, "all thy
people revile thee." "Wherefore do they revile me?" asked the emperor.
"Because they can get neither message nor answer from thee, as men should
have from their lord. This is the cause why thou art spoken evil of."
"Youth," said the emperor, "do thou bring unto me the wise men of Rome,
and I will tell them wherefore I am sorrowful."

Then the wise men of Rome were brought to the emperor, and he spake to
them. "Sages of Rome," said he, "I have seen a dream. And in the dream
I beheld a maiden, and because of the maiden is there neither life, nor
spirit, nor existence within me." "Lord," they answered, "since thou
judgest us worthy to counsel thee, we will give thee counsel. And this
is our counsel; that thou send messengers for three years to the three
parts of the world, to seek for thy dream. And as thou knowest not what
day or what night good news may come to thee, the hope thereof will
support thee."

So the messengers journeyed for the space of a year wandering about the
world, and seeking tidings concerning his dream. But when they came back
at the end of the year they knew not one word more than they did the day
they set forth. And then was the emperor exceeding sorrowful, for he
thought that he should never have tidings of her whom best he loved.

Then spoke the king of the Romans unto the emperor. "Lord," said he, "go
forth to hunt by the way that thou didst seem to go, whither it were to
the east or to the west." So the emperor went forth to hunt, and he came
to the bank of the river. "Behold," said he, "this is where I was when I
saw the dream, and I went towards the source of the river westward."

And thereupon thirteen messengers of the emperor's set forth, and before
them they saw a high mountain, which seemed to them to touch the sky. Now
this was the guise in which the messengers journeyed; one sleeve was on
the cap of each of them in front; as a sign that they were messengers, in
order that through what hostile land soever they might pass no harm might
be done them. And when they were come over this mountain they beheld
vast plains, and large rivers flowing therethrough. "Behold," said they,
"the land which our master saw."

And they went along the mouths of the rivers, until they came to the
mighty river which they saw flowing to the sea, and the vast city, and
the many-coloured high towers in the castle. They saw the largest fleet
in the world, in the harbour of the river,