Folklore -- Ireland -- Juvenile literature; Folklore -- Wales -- Juvenile literature
From this position Olger watched with wild anxiety the standard of
King Charles as it waved in the forefront of the battle. He saw the
armies come together and heard a crash that rent the sky. Then the
standard waved in triumph; but suddenly it fell--then rose again; and
anon he saw with horror that the band of the Emperor's chosen knights
had been repulsed, and that Sir Alory, the standard-bearer, had
turned his horse, and was fleeing for his very life. In a moment
Olger had rushed down the slope, and, flinging himself on the bridle
of Sir Alory's horse, he snatched the standard from his hand, crying:
"Coward, go home with all the speed you may, and live among women for
the rest of your life, but leave the noble banner, Refuge of France,
with me."
The terrified Alory was easily disarmed; and Olger, ordering a squire
to dress him in the standard-bearer's armour, sprang on a horse and,
sword in one hand and banner in the other, rushed into the thick of
the fight.
He soon found that Duke Naymes and many other nobles had been held
prisoners behind the array of the paynims, and, with the fierceness
of a young lion, he cut his way through to them, freed their bonds
with his sword, and forced a way through the enemy both for himself
and for them. And wherever he appeared among the heathen host, he
slew so many that he was protected, as it were, by a rampart of the
dead. Presently he heard the King cry loudly for help, and, spurring
in the direction of the sound, found that Dannemont had killed his
horse under him, and that he was down, and hard pressed on every
side. Then Olger, waving the standard on high, rushed upon the
paynim, and soon cleared a free space about the King, and mounted him
on a fresh horse. And in the same way on three separate occasions he
saved the life of Charles. At length, with Olger at their head and
the battle-cry of "Montjoy" on their lips, the King and his host
drove the paynims back to the city gates.
When the fight was over, the Emperor Charles ordered the
standard-bearer to be brought before him; and when Olger appeared,
with his visor closed, he thought it had been Alory, and said to him:
"Alory, though with grief I saw you flee at the onset, you have most
nobly redeemed your honour. Three times have you saved my life, and
I know not how to reward you fitly. I will make you ruler of any
province you may choose in my kingdom, and you shall be my
lieutenant, and fight in my quarrel in all disputes touching the
crown of France."
But a squire who stood by spoke up, and said: "Sire, this is not that
Alory of whom you speak. He bowed the colours, and fled for his
life, at the first onset; but this young knight seized the standard
from his hands, while I helped to dress him in Alory's armour; but
who he is I know not."
Then Olger took off his helmet, and knelt down, and said: "Have pity,
sire, on Godfrey, King of Denmark, and let his son atone for his
offence and be your faithful vassal in his stead."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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