ficers fetch his daughter,
and after they had been married she went with her husband into his own
country, where they lived happily till they died.

[From the _Gesia Romanorum_.]

UNA AND THE LION

Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who had only one child, a
little girl, whom they named Una, and they all lived happily at home for
many years till Una had grown into a woman.

* * * * *

It seemed as if they were some of the fortunate people to whom nothing
ever happens, when suddenly, just as everything appeared going well and
peacefully with them, a fearful dragon, larger and more horrible than
any dragon which had yet been heard of, arrived one night, seized the
king and queen as they were walking in the garden after the heat of the
day, and carried them prisoners to a strong castle. Luckily, Una was at
that moment sitting among her maidens on the top of a high tower
embroidering a kirtle, or she would have shared the same fate.

When the princess learnt what had befallen her parents, she was struck
dumb with grief, but she had been taught that no misfortune was ever
mended by tears, so she soon dried her eyes, and began to think what was
best to do, and to whom she could turn for help. She ran quickly over in
her mind the knights who thronged her father's court, but there was not
one amongst them to whose hands their rescue could be entrusted. One
spent his days in writing pretty verses to the ladies who were about the
queen, another passed his time in putting on suits more brilliant than
any worn by his friends, a third loved hawking, but did not welcome the
rough life and hard living of real warfare; no, she must seek a champion
out of her own country if her parents were to be delivered out of the
power of the dragon. Then all at once she remembered a certain Red Cross
Knight whose fame had spread even to her distant land, and, ordering her
white ass to be saddled, she set forth in quest of him.

It were long to tell the adventures Una met with on the way, but at last
she found the knight resting after a hard-won fight, and told him her
tale.

[Illustration: Sudden DEPARTURE of UNA'S PARENTS]

'Right willingly will I help you, princess,' said he, 'only you must
ride with me and guide me to the castle, for I know nothing of the
countries that lie beyond the sea;' and Una heard his words with joy,
and called softly to her ass, who was cropping the short green