n open space, and in the midst of it a tall tree. Under the tree
is a fountain, and by the fountain a marble slab, and on the slab a bowl
of silver, with a silver chain. Dip the bowl in the fountain, and throw
the water on the slab, and thou wilt hear a might peal of thunder, till
heaven and earth seem trembling with the noise. After the thunder will
come hail, so fierce that scarcely canst thou endure it and live, for
the hailstones are both large and thick. Then the sun will shine again,
but every leaf of the tree will by lying on the ground. Next a flight
of birds will come and alight on the tree, and never didst thou hear a
strain so sweet as that which they will sing. And at the moment in which
their song sounds sweetest thou wilt hear a murmuring and complaining
coming towards thee along the valley, and thou wilt see a knight in
black velvet bestriding a black horse, bearing a lance with a black
pennon, and he will spur his steed so as to fight thee. If thou turnest
to flee, he will overtake thee. And if thou abidest were thou art, he
will unhorse thee. And if thou dost not find trouble in that adventure,
thou needest not to seek it during the rest of thy life."

'So I bade the black man farewell, and took my way to the top of the
wood, and there I found everything just as I had been told. I went up to
the tree beneath which stood the fountain, and filling the silver bowl
with water, emptied it on the marble slab. Thereupon the thunder came,
louder by far than I had expected to hear it, and after the thunder came
the shower, but heavier by far than I had expected to feel it, for, of a
truth I tell thee, Kai, not one of those hailstones would be stopped by
skin or by flesh till it had reached the bone. I turned my horse's flank
towards the shower, and, bending over his neck, held my shield so that
it might cover his head and my own. When the hail had passed, I looked
on the tree and not a single leaf was left on it, and the sky was blue
and the sun shining, while on the branches were perched birds of very
kind, who sang a song sweeter than any that has come to my ears, either
before or since.

'Thus, Kai, I stood listening to the birds, when lo, a murmuring voice
approached me, saying:

'"O knight, what has brought thee hither? What evil have I done to thee,
that thou shouldest do so much to me, for in all my lands neither man
nor beast that met that shower has escaped alive." Then from the valley
appeared the kn