  Renaud, owner of, 158;\n  Renaud breaks, 161.\nFLAN'DERS. \"Reynard the Fox\" in, 35.\nFLOR'ENCE. Council at, 287.\nFLOR'I-DA. Ponce de Leon in, 306.\nFOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, 306.\nFRAM'N\u00c4S. Home of Thorsten and Frithiof, 250, 251, 253;\n  ruins of, 261.\nFRANCE. \"Reynard the Fox\" in, 35;\n  Charlemagne principal hero of, 129;\n  Ogier in, 135, 138;\n  Charlemagne in, 140, 141, 144, 148;\n  Huon embarks for, 174;\n  Capetian kings of, 181;\n  legend of Holy Grail in, 182;\n  Merlin brings armies from, 210;\n  viking raids in, 276;\n  king of, 289.\nFRANKS. And \"Reynard the Fox,\" 35;\n  assembly of, 36;\n  hostage from, 124;\n  at feud with Lombardy, 136.\nFRAS-TRAD'A. Wife of Charlemagne, 131.\nFRED'ER-ICK BAR-BAR-OS'SA. Ogier like, 136.\nFRED'ER-ICK  OF TEL'RA-MUND. Guardian and oppressor of Else, 202;\n  defeated by Lohengrin, 203.\nFRENCH. Version of Roland, 130;\n  army betrayed by Ganelon, 144;\n  version of Tristan, 234;\n  kings descended from Priam, 307.\nFRIE'SIAN. Invasion, 18;\n  sea, Charlemagne's vision of, 140.\nFRIES'LAND. Invasion of, 18.\nFRI-MOU-TEL'. Anointed king, 188;\n  death of, 189.\nFRITHIOF (frit'yof). Story of, 246-268;\n  saga put into verse by Tegn\u00e9r, 246;\n  birth of, 251;\n  loves Ingeborg, 251, 252;\n  home of, 253;\n  sues for hand of Ingeborg, 254;\n  suit of rejected, 255;\n  Ingeborg's brothers ask aid of, 255;\n  meets Ingeborg in temple, 256;\n  tries to make terms with kings, 257;\n  journey to Orkney Islands, 258;\n  in tempest, 259;\n  fights Atl\u00e9, 260;\n  visits Angantyr, 261;\n  returns to Framn\u00e4s, 261;\n  goes into exile, 262;\n  becomes a pirate, 263;\n  visits Sigurd Ring, 264;\n  Ingeborg recognizes, 265;\n  loyalty of, 265;\n  guardian of infant king, 266;\n  rebuilds temple, 267;\n  marries Ingeborg, 267.\nFRUTE. Follower of Hettel, 25;\n  in quest of Hilde, 26.\n\nGA'HER-IS. Doubts Arthur's title to throne, 216.\nGA-LA'FRE. Huon and Sherasmin at court of, 180.\nGALA-HAD, SIR. Knighted by Lancelot, 224;\n  occupies \"Siege Perilous,\" 224;\n  sees Holy Grail, 226.\nGA-LI'CIA. Charlemagne called to, 140;\n  Don Garcia king of, 288, 289.\nGA-LI'CIAN. Nobles refuse to exchange prisoners, 289.\nGAL'Y-EN. Son of Oliver, and king of Jerusalem, 140.\nGAL'Y-EN RHET-OR-E'. A _chanson de geste_, 139.\nGA'MU-RET. Marries Herzeloide, 188.\nGA'NE-LON. Treachery of, 144, 145;\n  accused and sentenced, 148;\n  advises Charlot, 155.\nGANHARDIN (gan-har-dan'). Wishes to marry Brangwaine, 244.\nGARADIE (ga-ra-d[=e]'), COUNT. Hagen in the hands of, 24.\nGAR-CI'A, DON. King of Galicia, 288;\n  seizes Zamora, 289;\n  dies in captivity, 290.\nGAR'DEN. Wolfdietrich at, 107;\n  Herbrand receives, 109;\n  Hildebrand inherits, 109;\n  Ermenrich takes, 123;\n  Dietrich master of, 126;\n  Hildebrand's return to, 126.\nGA'RETH, SIR. Knighted by Lancelot, 221;\n  adventures with Lynette, 222;\n  Geraint brother of, 222.\nGA'RY. Messenger sent by Gunther to Siegfried, 64;\n  goes to Hungary, 75.\nGA'WAIN. Rides after Parzival, 196;\n  and Duchess Orgueilleuse, 197;\n  adventures with Gramoflaus and Klingsor, 197, 198;\n  marriage of, 198;\n  one of Arthur's knights, 209;\n  doubts Arthur's title to throne, 216;\n  strength of, 216;\n  comes to Astolat, 228.\nGEATES. Minstrel flees to the, 11;\n  Beowulf escorted by the, 16;\n  wait for Beowulf, 17;\n  return with Hygelac's body, 18.\nGEIRS'-ODD. Sacrificial runes called, 266.\nGEL'FRAT. Fights Hagen, 76.\nGEN'O-A, DUKE OF. Charlemagne's quarrel with, 139.\nGEOF'FREY DE LIGNY (leen'yee). Author of a Lancelot romance, 219.\nGEOF'FREY OF MON'MOUTH. Writings of, 204, 307, 309.\nGEP'I-DAE. Settle in Pannonia, 86;\n  quarrel with Lombards, 87.\nGE-RAINT'. Brother of Gareth, 222;\n  story of Enid and, 222-224.\nGE-RAS'MES. See _Sherasmin_.\nGER'HART. Claims Liebgart's hand, 108.\nGER'IMS-BURG. Siege of, 122.\nGER-LIN'DA. Cruelty of, 30-32;\n  death of, 33.\nGER'MAN. Manuscript of \"Gudrun,\" 22, 23;\n  Von Otterdingen a, 53;\n  literature, 53;\n  language, Eckewart's fidelity proverbial in, 70;\n  version of Roland legend, 130;\n  Wagner a, 182;\n  more than eighteen versions of Frithiof saga in, 246.\nGER'MA-NY. Maximilian emperor of, 22;\n  Hettel king of, 25;\n  \"Reynard the Fox\" in, 35;\n  the greatest epic of, 53;\n  in Charlemagne's vision, 140;\n  legend of Holy Grail in, 182;\n  Henry the Fowler emperor of, 202;\n  Henry III. emperor of, 287.\nGER'NOT. Son of Dankrat and Ute, 53;\n  under Siegfried's orders, 56;\n  advice of, 57;\n  Hagen tries to rouse anger of, 66;\n  sympathy of, 69;\n  anger of, 66;\n  escorts Kriemhild to Vergen, 73;\n  sword of, 77;\n  death of, 83.\nGIER'E-MUND. Reynard insults, 36;\n  wooed by Reynard, 38.\nGIL'DAS. 307.\nGI-RARD'. I. Brother of Huon, killed by Charlot, 163.\nGI-RARD' II. A knight, steals Huon's casket, 180;\n  punished by Oberon, 181.\nGIS'EL-HER. Son of Dankrat and Ute, 53;\n  under Siegfried's orders, 56;\n  reproves Hagen, 66;\n  sympathy of, 69;\n  angry with Hagen, 71;\n  escorts Kriemhild to Vergen, 73;\n  betrothal of, 77.\nGLAS'TON-BUR-Y. Holy Grail at, 185;\n  Arthur buried at, 232;\n  Guinevere and Lancelot buried at, 233.\nGOD'FREY OF BOUIL'LON. Ancestor of, 139;\n  king of Jerusalem, 161.\nGO\u00cbMAGOT (go-ee-ma-got'). Corineus kills, 309.\nGOETHE (go'teh) \"Reineke Fuchs\" of, 36;\n  admiration of for Tegn\u00e9r, 246.\nGO'MEZ, DON. Insults Don Diego Laynez, 282;\n  challenged and killed by Rodrigo, 283;\n  Ximena daughter of, 284.\nGOR'LO-IS. Lord of Tintagel, wars against Uther Pendragon, 209;\n  death of, 210;\n  Arthur not a son of, 210.\nGO-TE-LIN'DE. Wife of R\u00fcdiger, 73.\nGOTH'LAND, EAST. 271.\nGOTHS. See _Geates_.\nGOTT'FRIED VON STRASS'BURG. Treats of Holy Grail; 182, 204;\n  version of \"Tristan\" of, 234.\nGOZZOLI (got'so-lee). Painting of, 304\nGRAIL. See _Holy Grail_.\nGRAM'O-FLAUS. Encounter of with Gawain 197;\n  Parzival champion of, 198;\n  marries Itonie, 198.\nGRAN. Capital of Etzel, 73;\n  minstrels return tom 75.\nGRA'VAIN. One of Arthur's knights, 209\nGREECE. Hertnit earl of, 121;\n  Tristan known in, 234;\n  isles of, 264;\n  viking raid in, 276;\n  popularity of Iliad in, 304;\n  Brutus goes to, 307;\n  Pandrasus king of, 308.\nGREEK. Islands invaded by vikings, 276;\n  epics, 303;\n  post-classical writings, 303;\n  rhapsodists' work continued, 304;\n  writers busy with Alexander, 305.\nGREN'DEL. Heorot visited by, 10;\n  warriors slain by, 11;\n  Beowulf and, 12-14;\n  mother of, 15;\n  Beowulf visits retreat of, 16, 17.\nGRIF'FIN. Hagen carried off by a, 23.\nGRIM. Depredations of, 111;\n  killed by Dietrich, 111;\n  Sigenot vows to avenge, 112.\nGRIM'BART. Cousin of Reynard, 36;\n  pleads for Reynard, 38;\n  carries message to Reynard, 42;\n  absolves Reynard, 42;\n  reproves Reynard, 43;\n  warns Reynard, 47;\n  takes Reynard to court, 48.\nGRIM'HILD. See _Kriemhild_.\nGRI-SEL'DIS. Tale of, 302.\nGUAR'DA. See _Garden_.\nGU'DRUN I. The poem, 22.\nGU'DRUN II. Daughter of Hettel and Hilde, 27;\n  suitors of, 28;\n  kidnaped by Hartmut, 29;\n  slavery of, 30;\n  swan maiden visits, 31;\n  rebellion of, 32;\n  rescue of 33;\n  marries Herwig, 34.\nGU'DRUN III. Same as Kriemhild, 53.\nGU\u00c9R'IN DE MONT'GLAVE. _A chanson de geste_, 139.\nGUI-ENNE'. Huon and Girard on the way from, 163;\n  Huon's patrimony of, 179;\n  Huon's journey to, 180.\nGUILD'FORD. See _Astolat_.\nGUIN'E-VERE. Marries Arthur, 217;\n  and Lancelot, 220, 221;\n  favors of, 227;\n  hears of Lancelot and Elaine, 228;\n  saved by Lancelot, 229;\n  and Mordred, 230;\n  at Almesbury, 232;\n  death of, 233;\n  Iseult like, 242;\n  Iseult meets, 244.\nGUIS'CARD. Son of Aymon and Aya, 154.\nGUNG'THIOF. Son of Frithiof, 267.\nGUN'NAR. Same as Gunther, 53.\nGUN'THER. Same as Gunnar, 53;\n  Siegfried at court of, 55, 56;\n  goes to Issland to woo Brunhild, 59;\n  contest of with Brunhild, 60;\n  marriage of, 61;\n  gives Kriemhild to Siegfried, 62;\n  bound by Brunhild, 63;\n  invites Siegfried to Worms, 64;\n  influenced by Hagen, 66;\n  race of, 67;\n  protector of Kriemhild, 68;\n  reconciled to Kriemhild, 70;\n  plans to secure hoard, 71;\n  receives Hun embassy, 72;\n  goes to Hungary, 75;\n  entertained by R\u00fcdiger, 77;\n  entertained by Etzel, 80;\n  grants safe-conduct to Dietrich, 81;\n  refuses to surrender to Hagen, 82;\n  imprisonment and death of, 84;\n  son of, 85;\n  encounter with Walther, 124;\n  wounds of, 125.\nGUR'NE-MANZ. Educates Parzival, 192, 196.\nGU'TRUN. See _Kriemhild_.\n\nHA'CHE. Receives Rhine land, 109.\nHAD'BURG. Prophesy of, 75.\nHAD'U-BRAND. Son of Hildebrand, 126;\n  makes himself known to his father, 127.\nHA'GEN I. Son of Sigeband, carried off by a griffin, 23;\n  adventures and marriage of, 24;\n  daughter of, 25;\n  fights Hettel, 27;\nHA'GEN II. Same as H\u00f6gni, 53;\n  describes Siegfried's prowess, 55;\n  accompanies Gunther to Issland, 59;\n  promises to avenge Brunhild, 65;\n  deceives Kriemhild, 66;\n  kills Siegfried, 67;\n  glories in his treachery, 68;\n  the touch of, 69;\n  hatred of Kriemhild for, 70;\n  seizes hoard, 71;\n  welcomes R\u00fcdiger, 71;\n  warns Burgundians, 72, 74;\n  Kriemhild plans to have revenge upon, 73;\n  swan maidens and, 75;\n  adventure at the ferry, 76;\n  receives shield from R\u00fcdiger, 77;\n  Etzel welcomes, 78;\n  alliance with Volker, 78;\n  frightens Huns, 79;\n  kills Ortlieb, 80;\n  Kriemhild offers reward for death of, 81;\n  Kriemhild asks surrender of, 82;\n  Dietrich asks surrender of, 83;\n  captivity and death of, 84;\n  a hostage of Etzel, 124;\n  loses an eye, 125;\n  Aldrian son of, 127.