'Twas a page who brought the tidings--'Ah me! that pavilion fair! Wouldst thou pledge thy crown and thy kingdom not half of its cost were there!' 'Thou needst not to praise so highly, my mouth ne'er shall say thee nay, 65 A rich man shall be its owner, no lack doth he know alway.' And in this wise she spake, the lady, the fair and gracious queen, 'Why cometh he not to the castle? For fain I his face had seen.' This she bade her page to ask him--Then the hero was fain to make Brave entry into the city, and the sleepers must needs awake. 70 Many shields he saw fair shining--The blast of the trumpets clear Rang loud and long before him, and two drummers ye needs must hear As they tossed and smote their tambours, and the walls echoed back the sound, With the notes of the flutes 'twas mingled as the train through the city wound, 'Twas a march that they played so gaily--Nor forget we how he must ride 75 Their master and lord, he followed with the fiddlers his rein beside. Then he threw his leg o'er his charger, that hero so bold and fair, And boots did he wear of leather, or else had his limbs been bare. And his mouth it was e'en as a ruby, and red, as a fire doth burn, And full, not too thin; fair his body wherever the eye might turn; 80 And fair was his hair and curling, and wherever one saw the skin I ween 'twas as costly cover as ever a head might win. And of samite green was his mantle, and the sable shone dark thereon Tho' white was his vest, and the gazers they came in a goodly throng. And many must ask the question, 'Who was he, the beardless knight 85 Who rode with such pomp of riches?' Then the tale it was spread aright, For they spake it as truth who knew it--So they drew to the bridge anear The folk of the town, and his people; and so bright was the radiance clear That shone from the queen that it thrilled him thro' his strong limbs, that goodly knight, And he braced himself as a falcon that plumeth its wings for flight, 90 And the lodging he deemed it goodly; so thought he that hero wise; And his hostess with joy beheld him, the lady of fair Waleis!