sed and slain; and as for myself I shall have to die--and all
this for a fault which is none of mine, and for a deed which I have
neither wished nor sanctioned."

And the words of Duke Fromont were true. The death of Bego of Belin
was fearfully avenged by his brother the Lorrainer and by his young
sons Gerin and Hernaud. Never was realm so impoverished as was
Fromont's dukedom. The Lorrainers and the Gascons overran and laid
waste the whole country. A pilgrim might go six days' journey without
finding bread, or meat, or wine. The crucifixes lay prone upon the
ground; the grass grew upon the altars; and no man stopped to plead
with his neighbor. Where had been fields and houses, and fair towns
and lordly castles, now there was naught but woods and underbrush and
thorns. And old Duke Fromont, thus ruined through no fault of his own,
bewailed his misfortunes, and said to his friends, "I have not land
enough to rest upon alive, or to lie upon dead."

[1]The original of this tale is found in "The Song of the Lorrainers,"
a famous poem written by Jehan de Flagy, a minstrel of the twelfth
century. In the "Story of Roland" it is supposed to have been related
at the court of Charlemagne by a minstrel of Lorraine.

[2]_The vair and the gray_,--furs used for garments, and in heraldry.
Vair is the skin of the squirrel, and was arranged in shields of blue
and white alternating.

OGIER THE DANE AND THE FAIRIES

When Ogier the Dane was but a babe in his mother's arms, there was
heard one day, in his father's castle, the sweetest music that mortals
ever listened to. Nobody knew whence the bewitching sounds came; for
they seemed to be now here, now there: yet every one was charmed with
the delightful melody, and declared that only angels could make music
so heavenly. Then suddenly there came into the chamber where Ogier lay
six fairies, whose beauty was so wonderful and awful, that none but a
babe might gaze upon them without fear. And each of the lovely
creatures bore in her hands a garland of the rarest flowers, and rich
gifts of gold and gems. And the first fairy took the child in her
arms, and kissed him, and said,--

"Better than kingly crown, or lands, or rich heritage, fair babe, I
give thee a brave, strong heart. Be fearless as the eagle, and bold as
the lion; be the bravest knight among men."

Then the second fairy took the child, and dandled him fondly on her
knees, and looked long and lovingly int