ride.'
The maiden laughed, but Alda sighed, and gravely shook her head.
'Full rich,' quoth she, 'shall thy guerdon be, if thou the truth hast
said.'
'Tis morn; her letters, stained with blood, the truth too plainly tell,
How, in the chase of Ronceval, Sir Roland fought and fell."
_Lady Alda's Dreams_ (Sir Edmund Head's tr.).

[Sidenote: Legend of Roland and Hildegarde.] A later legend, which has
given rise to sundry poems, connects the name of Roland with one of the
most beautiful places on the Rhine. Popular tradition avers that he sought
shelter one evening in the castle of Drachenfels, where he fell in love
with Hildegarde, the beautiful daughter of the Lord of Drachenfels. The
sudden outbreak of the war in Spain forced him to bid farewell to his
betrothed, but he promised to return as soon as possible to celebrate their
wedding. During the campaign, many stories of his courage came to
Hildegarde's ears, and finally, after a long silence, she heard that Roland
had perished at Roncesvalles.

Broken-hearted, the fair young mourner spent her days in tears, and at last
prevailed upon her father to allow her to enter the convent on the island
of Nonnenworth, in the middle of the river, and within view of the gigantic
crag where the castle ruins can still be seen.

"The castled crag of Drachenfels
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of water broadly swells
Between the banks which bear the vine,
And hills all rich with blossomed trees,
And fields which promise corn and wine,
And scattered cities crowning these,
Whose fair white walls along them shine."
BYRON, _Childe Harold_.

With pallid cheeks and tear-dimmed eyes, Hildegarde now spent her life
either in her tiny cell or in the convent chapel, praying for the soul of
her beloved, and longing that death might soon come to set her free to join
him. The legend relates, however, that Roland was not dead, as she
supposed, but had merely been sorely wounded at Roncesvalles.

When sufficiently recovered to travel, Roland painfully made his way back
to Drachenfels, where he presented himself late one evening, eagerly
calling for Hildegarde. A few moments later the joyful light left his eyes
forever, for he learned that his beloved had taken irrevocable vows, and
was now the bride of Heaven.

That selfsame day Roland left the cas