the emperor, but
William did not move.

'I fear lest harm should befall him through me,' he answered, 'and that
shall never be.' But the emperor smiled as he heard him.

'Not harm, but good,' he said; and William took courage and hastened
down the path to the cottage.

'I am the emperor,' said the stranger, when the boy and the cowherd
returned together. 'Tell me truly, is this your son?'

Then the cowherd, trembling all over, told the whole story, and when he
had finished the emperor said quietly:

'You have done well, but from to-day the boy shall be mine, and shall
grow up with my daughter.'

The heart of the cowherd sank as he thought how sorely he and his wife
would miss William, but he kept silence. Not so William, who broke into
sobs and wails.

'I should have fared ill if this good man and his wife had not taken me
and nourished me. I know not whence I came or whither I shall go! None
can be so kind as they have been.'

'Cease weeping, fair child,' said the emperor, 'some day you shall be
able to reward the good that they have done you;' and then the cowherd
spoke and gave him wise counsel how to behave himself at court.

'Be no teller of tales, and let your words be few. Be true to your lord,
and fair of speech to all men; and seek to help the poor when you may.'

'Set him on my horse,' said the emperor, and, though William wept still
as he bade farewell to the cowherd, and sent a sorrowful greeting to his
wife and to his playfellows Hugonet, and Abelot, and Akarin, yet he was
pleased to be riding in such royal fashion, and soon dried his tears.

They reached the palace at last, and the emperor led William into the
hall, and sent a messenger for Melior, his daughter.

'I have brought home a present for you,' he cried, as she entered; 'and
be sure to treat him as you would your brother, for he has come of
goodly kindred, though now he does not know where he was born, or who
was his father.' And with that he told her the tale of how he had found
the boy in the wood.

'I shall care for him willingly,' answered Melior, and she took him
away, and saw that supper was set before him, and clothes provided for
him, and made him ready for his duties as page to the emperor.

So the boy and girl grew up together, and everyone loved William, who
was gentle and pleasant to all, and was skilled in what a gentleman
should know. Wise he was too, beyond his years, and the emperor kept him
ever at his side, and t