\nHALF'DAN. I. Friend of Viking, 247;\n  makes friends with Njorfe, 248;\n  Viking's sons visit, 249.\nHALF'DAN II. Son of Bel\u00e9, 251;\n  character of, 252;\n  king of Sogn, 253;\n  guardian of Ingeborg, 255;\n  Sigurd Ring wars against, 256;\n  Frithiof wars against, 267.\nHAL'O-GA-LAND. North Norway called, 246.\nHAL'O-GE. Same as Loki, rules Halogaland, 246;\n  Viking the grandson of, 247.\nHAM. Witch summoned by Helg\u00e9, 258.\nHAR'DRED. Son of Hygelac, reign of, 18.\nHAR'LUNGS. Sibich betrays the, 123.\nHART'MANN VON AUE, 204.\nHART'MUT. Prince of Normandy, 28;\n  kidnaps Gudrun, 29;\n  Gudrun refuses to marry, 29;\n  rescues Gudrun from drowning, 30;\n  prepares to marry Gudrun, 32;\n  rescues Gudrun, 33;\n  saved by Gudrun, 33;\n  a captive, 34;\n  marries Hergart, and is released, 34.\nHAS'SAN. Name assumed by Huon in Tunis, 177.\nHAST'INGS I. Battle of, 130.\nHAST'INGS II. Foster father of Sigurd the Snake-eyed, 275;\n  and Ragnar's sons, 276;\n  strategy of, 277.\nHA'WART. Death of, 81.\nHEC'TOR, SIR. Arthur fostered by, 210, 214;\n  visit of to London, 215;\nHED'IN. Lover of Hilde, 22;\n  same as Hettel, 25.\nHE'GE-LING LEGEND, 23.\nHE'GE-LINGS. Family of the, 23;\n  Hettel king of the, 25;\n  Hilde flees with the, 27;\n  at the W\u00fclpensand, 29;\n  come to Normandy, 32;\n  return home, 34.\nHEID. Witch summoned by Helg\u00e9, 258.\nHEI'ME. Challenges Dietrich, 115;\n  becomes a brigand, 117;\n  steals Mimung, 121;\n  forced to restore Mimung, 122.\nHEI'MIR. Protector of Aslaug, 274.\nHEIN'RICH VON OF'TER-DING-EN, 86.\nHELCHE. Wife of Etzel, 71, 124;\n  daughter of Rother and Oda, 94.\nHEL'DEN-BUCH. The \"Book of Heroes,\" 86, 128.\nHEL'EN I. Mother of Lancelot, 219.\nHEL'EN II. In mediaeval literature, kidnaping of, 304.\nHEL'E-NUS. Descendants of in Greece, 307.\nHEL'G\u00c9. Son of Bel\u00e9, 251;\n  refuses to give Ingeborg to Frithiof, 255;\n  rejects Sigurd Ring, 255;\n  makes treaty with Sigurd Ring, 256;\n  accuses Frithiof of sacrilege, 257;\n  stirs up tempest against Frithiof, 258;\n  Angantyr refuses to pay tribute to, 261;\n  Frithiof snatches ring from wife of, 261;\n  pursues Frithiof, 262.\nHE'LIE DE BOR'RON, 234.\nHEL'I-GO-LAND. Rumor of Dietrich's valor reaches, 115.\nHEL'KAP-PE. See _Tarnkappe_.\nHEL'MI-GIS. Rosamund and, 88.\nHEN'GIST. Driven from England, 205;\n  Saxons led by, 208.\nHEN'NING. Complaint of against Reynard, 38.\nHENRY I., THE FOWLER. Hears accusation against Else, 202.\nHENRY III. Emperor of Germany, 287.\nHENRY VIII. Lord Berners translates \"Huon of Bordeaux\" for, 163.\nHE'O-ROT. Hrothgar builds, 10;\n  Beowulf's experiences in, 13;\n  Grendel's limb a trophy in, 15;\n  Beowulf's triumphant return to, 18.\nHE'RAND. See _Herrat_.\nHER'BART. Nephew of Dietrich, elopes with Hilde, 123.\nHER'BRAND. Son of Berchther, 109;\n  father of Hildebrand, 110;\n  the wide-traveled, 121.\nHER'CU-LES, PILLARS of. Brutus passes, 308.\nHER'KA. See _Helche_.\nHER'LIND. Maid of Oda, 90;\n  brings gifts to Oda, 91.\nHER'RAT. Wife of Dietrich, 126;\n  death of. 127.\nHERT'NIT. Wittich a prisoner of, 121;\n  Wildeber visits, 121;\n  death of, 122.\nHER'WIG. King of Zealand, fights with Hettel, 28;\n  betrothed to Gudrun, 28;\n  wars of, 29;\n  comes to Normandy to rescue Gudrun, 31;\n  saves Gudrun, 33;\n  marries Gudrun, 34.\nHER-ZE-LOI'DE. Sigune brought up by, 188;\n  wife of Gamuret and mother of Parzival, 188;\n  parts from Parzival, 191;\n  Parzival goes in search of, 192;\n  Parzival hears of death of, 199.\nHE'SI-OD. Heroes of in mediaeval literature, 303.\nHESSE. Burgundian army passes through, 57.\nHET'TEL. Wooes Hilde, 25, 26;\n  marries Hilde, 27;\n  dismisses Gudrun's suitors, 28;\n  death of, 29.\nHILD'BURG I. Hagen finds, 23.\nHILD'BURG II. Companion of Gudrun, 30;\n  meets Ortwine, 31;\n  wooed by Ortwine, 32;\n  marries Ortwine, 34.\nHILD'BURG III. Hugdietrich wooes, 100;\n  secret marriage of, 101;\n  the son of, 101, 102;\n  banished by Sabene, 103.\nHIL'DE I. In the Edda, 22;\n  an Indian princess, 23;\n  Hagen marries, 24;\n  daughter of, 25.\nHIL'DE II. Suitors of, 25;\n  educates Gudrun, 28;\n  welcomes Gudrun home, 34.\nHIL'DE III. A giantess, Dietrich's encounter with, 111.\nHIL'DE IV. Daughter of Arthur, elopes with Herbart, 123.\nHIL'DE-BRAND I. Claims body of R\u00fcdiger and fights Burgundians, 83;\n  kills Kriemhild, 84;\n  lament of, 85.\nHIL'DE-BRAND II. Inherits Garden, 109;\n  tutor of Dietrich, 110;\n  fights Grim and Hilde, 111;\n  marriage of, 112;\n  adventure of with Sigenot, 112, 113;\n  adventure of with magicians, 114;\n  Wittich meets, 115;\n  steals Wittich's sword, 116;\n  Ilsan brother of, 117;\n  Dietlieb pawns steed of, 117;\n  first Rose Garden adventure of, 118;\n  second Rose Garden adventure of, 120;\n  campaign of in Wilkina land, 121;\n  ransom of, 124;\n  returns to Garden, 126;\n  rejoins his wife, 127.\nHIL'DE-GARDE. Story of Roland and, 150, 151.\nHIL'DE-GRIM. Giant's helmet, 111.\nHIL-DE-GUN'DE. Adventures of, 124, 125.\nHIL'DING. Foster father of Frithiof and Ingeborg, 251;\n  asks Frithiof's aid for kings of Sogn, 255;\n  failure of mission of, 256;\n  announces Ingeborg's marriage to Frithiof, 261.\nHINTZE. Complains of Reynard, 37;\n  accused of theft, 38;\n  adventures of at Malepartus, 41;\n  imprisonment of, 46.\nHLE'DRA. Capital of Denmark, 271;\n  Thora arrives at, 272;\n  Krake at, 274;\n  Ivar's brothers return to, 280.\nH\u00d6G'NI I. Pursues Hilde, 22.\nH\u00d6G'NI II. Same as Hagen, 53.\nHOL'GER DAN'SKE. See _Ogier_.\nHOL'LAND. Ireland in, 23.\nHOLM'GANG. Northern duel, 247.\nHOLY GRAIL, 182-203;\n  origin of legend of, 182;\n  a sacred dish or cup, 183;\n  Joseph of Arimathea supported in prison by, 183;\n  at Marseilles, 184;\n  at Glastonbury, 185;\n  Titurel appointed guardian of, 185;\n  temple of, 186;\n  descent of, 187;\n  commands that Frimoutel be king, 188;\n  commands that Amfortas be king, 189;\n  promise of, 189;\n  Parzival sees, 193;\n  Parzival's quest for, 195-200;\n  Kundrie a messenger of, 196;\n  Gawain's quest for, 196;\n  Trevrezent renounces, 199;\n  Parzival finds, 199;\n  Parzival uncovers, 200;\n  Arthur's knights' quest for, 201, 225;\n  Lohengrin servant of, 201, 203;\n  legend of, 204;\n  place at the Round Table for, 208, 218;\n  Lancelot cured by, 221;\n  appearance of, 225;\n  Parzival, Lancelot, and Galahad saw, 226;\n  tales of, 301.\nHOLY LAND. Renaud goes to, 161;\n  knight returns from, 183.\nHO'MER. Heroes of, 303.\nHO'RANT. Follower of Hettel, 25;\n  his skill as minstrel, 26, 34.\nHOR'DA-LAND. Frithiof in, 267.\nHORN'BO-GI. Wittich meets, 115;\n  father of Amalung, 121.\nHORSES. See _Rispa_, _Falke_, _Veillantif_,\n  _Bayard_, and _Babie\u00e7a_.\nHROTH'GAR. Descent of, 9;\n  hall of, 10;\n  reward offered by, 11;\n  Beowulf at court of, 13;\n  feast of, 15;\n  grief of, 15;\n  Beowulf takes leave of, 16.\nHROUD'LAN-DUS. Same as Roland, 130.\nHUG. Lord of Dordogne, slain by Charlemagne, 152;\n  avenged by Aymon, 154.\nHUG-DIE'TRICH I. Son of Anzius, 100;\n  wooes and marries Hildburg, 101;\n  intrusts wife and child to care of Sabene, 102;\n  suspicions of, 103;\n  death and will of, 103.\nHUG-DIE'TRICH II. Son of Wolfdietrich, 109;\n  father of Dietmar, 110.\nHUGUES. King of Jerusalem, 139;\n  Oliver marries daughter of, 140.\nHUM'BER. King of the Huns, 309.\nHUN'GA-RY. Etzel king of, 71;\n  Gunther starts out for, 75;\n  Kriemhild's purpose in coming to, 82;\n  fatal ride to, 85;\n  part of Pannonia, 86;\n  Wildeber in, 121;\n  Aymon's wars in, 152.\nHUNS. King of, 72, 94, 118, 121;\n  Kriemhild queen of, 72;\n  power of, 72;\n  Burgundians crowded by, 79;\n  Kriemhild brings misery upon, 84;\n  gratitude of Helche, queen of the, 125;\n  Dietrich's sojourn with the, 126;\n  Humber king of the, 309.\nHUN'THIOF. Son of Frithiof and Ingeborg, 267.\nHUN'VOR. Swedish princess, 247.\nHU'ON OF BOR-DEAUX', 163-181;\n  hero of poem, 163;\n  Charlemagne's orders to, 163;\n  visits Pope, 164;\n  meets Sherasmin, 165;\n  in enchanted forest, 166;\n  Oberon's gifts to, 168;\n  at Tourmont, 169;\n  adventures with Angoulaffre, 169, 170;\n  adventure with Saracen, 170;\n  reaches Bagdad, 171;\n  adventures at Bagdad, 171-174;\n  Oberon's orders to, 174;\n  disobedience of, 175;\n  on desert island, 175, 176;\n  in Tunis, 177;\n  carried to fairyland by Oberon, 179, 181;\n  at the tournament, 179;\n  returns to Guienne, 180;\n  other versions of story of, 180;\n  ancestor of Capetian race, 181.\nHU'O-NET. Birth and disappearance of, 176;\n  restoration of, 179.\nHVIT'SERK. Son of Ragnar, 274.\nHYGD. Wife of Hygelac, 18.\nHY'GE-LAC. King of the Geates, 11;\n  gives N\u00e4geling to Beowulf, 12;\n  wars and death of, 18.\nHYR-CA'NI-A. Babican king of, 171.\n\nICE'LAND. Story of Tristan popular in, 234;\n  the Iliad in, 304.\nIL'I-AD. Popularity of the, 304.\nIL'SAN. Brother of Hildebrand, 117, 120;\n  rudeness and cruelty of, 120, 121.\nIM'E-LOT. King of Desert Babylonia, 91;\n  a captive, 92;\n  Rother hears of escape of, 93.\nIN'DI-A. Hunvor carried off to, 247;\n  Alexander's adventures in, 306.\nIN-FAN'TES. Of Carrion, 295-298;\n  of Navarre, 297.\nIN'GE-BORG I. Attendant of Hunvor, 247.\nIN'GE-BORG II. Transformed into a witch, 249;\n  Thorsten saved by, 250;\n  mother of Frithiof, 251.\nIN'GE-BORG III. Daughter of Bel\u00e9, and playmate of Frithiof, 251;\n  Frithiof vows to marry, 252;\n  Frithiof sues for, 254;\n  Sigurd Ring sues for, 255;\n  meets Frithiof in temple, 256, 257;\n  Frithiof parts with, 258;\n  married to Sigurd Ring, 261, 269;\n  Frithiof's longing for, 264;\n  Frithiof visits, 265;\n  given to Frithiof by Sigurd Ring, 266;\n  Frithiof wars against brothers of, 267;\n  marriage of Frithiof and, 267.