ed of the custom of all the Templars, Lohengrin sprang into the
boat, and was rapidly borne away, to the sound of mysterious music.

[Sidenote: Else of Brabant.] While Lohengrin was swiftly wafted over the
waters, Else, Duchess of Brabant, spent her days in tears. She was an
orphan, and, as she possessed great wealth and extensive lands, many were
anxious to secure her hand. Among these suitors her guardian, Frederick of
Telramund, was the most importunate; and when he saw that she would never
consent to marry him, he resolved to obtain her inheritance in a different
way.

One day, while Else was wandering alone in the forest, she rested for a
moment under a tree, where she dreamed that a radiant knight came to greet
her, and offered her a little bell, saying that she need but ring it
whenever she required a champion. The maiden awoke, and as she opened her
eyes a falcon came gently sailing down from the sky and perched upon her
shoulder. Seeing that he wore a tiny bell like the one she had noticed in
her dream, Else unfastened it; and as the falcon flew away, she hung it on
her rosary.

A few days later Else was in prison, for Frederick of Telramund had accused
her of a great crime. He said that she had received the attentions of a man
beneath her, or, according to another version, that she had been guilty of
the murder of her brother. Henry the Fowler, Emperor of Germany, hearing of
this accusation, came to Cleves, where, as the witnesses could not agree,
he ordered that the matter should be settled by a judicial duel.

[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF LOHENGRIN.--Pixis.]

Frederick of Telramund, proud of his strength, challenged any man to prove
him mistaken at the point of the sword. But no champion appeared to fight
for Else, who, kneeling in her cell, beat her breast with her rosary, until
the little silver bell attached to it rang loudly as she fervently prayed,
"O Lord, send me a champion." The faint tinkling of the bell floated out of
the window, and was wafted away to Montsalvatch. It grew louder and louder
the farther it traveled, and its sound called the knights into the temple,
where Lohengrin received his orders from the Holy Grail.

The day appointed for the duel dawned, and just as the heralds sounded the
last call for Else's champion to appear, the swan boat glided up the Rhine,
and Lohengrin sprang into the lists, after thrice blowing his magic horn.

[Sidenote: Else rescued by Lohengrin.] With a God-sen