r
of the Tartar Prince was shivered into a thousand fragments; but the
Welsh Knight, with true gallantry, let his fall by his side, and grasped
his battle-axe, that they might light on equal terms. Already, however,
had the spear inflicted a desperate wound on the Prince's side; but his
pride would not let him yield. Now sparks of fire flew thickly around
them from the extraordinary rapidity of their strokes, so that they
appeared to be fighting in the midst of a furnace (so Owen the faithful
Squire ever afterwards averred), till at length Saint David's axe
descended with force so terrific on the helm of the Tartar Prince that
he clove it in two, nor did the cruel weapon stop till it had pierced
the brain of the hapless heir to the throne of the great Emperor of
Tartary.

When the spectators beheld what had occurred, loud cries of grief,
anger, and dismay rent the air; the great Emperor and all his courtiers,
from the highest to the lowest, crying louder than anyone else. The
lists were immediately broken up, and the Emperor, ordering the Welsh
Knight to be brought before him, retired into his palace. The obsequies
of that precious jewel of Tartary, now dimmed by death, being concluded,
the Emperor, having ceased his woeful lamentations and sad sighs, thus
addressed the Welsh Champion:--

"Know that there dwells on the borders of Tartary a mighty Magician,
Ormandine by name who holds an enchanted castle and garden, within the
magic walls of which whoever enters never again returns. Now truly,
although thou deservest death for what thou hast done, yet if thou wilt
adventure into the Magician's domains, and bring hither his head, I
grant thee not only life, but therewithal the crown of Tartary after my
death."

This strange adventure highly pleased the noble Champion of Wales, and
he expressed himself ready forthwith to depart about it. On which the
Emperor bound him by his oath of knighthood, and by the love he bore his
native country, never to follow any other adventure till he had
performed the promise he now had given.

In three days he and the faithful Owen, having made all preparation,
were ready to set out.

Travelling eastward for many a weary day, though conversing pleasantly
to beguile the way, they at length reached the confines of a dreadful
forest, the trees twisting and twining in every direction, and briars
and creepers of all sorts, with long thorns and hooks, hanging from all
the branches. M