\nING'EL-HEIM. Palace at, 131.\nIRE'LAND I. In Holland, 23.\nIRE'LAND II. Merlin brings stones from, 208;\n  Ryance king of, 217;\n  Morold comes from, 236;\n  Tristan goes to, 237;\n  Tristan's visits to, 238;\n  viking raids in, 276.\nI'RING. Killed by Hagen, 81.\nI'RISH. King defeats Mark, 237;\n  attendants carry Morold's remains to Ireland, 237;\n  Tristan at court of the, 238;\n  king, butler of, 239.\nIR'MIN-SUL. Charlemagne destroys the, 129.\nIRN'FRIED. Attacks the Burgundians, 81.\nIS'E-GRIM. Complaint of against Reynard, 36;\n  and the fish, 37;\n  a victim of Reynard's jokes, 42;\n  accused by Reynard, 44;\n  imprisonment of, 46;\n  robbed by Reynard, 48;\n  disloyalty of, 51;\n  duel with Reynard, 51;\n  death of, 52.\nI'SEN-LAND. Hagen finds princess of, 23.\nI-SEULT'. I. Sister of Morold, cures of, 237;\n    Tristan healed by, 238.\n  II. Daughter of Iseult I., Tristan teaches, 238;\n    hand of promised to dragon slayer, 238;\n    finds and restores Tristan, 239;\n    tries to kill Tristan, 240;\n    journey of to Cornwall, 241;\n    marries Mark, 242;\n    love of for Tristan, 242;\n    oath of, 243;\n    Tristan cannot forget, 244;\n    carried to Joyeuse Garde, 244;\n    death and burial of, 245.\n  III. With the White Hands, 243;\n    marries Tristan, 244;\n    jealousy of, 245.\nI-SOLDE'. See _Iseult_.\nISS'LAND. Brunhild princess of, 58;\n  Gunther's arrival in, 59;\n  Nibelungs accompany Siegfried to, 61.\nI'SUNG. Follows Dietlieb, 118;\n  bear of, 121;\n  delivers Wittich, 122.\nI-TAL'IAN. Version of Roland, 130;\n  cycle of romances, 302;\n  love of the marvelous, 302, 307.\nIT'A-LY. Alboin conquers, 87;\n  Ortnit master of, 94;\n  Amaling land same as, 121;\n  viking raids in, 276;\n  settlements in, 281;\n  Brutus expelled from, 307.\nI-TO'NIE. Sister of Gawain, 198.\nI'VAR. Son of Ragnar, 274;\n  a cripple, 275;\n  kills Eystein's magic cow, 276;\n  surrenders to Ella, 279;\n  takes up abode in Lunduna Burg, 280;\n  power of, 280.\nI-WA-NET'. Arthur's squire, helps Parzival, 191.\nI'WO. Prince of Tarasconia, 156;\n  Renaud marries daughter of, 156;\n  treachery of, 158;\n  Renaud saves, 159.\n\nJACK THE GIANT KILLER. Origin of tale of, 308.\nJAM'HAS. Son of Ortgis, 114.\nJAMES, ST. Explains vision to Charlemagne, 140;\n  promises help to Christian army, 287.\nJARL HER'RAND. Father of Thora, 271.\nJER'AS-PUNT. Virginal's castle of, 114.\nJER'I-CHO. Walls of Pamplona like those of, 140.\nJE-RU'SA-LEM. Ogier besieges, 138;\n  Godfrey of Bouillon king of, 139;\n  Hugues king of, 139;\n  Charlemagne's pilgrimage to, 139;\n  Galyen returns to, 140;\n  Renaud offered crown of, 161;\n  Vespasian's commission to, 183.\nJEW. The sacrilegious, 300.\nJEWS. Persecute Joseph of Arimathea, 183;\n  lend money to Cid, 293, 294.\nJOHN. Son of Fierefiss, and founder of Knights Templars, 200;\n  Prester, 201.\nJO'KUL. Njorfe's eldest son, takes Sogn, 249;\n  magic arts of, 250.\nJO'SEPH OF AR-I-MA-THE'A. And the Holy Grail, 183;\n  institutes the Round Table, 184;\n  carries Holy Grail to Glastonbury, 185;\n  Merlin's Round Table like that of, 208.\nJO'SI-ANE. Daughter of Frimoutel, and mother of Sigune, 188.\nJOYEUSE (zhwaa-y[=e]z'). Sword of Charlemagne, 137.\nJOYEUSE GARDE. Guinevere at, 220, 229;\n  Lancelot buried at, 233;\n  Iseult at, 244.\nJU'DAS. Sin of, 184.\nJUDGMENT OF GOD. Reynard appeals to the, 51;\n  in favor of Thiedric, 148;\n  Cid appeals to the, 288.\nJU'LI-US CAE'SAR. Father of Oberon, 166, 210.\nJUTES. See _Geates_.\nJUT'LAND. Alfsol princess of, 270.\n\nKAN'TART. Son of Henning, 38.\nKAR'DEISS. Son of Parzival, and king of Belripar, 201.\nKAY, SIR. Foster brother of Arthur, 210;\n  sends Arthur for a sword, 215.\nKLING'SOR. Castle of, 197;\n  captives of, 197;\n  Gawain's adventures with, 198.\nKNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN, 301.\nKRA'KE. Beauty and wit of, 273;\n  wooed by Ragnar, 273;\n  becomes queen of Denmark, 274;\n  Danes disapprove of, 274;\n  story of, 274.\nKRIEM'HILD. Same as Gudrun, 53;\n  dream of, 54;\n  Siegfried goes to woo, 55;\n  sees strength of Siegfried, 56;\n  meets Siegfried after victory, 57;\n  wooing of, 58;\n  marriage of, 62;\n  goes to the Nibelungen land, 64;\n  goes to Worms, 64;\n  quarrels with Brunhild, 65;\n  anxiety of, 66;\n  parts from Siegfried, 67;\n  grief of, 68;\n  mourning of, 69;\n  goes to Lorch, 71;\n  wooed by Etzel, 71;\n  R\u00fcdiger's promise to, 72, 83;\n  journey of to Gran, 73;\n  lures Burgundians into Hungary, 74;\n  quarrels with Hagen, 77;\n  Dietrich defies, 78;\n  bribes Bl\u00f6delin, 80;\n  urges Huns to slay Hagen, 81;\n  sets fire to hall, 82;\n  Gunther and Hagen captives of, 84;\n  kills Gunther and Hagen, 84;\n  death of, 84;\n  Rose Garden of, 120;\n  Swanhild daughter of, 123;\n  Etzel marries, 126.\nKRY'ANT. Son of Henning, 38.\nKUN'DRIE. Curses Parzival, 196;\n  death of, 200.\nKUN'HILD. Sister of Dietlieb, kidnaped by Laurin, 118;\n  rescued by Dietrich, 119;\n  delivers Dietrich and knights, 119;\n  marriage and realm of, 120.\nK\u00dcR'EN-BERG, VON. Supposed author of \"Nibelungenlied,\" 53.\nKUR'VE-NAL. Retainer of Blancheflem, 235;\n  joins Tristan in Cornwall, 236;\n  accompanies Tristan to Ireland, 238;\n  goes to Brittany for Iseult, 244.\n\nLADY OF THE LAKE. Vivian the, 211;\n  lays spell upon Merlin, 212;\n  brings sword to Arthur, 216;\n  Lancelot fostered by, 219;\n  Arthur a prisoner of, 244.\nLAM'BERT LE CORT. Author of  \"Alexandre le Grant,\" 305.\nLAM GO-\u00cb-MA-GOT'. Same as Plymouth, 309.\nLAM'PE. Illtreated by Reynard, 37;\n  psalm-singing of, 38;\n  slain at Malepartus, 46;\n  head of, 47;\n  Reynard confesses murder of, 48;\n  Reynard's excuses for murder of, 49.\nLAN'CE-LOT DU LAC, SIR. Ogier joins, 138;\n  legend of, 204;\n  hero of several poems, 219;\n  youth of, 219;\n  love and insanity of, 220;\n  rescues Guinevere, 221, 226, 229;\n  sees Holy Grail, 221, 226;\n  knights Sir Gareth, 221;\n  and Sir Galahad, 224;\n  vow of, 225;\n  and Elaine, 227-229;\n  Arthur's anger against, 230;\n  visits Guinevere, 233;\n  death and burial of, 233;\n  Tristan like, 242;\n  Iseult at castle of, 244.\nLAN-GO-BAR'DI-AN. Cycle of romances, 86-99;\n  nobles reject Helmigis, 88;\n  scepter given to Rother, 88;\n  queen, Oda becomes, 93.\nLAN'GO-BARDS. Same as Langobardians, settle in Pannonia, 86;\n  quarrel between Gepidae and, 87.\nLAST SUPPER. Holy Grail used for the, 183.\nLATIN. Version of Reynard, 35;\n  poem of Walther von Wasgenstein, 124;\n  chronicle attributed to Turpin, 129;\n  version of Roland, 130;\n  version of Tristan, 234;\n  epics, 303;\n  writers and Alexander, 305.\nLAU'RIN. Adventures of with Dietrich and knights, 118-120.\nLA-VIN'I-A. Niece of, mother of Brutus, 307.\nLA'WAINE, SIR. Brother of Elaine, 227.\nLAZ'A-RUS, ST. Rodrigo's vision of, 286.\nLEAR, KING. Shakespeare's tragedy of, 309.\nLEICESTER (l[)e]s't[e(]r). Founded by King Leir, 309.\nLEIR, KING. Founder of Leicester, 309.\nLE-O'DE-GRAUNCE. King of Scotland, Arthur and, 217.\nLE-O-GE'CI-A. Brutus hears oracle at, 308.\nLEON (l[=a]-[=o]n'). Don Alfonso king of, 288;\n  Don Garcia buried in, 290.\nLE-PAN'TO. Huon and Rezia stop at, 174;\n  Sherasmin parts from Huon at, 177.\nLIEB'GART. Same as Sidrat, 97;\n  magic eggs of, 98;\n  waits for return of Ortnit, 99;\n  suitors of, 99;\n  Wolfdietrich's compassion for, 107;\n  Wolfdietrich saves and marries, 108;\n  mother of Hugdietrich, 109;\n  Dietrich marries, 127.\nLIL-IEN-POR'TE. Siege of, 103.\nLOCH'HEIM. Nibelungen hoard buried at, 71.\nLO'CRI-A. Named by Locrine, 309.\nLO-CRINE'. Son of Brutus, 309.\nLOD'BROK. See _Ragnar_.\nLODE'STONE ROCK. Ogier wrecked on the, 138.\nLOD-GER'DA. Ragnar marries and forsakes, 271.\nLO'HEN-GRIN. Story of Else and, 201-203.\nLO'KI. See _Haloge_.\nLOM'BARDS. Same as Langobards, 87;\n  Rother complains of king of, 90;\n  Ortnit king of, 94;\n  Wolfdietrich rules, 108;\n  Charlemagne subdues, 129, 137.\nLOM'BAR-DY. Oda returns to, 94;\n  Sidrat goes to, 97;\n  Liebgart to select king of, 99;\n  Ortnit's ancestors in, 100;\n  Wolfdietrich starts for, 104;\n  Wolfdietrich returns to, 109;\n  Didier king of, 136.\nLON'DON. St. Stephen's Church in, 215;\n  Arthur comes to with Sir Hector, 215;\n  Guinevere's journey to, 230;\n  founding of, 280, 309.\nLONG'FEL-LOW. \"Tales of a Wayside Inn\" of, 136, 202.\nLON-GI'NUS. Rosamund seeks, 88.\nLORCH. Kriemhild's sojourn at, 71.\nLOUIS THE FAT, 280.\nLOV'EL, LORD. Story of, 245.\nLUCES DE GAST. Version of Tristan by, 234.\nLU'CI-FER. Fall of, 182.\nLUD. Descendant of Brutus, 309.\nLU'DE-GAST. King of Denmark, threatens to invade Burgundy, 56.\nLU'DE-GER. King of Saxons, Gunther's wars with, 56, 66.\nLUD'WIG. King of Normandy, suitor of Gudrun, 28;\n  kills Hettel, 29;\n  tries to drown Gudrun, 30;\n  killed by Herwig, 33.\nLU'NA. Vikings besiege, 276;\n  Norman's stratagem to enter into, 277;\n  Don Garcia a prisoner in, 290.\nLUN-DU'NA BURG. Same as London, 280.\nLYM-FIORD. Ragnar's victory at, 271.\nLYN-ETTE'. Story of Gareth and, 222.\nLY'O-NEL. Cousin of Lancelot, 219.\nLY-O-NESSE'. Arthur's boyhood spent in, 226;\n  Meliadus lord of, 234;\n  Tristan recovers, 236.\n\nMA-BRI-AN'. A _chanson de geste_, 152.\nMAC'E-DON. Alexander king of, 305;\n  early history of, 305.\nMA-CHO-RELI,'. Father of Sidrat, 95;\n  Alberich carries challenge to, 97;\n  sends dragon eggs to Liebgart, 98.\nMALAGIGI (m[)a]l-a-j[=e]'j[=e]). The necromancer, same as Malagis, 152;\n  and Bayard, 153;\n  rescues Aymon, 154;\n  joins Renaud, 157;\n  warns Renaud of Richard's peril, 159;\n  strategem and escape of, 160.