tle of Drachenfels, and riding to an
eminence overlooking the island of Nonnenwoerth, he gazed long and tearfully
at a little light twinkling in one of the convent windows. As he could not
but suppose that it illumined Hildegarde's cell and lonely vigils, he
watched it all night, and when morning came he recognized his beloved's
form in the long procession of nuns on their way to the chapel.

[Sidenote: Rolandseck.] This view of the lady he loved seemed a slight
consolation to the hero, who built a retreat on this rock, which is known
as Rolandseck. Here he spent his days in penance and prayer, gazing
constantly at the island at his feet, and the swift stream which parted him
from Hildegarde.

One wintry day, many years after he had taken up his abode on the rocky
height, Roland missed the graceful form he loved, and heard, instead of the
usual psalm, a dirge for the dead. Then he noticed that six of the nuns
were carrying a coffin, which they lowered into an open tomb.

Roland's nameless fears were confirmed in the evening, when the convent
priest visited him, and gently announced that Hildegarde was at rest.
Calmly Roland listened to these tidings, begged the priest to hear his
confession as usual, and, when he had received absolution, expressed a
desire to be buried with his face turned toward the convent where
Hildegarde had lived and died.

The priest readily promised to observe this request, and departed. When he
came on the morrow, he found Roland dead. They buried him reverently on the
very spot which bears his name, with his face turned toward Nonnenwoerth,
where Hildegarde lay at rest.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SONS OF AYMON.

The different _chansons de gestes_ relating to Aymon and the necromancer
Malagigi (Malagis), probably arose from popular ballads commemorating the
struggles of Charles the Bald and his feudatories. These ballads are of
course as old as the events which they were intended to record, but the
_chansons de gestes_ based upon them, and entitled "Duolin de Mayence,"
"Aymon, Son of Duolin de Mayence," "Maugis," "Rinaldo de Trebizonde," "The
Four Sons of Aymon," and "Mabrian," are of much later date, and were
particularly admired during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

One of the most famous of Charlemagne's peers was doubtless the noble Aymon
of Dordogne; and when the war against the Avars in Hungary had been
successfully closed, owing to his bravery, his adherents besought