as they could see. Hunger and thirst
they suffered, and death felt very near them, when at last they reached
a tiny hut, before which an old man was sitting. At the sight of Huon,
thin and wasted as he had grown, the old man broke into sobs, crying
that his face was like unto the face of the duke of Bordeaux, whom he
had known when he was young.

'Thirty years have I dwelt in these deserts,' said he, 'and never have
my eyes lighted on the face of a Christian man.'

Then Huon answered that he was indeed the son of the duke of Bordeaux
whom he had known in his youth, and while they rested each man told his
tale.

'It is indeed good fortune that guided you here,' said Gerames when Huon
had ended his story, 'for without me and my counsel never would you have
reached the kingdom of Babylon. There are two roads which lead to that
great city; one will take you forty days, and the other fifteen days,
but if you will be ruled by me you will travel by the longer.'

'And wherefore?' asked Huon, whose body was still sore from the
hardships he had suffered, and whose ears had been tickled with the
tidings of the soft couches and lovely gardens of Babylon the Great.

'The short way leads through a wood which is the home of fairies and
other strange creatures,' answered Gerames, 'and in it dwells Oberon,
the king of them all, in stature no higher than a child of three years
old, but with a face more beautiful than any worn by mortal man. His
voice is softer and his words more sweet than we are wont to use; but
beware of listening to them, for should you speak to him one word, you
will fall into his power for ever. But if you hold your peace think not
to escape that way, for he will be so wroth with you that he will cause
all manner of tempests to spring up, and a great and black river to rise
before you. Fear not to pass this river, black and swift though it be,
for it is but a fantasy, and will not even wet the feet of your horse.
And now that I have told you the ills that lie in that wood, I pray you
hearken to my counsel, and ride by the way that is longer.'

Huon paused before he answered. In sooth, Gerames' words had not
awakened dread in his soul. Instead, he desired greatly to meet that
dwarf, and to try whose will should prove strongest. So he answered that
it would ill become a knight, and the son of his father, to shun a
meeting with anyone, be he man or fairy, and it might be well for him to
take the short road, for m