And nobody grudged Roger and Bradamante their
happiness, for they had waited so long for it, and worked so hard for
it.

[From _Orlando Furioso_.]

THE KNIGHT OF THE SUN

Once upon a time two little boys were born, and the elder had on his
breast the image of a sun, which shone so brightly that the ladies who
were waiting on his mother, the princess Briane, were forced to shut
their dazzled eyes. On the breast of the younger one lay a pink rose,
and it was hard to believe that the flower had not been newly flung
there, so fresh was its colour and so vivid its green.

So the elder baby was called in after years 'the Knight of the Sun';
while his little brother was known as Rosiclair.

Now it happened that their mother, the princess Briane, had been
secretly married to Trebatius, emperor of Constantinople, who had
courted her under the name of prince Theodoart. Soon after their
marriage her husband, while riding through the forest, had been
astonished at the sight of a magnificent chariot which dashed furiously
along the road, and, as it passed, he felt sure that his wife, the
princess Briane, was seated inside. Without losing a moment, he turned
his horse instantly round, and followed the chariot, but, spur his steed
as he might, it was impossible to overtake it. However, he rode on as
fast as the thick creepers and fallen trees would let him in the
direction in which the chariot had disappeared, and at last he left the
forest behind him and entered a beautiful meadow.

Here the emperor paused in surprise, for in front of him stood the
greatest and finest castle he had ever seen, which would have held
thirty thousand men with ease. At each corner was a large tower, while a
wide moat of clear water would have kept a large army at bay. Happily
for the emperor's curiosity, the drawbridge was at the moment let down,
so he knocked at the door, which straightway opened to him, and boldly
entered the castle.

He looked around the magnificent hall to see some traces of his wife,
but, instead, a powerful odour stole gradually over his senses. At the
same instant a golden curtain was drawn aside, and a lady whose beauty
dazzled his eyes glided up to him and laid her hand on his shoulder.

'You belong to me now,' she said, as she led him away; and twenty years
went by before the emperor again left the castle.

* * * * *

Meanwhile the little boys were carried away in the night by o