e has a vision of
Roland.

The mythic element is practically lacking in the French legends, but in
Germany some part of the Odin myth was associated with Charles's name.
The constellation of the Great Bear, generally associated with Odin, is
Karlswagen in German, and Charles's Wain in English. According to
tradition in Hesse, he awaits resurrection, probably symbolic of the
triumph of the sun over winter, within the Gudensberg (Hill of Odin).
Bavarian tradition asserts that he is seated in the Untersberg in a
chair, as in his tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle. His white beard goes on
growing, and when it has thrice encircled the stone table before him the
end of the world will come; or, according to another version, Charles
will arise and after fighting a great battle on the plain of Wals will
reign over a new Germany. There were medieval chroniclers who did not
fear to assert that Charles rose from the dead to take part in the
Crusades. In the MS. _Annales S. Stephani Frisingenses_ (15th century),
which formerly belonged to the abbey of Weihenstephan, and is now at
Munich, the childhood of Charlemagne is practically the same as that of
many mythic heroes. This work, generally known as the chronicle of
Weihenstephan, gives among other legends a curious history of the
emperor's passion for a dead woman, caused by a charm given to Charles
by a serpent to whom he had rendered justice. The charm was finally
dropped into a well at Aix, which thenceforward became Charles's
favourite residence. The story of Roland's birth from the union of
Charles with his sister Gilles, also found in German and Scandinavian
versions, has abundant parallels in mythology, and was probably
transferred from mythology to Charlemagne.

The Latin chronicle, wrongly ascribed to Turpin (Tilpinus), bishop of
Reims from 753 to 800, was in reality later than the earlier poems of
the French cycle, and the first properly authenticated mention of it is
in 1165. Its primary object was to authenticate the relics of St James
at Compostella. Alberic Trium Fontium, a monk of the Cistercian
monastery of Trois Fontanes in the diocese of Chalons, embodied much
poetical fiction in his chronicle (c. 1249). A large section of the
_Chronique rimee_ (c. 1243) of Philippe Mousket is devoted to
Charlemagne's exploits. At the beginning of the 14th century Girard of
Amiens made a dull compilation known as _Charlemagne_ from the _chansons
de gests_, authentic history and the pseudo-