aced the proposal, and
being provided with horse and armor by the damsel, set forth on his
enterprise, the lady accompanying him.

As they rode she explained the dangers of the quest. The armor was
defended by a champion, one of the numerous unsuccessful adventurers
for the prize, all of whom had been made prisoners by the fairy, and
compelled to take their turn, day by day, in defending the arms against
all comers. Thus speaking they arrived at the castle, which was of
alabaster, overlaid with gold. Before it, on a lawn, sat an armed
knight on horseback, who was none other than Gradasso, king of
Sericane, who, in his return home from his unsuccessful inroad into
France, had fallen into the power of the fairy, and was held to do her
bidding. Mandricardo, upon seeing him, dropt his visor, and laid his
lance in rest. The champion of the castle was equally ready, and each
spurred towards his opponent. They met one another with equal force,
splintered their spears, and, returning to the charge, encountered with
their swords. The contest was long and doubtful, when Mandricardo,
determined to bring it to an end, threw his arms about Gradasso,
grappled with him, and both fell to the ground. Mandricardo, however,
fell uppermost, and, preserving his advantage, compelled Gradasso to
yield himself conquered. The damsel now interfered, congratulating the
victor, and consoling the vanquished as well as she might.

Mandricardo and the damsel proceeded to the gate of the castle, which
they found undefended. As they entered they beheld a shield suspended
from a pilaster of gold. The device was a white eagle on an azure
field, in memory of the bird of Jove, which bore away Ganymede, the
flower of the Phrygian race. Beneath was engraved the following couplet:

"Let none with hand profane my buckler wrong
Unless he be himself as Hector strong."

The damsel, alighting from her palfrey, made obeisance to the arms,
bending herself to the ground. The Tartar king bowed his head with
equal reverence; then advancing towards the shield, touched it with his
sword. Thereupon an earthquake shook the ground, and the way by which
he had entered closed. Another and an opposite gate opened, and
displayed a field bristling with stalks and grain of gold. The damsel,
upon this, told him that he had no means of retreat but by cutting down
the harvest which was before him, and by uprooting a tree which grew in
the middle of the field. Mandricard