or nights and days, waiting till his
stepmother should come.

Together they entered the hall, but at the sight of the wicked woman who
had done him such ill the wolf's bristles stood up on his back, and with
a snarl that chilled the blood of all that heard it he sprang towards
the dais. But, luckily, William was on the watch, and, flinging his arms
round the wolf's neck, he held him back, saying in a whisper:

[Illustration: THE FURY OF THE WER-WOLF]

'My dear, sweet beast, trust to me as truly as to your own brother. I
sent for her for your sake, and if she does not undo her evil spells
I will have her body burned to coals, and her ashes scattered to the
winds.'

The wicked queen knew well what doom awaited her, and that she could
resist no longer. Sinking on her knees before the wolf, she confessed
the ill she had wrought, and added:

'Sweet Alfonso, soon shall the people see your seemly face, and your
body as it would have been but for me!' At that she led the wolf into a
private chamber, and, drawing from her wallet a thread of red silk, she
bound it round a ring she wore, which no witchcraft could prevail
against. This ring she hung round the wolf's neck, and afterwards read
him some rhymes out of a book. Then the werwolf looked at his body, and,
behold, he was a man again!

There were great rejoicings at the court of Palermo when prince Alfonso
came among them once more. He forgave the queen for her wickedness, and
rebuked his father for having stirred up such a wanton and bloody war.

'Plague and famine would have preyed upon this land,' he said, 'had not
this knight, whose real name is unknown to you, come to your aid. He is
the rightful lord of this country, for he is the son of king Embrons and
queen Felice, and I am the werwolf who carried him away, to save him
from a cruel death that was planned for him by his own uncle!'

So the tale ends and everyone was made happy. The werwolf, now prince
Alfonso, married William's sister, and in due time ruled the kingdom of
Spain, and William and Melior lived at Palermo till the emperor her
father died, when the Romans offered him the crown in his stead.

And if you want to know any more about them, you must read the story for
yourselves.

(Old Romance of _William of Palermo_.)

THE SLAYING OF HALLGERDA'S HUSBANDS

If any traveller had visited Iceland nearly a thousand years ago, he
would have found the island full of busy, industrious people, who