er power, for a dangerous illness overtook
her. When at the point of death, fearful lest her ring should be worn by
another while she was buried and forgotten, Frastrada slipped the magic
circlet into her mouth just before she breathed her last.

Solemn preparations were made to bury her in the cathedral of Mayence
(where a stone bearing her name could still be seen a few years ago), but
the emperor refused to part with the beloved body. Neglectful of all
matters of state, he remained in the mortuary chamber day after day. His
trusty adviser, Turpin, suspecting the presence of some mysterious
talisman, slipped into the room while the emperor, exhausted with fasting
and weeping, was wrapped in sleep. After carefully searching for the magic
jewel, Turpin discovered it, at last, in the dead queen's mouth.

"He searches with care, though with tremulous haste,
For the spell that bewitches the king;
And under her tongue, for security placed,
Its margin with mystical characters traced,
At length he discovers a ring."
SOUTHEY, _King Charlemain_.

[Sidenote: Turpin and the magic ring.] To secure this ring and slip it on
his finger was but the affair of a moment; but just as Turpin was about to
leave the room the emperor awoke. With a shuddering glance at the dead
queen, Charlemagne flung himself passionately upon the neck of his prime
minister, declaring that he would never be quite inconsolable as long as he
was near.

Taking advantage of the power thus secured by the possession of the magic
ring, Turpin led Charlemagne away, forced him to eat and drink, and after
the funeral induced him to resume the reins of the government. But he soon
wearied of his master's constant protestations of undying affection, and
ardently longed to get rid of the ring, which, however, he dared neither to
hide nor to give away, for fear it should fall into unscrupulous hands.

Although advanced in years, Turpin was now forced to accompany Charlemagne
everywhere, even on his hunting expeditions, and to share his tent. One
moonlight night the unhappy minister stole noiselessly out of the imperial
tent, and wandered alone in the woods, cogitating how to dispose of the
unlucky ring. As he walked thus he came to a glade in the forest, and saw a
deep pool, on whose mirrorlike surface the moonbeams softly played.
Suddenly the thought struck him that the waters would soon close over and
conceal th