\nMAL'A-GIS. See _Malagigi_.\nMAL'E-BRON. Servant of Oberon, 170, 180.\nMA-LE-PAR'TUS. Brown the bear\n  reaches, 39;\n  Hintze at, 41;\n  Bellyn and Lampe accompany Reynard to, 46;\n  Grimbart at, 47.\nMAL'O-RY. Old legends used by, 204, 219.\nMAN'TU-A. Ermenrich takes, 123.\nMAP, WALTER. Works of, 182, 204, 219.\nMARK. King of Cornwall, Meliadus visits, 235;\n  Tristan and Kurvenal visit, 236;\n  Tristan praises Iseult to, 238;\n  Tristan emissary of, 240;\n  Iseult marries, 242;\n  indifference of, 242;\n  illtreats Iseult, 244;\n  gives orders for burial of Tristan and Iseult, 245.\nMAR-SEILLES'. Joseph of Arimathea at, 184.\nMARSIGLIO (mar-s[=e]l'y[=o]). Saracen king, 144;\n  killed by Roland, 145.\nMAR-SIL'I-US. See _Marsiglio_.\nMAR'TIN. I. Parson's son, 41.\n  II. Ape met by Reynard, 49.\nMAR'TIN GON-ZA'LEZ. Cid's fight with, 286.\nMA'RY. Queen of England, marries Philip of Spain, 232.\nMAT'E-LAN. Hilde goes to with Hettel, 27;\n  Herwig comes to, 28;\n  Hartmut comes to, 29.\nMAU'GIS. A _chanson de geste_, 152.\nMAX-I-MIL'I-AN I. Emperor of Germany, 22.\nMAYENCE (m\u00e4-yens'). Charlemagne's wife buried at, 131.\nME-DE'A. In mediaeval literature, 304.\nME-LE'A-GANS. Guinevere a captive of, 221.\nME-LI'A-DUS. I. Lord of Lyonesse, wars against Morgan, 234;\n    marries Blanchefleur, 235.\n  II. Squire of Mark, 242.\nMERAN (m[=a]'ran). Berchther duke of, 89;\n  Wolfdietrich educated at, 103;\n  Hildburg at, 103.\nMER'KI-NAU. Accuses Reynard, 47.\nMER'LIN. Round Table to be constructed by, 184;\n  legend of, 204;\n  real and mythical, 205;\n  birth and infancy of, 206;\n  the prophecies of, 206, 207, 208, 210, 231;\n  builds Stonehenge and castle at Carduel, 208;\n  changes Uther into form of Gorlois, 209;\n  Arthur when an infant confided to, 210, 214;\n  magic arts of, 211;\n  and Vivian, 211-213;\n  reveals Arthur's parentage, 215;\n  adviser of Arthur, 216, 217;\n  frames laws for knights of Round Table, 218.\nMER-O-VIN GI-AN. Rulers of the Franks, 36.\nMEUR'VIN. A _chanson de geste_, 139.\nMIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, 163.\nMIL'AN. Invested by imperial army, 123.\nMIL'DN. Father of Roland, 133, 141;\n  quest of for jewel, 134, 135.\nMIM'UNG. Sword of Wittich, 115;\n  Wittich loses, and Hildebrand restores, 116;\n  Heime steals, 121;\n  Wittich recovers, 122.\nMO-HAM'MED. Ferracute calls upon, 143.\nMON-TAU-BAN'. Renaud builds fortress at, 156;\n  siege of, 156;\n  Renaud escapes to, 157;\n  Charlemagne again besieges, 159;\n  Charlemagne a captive in, 160;\n  Aymon's sons escape from, 160;\n  Renaud returns to, 161.\nMONTFAUCON (mon-f[=o]-ko[n=]'). Adventure of Renaud and Bayard at, 159.\nMONT'GLAVE, GU\u00c9R'IN DE. A _chanson de geste_, 139.\nMONT-SAL'VATCH. Holy Grail on, 185;\n  Frimoutel weary of life on, 189;\n  Parzival's first visit to, 193;\n  Gawain on the way to, 197;\n  Parzival's second visit to, 199;\n  Parzival king on, 200;\n  Lohengrin's return to, 201;\n  Else goes to, 203.\nMOOR. Fierefiss a, 200.\nMOOR'ISH. Kings defeated by Cid, 282;\n  kings send tribute to Cid, 287;\n  kings warn Cid of danger, 287.\nMOOR'LAND. Kingdom of Siegfried, 28.\nMOORS. Enmity between Christians and, 154;\n  Saforet king of, 156;\n  and Holy Grail, 182;\n  Rodrigo meets the, 283, 285, 287, 289, 294, 296;\n  Tizona won from the, 285;\n  Don Alfonso joins, 290;\n  Don Alfonso wars against, 293;\n  at Valencia, 294, 296, 298, 300;\n  flee at sight of Cid, 299.\nMOR'DRED. Related to Arthur, 230;\n  treachery of, 230;\n  death of, 231.\nMOR'GAN. I. Meliadus wars against 234;\n    kills Meliadus, 235;\n    killed by Tristan, 236.\n  II. Same as Fata Morgana, 95.\nMOR-GA'NA. Predictions of, 135;\n  Ogier meets, 138;\n  mother of Meurvin, 139;\n  mother of Oberon, 166;\n  steals Arthur's scabbard, 231;\n  conveys Arthur to Avalon, 232.\nMO-ROC'CO. Bucar king of, 298.\nMO'ROLD. Comes to Cornwall to claim tribute, 236;\n  challenged and slain by Tristan, 237;\n  Iseult discovers murderer of, 240.\nMORTE D'ARTHUR. By Malory, 219.\nMOSES. A hypocrite, 184.\nMUN-TA-BURE'. In mirage, 95;\n  Ortnit besieges, 97.\n\nN\u00c4'GE-LING. Sword of Beowulf, 12.\nNA'GEL-RING. Sword of Dietrich, 111, 112, 117.\nNAISMES DE BAVI\u00c8RE (n[=a]m de bave-er'). \"Nestor of the Carolingian\n    legends,\" 144.\nNANTES. Arthur's court at, 191.\nNA-VARRE'. Charlemagne's wars in, 141, 143;\n  Don Sancho king of, 289;\n  Infantes of, 297.\nNEN'NI-US. Writes romances, 204, 307.\nNES'TOR. Naismes de Bavi\u00e8re like, 144.\nNETH'ER-LANDS. Reynard in the, 35;\n  kingdom of the, 54.\nNEW TROY. Same as London, 309.\nNI'BE-LUNG-EN. Hoard, 55, 63, 70, 77, 127;\n  land, 55, 61, 64.\nNI'BE-LUNG-EN-LIED, 53-85;\n  Gudrun alluded to in, 22;\n  Germany's greatest epic, 53;\n  end of, 85;\n  incidents in, 126, 242.\nNI'BE-LUNGS. Treasure of, 53;\n  followers of Siegfried, 61;\n  Brunhild escorted by, 62;\n  guard Siegfried's son, 64;\n  mourning and wrath of, 69;\n  Burgundians called, 75;\n  fall of, 126.\nNIC-O-DE'MUS. Slain by Jews, 183.\nNJOR'FE. King of Uplands, friend of Viking and Halfdan, 248;\n  sons of attack Viking's sons, 249.\nNO'BEL. King of the animals, 36;\n  anger of against Reynard, 37;\n  Brown returns to, 41;\n  Reynard before, 43;\n  hears of treasure, 45;\n  pardons Reynard, 46;\n  discovers Lampe's murder, 47.\nNON'NEN-WORTH. Hildegarde retires to convent of, 150;\n  Roland lingers near, 151.\nNOR'MAN-DY. Ludwig king of, 28;\n  Gudrun taken to, 29;\n  Ortwine comes to, 32;\n  Rollo settles in, 280.\nNOR'MANS. Conquer England, 9;\n  pursued by Hegelings, 29;\n  and Hegelings, 32;\n  invade Paris, 138;\n  strategy of, 277;\n  defeated by Ella, 279;\n  found Lunduna Burg, 280.\nNORNS. Frithiof's vision of, 267.\nNORSE. Origin of Gudrun, 22;\n  literary treasures, 246.\nNORSE'MEN. Tristan and the, 235, 236.\nNORTH. Literary treasures of, 246;\n  gods and heroes of, 246;\n  Thorsten owner of great treasures of, 251.\nNORTH CAPE. Discovered by Othere, 18.\nNORTH-GAL'LIS. Queen of, 232.\nNORTH'MEN. Kidnap Tristan, 235.\nNOR-THUM'BER-LAND. Ella king of, 278.\nNOR'WAY. Wilkina land is, 121;\n  ships from, 235;\n  Halogaland in, 246;\n  Uplands in, 248;\n  Ringrie in, 255;\n  Ragnar's sojourn in, 271.\nNU'DUNG. Son of R\u00fcdiger, death of, 126.\n\nO'BE-RON. I. Poem by Wieland, and opera by Weber, 163.\n  II. King of fairies, 163;\n    Huon sees, 166;\n    magic horn of, 167;\n    gives horn and goblet to Huon, 168;\n    ring of, 169;\n    shelters Huon, and sends Malebron to his aid, 170;\n    Rezia's vision of, 171;\n    promises aid to Huon and Rezia, 172;\n    comes to Huon's aid, 173;\n    warns Oberon, 174;\n    Huon disobeys, 175;\n    Titania and, 175, 176, 179;\n    Huon rescued by, 178, 181;\n    brings Huon to fairyland, 179, 181;\n    Julius Caesar father of, 210.\nO'DA. Daughter of Constantine, 89;\n  Rother wooes and wins, 89-93;\n  kidnaped by magician, 93;\n  Rother rescues, 94;\n  Helche daughter of, 94.\nO'DEN-WALD. Death of Siegfried in the, 67, 71.\nO-DI'LI-A. Wife of Dietmar, 110.\nO'DIN. Hrothgar a descendant of, 9;\n  Skeaf sent by, 10;\n  Loki comes north with, 246;\n  Sigurd Ring dedicates himself to, 266;\n  ancestor of Danish kings, 269.\nOF'TER-DING-EN, VON. Supposed author of \"Nibelungenlied,\" 53;\n  \"Heldenbuch\" partly compiled from, 86.\nO'GIER LE DAN'OIS. A _chanson de geste_, 135.\nO'GIER THE DANE. A paladin of Charlemagne, 129;\n  a hostage, 135;\n  marries Bellissande, 136;\n  admiration of Danes for, 136;\n  quarrels with Charlemagne, 136;\n  terror and escape of, 137;\n  made king of England, 138;\n  shipwreck of, 138;\n  magic crown and ring of, 138;\n  son of, 139;\n  boast of, 140;\n  defeated by Ferracute, 142;\n  death of, 148.\nOLD TROY. Sigeminne queen of, 105;\n  Wolfdietrich and Sigeminne return to, 106.\nOL'GER. See _Ogier_.\nOL'I-VANT. Horn of Roland, 139;\n  blasts on, 145, 146.\nOL'I-VER. Paladin of Charlemagne, 129;\n  champion of Duke of Genoa, 139;\n  fights with Roland, 139, 149;\n  boast of, 140;\n  son of, 140;\n  advises Roland to blow his horn, 145;\n  death of, 147, 148;\n  sister of, 149;\n  and Malagigi, 160.\nOR-GUEIL-LEUSE', DUCHESS. Adventure of Gawain and, 197;\n  Gawain marries, 198.\nOR'I-LUS, LORD. Parzival's adventure with wife of, 191;\n  Parzival defeats, 196.\nORK'NEY ISLANDS. Conquest of, 250;\n  Frithiof sent to, 258;\n  Frithiof and Bj\u00f6rn in, 259.\nOR-LAN'DO FU-RI-O'SO, 211, 302.\nOR-LAN'DO IN-NA-MO-RA'TO, 302.\nORT'GIS. A magician, holds Virginal a captive, 113;\n  Jambas son of, 114.\nORT'LIEB. Son of Kriemhild, 73;\n  killed by Hagen, 80.\nORT'NIT. I. Poem of the ninth century, 86.\n  II. Lombardian king, vision of, 94;\n    vow of, 95;\n    adventures of with Alberich, 96;\n    adventures and marriage of, 97;\n    goes to kill dragons, 98;\n    death of, 99;\n    ancestors rule over Lombardy, 100;\n    Wolfdietrich wants aid of, 104;\n    Wolfdietrich vows to avenge, 107;\n    ring of, 108;\n    widow of. 127.\nOR'TRUNE. Sister of Hartmut. 30;\n  saved by Gudrun, 33;\n  marries Siegfied. 34.\nORT'WINE. I. Son of Hettel and Hilde, 27;\n    comes to rescue Gudrun, 31;\n    wooes Hildburg, 32;\n    marries Hildburg, 34.\n  II. Vassal of Gunther, 56;\n    goes to Hungary, 75.\n  III. Son of Helche, 125.\nO-SAN'TRIX. Etzel wars against, 121;\n  Hertnit brother of, 121.\nOS'BORN. See _Asprian_.\nOS'TRO-GOTHS. Defeated by Alboin, 87.\nO'THERE. Discoverer of North Cape, sons of, 18.\nOT'NIT. See _Ortnit_.\nOT'U-EL, SIR. Story of, 143.\nOX'FORD. Walter Map, Archdeacon of, 182.\n\nPAD'AUWE. Same as Padua, Dietrich takes, 126.\nPAD'U-A. See _Padauwe_.\nPAL'MER-INS. Cycle of. 302.\nPAM-PLO'NA. Siege of, 140, 141.