d know.'

'Oh, tell me, good tree, how I can escape without crossing the path of
the cruel Alcina?' cried Roger.

'There _is_ a way,' answered the tree, 'but it is rough to the feet, and
beset by fierce and ill-tongued men, placed there by the fairy. He who
would quit Alcina's isle needs open eyes and deaf ears.'

'I will have both,' said Roger.

But, alas! he boasted overmuch, as young men are wont to do. He was
indeed in no wise affrighted at the strange shapes that met him and
sought to bar his progress. Some had heads of apes and feet of goats;
some rode eagles or bestrode cranes; while the captain of all was
mounted on a tortoise. They swarmed on him like a crowd of flies, and
Roger was so sore bested that he gave no thought to his magic shield,
which perchance might have saved him.

For into the _melee_ came two maidens of such wondrous beauty that Roger
dropped his lance and stood without defence to gaze his fill. Two
snow-white unicorns bore them from the city gates, and, at their coming,
the noisy rabble vanished as if they had never been. Then the ladies
stretched out their hands, and prayed the knight to follow them into the
city.

'We have need of your brave heart and mighty arm,' they said, 'to
vanquish a giantess who guards a bridge which none can pass'; and well
they knew that, if Roger was to be ensnared by them, it must be by slow
degrees, for not all at once would he drop into the idle life of the
dwellers on the island.

So, nothing loth, Roger gladly did their behest, and went forth to meet
the giantess.

The fight did not last long, and soon the monstrous creature lay
stretched on the ground at Roger's feet; but her life was spared at the
request of the damsels, and at their bidding he followed them over the
bridge and up a hill. On the top was a large meadow full of flowers, in
which maidens were playing at ball or singing sweet songs on the lute,
while others were dancing.

In their midst was a damsel so fair that the rest, even the guides of
Roger, looked swarthy beside her, and she came forth from among them,
and held out her hand for him to kiss.

Vain it were to seek to tell Alcina's charms, but even as his eyes fell
on her Roger felt that everything said by Astolfo in her despite was
false. Even Bradamante was forgotten, as if she had never lived at all;
yet for this Roger was hardly to blame, for how should he stand against
Alcina's magic!

* * * *