es was heard above; and the fairies vanished
in a burst of sunbeams, and were seen no more. And when the queen's
maidens came soon afterward into the chamber, they found the child
smiling in his mother's arms. But she was cold and lifeless: her
spirit had flown away to fairyland.

HOW CHARLEMAGNE CROSSED THE ALPS

It was near the time of the solemn festival of Easter,--the time when
Nature seems to rise from the grave, and the Earth puts on anew her
garb of youth and beauty. King Charlemagne was at St. Omer; for there
the good Archbishop Turpin was making ready to celebrate the great
feast with more than ordinary grandeur. Thither, too, had come the
members of the king's household, and a great number of lords and
ladies, the noblest in France.

Scarcely had the good archbishop pronounced a blessing upon the devout
multitude assembled at the Easter service, when two messengers came in
hot haste, and demanded to speak with the king. They had come from
Rome, and they bore letters from Pope Leo. Sad was the news which
these letters brought, but it was news which would fire the heart of
every Christian knight. The Saracens had landed in Italy, and had
taken Rome by assault. "The pope and the cardinals and the legates
have fled," said the letters; "the churches are torn down; the holy
relics are lost; and the Christians are put to the sword. Wherefore
the Holy Father charges you as a Christian king to march at once to the
help of the Church."

It needed no word of Charlemagne to arouse the ardor of his warriors.
Every other undertaking must be laid aside, so long as Rome and the
Church were in danger. And the heralds proclaimed that on the morrow,
at break of day, the army would move southward toward Italy.

The morning after Easter dawned, and the great army waited for the
signal to march. The bugles sounded, and the long line of steel-clad
knights and warriors began to move. Charlemagne rode in the front
ranks, ready, like a true knight, to brave every difficulty, and to be
the first in every post of danger. Never did a better king wear spur.

Great was the haste with which the army moved, and very impatient were
the warriors; for the whole of France lay between them and fair Italy,
and they knew that weeks of weary marching must be endured, ere they
could meet their Pagan foe in battle, and drive him out of the
Christians' land.

Many days they rode among the rich fields and between the blooming