\nPAN-DRA'SUS. King of Greece, defeated by Brutus, 308.\nPAN-NO'NI-A. Gepidae and Lombards in, 86.\nPAPILLON (p[)a]-p[=e]-yo[n=]'). The magic horse, 138.\nPAR'IS. I. Judgment of, 51;\n  picture of in act of kidnaping Helen, 304.\nPAR'IS. II. Invasion of, 138;\n  news of Roland's death brought to, 149;\n  Renaud's journey to, 157;\n  Malagigi in, 158;\n  Renaud's body to be brought to, 162;\n  Huon in, 163, 179;\n  siege of, 180.\nPAR-ME'NI-A. Meliadus lord of, 234.\nPAR'ZI-VAL. I. Poem of, 182.\nPAR'ZI-VAL. II. Birth of, 188;\n  youth of, 189;\n  starts out into the world, 190;\n  adventures of on the way to Nantes, 191;\n  wins armor, 192;\n  visits Gurnemanz and Belripar, and marries Conduiramour, 192;\n  visits Montsalvatch, 193, 199;\n  seeks Holy Grail, 195;\n  knighted by Arthur, 196;\n  Gawain seeks, 196;\n  fights Gawain, 198;\n  at the hermit's, 199;\n  meets Fierefiss, 199;\n  made king of Holy Grail, 200;\n  children of, 201;\n  Lohengrin son of, 203;\n  sees Holy Grail, 73.\nPAS'SAU. Kriemhild's arrival at, 73;\n  Burgundians at, 76;\n  funeral mass at, 85.\nPEL'LI-NORE, SIR. Arthur and, 216.\nPEN-DRAG'ON. Son of Constans, 205;\n  war of Britons under, 208.\nPEN'TE-COST. Arthur's feast at, 217, 224.\nPEP'IN. Charlemagne son of, 129.\nPER-I-DE'US. A giant, kills Alboin, 88.\nPER'SI-A. Sultan of. 298;\n  Alexander's conquest of, 306.\nPE'TER, ST. Cid's vision of, 298.\nPHIL'IP. I. Of Spain, oath of in favor of Arthur, 232.\nPHIL'IP. II. Of Macedon, death of, 305.\nPI-AZ'ZA OF ST. MARK'S. Stone lion on the, 281.\nPIER-LE-PONT'. Castle of Aymon, 154;\n  Aymon's sons leave, 156;\n  Charlemagne comes to, 157.\nPIL'GRIM. Bishop of Passau, welcomes Kriemhild, 73;\n  Burgundians visit, 76;\n  mass for the dead by, 85.\nPIN'A-BEL. Champion of Ganelon, 148.\nPLYM'OUTH. Same as Lam Go\u00ebmagot, 309.\nPO'LAND, 125.\nPOL-Y-OL'BI-ON. By Drayton, 310.\nPON'CE DE LE-ON'. Quest of, 306.\nPOPE. Asks aid of Charlemagne, 129;\n  Huon and the, 164, 174, 175, 180;\n  reconciles Arthur and Lancelot, 229;\n  emperor of Germany complains to, 287;\n  and Ferdinand, 288;\n  and Cid, 288, 289.\nPOR'TU-GAL. Hildburg a princess of, 23.\nPO'RUS. Alexander's fight with, 306.\nPRES'TER JOHN. Holy Grail intrusted to, 201.\nPRI'AM. Descendants of, 307.\nPYR'E-NEES. Defeat in the, 130, 144;\n  Aymon in the, 154.\n\nRA'BEN. Same as Ravenna, taken by imperial army, 123;\n  battle of, 126.\nRAG'NAR LOD'BROK. 269-281;\n  saga of, 269;\n  successor of Sigurd Ring when only fifteen, 270;\n  marries Lodgerda, 270;\n  marries Thora, 272;\n  sons of, 272, 274, 275, 276, 279;\n  and Krake, 273-275;\n  battles of, 277;\n  and Ella, 278;\n  death of, 278.\nRA-MI'RO, DON. Quarrel of with Ferdinand, 286;\n  wars against Don Sancho, 289.\nRAND'WER. Son of Ermenrich, death of, 123.\nRA-OUL' DE BEAU-VAIS'. Metrical version of story of Tristan\n     attributed to, 234.\nRAUCH-EL'SE. The witch, Wolfdierich meets, 104;\n  transformation of, 105.\nRA-VEN'NA. Longinus intrenched in, 88;\n  same as Raben, 123.\nRE-DEEM'ER. Blood of the, 183.\nRED KNIGHT. Parzival and the, 191, 192.\nRED SEA. Huon at the, 165, 170.\nREI'NE-KE FUCHS. Epic of, 35;\n  Goethe's poem of, 36.\nREI'NOLD. See _Renaud_.\nRE-NAUD' DE MON-TAU-BAN'. Paladin of Charlemagne, 129;\n  defeated by Ferracute, 142;\n  body of, 148;\n  son of Aymon, 154;\n  receives Bayard and Flamberge, 155;\n  prowess of, 155;\n  avenges Alard and flees, 156;\n  marries Clarissa, and builds Montauban, 156;\n  goes to rescue his brothers, 157;\n  loses and recovers Bayard, 157;\n  betrayed by Iwo, 158;\n  saves Iwo, 159;\n  and Roland, 159;\n  on Montfaucon, 159;\n  sacrifices Bayard, 161;\n  sets out for Holy Land, 161;\n  death of, 162.\nRE-PANSE' DE JOIE. Daughter of Frimoutel, 188;\n  jeweled garment sent by, 193;\n  bears Holy Grail, 193, 199;\n  marriage of, 200, 201.\nREUSSEN (rois'sen). Vlyas prince of the, 94;\n  Waldemar king of, 125.\nREY'NARD THE FOX, 35-52;\n  epic of, 302;\n  importance of story of, 303.\nRE'ZI-A. Princess, dream of, 171;\n  bridal array of, 172;\n  escapes with Huon, 173;\n  embarks at Ascalon, 174;\n  conversion and marriage of, 175;\n  Amanda same as, 175.\nRHINE. Franks cross, 35;\n  Xanten on, 54, 64;\n  Siegfried rides down along, 55;\n  Gunther's journey on, 59, 61;\n  Nibelungen hoard in, 71, 77;\n  Worms on, 120;\n  Charlemagne dwells near, 129, 130;\n  Roland's name connected with, 150;\n  Nonnenw\u00f6rth in, 151;\n  Renaud's body cast in, 162.\nRHON, VON DER. Edited \"Heldenbuch,\" 86.\nRHYM'ER. Thomas of Ercildoune the, 234.\nRICH'ARD. Son of Aymon, 154;\n  prisoner of Roland, 159.\nRI-CHOU'DE. I. Wife of Titurel, 188.\n  II. Daughter of Titurel, 188.\nRIM'STEIN. Revolt and defeat of, 122.\nRI-NAL'DO DE TREB-I-ZON'DE. A _chanson de geste_, 152.\nRING. Son of Viking, 248.\nRING'RIC. Sigurd Ring king of, 255;\n  Frithiof in, 267.\nRIS'PA. Horse of Helme, 115.\nRI-VA-LIN'. See _Meliadus_.\nROB'ERT DE BOR'RON. Works of, 182, 204, 205, 219, 234.\nROB'ERT OF SIC'I-LY, KING. In Longfellow's \"Tales of a Wayside Inn,\" 302.\nROD-RI'GO DI'AZ. See _Cid_.\nRO'GEN-WALD. Son of Ragnar, 274;\n  death of, 276.\nROG'ER. See _Hrothgar_.\nROG'ERS. Translator of \"Reineke Fuchs,\" 36.\nROHAND (r[=o]'an). See _Kurvenal_.\nRO'LAND. Paladin of Charlemagne, 129;\n  birth and childhood of, 133;\n  fights knight of the Ardennes, 134;\n  knighted, 135;\n  duel with Oliver, 139;\n  horn of, 139, 145, 146;\n  character of, 141;\n  combat with Ferracute, 142;\n  combat with Otuel, 143;\n  at battle of Roncesvalles, 144;\n  kills Veillantif, 145;\n  breaks Durandana, 146;\n  death of, 147;\n  squire of, 148;\n  betrothed to Aude, 149;\n  bethrothed to Hildegarde, 150;\n  death and burial of, 151;\n  treats with Aymon, 154;\n  and Renaud, 159;\n  Renaud intrusts his family to, 161;\n  Italian cycle treats of, 302.\nRO'LAND, CHAN'SON DE, 130.\nRO'LAND RISE. See _Meliadus_.\nRO'LANDS-ECK. Retreat of Roland, 151.\nROLF GANG'ER. Same as Rollo, 280.\nROL'LO. Famous giant, independence of, 280.\nROM'A-BURG. Wolfdietrich goes to, 109;\n  Dietrich visits, 117;\n  Dietrich crowned at, 127;\n  threatened invasion of, 277.\nRO-MANCE' LITERATURE. General survey of, 301-310.\nROMAN DE TROIE (r[=o]-m[)o]n' de trwa). Popularity of, 304.\nRO'MANS. And Jews, 183;\n  claim Aeneas, 307;\n  Britain invaded by, 309.\nROME. Martin the ape on his way to, 49;\n  same as Romaburg, 109, 117, 127, 277;\n  Charlemagne crowned at, 155;\n  Huon at, 164, 174, 180;\n  Sherasmin at, 177;\n  Merlin goes to, 210;\n  Don Sancho visits, 288;\n  early history of, 304;\n  Alexander conquers, 306.\nRONCESVALLES (r[=o]n-ces-v\u00e4l'yes). Battle of, 129, 140, 144-147, 150.\nROS'A-MUND. Wife of Alboin, 87;\n  rebellion and death of, 88.\nROSE GARDEN. I. Laurin's, 118.\n  II. Kriemhild's, 120.\nRO'SEN. Sword of Ortnit, 96, 98;\n  Wolfdietrich finds, 108.\nROT'HER. King of Lombardy, 88;\n  wooing of, 89-91;\n  captures Imelot, 92;\n  kidnaps Oda. 92;\n  second journey to Constantinople, 93;\n  secures his wife, 94;\n  accompanied by Berchther, 100.\nROU-ME'LI-A. Wolfdietrich's ride through, 104.\nROUND TABLE. Knights tell Parzival of, 190;\n  Parzival admitted to the, 196, 198;\n  knights of, 200, 224, 225;\n  legend of, 204;\n  Merlin establishes, 208;\n  Arthur receives, 217;\n  at Camelot, 218;\n  Lancelot the principal knight of, 219, 220;\n  Gareth admitted to, 222;\n  Geraint one of knights of, 222;\n  feast at, 225;\n  Sir Bedivere a knight of, 231.\nRU'AL. See _Kurvenal_.\nR\u00dcCK'E-NAU, FRAU, 50, 51.\nR\u00dc'DI-GER. Sues for Kriemhild, 71, 72;\n  oath of, 82, 82;\n  castle of, 73;\n  warns Burgundians, 76;\n  entertains Burgundians, 77;\n  refrains from tournament, 79;\n  safe-conduct granted to. 81;\n  forced to fight, 83;\n  death of, 83;\n  at Rose Garden on Rhine, 120;\n  saves Dietrich, 125;\n  son of, 126.\nRU'MOLT. Squire of Gunther, 75.\nRUNES. Magic letters of the North, 276.\nRU-OT'ZE. Giantess who hatches magic eggs, 98.\nRUS'SIA. A part of Reussen. 125.\nRUS-TI'CI-EN DE PISE. 234.\nRUY DI'AZ. See _Cid_.\nRY'ANCE. King of Ireland, last battle and death of, 217.\n\nSA-BENE'. Guardian of Hildburg, 102;\n  machinations of, 103;\n  besieges Lilienporte, 104;\n  defeated and slain, 108.\nSA-BRI'NA. Drowned in Severn. 309.\nSA-FO-RET'. Aymon's sons serve and kill, 156.\nSAINT O-MER'. Ogier a prisoner at, 136.\nSAINTS'BUR-Y, 204.\nSALISBURY (s[a:]wlz'b[)e]r-[)i]). Fortress on, 205, 207.\nSAM'SON. Father of Dietmar, 110.\nSAN'CHO, DON. King of Castile, Cid serves, 288;\n  a prisoner, 289;\n  freed by Cid. 288;\n  robs his sisters, 290;\n  banishes and recalls Cid, 291;\n  death of, 291.\nSAN'GRE-AL. Same as Holy Grail, 201.\nSAN PE'DRO DE CAR-DE\u00d1'A. Given to Cid, 285;\n  Cid buried at, 300.\nSAN-TI-A'GO DE COM-POS-TE'LA, 140, 285.\nSAR'A-CEN. Huon's encounters with, 172.\nSAR'A-CENS. Charlemagne defeats, 129, 140, 141, 144, 147, 148;\n  device of, 143;\n  Roland and, 145;\n  Sherasmin escapes from, 165;\n  Titurel wars against, 185.\nSAR-A-GOS'SA. Marsiglio in, 144;\n  Cid besieges, 289.\nSAV'IOR. Dish used by, 183.\nSAX'ONS. L\u00fcdeger king of, 56;\n  led by Hengist, 208;\n  Arthur wars against, 217.\nSAX'O-NY. Burgundian army enters, 57.\nSCAN-DI-NA'VI-A. Iliad in. 304.\nSCAN-DI-NA'VI-AN. Raids and settlements, 280;\n  cycle, 301, 302.\nSCOT'LAND. Arthur's name in, 214;\n  Leodegraunce king of, 217;\n  same as Albania, 309.\nSCRATCH-FOOT. Death and epitaph of, 39.\nSEINE. Bayard drowned in, 161;\n  Renaud casts Flamberge in, 161.\nSEN'LIS, COUNTESS OF, 138.\nSEV'ERN. Named after Sabrina, 309.\nSHAKES'PEARE, 163, 305, 309, 310.\nSHAR-FE-NEB'BE. Killed by Reynard, 47.