all the damsels in Brittany essayed the feat, but none of them
succeeded and each retired sorrowfully from the ordeal.

Meanwhile the aged King had set his wife in a tower of grey marble,
where she suffered agonies because of the absence of her lover. Ever
she wondered what had happened to him, if he had regained his native
shore or whether he had been swallowed up by the angry sea. Frequently
she made loud moan, but there were none to hear her cries save
stony-hearted gaolers, who were as dumb as the grey walls that
enclosed her.

One day she chanced in her dolour to lean heavily upon the door of her
prison. To her amazement it opened, and she found herself in the
corridor without. Hastening on impulse, and as if by instinct, to the
harbour, she found there her lover's ship. Quickly she climbed upon
its deck, and scarcely had she done so than the vessel began to move
seaward. In great fear she sat still, and in time was wafted to a part
of Brittany governed by one named Meriadus, who was on the point of
going to war with a neighbouring chieftain.

From his window Meriadus had seen the approach of the strange vessel,
and, making his way to the seashore, entered the ship. Struck with the
beauty of the Queen, he brought her to his castle, where he placed her
in his sister's chamber. He strove in every way to dispel the sadness
which seemed to envelop her like a mantle, but despite his efforts to
please her she remained in sorrowful and doleful mood and would not be
comforted. Sorely did Meriadus press her to wed him, but she would
have none of him, and for answer showed him the girdle round her
waist, saying that never would she give her love to any man who could
not unloose its buckle. As she said this Meriadus seemed struck by her
words.

"Strange," he said, "a right worthy knight dwells in this land who
will take no woman to his wife save she who can first untie a certain
crafty knot in his shift. Well would I wager that it was you who tied
this knot."

When the Queen heard these words she well-nigh fainted. Meriadus
rushed to succour her, and gradually she revived. Some days later
Meriadus held a high tournament, at which all the knights who were to
aid him in the war were to be present, among them Gugemar. A festival
was held on the night preceding the tournament, at which Meriadus
requested his sister and the stranger dame to be present. As the Queen
entered the hall Gugemar rose from his place and stared at h