any beautiful gardens.
One day in May, when the soft showers of spring had painted in
brightest colors the leaves and flowers, they spent the whole day in
the fairest of these gardens. They had games there, and they dined
under a spreading tree. The breath of the fresh green leaves and the
sweet scent of the flowers blew round them.

After dinner they began to dance and sing--every one except Dorigen.
She had no heart to sing, and she would not dance because, of all who
joined in the dance, not one was Arviragus. But, though she would not
dance, she watched her friends and sometimes forgot her sorrow for a
little.

Among the dancers there was a young squire named Aurelius. He was much
beloved because he was young, and strong, and handsome. Men thought
him wise and good, but he was not always wise and good.

When the dancing was over, Aurelius came up to Dorigen and asked her
to give him a beautiful jewel that she wore on her breast. He said to
her, "Madam, of what use is thy jewel to thee when thou wearest it on
thy bosom? Give it to me, and I will share with thee the price of it."

Dorigen turned and gazed at him.

"Is this what thou dost wish? I knew not what thou didst mean when
thou didst look at me, but now I know. Listen, this is all I have to
say to thee. I shall never part with my jewel, not though I were in
rags and without food."

Then she remembered how Arviragus had loved to see her wear her jewel,
as she always did, on a chain of gold that he had given to her on her
wedding day. She thought of the sea that separated him from her, and
of the cruel black rocks, and said in play:

"Aurelius, I will freely give thee my jewel when thou dost remove
every rock on the shore from end to end of Brittany."

Then her anger at the selfishness of Aurelius rose again, and she bade
him begone.

"Madam," he said, "it is impossible to move the rocks."

With that word he turned away, and went home to his own house. There
his brother Austin found him in a trance, for Aurelius wished
Dorigen's jewel more than he wished anything else on earth, and the
thought that he could not get it made him so sad that he became dazed.
Austin carried him to bed, and tried to soothe him in his grief and
vexation.

The jewel that Aurelius wished to get from Dorigen was no common one.
It had been given to her at her birth. It was clear as crystal, but
far more rare, and it shone in the daylight like the sun. When Dorigen
was a litt