\nSHER-AS-MIN'. Same as Gerasmes, Huon finds, 165;\n  accompanies Huon into forest, 166;\n  Oberon displeased with, 167;\n  forgiven by Oberon, 168;\n  journeys to Bagdad, 171;\n  helps Huon to elope with Rezia, 173;\n  journeys to France, 174;\n  quest of, 177;\n  in fairyland, 179;\n  duel of, 180;\n  casket stolen from, 180.\nSI'BICH. Wife of, 122;\n  kills Ermenrich, 126;\n  death of, 127.\nSIC'-ILY. Part of Ortnit's realm, 94.\nSID'RAT. Vision of, 95;\n  elopes with Ornit, 97.\nSIE'GE-LIND. I. Mother of Siegfried, 54;\n    death of, 64.\n  II. A swan maiden who prophesies to Hagen, 75.\nSIEGE PER'IL-OUS. Vacant place at Round Table called, 184;\n  Parzival in the, 196;\n  Merlin in the, 213;\n  the empty, 218;\n  Galahad in the, 224.\nSIEG'FRIED. I. King of Moorland, suitor of Gudrun, 28;\n  invades Zealand, 28;\n  joins Hettel and Herwig, 29;\n  marriage of, 34.\nSIEG'FRIED. II. Same as Sigurd, 53;\n  parentage and birth of, 54;\n  goes to Worms, 55;\n  prowess of, 56, 57;\n  wooes Kriemhild, 58;\n  with Gunther in Issland, 58-61;\n  Nibelung warriors of, 61;\n  marriage of, 62;\n  conquers Brunhild, 63;\n  in Xanten, 64;\n  invited to Worms, 64;\n  punishes Kriemhild, 65;\n  Hagen plots against, 66;\n  betrayal and death of, 67;\n  burial of, 69;\n  mourning for, 70;\n  body of removed to Lorch, 71;\n  Kriemhild mourns for, 73;\n  Hagen confesses murder of, 78;\n  sword of, 84;\n  Swanhild daughter of, 123;\n  Kriemhild widow of, 126.\nSIEG'MUND. Father of Siegfried, 54;\n  welcomes Kriemhild, 64;\n  visits Worms, 64;\n  hears news of Siegfried's death, 69.\nSI'GE-BANT. Father of Hagen, 23;\n  death of, 24.\nSI-GE-MIN'NE. Same as Rauch-Else, transformation of, 105;\n  marriage and kidnaping of, 105;\n  rescued by Wolfdietrich, 106;\n  Liebgart resembles, 107;\n  magic shirt given by, 108.\nSI-GE-NOT'. Dietrich's adventure with, 112;\n  Hildebrand's encounter with, 113.\nSI'GUNE. Daughter of Josiane, 188;\n  Parzival finds, 191, 195.\nSI'GURD. Same as Siegfried, 53;\n  Danish dynasty traces origin to, 269;\n  Fafnisbane, 274.\nSI'GURD RING. Sues for Ingeborg's hand, 255;\n  kings of Sogn make treaty with, 256;\n  Frithiof offers to conquer, 257;\n  marries Ingeborg, 261, 269;\n  Frithiof visits, 264;\n  hunting expedition of, 265;\n  death of, 266, 270;\n  son of, 266;\n  marries Alfild, 269;\n  wooes Alfsol, 270.\nSI'GURD THE SNAKE-EYED. Son of Ragnar, 275.\nSI-MIL'DE. See _Kunhild_.\nSI-MILT'. See _Kunhild_.\nSIN'DOLT. Helps Siegfried, 56.\nSIN'TRAM. Dietrich delivers, 117.\nSKEAF. Son of Odin, 9;\n  career of, 10.\nSKIOLD. Same as Skeaf, 9, 10.\nSKIOL'DUNGS. Dynasty of, 9.\nSOD'OM. Huon and Amanda deluded by apples of, 175.\nSOGN. Kingdom of taken by Jokul, 249;\n  kings of, Sigurd Rings threaten war against, 255.\nSOL-DA[=N]'A. City given to Cid. 285.\nSOL-TA'NE. Forest where Parzival was brought up, 188.\nSOL'WAY FIRTH. Battle of, 205.\nSONS OF AY'MON, 152-162.\nSO'TE. A pirate, stole V\u00f6lund ring, 251.\nSPAIN. Charlemagne in, 129, 140, 143, 144;\n  Roland in, 149, 150;\n  Aymon in, 154;\n  Montsalvatch in, 185;\n  Arabs in, 282;\n  patron of, 285.\nSPAN-GAR-HE'DE. Ragnar at, 273.\nSFAN'IARDS. Legend of Holy Grail christianized by, 182;\n  Richoude belongs to, 188;\n  battle cry of, 287.\nSPAN'ISH. Cortes, 297;\n  cycle, 302.\nSPEN'SER. \"Faerie Queene\" of. 211, 310.\nSTEI'ER-MARK. Province of given to Dietlieb, 118;\n  Dietlieb of, 120.\nSTE'PHEN, ST. Church of, 215.\nSTONE'HENGE. Work of Merlin, 208, 211.\nSTU'DAS. Father of Heime, 115.\nSTYR'I-A. See _Steiermark_.\nSU'DERS. Ortnit sets sail for, 97.\nSUL'TAN. Daughter of, 164;\n  Amanda to be sold as slave to, 176;\n  gardens of, 177;\n  Amanda refuses to marry, 178;\n  sends embassy to Cid, 298.\nSU'SAT. Dietrich goes to, 124;\n  Waldemar's son a captive in, 125;\n  Dietrich's mournful return to, 126.\nSVITH'I-OD. Eystein king of, 274.\nSWAN'HILD. Daughter of Siegfried and Kriemhild, death of, 123;\n  brothers of, 126.\nSWAN KNIGHT. Lohengrin the, 203.\nSWE'DEN. Eadgils king of, 19;\n  part of Wilkina land, 121;\n  Viking in, 247;\n  Svithiod same as, 274.\nSWEDES. Beowulf conquers, 12.\nSWE'DISH. Writers, 246;\n  princess, Hunvor a, 247;\n  king, Eystein the, 276.\nSWEM'MEL. Hungarian minstrel, 74.\nSWIN'BURNE, 204, 234.\nSWORDS. See _N\u00e4geling_, _Nagelring_, _Mimung_,\n  _Eckesax_, _Joyeuse_, _Durandana_,\n  _Altecler_, _Flamberge_, _Excalibur_,\n  _Angurvadel_, _Tizona_, _Colada_.\nSYR'I-A. Ortnit's journey to, 95.\n\nTAN'TRIS. Same as Tristan, 238.\nTA-RAS-CO'NI-A. Iwo prince of, 156.\nTARN'KAP-PE. Siegfried and, 55, 60;\n  Laurin and, 119.\nTCHIO-NA-TU-LAN'DER. And Sigune, 188;\n  Parzival to avenge, 191;\n  shrine of, 195.\nTEG-N\u00c9R'. Writings of, 246, 267.\nTEM'PLARS Guardians of Holy Grail called, 186;\n  divine guidance of, 187;\n  anticipation of, 189;\n  disappointment of, 199;\n  customs of, 202;\n  renown of, 301.\nTEN'NY-SON, 204.\nTEU-TON'IC. Cycle, 301.\nTHAMES. Brutus visits the, 309.\nTHE-OD'O-RIC. Of Verona, same as Dietrich of Bern, no, 127;\n  tomb of, 128.\nTHE-OD-O-RI'CUS. And Roland at Roncesvalles, 146, 147.\nTHE'SEUS. Adventures of, 249.\nTHES-SA-LO-NI'CA. Walgundof, 100;\n  Hugdietrich at, IOO;\n  Berchther at, 101.\nTHIE'DRIC. Roland's squire, 148.\nTHING. Convoked by Hygd, 18;\n  Beowulf elected by, 19;\n  Bel\u00e9 convokes, 252;\n  Ragnar recognized by, 270.\nTHOM'AS, LORD, 245.\nTHOM'AS OF ER'CIL-DOUNE, 234.\nTHO'RA. Daughter of Jarl Herrand, 271;\n  Ragnar rescues and marries, 272;\n  sons and death of, 272.\nTHO'RER. Son of Viking, 249.\nTHOR'STEN. I. Saga, 246.\n  II. Son of Viking, receives Angurvadel, 249;\n    shipwrecks of, 250;\n    marriage and conquests of, 250;\n    at Framn\u00e4s, 251;\n    father of Frithiof, 251, 260, 261;\n    last interview with Bel\u00e9, 252;\n    death and burial of, 252.\nTHU'RI-SIND. King of Gepid\u00e6, 86:\n  granddaughter of, 87.\nTIN-TA'GEL. In Cornwall, Gorlois lord of, 209;\n  Uther's secret visit to, 209;\n  Mark at, 235;\n  Tristan at, 236;\n  Iseult to go to, 240.\nTI-TA'NI-A. Queen of the fairies, 175;\n  carries off Huonet, 176;\n  restored to Oberon's favor, 179.\nTIT'U-REL. And the Holy Grail, 182-203;\n  Von Eschenbach's poem of, 182;\n  birth of, 185;\n  vision of, 185;\n  sees Holy Grail, 186;\n  builds temple, 186;\n  guardian of Holy Grail, 187;\n  children of, 188;\n  intercedes for Amfortas, 189;\n  crowns Parzival, 200;\n  disappearance of, 200.\nTI-TU'RI-SONE. Pilgrimage of, 185.\nTI'TUS. Disease of, 183;\n  miraculous cure of, 184.\nTI-ZO'NA. Sword of Cid, won from Moors, 285, 294;\n  given to Infante of Carrion, 296;\n  recovered by Cid, 297;\n  dead Cid draws, 300;\n  inscription on, 300.\nTO-LE'DO. School of magic at, 153;\n  Don Alfonso at, 290;\n  Cid at, 291;\n  Don Alfonso a prisoner at, 292;\n  Yahia ruler of, 294;\n  Cortes at, 297.\nTO'RO. City given to Do\u00f1a Elvira, 288;\n  taken by Don Sancho, 290.\nTOUR'MONT. Huon at, 169.\nTOURS. Origin of name, 308.\nTRAN-SYL-VA'NI-A. Herrat princess of, 126.\nTREV'RE-ZENT. Son of Frimoutel, 188;\n  Parzival visits, 199.\nTRI-ENT'. Dwelling place of dragons, 98.\nTRIS'TAN. Ogier and, 138;\n  legend of, 204;\n  story of, 234-245.\nTRIS'TREM. See _Tristan_.\nTRO'I-LUS. And Cressida, story of, 305.\nTRON'JE. Hagen of, 124.\nTROY. Sigeminne queen of, 105;\n  downfall of, 303.\nTU'NIS. Huon, Amanda, Fatima, and Sherasmin in, 177;\n  Galafre king of, 180.\nTU-ROL'DUS. Probable author of \"Chanson de Roland,\" 130.\nTU-RO'NUS. Nephew of Brutus, 308.\nTUR'PIN. Latin chronicle attributed to, 129, 140;\n  adviser of Charlemagne, 131, 132, 147, 156.\nTYRE. See _Suders_.\nTY-RO'LE-AN, 113, 118.\n\nUL'FIN. Councilor of Uther, 209.\nU-LYS'SES. In mediaeval literature, 303.\nUOTE (w[=o]'te). See _Ute II_.\nUP'LANDS. Njorfe king of, 248.\nUR-RA'CA, DO\u00d1A. Receives Zamora, 288;\n  loses Zamora, 289;\n  pleads for Alfonso, 290;\n  besieged by Don Sancho, 290;\n  reviles Cid, 291;\n  warns Alfonso of Sancho's death, 292.\nU'TA. See _Ute II_.\nU'TE. I. Queen of Burgundy, 53;\n  interprets Krieinhild's dream, 54;\n  at tournament, 57;\n  Pilgrim, brother of, 73;\n  disapproves of journey to Hungary, 74.\nU'TE. II. Marries Hildebrand, 112;\n  rejoined by Hildebrand, 127.\nU'THER. Son of Constans, 205;\n  fights with Vortigern and Hengist, 208;\n  Merlin builds palace for, 208;\n  changed into form of Gorlois, 209;\n  marries Yguerne, 210;\n  death of, 210;\n  father of Arthur, 214, 215;\n  a descendant of Brutus, 309.\n\nVAL-DUER'NA. Given to Rodrigo, 285.\nVALE OF THORNS. See _Roncesvalles_.\nVA-LEN'CI-A. Taken by Moors, 294, 300;\n  recovered by Cid, 294;\n  Cid master of, 295;\n  Moors besiege, 296, 298;\n  Cid's return to, 296, 296;\n  Christians cannot hold, 299;\n  evacuation of, 300.\nVAL-HAL'LA. Ragnar summoned to, 278.\nVAL'KYRS. Brunhild one of the, 274;\n  Ragnar warned by, 278.\nVA-RAN'GI-AN GUARD. The, 281.\nVEILLANTIF (v[=a]-[:a]n-t[=e]f). Roland kills, 145.\nVEN'ICE. Lion of, 281.\nVER'GEN. Place on Danube, 73.\nVE-RO'NA. Same as Bern, 77, 110;\n  Theodoric of, 110;\n  tomb of Theodoric near, 128.\nVE-RON'I-CA, ST. Story of, 183.\nVES-PA'SI-AN. Sends commission to Jerusalem, 183;\n  at Jerusalem, 184;\n  at Rome, 185.\nVI-A'NE. Renaud meets Aude at siege of, 149.\nVI-EN'NA. Library at, 22;\n  wedding at, 73.\nVIK. Frithiof enters the, 264.\nVI'KING. Grandson of Haloge, 247;\n  early adventures and marriage of, 247;\n  second marriage of, 248;\n  adventures of sons of, 248;\n  Aegir gives Ellida to, 250.\nVIR'GIL. In \"Rome la Grant,\" 307.\nVIR'GIN-AL. Dietrich's adventure with, 113, 114;\n  Dietrich forsaken by, 123.\nVIV'I-AN. And Merlin, 211-213;\n  Lancelot stolen by, 219.