should they ask concerning me, Oh, say, "He is a cavalier, Who truly
serves and valiantly, In tourney and festivity, With lute and sword,
each lady fair!"

CHAPTER 1

On a beautiful evening, many hundred years ago, a worthy old fisherman
sat mending his nets. The spot where he dwelt was exceedingly
picturesque. The green turf on which he had built his cottage ran far
out into a great lake; and this slip of verdure appeared to stretch into
it as much through love of its clear waters as the lake, moved by a like
impulse, strove to fold the meadow, with its waving grass and flowers,
and the cooling shade of the trees, in its embrace of love. They seemed
to be drawn toward each other, and the one to be visiting the other as a
guest.

With respect to human beings, indeed, in this pleasant spot, excepting
the fisherman and his family, there were few, or rather none, to be
met with. For as in the background of the scene, toward the west and
north-west, lay a forest of extraordinary wildness, which, owing to its
sunless gloom and almost impassable recesses, as well as to fear of the
strange creatures and visionary illusions to be encountered in it, most
people avoided entering, unless in cases of extreme necessity. The pious
old fisherman, however, many times passed through it without harm, when
he carried the fine fish which he caught by his beautiful strip of land
to a great city lying only a short distance beyond the forest.

Now the reason he was able to go through this wood with so much ease may
have been chiefly this, because he entertained scarcely any thoughts but
such as were of a religious nature; and besides, every time he crossed
the evil-reported shades, he used to sing some holy song with a clear
voice and from a sincere heart.

Well, while he sat by his nets this evening, neither fearing nor
devising evil, a sudden terror seized him, as he heard a rushing in the
darkness of the wood, that resembled the tramping of a mounted steed,
and the noise continued every instant drawing nearer and nearer to his
little territory.

What he had fancied, when abroad in many a stormy night, respecting
the mysteries of the forest, now flashed through his mind in a moment,
especially the figure of a man of gigantic stature and snow-white
appearance, who kept nodding his head in a portentous manner. And when
he raised his eyes towards the wood, the form came before him in perfect
distinctness, as he saw the noddi