distressed them most of all was to find on the grass the cuirass of
Orlando, and not far from it his helmet, the same which the renowned
Almontes once wore.

Hearing a horse neigh in the forest, Zerbino turned his eyes in that
direction, and saw Brigliadoro, with the bridle yet hanging at the
saddle-bow. He looked round for Durindana, and found that famous sword,
without the scabbard, lying on the grass. He saw also the fragments of
Orlando's other arms and clothing scattered on all sides over the plain.

Zerbino and Isabella stood in astonishment and grief, not knowing what
to think, but little imagining the true cause. If they had found any
marks of blood on the arms or on the fragments of the clothing, they
would have supposed him slain, but there were none. While they were in
this painful uncertainty they saw a young peasant approach. He, not yet
recovered from the terror of the scene, which he had witnessed from the
top of a rock, told them the whole of the sad events.

Zerbino, with his eyes full of tears, carefully collected all the
scattered arms. Isabella also dismounted to aid him in the sad duty.
When they had collected all the pieces of that rich armor they hung
them like a trophy on a pine; and to prevent their being violated by
any passers-by, Zerbino inscribed on the bark this caution: "These are
the arms of the Paladin Orlando."

Having finished this pious work, he remounted his horse, and just then
a knight rode up, and requested Zerbino to tell him the meaning of the
trophy. The prince related the facts as they had happened; and
Mandricardo, for it was that Saracen knight, full of joy, rushed
forward, and seized the sword, saying, "No one can censure me for what
I do; this sword is mine; I can take my own wherever I find it. It is
plain that Orlando, not daring to defend it against me, has
counterfeited madness to excuse him in surrendering it."

Zerbino vehemently exclaimed, "Touch not that sword. Think not to
possess it without a contest. If it be true that the arms you wear are
those of Hector, you must have got them by theft, and not by prowess."

Immediately they attacked one another with the utmost fury. The air
resounded with thick-falling blows. Zerbino, skilful and alert, evaded
for a time with good success the strokes of Durindana; but at length a
terrible blow struck him on the neck. He fell from his horse, and the
Tartar king, possessed of the spoils of his victory, rode away.