achieve impossibilities. But all was of no avail, and he knew not which
way to turn, when one of those events occurred which are so frequent
under Turkish despotisms. A courier arrived at the court of the Sultan,
bearing the ring of his sovereign, the mighty Agrapard, Caliph of
Arabia, and bringing the bow-string for the neck of Gaudisso. No reason
was assigned; none but the pleasure of the Caliph is ever required in
such cases; but it was suspected that the bearer of the bow-string had
persuaded the Caliph that Gaudisso, whose rapacity was well known, had
accumulated immense treasures, which he had not duly shared with his
sovereign, and thus had obtained an order to supersede him in his
Emirship.

The body of Gaudisso would have been cast out a prey to dogs and
vultures, had not Sherasmin, under the character of nephew of the
deceased, been permitted to receive it, and give it decent burial,
which he did, but not till he had taken possession of the beard and
grinders, agreeably to the orders of Charlemagne.

No obstacle now stood in the way of the lovers and their faithful
follower in returning to France. They sailed, taking Rome in their way,
where the Holy Father himself blessed the union of his nephew, Duke
Huon of Bordeaux, with the Princess Clarimunda.

Soon afterward they arrived in France, where Huon laid his trophies at
the feet of Charlemagne, and, being restored to the favor of the
Emperor, hastened to present himself and his bride to the Duchess, his
mother, and to the faithful liegemen of his province of Guienne and his
city of Bordeaux, where the pair were received with transports of joy.

OGIER, THE DANE

OGIER, the Dane, was the son of Geoffrey, who wrested Denmark from the
Pagans, and reigned the first Christian king of that country. When
Ogier was born, and before he was baptized, six ladies of ravishing
beauty appeared all at once in the chamber of the infant. They
encircled him, and she who appeared the eldest took him in her arms,
kissed him, and laid her hand upon his heart. "I give you," said she,
"to be the bravest warrior of your times." She delivered the infant to
her sister, who said, "I give you abundant opportunities to display
your valor." "Sister," said the third lady, "you have given him a
dangerous boon; I give him that he shall never be vanquished." The
fourth sister added, as she laid her hand upon his eyes and his mouth,
"I give you the gift of pleasing." The fifth said, "