\nVOL'KER. Follower of Gunther, receives gifts, 77;\n  ally of Hagen, 78;\n  kills Hun, 80;\n  might of, 81.\nVOL'SUNG. The race, 110.\nVOL'SUNG-A SA'GA, 53, 269.\nV\u00d6'LUND. The smith, 115, 250;\n  ring of, 253, 257.\nVOR'TI-GERN. Made king and builds fortress, 205;\n  messengers of, 206;\n  death of, 208;\n  advised by Merlin, 210.\nVOS'GES. See _Wasgenstein_.\nVUL-CA'NUS, MOUNT. Malagigi's adventure at, 153.\n\nWACE. Writer of metrical tale of Brutus, 307.\nWA-CHIL'DE. And Wittich,115, 126.\nWACK'ER-LOS. Complaint of, 36, 38.\nWAG'NER. Used mediaeval legends, 182, 204, 234.\nWAL'DE-MAR. King of Reussen, Dietrich wars against, 125.\nWA-LEIS'. Battle at, 27.\nWALES. Arthur's name in, 214.\nWAL'GUND OF THES-SA-LO-NI'CA. Hugdietrich's visit to, 100;\n  finds grandson with wolf, 102.\nWAL'THER VON WAS'GEN-STEIN. Champion of Ermenrich, 118;\n  at Gerimsburg, 122;\n  a hostage in Hungary, 124;\n  elopes with Hildegunde, 124;\n  marries Hildegunde, 125.\nWAS'GEN-STEIN. Walther and Hildegunde flee to, 124.\nWAT. Follower of Hettel, 25;\n  athletic skill of, 26;\n  wounds Hagen, 27;\n  fosters Ortwine, 27;\n  to be Gudrun's deliverer, 31;\n  challenges Normans, 32;\n  kills Gerlinda, 33.\nWAX'MUTH. Son of Hildburg, 103;\n  and Hugdietrich, 103.\nWAY'LAND. See _Wieland_.\nWEAL'THEOW. Wife of Hrothgar, 15.\nWE'BER. \"Oberon\" of, 163.\nWELSH. Poetry, 204;\n  version of Tristan, 234.\nWE'NER, LAKE. Battle of, 249.\nWER'BEL. Hungarian minstrel, 74;\n  Hagen strikes off hand of, 80.\nWE'SER. See _Wisara_.\nWES'TER-LANDS. Queen of, 232.\nWEST-PHA'LI-A. Dortmund in, 162.\nWHIT'A-BY. Ragnar at, 271;\n  second battle at, 276.\nWIE'LAND. I. The smith, weapons of, 115, 154.\n  II. \"Oberon\" of, 163.\nWIF'LIS-BURG. Hastings at, 276.\nWIG'LAF. Avenges Hardred, 19;\n  accompanies Beowulf, 19;\n  saves Beowulf's life, 20.\nWIL-DE'BER. Joins Dietrich, 117;\n  in Hungary, 121;\n  escape of, 122.\nWIL-KI'NA LAND. Dietrich invades, 121.\nWIN'CHES-TER, See _Camelot_.\nWI-SA'RA. Falster wood on banks of, 117.\nWIT'IG. See _Wittich_.\nWIT'TICH. Son of Wieland, starts for Bern, 115;\n  conquers Dietrich, 116;\n  goes to Rose Garden, 118;\n  made prisoner, 121;\n  released, 122;\n  pursued by Dietrich and saved by Wachilde, 126.\nWOLF-DIE'TRICH. Rescue of, 102;\n  at Meran, 103;\n  besieges Constantinople, 103, 108;\n  adventures with Rauch-Else, 104;\n  marries Sigeminne, 105;\n  kills Drusian, 106;\n  adventure with Belligan, 106;\n  kills dragon and marries Liebgart, 108;\n  descendants of, 109.\nWOLF'HART. Nephew of Hildebrand, 112;\n  in Rose Garden, 118, 120.\nWOL'FRAM VON ESCH'EN-BACH, 86, 182, 204.\nWORMS. Capital of Burgundy, 53;\n  Siegfried at, 55, 57, 58;\n  Kriemhild at, 64;\n  Siegfried carried to, 68;\n  mourning at, 69;\n  R\u00fcdiger at, 71, 82;\n  minstrels at, 74;\n  chaplain returns to, 75;\n  tidings carried to, 85;\n  Rose Garden at, 120;\n  Gunther and Hagen do not return to, 124.\nW\u00dcL'PEN-SAND. Battle of, 29.\n\nXAN'TEN. Tournament at, 54;\n  Siegfried and Kriemhild at, 64.\nXI-ME'NA, DO\u00d1A. Seeks to avenge her father, 284;\n  marries Cid, 285;\n  at Zamora, 287;\n  Cid parts from, 293;\n  executes last wishes of Cid, 299.\n\nYA'HI-A. Grandson of Alimaymon, 294.\nY-GUERNE'. Wife of Gorlois, 209;\n  marries Uther, 210;\n  mother of Arthur, 215.\nY-SOLDE'. See _Iseult_.\nY'VOIR-IN OF MONT'BRAND. Uncle of Esclarmonde, 180.\nY'WAIN. Grandson of Yguerne, 209.\n\nZA-MO'RA. Cid returns to, 287;\n  Do\u00f1a Urraca at, 288, 290;\n  Don Sancho takes, 289;\n  siege of, 290, 291;\n  Don Alfonso's arrival at, 292.\nZEA'LAND. Herwig's kingdom, 28.\n\n\n\n\nADVERTISEMENTS\n\n\nNEW MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY\n\n\nFrom Charlemagne to the Present Day\n\n\nBy SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING, Ph.D., Professor of European History, Indiana\nUniversity.\n\n\nBased upon the author's \"Essentials in Mediaeval and Modern History,\"\nprepared in consultation with ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D., Professor of\nHistory, Harvard University.\n\n\nWhile based on the author's previous Essentials in Mediaeval and Modern\nHistory, in the present volume the plan has been so reorganized, the scope\nso extended, and the matter so largely rewritten, that the result is\npractically a new book. The present volume reflects the suggestions of many\nteachers who have used the previous work in their classes. The aim of this\nbook has been to increase the emphasis on social, industrial, and cultural\ntopics and to enable the student to understand modern conditions and\ntendencies.\n\nThe narrative is brought fully up-to-date, including such recent events as\nthe British Parliament Act of 1911, the Italian-Turkish War, and the Balkan\nWar, 1912-1913. Each topic is made definite and concrete, and such\nimportant subjects as the unification of Italy and the unification of\nGermany are treated in separate chapters.\n\nThe teaching apparatus has been made as useful as possible by the\narrangement and the typography of the text and by the addition of\nchronological tables, lists of important dates, suggestive topics and\nquestions for the pupil to investigate, and brief directions for general\nreading.\n\nAdequate illustrations and maps are inserted profusely throughout the text.\nVariety and color are imparted to the narrative by frequent quotations from\nthe sources, and by striking characterizations from modern works.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nOUTLINES FOR REVIEW IN HISTORY\n\n\nBy CHARLES BERTRAM NEWTON, Head of the Department of History in\nLawrenceville School, and EDWARD BRYANT TREAT, Master in Lawrenceville\nSchool.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGreek History Roman History English History American History\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese little manuals help the teacher of history solve the problem of\nbringing out the subject as a whole, and of so focusing it as to make the\npicture clear-cut and vivid in the pupil's mind--in other words, they give\nthe proper perspective to the prominent figures and the smaller details,\nthe multitude of memories and impressions made by the text-book, note-book,\nand class room work. The books are intended primarily for review, and\nespecially for students preparing for college.\n\nThese outlines embody brief summaries in chronological order of the leading\nfacts and events, and throughout ease of reference has been considered of\nprime importance. Except in most unusual cases they should not be\nintroduced into the class until after the work in the text-book is\nfinished. However, if the time or facilities of the teacher are greatly\nlimited, they may be used judiciously with the text-book as an aid to\nclearness. Because they are not planned to follow or accompany any\nparticular text-book on the subject, references to such books have\npurposely been omitted.\n\nIn the index battles, laws, and wars are grouped chronologically under\nthose headings, and also in regular alphabetical order. Near the end of\neach volume are given fifty typical questions selected from the recent\nexaminations set for admission  to leading colleges, which are intended for\npractice in the art of formulating answers.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nA SOURCE BOOK OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY\n\n\nEdited by FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, A.M., Assistant in History, Harvard\nUniversity, and Instructor in Simmons College.\n\n\nIn this book is provided a collection of documents illustrative of European\nlife and institutions from the German invasions to the Renaissance. Great\ndiscrimination has been exercised in the selection and arrangement of these\nsources, which are intended to be used in connection with the study of\nmediaeval history, either in secondary schools, or in the earlier years of\ncollege. Throughout the controlling thought has been to present only those\nselections which are of real value and of genuine interest--that is, those\nwhich subordinate the purely documentary and emphasize the strictly\nnarrative, such as annals, chronicles, and biographies. In every case they\ncontain important historical information or throw more or less indirect\nlight upon mediaeval life or conditions.\n\nThe extracts are of considerable length from fewer sources, rather than a\ngreater number of more fragmentary ones from a wider range. The\ntranslations have all been made with care, but for the sake of younger\npupils simplified and modernized as much as close adherence to the sense\nwould permit. An introductory explanation, giving at some length the\nhistorical setting of the extract, with comments on its general\nsignificance, and also a brief sketch of the writer, accompany each\nselection or group of selections. The footnotes supply somewhat detailed\naid to the understanding of obscure illusions, omitted passages, and\nespecially names and technical terms. The index is very full.\nTypographically the book is unusually well arranged with a view of aiding\nthe pupil in its interpretation.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nESSENTIALS IN ENGLISH HISTORY\n\n\nFrom the Earliest Records to the Present Day. By ALBERT PERRY WALKER, A.M.,\nMaster in History, English High School, Boston. In consultation with ALBERT\nBUSHNELL HART, LL.D., Professor of History, Harvard University\n\n\nLike the other volumes of the Essentials in History Series, this text-book\nis intended to form a year's work in secondary schools, following out the\nrecommendation of the Committee of Seven, and meeting the requirements of\nthe College Entrance Examination Board, and of the New York State Education\nDepartment. It contains the same general features, the same pedagogic\napparatus, and the same topical method of treatment. The text is\ncontinuous, the sectional headings being placed in the margin. The maps and\nillustrations are worthy of special mention.