ract of the most noted ones and
telling the legends which are found in them, which have gradually been
woven around those famous names and connected with certain localities.

[Sidenote: Charlemagne and the heavenly message.] We are told that
Charlemagne, having built a beautiful new palace for his use, overlooking
the Rhine, was roused from his sleep during the first night he spent there
by the touch of an angelic hand, and, to his utter surprise, thrice heard
the heavenly messenger bid him go forth and steal. Not daring to disobey,
Charlemagne stole unnoticed out of the palace, saddled his steed, and,
armed cap-a-pie, started out to fulfill the angelic command.

He had not gone far when he met an unknown knight, evidently bound on the
same errand. To challenge, lay his lance in rest, charge, and unhorse his
opponent, was an easy matter for Charlemagne. When he learned that he had
disarmed Elbegast (Alberich), the notorious highwayman, he promised to let
him go free if he would only help him steal something that night.

Guided by Elbegast, Charlemagne, still incognito, went to the castle of one
of his ministers, and, thanks to Elbegast's cunning, penetrated unseen into
his bedroom. There, crouching in the dark, Charlemagne overheard him
confide to his wife a plot to murder the emperor on the morrow. Patiently
biding his time until they were sound asleep, Charlemagne picked up a
worthless trifle, and noiselessly made his way out, returning home unseen.
On the morrow, profiting by the knowledge thus obtained, he cleverly
outwitted the conspirators, whom he restored to favor only after they had
solemnly sworn future loyalty. As for Elbegast, he so admired the only man
who had ever succeeded in conquering him that he renounced his dishonest
profession to enter the emperor's service.

In gratitude for the heavenly vision vouchsafed him, the emperor named his
new palace Ingelheim (Home of the Angel), a name which the place has borne
ever since. This thieving episode is often alluded to in the later romances
of chivalry, where knights, called upon to justify their unlawful
appropriation of another's goods, disrespectfully remind the emperor that
he too once went about as a thief.

[Sidenote: Frastrada's magic ring.] When Charlemagne's third wife died, he
married a beautiful Eastern princess by the name of Frastrada, who, aided
by a magic ring, soon won his most devoted affection. The new queen,
however, did not long enjoy h