aside theirs. Our author says he cannot
express the surprise, the admiration, and the tenderness of the Emperor
and his peers. Charles folded Ogier in his arms, and the happy fathers
of those brave youths embraced them with tears of joy. The good Duke
Namo stepped forward, and Charlemagne yielded Ogier to his embrace.
"How much do I owe you," he said, "good and wise friend, for having
restrained my anger! My dear Ogier! I owe you my life! My sword leaps
to touch your shoulder, yours and those of your brave young friends."
At these words he drew that famous sword, Joyeuse, and while Ogier and
the rest knelt before him, gave them the accolade conferring on them
the order of knighthood. The young Orlando and his cousin Oliver could
not refrain, even in the presence of the Emperor, from falling upon
Ogier's neck, and pledging with him that brotherhood in arms, so dear
and so sacred to the knights of old times; but Charlot, the Emperor's
son, at the sight of the glory with which Ogier had covered himself,
conceived the blackest jealousy and hate.

The rest of the day and the next were spent in the rejoicings of the
army. Turpin in a solemn service implored the favor of Heaven upon the
youthful knights, and blessed the white armor which was prepared for
them. Duke Namo presented them with golden spurs, Charles himself
girded on their swords. But what was his astonishment when he examined
that intended for Ogier! The loving Fairy, Morgana, had had the art to
change it, and to substitute one of her own procuring, and when Charles
drew it out of the scabbard, these words appeared written on the steel:
"My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and
Durindana." Charles saw that a superior power watched over the
destinies of Ogier; he vowed to love him as a father would, and Ogier
promised him the devotion of a son. Happy had it been for both if they
had always continued mindful of their promises.

The Saracen army had hardly recovered from its dismay when Carahue,
King of Mauritania, who was one of the knights overthrown by Ogier at
the time of the rescue of Charlemagne, determined to challenge him to
single combat. With that view he assumed the dress of a herald,
resolved to carry his own message. The French knights admired his air,
and said to one another that he seemed more fit to be a knight than a
bearer of messages.

Carahue began by passing the warmest eulogium upon the knight who bore
the Oriflamme on