\n\nThe book is a model of good historical exposition, unusually clear in\nexpression, logical and coherent in arrangement, and accurate in statement.\nThe essential facts in the development of the British Empire are vividly\ndescribed, and the relation of cause and effect is clearly brought out.\n\nThe treatment begins with a brief survey of the whole course of English\nhistory, deducing therefrom three general movements: (1) the fusing of\nseveral races into the English people; (2) the solution by that people of\ntwo great problems: free and democratic home government, and practical,\nenlightened government of foreign dependencies; and (3) the extreme\ndevelopment of two great fields of industry, commerce and manufacture. The\nnarrative follows the chronological order, and is full of matter which is\nas interesting as it is significant, ending with a masterly summary of\nEngland's contribution to civilization.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nWEBSTER'S SECONDARY SCHOOL DICTIONARY\n\n\nFull cloth, 8vol., 864 pages. Containing over 70,000 words, with 1000\nillustrations.\n\n\nThis new dictionary is based on Webster's New International Dictionary, and\ntherefore conforms to the best present usage. It presents the largest\nnumber of words and phrases ever included in a school dictionary--all\nthose, however new, likely to be needed by any pupil. It is a reference\nbook for the reader and a guide in the use of English, both oral and\nwritten. It fills every requirement that can reasonably be expected of a\ndictionary of moderate size.\n\nThis new book gives the preference to forms of spelling now current in the\nUnited States, in cases of doubt leaning toward the simpler forms that may\nbe coming into use. In the matter of pronunciation such alternatives are\nincluded as are in very common use, but the one that is preferred is\nclearly indicated. Each definition is in the form of a specific statement\naccompanied by one or more synonyms, between which careful discrimination\nis made.\n\nIn addition, this dictionary includes an unusual amount of supplementary\ninformation of value to students: the etymology, syllabication and\ncapitalization of words; many proper names from folklore, mythology, and\nthe Bible; a list of prefixes and suffixes; all irregularly inflected\nforms; rules for spelling; 2329 lists of synonyms, in which 3518 words are\ncarefully discriminated; answers to many questions on the use of correct\nEnglish constantly asked by pupils; a guide to pronunciation; abbreviations\nused in writing and printing; a list of 1200 foreign words and phrases; a\ndictionary of 5400 proper names of persons and places, etc.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nPUPIL'S NOTEBOOKS AND STUDY OUTLINES IN HISTORY\n\n\nORIENTAL AND GREEK HISTORY\n\nBy L.B. 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Instead of discussing plants, animals, and man as separate forms\nof living organisms, it treats of life in a comprehensive manner, and\nparticularly in its relations to the progress of humanity. Each main topic\nis introduced by a problem, which the pupil is to solve by actual\nlaboratory work. The text that follows explains and illustrates the meaning\nof each problem. The work throughout aims to have a human interest and a\npractical value, and to provide the simplest and most easily comprehended\nmethod of demonstration. At the end of each chapter are lists of references\nto both elementary and advanced books for collateral reading.\n\n\n\n\nSHARPE'S LABORATORY MANUAL IN BIOLOGY\n\n\nIn this Manual the 56 important problems of Hunter's Essentials of Biology\nare solved; that is, the principles of biology are developed from the\nlaboratory standpoint. It is a teacher's detailed directions put into\nprint. It states the problems, and then tells what materials and apparatus\nare necessary and how they are to be used, how to avoid mistakes, and how\nto get at the facts when they are found. Following each problem and its\nsolution is a full list of references to other books.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nGARNER'S GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES\n\n\nBy JAMES W. GARNER, Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois\nWith Special State Editions\n\n\nMerits the special consideration of teachers in secondary schools because\nin the first place it includes the most recent governmental problems of\ninterest and importance, and in the second it devotes an unusual amount of\nspace to a practical account of the workings of our government. The\ntreatment, which is simple and interesting, proceeds from the simple to the\nmost complex, presenting in turn the local, state, and national forms of\ngovernment.\n\nThe book shows how our governmental system has been affected by the direct\nprimary movements, the initiative and referendum, the commission form of\nmunicipal government, and new legislation regarding publicity of campaign\nexpenditure and corrupt practices at elections. It is, however, the spirit\nand actual workings of our government that are emphasized, rather than its\nmere mechanism, thus adding to the interest of the student as well as to\nthe value of the study.\n\nThe book is up to date in every respect. Statistics used are from the\nlatest census. It describes the most recent changes in the organization and\nactivities of the national, state, and municipal governments. For example\nit deals with the recent reorganization of the federal courts, the\nestablishment of postal savings banks, the parcels post question, the\nquestion of second class postal rates, primary elections, the new federal\ncorporation tax, and the income tax amendment.\n\nUnusual attention is devoted to the important subject or citizenship, and\nto state and local governments. Wider reading among students is encouraged\nby the frequent lists of references to collateral reading, the documentary\nor source materials, the numerous search questions, etc.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nAMERICAN POEMS\n\n\nEdited by AUGUSTUS WHITE LONG, Preceptor in English, Princeton University.\n\n\nThis book is intended to serve as an introduction to the systematic study\nof American poetry, and, therefore, does not pretend to exhaustiveness. All\nthe poets from 1776 to 1900 who are worthy of recognition are here treated\nsimply, yet suggestively, and in such a manner as to illustrate the growth\nand spirit of American life, as expressed in its verse. Each writer is\nrepresented by an appropriate number of poems, which are preceded by brief\nbiographical sketches, designed to entertain and awaken interest. The\nexplanatory notes and the brief critical comments give much useful and\ninteresting information.\n\n\n\n\nENGLISH POEMS\n\n\nEdited by EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN, Ph.D.,   and HARRY G. PAUL, A.M.,\nAssistant Professors of   English Literature in the University of Illinois.\n\n\nThis volume combines measurable completeness with an amount of editing\nsufficient for supplying needed help to the college student, and for\nfurnishing material for class room work. In the selection of poems the\nprimary aim has been to include the most representative work of the chief\nBritish poets, from Chaucer to Tennyson, with a view to presenting material\nwhich should also be representative of the successive periods of English\nliterary history, and, within certain limitations, of the chief types of\npoetry. The notes are suggestive rather than informational, and, with the\nquestions, are designed to stimulate thought. Bibliographies are included.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nDESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS\n\n\nPublished Complete and in Sections\n\n\nWe issue a Catalogue of High School and College Textbooks, which we have\ntried to make as valuable and as useful to teachers as possible. In this\ncatalogue are set forth briefly and clearly the scope and leading\ncharacteristics of each of our best textbooks. In most cases there are also\ngiven testimonials from well-known teachers, which have been selected quite\nas much for their descriptive qualities as for their value as\ncommendations.\n\nFor the convenience of teachers this Catalogue is also published in\nseparate sections treating of the various branches of study. These\npamphlets are entitled: English, Mathematics, History and Political\nScience, Science, Modern Foreign Languages, Ancient Languages, Commercial\nSubjects, and Philosophy and Education. A single pamphlet is devoted to the\nNewest Books in all subjects.\n\nTeachers seeking the newest and best books for their classes are invited to\nsend for our Complete High School and College Catalogue, or for such\nsections as may be of greatest interest.\n\nCopies of our price lists, or of special circulars, in which these books\nare described at greater length than the space limitations of the catalogue\npermit, will be mailed to any address on request.\n\nAll correspondence should be addressed to the nearest of the following\noffices of the company: New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta.\n\nAMERICAN BOOK COMPANY","title":"Legends of the Middle Ages: Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":115013}