many combats, this brave and
wise king, was destined to end his long life in an obscure river, of
which he had probably never heard; the current was too strong for his
horse, and, nobly as the animal battled against it, both rider and steed
were drowned.

The Germans, almost frantic with grief and dismay, made frenzied efforts
to regain the body of their leader; and, when at last they succeeded,
they conveyed it with much loving care to Antioch, where it was buried
in St. Peter's Church.

With the history of the crusade after the death of our hero, we have
nothing to do further than to say that his son, Frederick, took the
chief command and led the brave followers of his gallant father until a
pestilence occasioned his death at Acre, in the following year, when the
remnant of the once formidable army returned to Germany.

[Illustration: The Death of Barbarossa.]

How Barbarossa still lingers in the hearts of his people even now, when
all these hundreds of years divide his time from theirs, is shown by
a dozen legends. Most of these profess an utter disbelief in the death
of their loved emperor; one of them tells how, in a rocky cleft of the
Klyfhaueser Mountains, Barbarossa still sleeps calmly and peacefully; he
sits before a marble table into which and through which his red beard
has grown; his head is bowed on his folded hands, and though he from
time to time lifts it and opens his eyes, it is but to shut them again
quickly, for the right time of his awakening is not come; he has seen
the ravens flying round the mountain, and his long sleep will only end
when their black forms are no longer visible, when he will step forth
and avenge the wrongs of the oppressed.

Another story says that he is lying in the Untersberg near Salzburg, and
that when the dead pear-tree which, thrice cut down, plants itself
afresh, shall bud forth and blossom, the gallant "Rothbart" will come
out into the bright daylight, hang his shield on the pink-flowered
bough, throw down his gauntlet as a gage to all evil-doers, and, aided
by the good and chivalrous few who will still be inhabitants of this bad
world, will vanquish cruelty and wickedness, and realize the dream of a
golden age they have for so long anticipated.

RICHARD COEUR DE LION

(1157-1199)

[Illustration: Richard Coeur de Lion.]

Richard I., King of England, surnamed Coeur de Lion, was the third son
of Henry II. and his queen, Eleanor, and was born at Oxford, in