The Red Romance Book Part 36

'Ah, Felice, this is your doing,' said he.

Long were it to tell of the deeds done by the n.o.ble knight Sir Guy; of the tourneys that he won, of the cities that he conquered--even at the game of chess he managed to be victorious! Of course many men were sorely jealous of him and his renown, and wove plots for his ruin, but somehow or other he contrived to escape them all.

By this time Sir Guy had grown to love wandering and fighting so well that he had well-nigh forgotten who had sent him from his native land, and why he was not dwelling in his father's castle. Indeed, so wholly had the image of Felice faded from his memory, that when Ernis emperor of Constantinople, under whose banner he was serving, offered him the hand of his only daughter and half of his dominions, Sir Guy at once accepted his gifts.

The sight of the wedding-ring brought him back to his allegiance. He no longer loved Felice it is true, and he _did_ love a younger and gentler maiden. But he must abide by the oath he had sworn, though it were to his own undoing.

His grief at the loss of the princess Lorette sent Sir Guy to his bed for many days, but as soon as the fever left him he felt that he could stay at court no longer, and began to make plans to seek other adventures in company with his friend Heraud and a lion which he had saved from the claws of a dragon.

Since that day this lion had never quitted his side, except at his master's bidding, and he always slept on the floor by his master's bed.

The emperor and all his courtiers were fond of the great beast, who moved among them as freely as a kitten, but Sir Morgadour, the chief steward of the emperor of the West, who was visiting the court, had ever been Sir Guy's mortal enemy, and one evening, thinking himself unseen, gave the lion a mortal wound as he was sleeping quietly in the garden.

He had just strength enough to drag himself to Sir Guy's feet, where he died, and a damsel who had marked the cruel deed proclaimed loudly that it was done by Sir Morgadour. In an instant Sir Guy's dagger was buried in his breast; but when he grew calmer he remembered that his presence at court might bring injury upon Ernis, as the emperor of the West would certainly seize the occasion to avenge the death of his steward. So the next day he left the city, and slowly turned his face towards England.

It was some months before he arrived there, so many adventures did he meet with on the way. But directly he landed he hastened to York to throw himself at the feet of Athelstan the king.

'Ah, welcome indeed, fair son,' cried he; 'the fame of your prowess has reached us these many years past, and we have just received the news that a fearful and horrible dragon, with wings on his feet and claws on his ears, is laying waste our county of Northumberland. He is as black as any coal, and as rough as any foal, and every man who has gone out to meet him has been done to death ere he has struck a blow. Go, therefore, with all speed and deliver us from this monster, for of dragons you have slain many, and perchance this one is no more evil than the rest.'

The adventure was one after Sir Guy's own heart, and that very day he rode northwards; but even _his_ well-proved courage failed somewhat at the sight of the dragon, ten times uglier and more loathsome than any he had ever beheld. The creature roared hideously as he drew near, and stood up at his full length, till he seemed almost to stretch as far as Warwick. 'Verily,' thought Sir Guy to himself, 'the fight of old with the great Dun Cow was as the slaying of a puppy in comparison with this!'

The dragon was covered thickly with scales all over his body, his stomach as well as his back. They were polished and s.h.i.+ny and hard as iron, and so closely planted that no sword could get in between them.

'No use to strike there,' muttered Sir Guy, 'a thrust down his throat is my only chance.'

But if Sir Guy knew this, the dragon knew it much better, and, though the knight managed to jump aside and avoid the swoops of his long neck and the sudden darting of his sharp claws, he had not even tried to strike a blow himself for fear lest his sword should break in two against that s.h.i.+ning h.o.r.n.y surface. This was not the kind of warfare to which the dragon was accustomed, and he began to grow angry, as anyone might have seen by the las.h.i.+ngs of his tail and the jets of smoke and flame that poured out of his nostrils. Sir Guy felt that his chance would soon come, and waited patiently, keeping his eye for ever fixed on the dragon's mouth.

At length the monster gave a sudden spring forward, and if Sir Guy had not been watching he could scarcely have leaped out of the way. The failure to reach his prey enraged the dragon more than ever, and, opening his mouth, he gave a roar which the king heard on his throne at York. He opened his mouth; but he never shut it again, for Guy's sword was buried in it. The death struggles were short; and then Sir Guy cut off the head and bore it to the king.

After this, his first thought was for his parents, who, he found, had died many years agone, and having said a prayer over their graves, and put his affairs in order, he hurried off to Warwick to see Felice, and tell her that he had fulfilled the commands she had given him long years ago, when he was but a boy. He also told her of the ladies of high degree whose hands he had won in fair fight--won--and rejected. 'All of them I forsook for thee, Felice,' he said.

He had kept his word; but he had left his heart in Constantinople.

Perhaps Felice did not know this, or perhaps she did not set much store by hearts, and cared more for the renown that Sir Guy had won throughout Christendom. Anyhow, she received him gladly and graciously, and so did her father, and the marriage was celebrated with great pomp, and for a s.p.a.ce Sir Guy remained at home, and after a time a son was born to him.

But at the day of his son's birth Sir Guy was far away. In the quiet and idleness of the castle he began to think, and his conscience p.r.i.c.ked him sore, that all the years of his life he had done ill to many a man

And slain many a man with his hand, Burnt and destroyed many a land.

And all was for woman's love, And not for G.o.d's sake above.

'The end should be different from the beginning,' he said, and forthwith he put on the dress of a pilgrim, and took s.h.i.+p for the Holy Land, carrying with him a gold ring, given him by Felice.

Once more he came back, an old man now, summoned by Athelstan, to deliver the city of Winchester out of the hands of the Danes, who were besieging it. Once more he returned to Warwick, and, unseen, watched Felice training her son in all the duties of knighthood, and once more he spoke with her, when, dying in his hermitage, he sent her the ring by his page, and prayed her to come and give him burial.

