shouting of the thunder that followed; he fell
on his face in the turf without a sound and moved no more.

Now it happened that about the time that he unsheathed the sword, it
came into the heart of the King to send a herald to the barons; for he
saw the host spread out below him on the plain, and he feared to meet
them; and the barons, too, were weary of fighting; and the King bound
himself by a great oath to uphold the law of the realm, and so the
land had peace.

The next day came a troop of men-at-arms along the hill; and they
wondered exceedingly to see a man lie on the mound with a sword in his
hand unsheathed, and partly molten. He lay stiff and cold, but they
could not tell how he came by his death, and they knew not what he had
done for the land; his hand was so tightly clenched upon the sword,
that they took it not out, but they buried him there upon the
hill-top, very near the sky, and passed on; and no man knew what had
become of him. But God, who made him and had need of him, knoweth.

RENATUS

Renatus was a Prince of Saxony that was but newly come to his
princedom; his father had died while he was a boy, and the realm had
been administered by his father's brother, a Duke of high courage and
prudence. The Duke was deeply anxious for the fate of the princedom
and his nephew's fortunes, for they lived in troubled times; the
barons of the province were strong and haughty men, with little care
for the Prince, and no thought of obedience; each of them lived in his
castle, upon a small realm of his own; the people were much
discontented with the rule of the barons, and the Duke saw plainly
enough that if a prince could arise who could win the confidence of
the people, the barons would have but little power left. Thus his care
was so to bring up the Prince Renatus that he should understand how
hard a task was before him; but the boy, though quick of apprehension,
was fond of pleasure and amusement, and soon wearied of grave
instructions; so the Duke did not persist overmuch, but strove to make
the little Prince love him and confide in him, hoping that, when the
day of trial came, he might be apt to ask advice rather than act
hastily and perhaps foolishly; but yet in this the Duke had not
perfectly succeeded, as he was by nature grave and austere, and even
his face seemed to have in it a sort of rebuke for lively and
light-minded persons. Still the Prince, though he was not at