o sleep under a tree.

He was awakened some hours later by the sound of voices singing a hymn,
and, raising his head, he saw a vast crowd of people trooping down to
the shore to hold the festival of their goddess, and in their midst
walked the high priest crowned with a wreath of roses.

At this sight hope was born afresh in the heart of Apuleius. It was long
indeed since he had beheld any roses, for Thyasus fancied they made him
ill, and would not suffer anyone to grow them in the city. So he drew
near to the priest as he passed by, and gazed at him so wistfully that,
moved by some sudden impulse, the pontiff lifted the wreath from his
head, and held it out to him, while the people drew on one side, feeling
that something was happening which they did not understand.

Scarcely had Apuleius swallowed one of the roses, when the ass's skin
fell from him, his back straightened itself, and his face once more
became fair and rosy. Then he turned and joined in the hymn, and there
was not a man among them all with a sweeter voice or more thankful
spirit than that of Apuleius.

[Apuleius, _The Golden Ass_.]

_GUY OF WARWICK_

Everyone knows about the famous knight Sir Guy, the slayer of the great
Dun Cow which had laid waste the whole county of Warwick. But besides
slaying the cow, he did many other noble deeds of which you may like to
hear, so we had better begin at the beginning and learn who Sir Guy
really was.

The father of Guy, Segard the Wise, was one of the most trusty
councillors of the powerful earl of Warwick and Oxford, who was feared
as well as loved by all, as a man who would suffer no wrong through the
lands which he governed.

Now the earl had long noted the beauty and strength of Segard's young
son, and had enrolled him amongst his pages and taught him all manner of
knightly exercises. He even was versed in the art of chess-playing, and
thus whiled away many a wet and gloomy day for his master, and for his
daughter the fair Felice, learned in astronomy, geometry, and music, and
in all else that professors from the schools of Toulouse and Spain could
teach a maiden.

It happened one Pentecost that the earl of Warwick ordered a great
feast, followed by a tourney, to be held in the open space near the
castle, and tents to be set up for dancing and players on the lute and
harp. At these tourneys it was the custom of every knight to choose out
his lady and to wear her token or colours on his helmet