[_Early English Metrical Romances._]

_HOW BRADAMANTE CONQUERED THE WIZARD_

Many of you will remember reading of the death of Roland, fighting against the Infidels in the Pa.s.s of Roncesvalles. Well, there is another book called 'Roland the Wrathful,' or in Italian (in which it was written), 'Orlando Furioso,' telling of the adventures of the great Paladin when he was a young man, and those of his friends. It is of one of these stories about a lady named Bradamante that you are going to hear now.

From childhood, Bradamante had loved all feats of arms, and her chiefest joy was to mount the most fiery horses in her father's stable. She grew up very tall and strong, as well as fair to see, and soon put on man's armour, and began to take her part in tournaments, and it was rare indeed that she failed to carry off the prize. In truth, it was not long before her skill was said to be equal to that of Roland's cousin, the renowned Rinaldo.

Of course so wise and beautiful a maiden had no lack of wooers, but Bradamante listened to none, save only to the brave Roger, who had quitted the Moorish court to seek adventures in the lands of Charlemagne the emperor. But she kept silence as to her love, and was content to wait till such time as Roger should think fit to claim her as his bride.

Suddenly the tidings came to her that Roger had vanished from among men, no one knew whither. As was her wont, Bradamante heard, and said nothing, but the next morning she sharpened her sword, and looked to the fastenings of her helmet, and rode off to seek him if perchance some ill had befallen him.

In this quest she met with some adventures of her own, but of these we have no time to tell. Bradamante, we may be sure, did not linger over them, but pushed on till she crossed a mountain, and reached a valley watered by a stream and shaded by large trees.

On the bank lay a young man with his head buried in his hands and seemingly in a state of deepest misery. He had flung his horse's bridle over the branch of a beech, and on the same bough he had hung his s.h.i.+eld and sword. His looks and posture were so forlorn that Bradamante was moved to pity, and he himself was nothing loth to confess his woes, pretending the while to take her for a man, though he knew well she was a maiden. He was journeying, such was his tale, to the court of Charlemagne with a company of spearmen to aid the emperor in the war he was waging with the Moorish king of Spain. In the company was riding a damsel whom the knight had but lately freed from the power of a dragon.

The beauty of this damsel had fired his heart, and as soon as the Infidel was crushed he hoped to wed her. But as they rode along by the side of a rapid river a winged horse guided by a man in black was seen hovering in the air above the troop. Swifter than lightning he swooped down upon the maiden; the rider bent low and s.n.a.t.c.hed her off her palfrey, and was out of sight in the heavens almost before he knew that she was gone.

'Since that day,' continued he, 'I have sought her through forests and over mountains, wherever I heard that a wizard's den was to be found.

But each time it was a false hope that lured me on, and now my horse is spent and not another step can he go, though at length I know that hidden among yonder rocks is my captive maiden.'

'If it is there she lies, I will free her,' cried Bradamante; but the knight shook his head more grievously than before.

'I have visited that dark and dreadful place,' he said, 'which indeed I think seems more like the valley of death than aught on this fair and lovely earth. Amidst black and pathless precipices stands a rock, and on its top is a castle whose walls are of steel. It was built, so I have since learned, by a magician, and none can capture it.'

'But did you see no man who would take pity on you, and tell you what to do?' asked Bradamante.

'As I lingered, unable to tear myself away from that loathly prison, there appeared a dwarf guiding two knights whose faces I had often seen upon the battlefield and at court. One was Grada.s.so king of Sericane, the other and more valiant was the young Roger.'

'And what did they there?' asked Bradamante, casting down her eyes.

'They had come to fight the wizard who dwells in the castle, so said the dwarf,' replied the knight, 'and I told them my sad tale, and they answered in knightly fas.h.i.+on, that as long as their lives should last they would fight for the freedom of my lady. Little need have I to tell how my bosom was rent as I stood aside waiting for the combat to begin.

'Each good knight was eager that the first blow might fall to him, but it was Grada.s.so who seized the horn and blew a blast which rang through the castle.

'In a moment there shot into the sky the winged horse bearing his master, clad as before in black armour. He hovered for a little s.p.a.ce so high that even the eagle could scarcely have followed him, then darted straight downwards, and Grada.s.so felt a spear-thrust in his side. The knight struck sharply back, but his sword cleft the empty air, for the horse was already far out of reach. Roger ran to staunch the blood and bind up the wound, never thinking of what might befall himself. But, in truth, how could mortal men fight with a wizard who had studied all the magic of the East, and had a winged horse to help him? His movements were so swift that they knew not where to smite, and both Grada.s.so and Roger were covered with wounds and bruises, while their enemy had never once been touched.

'Their strength as well as their courage began to fail in the stress of this strange warfare. The blows they dealt grew ever wilder and more feeble, when from off his s.h.i.+eld which hung upon his arm the wizard drew a silken covering, and held the s.h.i.+eld towards them as a mirror. As I looked and wondered, behold the knights fell upon their faces, and I also, and when next I opened my eyes I was alone upon the mountain.'

'And Roger?' said Bradamante.

'Roger and Grada.s.so had doubtless been carried by the wizard to the dark cells of the prison, where my fair lady lies,' answered the knight, and he again dropped his head upon his hands.

Now the knight was count Pinabello, the false son of a false race, and woe betide the man or maid who trusted him. But this Bradamante knew not, and thinking that the end of her quest was come cried joyfully:

'Oh, take me to the castle, sir knight, with all the speed you may, and I shall be beholden to you for ever!

'If you so desire it I will lead you there,' answered the knight; 'but remember that I have warned you that the danger is great! When you have climbed those walls of steel, you will find yourself a prisoner like the rest.'