"

In vain he protested that such a reply was far from satisfactory; that
he should go back as wise as he came; that it would have been better had
he stayed at home; that he should have had all his pains for nothing.
No other answer could he get. Though a courteous knight, he was yet
somewhat irascible; and this was an occasion to try the temper of a
milder man than a knight of those days. He seized the trumpet, and blew
till it refused to give forth any further sound. He handed it to De
Fistycuff, and told him to blow till he cracked his own cheeks or the
trumpet. In vain the Squire puffed and puffed, not a sound could he
produce. He holloed and shouted, and so did De Fistycuff; but to their
united voices no answer was returned. Then Sir Albert began to shower
abuse on the Enchantress; he told her some awkward truths, and called
her some names which were far from complimentary; but the only answer he
received was in shouts of hollow and mocking laughter which proceeded
out of the recesses of the cavern.

At length Sir Albert turned his horse's head, and in high dudgeon rode
off, followed by De Fistycuff, who first pocketed the gifts they had
brought to propitiate the Enchantress. Dull and dreary was their
homeward journey; and, if truth must be told, the Lord High Steward
could not help feeling remarkably small at the result of their
expedition. After having been tossed about for many days by a storm,
and made very sick in the German Ocean, they at length reached Coventry.
The master of his household, his family physician, and a numerous
assemblage of knights and ladies, rushed out of his castle to tell Sir
Albert the news. Neither an hippopotamus nor an alligator had been born
to him, but a right merry, rosy, bouncing infant. Alas! however, there
was grief in store for the gallant knight, the partner of his joys and
cares, his beautiful princess, was dead! Deeply he mourned his loss,
and then he inquired if any one could solve the mystery of the dream
which had caused him so long a journey. He found that had he waited
patiently at home, like a wise man, all would have been known. The
smiling infant was brought to him; and then, wonderful to relate, he
discovered on its breast the portrait of a green dragon, just as his
wife had described it to him; and, moreover, a blood-red cross marked on
the boy's right hand, and a golden garter below his knee on the left.

"He'll do something wonderful!" exclaimed t