na dared draw near,
dreading lest the direful fiend should stir. But when at last she knew
him dead, she came joyfully forth, and, bursting into happy tears,
faltered her gratitude for the good he had wrought her.

There is little more to be told of Una and the Red Cross knight.

The watchman on the wall, who had seen the dreadful battle, was the
first to tell the king and queen that the dragon was dead and that they
were free. Then the king commanded the trumpets to sound and the people
to assemble, so that fitting rejoicings might be made at the destruction
of their foe.

This being done, a mighty procession came down, headed by the king and
queen, to lay laurel boughs at the feet of the victor, and to set a
garland of bay on the head of the maiden. Once more Duessa and
Archimago sought to prevent the betrothal of the Red Cross Knight and
Una by a plot to send the wizard in the guise of a messenger,
proclaiming the knight to have been already bound to the daughter of the
emperor, but the false tale was easily seen through, and Archimago
thrown into a dungeon.

After that the king himself performed the marriage rite, and a solemn
feast was held through the land, but the wedded pair were not long left
together. A vow the knight had made when he received his spurs to do the
Faerie Queen six years of service called him from Una's side, and, sad
though the parting might be, both held their word too high ever to break
it.

[From _The Faerie Queene_.]

_AMYS AND AMYLE_

Some time in the Middle Ages there lived in the Duchy of Lombardy,
which, as everybody knows, is part of Italy, two knights, who loved each
other like brothers. And, what is more to be wondered at, their wives
were the best friends in the world. To complete the happiness of the two
couples, two little boys were born to them on the same day, and they
were given the names of Amys and Amyle.

* * * * *

Now it generally happens that when parents are very anxious for their
children to be friends, because they are the same age, or neighbours, or
for some equally good reason, the young people make up their minds to
hate each other. However, Amys and Amyle did not disappoint their
fathers and mothers in this way. From the moment they could walk they
were never seen apart; if they ever _did_ quarrel no one ever heard of
it; and by the time they were twelve years old they had grown so like
each other that even their p