father's
confidence. Yet, as I am loth that any more fair youths should lose
their lives for my sake, I will give you this counsel. You must first
pass through a forest, which is the home of a lady who is known to
all as the "Lady of Solace." Go to her, and she will give you the help
you need to journey safely through the garden.'

[Illustration: The Lady of Solace]

The princess had scarcely finished these words when the voice of the
chamberlain was heard without, bidding him withdraw, and, glancing
gratefully at her, the knight bowed low and took his leave.

In the great hall the chamberlain quitted him, telling him to take his
ease and rest till the emperor should return, but instead the knight
waited till he was alone and then plunged straight into the forest.

He walked on for a little way till he reached a green space, and there
he stopped and cried, 'Where is the Lady of Solace?' Then he sat down on
a stone and waited. In a short time he saw coming towards him two
ladies, one bearing a basin and the other a cloth.

'We give you greeting, sir,' they said; 'the Lady of Solace has sent us
to you, and she bids you first wash your feet in this basin, and then go
with us to her palace.' So the knight washed his feet, and dried them in
the white cloth, and rose up and went with the ladies to the palace,
which was built of blue marble, and the fairest that ever he saw. The
Lady of Solace was fair likewise and of a marvellous sweet countenance,
and her voice was soft like the voice of a thrush as she asked him what
he wanted with her. At that the knight told his errand, and how the
princess had bade him come to her, for she alone could help him to win
through the enchanted garden.

'I am called the Lady of Solace,' said she, with a smile which seemed
made up of all the beautiful things in the world, 'and I give succour to
all those who need it. Here is a ball of thread; take it and bind it
round the post of the gate of the garden, and hold fast the thread in
your hand, unwinding it as you go. For if you lose the clue, you will
perish like those before you. And more. A lion dwells in the garden, who
will spring out and devour you, as he has devoured the rest. Therefore,
arm yourself with armour, and see that the armour be anointed thickly
with ointment. When the lion sees you, he will take your arm or your leg
into his mouth, and his teeth shall stick fast in the ointment, and when
you sunder yourself from him his t