called him back; and instantly, as if well taught, he perched on the king’s wrist, when it seemed to him that after he had taken the falcon by its lure, and given him his reward, the hart flew back again over the wood, and replaced the king on the same heath whence he had carried him, and where the constable was waiting, who was much rejoiced at his return. On his arrival he dismounted: the hart returned to the wood, and was no more seen. The king then, as he imagined, related to the constable how well the hart had carried him, and that he had never rode so easy before in his life; and also the goodness of his falcon, who had struck down such numbers of birds: to all which the constable willingly listened. The servants then seemed to come after them with their horses, which, having mounted, they followed a magnificent road that brought them back to Arras. The king at this part awakened, much astonished at the vision he had seen, which was so imprinted on his memory that he told it to some of his attendants who were waiting in his chamber. The figure of this hart was so agreeable to him, that he could not put it out of his imagination; and this was the cause why, on this expedition to Flanders against the Flemings, he took a flying hart for his device. CHAPTER XIV. KING CHARLES, AT THE INSTIGATION OF THE EARL OF FLANDERS, WHO WAS PRESENT, ASSEMBLES HIS ARMY IN ARTOIS AGAINST THE FLEMINGS.--PHILIP VON ARTAVELD GUARDS THE PASSES INTO FLANDERS. The King of France, like one who was desirous of marching to Flanders to abase the pride of the Flemings, as his predecessors had formerly done, set his secretaries at work, and sent his letters and summons by messengers to all parts of his kingdom, ordering every one to hasten to Arras without delay, accoutred each according to his rank in the best manner he was able; for, if it were God’s pleasure, he was determined to fight the Flemings in their own country. No lord of his realm disobeyed; but all sent orders to their vassals, and marched from the most distant countries, such as Auvergne, Rouergue, Toulousain, Gascony, Poitou, Limousin, Saintonge, and Brittany: others came from the Bourbonois, Forêts, Burgundy, Dauphiné, Savoy, Bar, and Lorrain, and from all parts of France and its dependencies, to Arras. The assemblage of such numbers of men at arms was a wonderful, beautiful sight. The Earl of Flanders resided at Hêdin, and heard daily, from the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy, of the great levies which were making, and in consequence issued a proclamation throughout Artois forbidding any one, under pain of losing his life and fortune, to withdraw any thing whatever from house, fortress, or town; for he was desirous that the men at arms who were marching to Artois should have the advantage of being served with whatever was in the Low Countries.