On one occasion, while on an errand to the town, he had witnessed a
tournament, and the brilliant spectacle of beauty and chivalry had
lingered in his memory and fired his boyish enthusiasm, so that
thenceforth he was possessed by 'divine discontent.' The romance of the
ancient forests wherein he dwelt fostered his strange longings, and in
fancy he already saw himself a knight, fighting in the wars, jousting in
the lists, receiving, perchance, the prize of the tourney from the fair
hands of its queen. And, indeed, in all save birth and station he was
well fitted for the profession of arms--handsome, brave, spirited, and
withal gentle and courteous.

Time passed, and his ambitions seemed as far as ever from realization.
Yet the ambitious mind lacks not fuel for its fires; the youth's
imagination peopled the woody solitudes with braver company than
courts could boast--vivid, unreal dream-people, whose shadowy presence
increased his longing for the actuality. The very winds whispered
mysteriously of coming triumphs, and as he listened his unrest grew
greater. At length there came a time when dreams no longer satisfied
him, and he pondered how he might attain his desires.

"I will go out into the world," he said to himself, "and take service
under some great knight. Then, peradventure--"

At this point his musings were interrupted by the approach of an old
man, clad in the garb of a hermit.

"My son," he said, "what aileth thee? Nay"--as the youth looked up in
astonishment--"nay, answer me not, for I know what thou wouldst have.
Yet must thou not forsake thy lowly occupation; that which thou dost
seek will only come to thee whilst thou art engaged thereon. Follow me,
and I will show thee the spot where thy destiny will meet thee."

The young man, not yet recovered from his surprise, followed his aged
guide to a distant part of the forest. Then the hermit bade him farewell
and left him to ponder on the cryptic saying: "Here thy destiny will
meet thee."

"Time will show the old man's meaning, I suppose," he said to himself;
"in any case, I may as well burn charcoal here as elsewhere."

He set to work, hewed down some great trees, and built a kiln, which,
before lighting, he covered with stony earth. What was his amazement
when, on removing the cover of the kiln in due course, he discovered
within some pieces of pure gold! A moment's reflection convinced him
that the precious metal must have been melted out of the ston