ts on arms
and hands and neck were of bright gold, and he was carving fresh
chessmen from a rod of solid gold. Beside him sat, on a golden chair,
a maiden (the loveliest in the whole world she seemed, and still
seems, to me). White was her inner dress under a golden overdress, her
crown of gold adorned with rubies and pearls, and a golden girdle
encircled her slender waist. The beauty of her face won my love in
that moment, and I knelt and said: 'Hail, Empress of Rome!' but as she
bent forward from her seat to greet me I awoke. Now I have no peace
and no joy except in sleep, for in dreams I always see my lady, and in
dreams we love each other and are happy; therefore in dreams will I
live, unless ye can find some way to satisfy my longing while I wake."

[Illustration: The dream of the Emperor]

The Quest for the Maiden

The senators were at first greatly amazed, and then one of them said:
"My lord, will you not send out messengers to seek throughout all your
lands for the maiden in the castle? Let each group of messengers
search for one year, and return at the end of the year with
tidings. So shall you live in good hope of success from year to year."
The messengers were sent out accordingly, with wands in their hands
and a sleeve tied on each cap, in token of peace and of an embassy;
but though they searched with all diligence, after three years three
separate embassies had brought back no news of the mysterious land and
the beauteous maiden.

Then the groom of the chamber said to Maxen Wledig: "My lord, will you
not go forth to hunt, as on the day when you dreamt this enthralling
dream?" To this the emperor agreed, and rode to the place in the
valley where he had slept. "Here," he said, "my dream began, and I
seemed to follow the river to its source." Then the groom of the
chamber said: "Will you not send messengers to the river's source, my
lord, and bid them follow the track of your dream?" Accordingly
thirteen messengers were sent, who followed the river up until it
issued from the highest mountain they had ever seen. "Behold our
emperor's dream!" they exclaimed, and they ascended the mountain, and
descended the other side into a most beautiful and fertile plain, as
Maxen Wledig had seen in his dream. Following the greatest river of
all (probably the Rhine), the ambassadors reached the great seaport on
the North Sea, and found the fleet waiting with one vessel larger than
all the others; and they entered the