Legends of Charlemagne eBook

Thomas Bulfinch
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 344 pages of information about Legends of Charlemagne.

Legends of Charlemagne eBook

Thomas Bulfinch
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 344 pages of information about Legends of Charlemagne.

The meadow round was all full of lilies of the valley and wild roses.  Angelica, not knowing what to do, at length plucked a handful of these, and dropped them, one by one, on the face of the sleeper.  He woke up, and, seeing who it was, received her salutations with averted countenance, remounted his horse, and galloped away.  In vain the beautiful creature followed and called after him, in vain asked him what she had done to be so despised.  Rinaldo disappeared, leaving her in despair, and she returned in tears to the spot where she had found him sleeping.  There, in her turn, she herself lay down, pressing the spot of earth on which he had lain, and, out of fatigue and sorrow, fell asleep.

As Angelica thus lay, fortune conducted Orlando to the same place.  The attitude in which she was sleeping was so lovely that it is not to be conceived, much less expressed.  Orlando stood gazing like a man who had been transported to another sphere.  “Am I on earth,” he exclaimed, “or am I in Paradise?  Surely it is I that sleep, and this is my dream.”

But his dream was proved to be none in a manner which he little desired.  Ferrau, who had slain Argalia, came up, raging with jealousy, and a combat ensued which awoke the sleeper.

Terrified at what she beheld, she rushed to her palfrey, and, while the fighters were occupied with one another, fled away through the forest.  The champions continued their fight till they were interrupted by a messenger, who brought word to Ferrau that king Marsilius, his sovereign, was in pressing need of his assistance, and conjured him to return to Spain.  Ferrau, upon this, proposed to suspend the combat, to which Orlando, eager to pursue Angelica, agreed.  Ferrau, on the other hand, departed with the messenger to Spain.

Orlando’s quest for the fair fugitive was all in vain.  Aided by the powers of magic, she made a speedy return to her own country.

But the thought of Rinaldo could not be banished from her mind, and she determined to set Malagigi at liberty, and to employ him to win Rinaldo, if possible, to make her a return of affection.  She accordingly freed him from his dungeon, unlocking his fetters with her own hands, and restored him his book, promising him ample honors and rewards on condition of his bringing Rinaldo to her feet.

Malagigi accordingly, with the aid of his book, called up a demon, mounted him, and departed.  Arrived at his destination, he inveigled Rinaldo into an enchanted bark, which conveyed him, without any visible pilot, to an island where stood an edifice called Joyous Castle.  The whole island was a garden.  On the western side, close to the sea, was the palace, built of marble, so clear and polished that it reflected the landscape about it.  Rinaldo leapt ashore, and soon met a lady, who invited him to enter.  The house was as beautiful within as without, full of rooms adorned with azure and gold, and with noble paintings.  The lady led the knight into an apartment

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Project Gutenberg
Legends of Charlemagne from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.