Then she bade men take him alive, and throw him, guilty as he was, into a dried-up well--nor did her subjects hesitate. And there, joyless and famished, weighed down with chains, was he to abide in his grief for the space of seven nights. And upon the seventh day, weakened by sorrow, weary, 695 and without food--his strength was broken--he began to call aloud:--'I beseech you by the God of the heavens that ye release me from this misery, 700 for I am brought low by the pangs of starvation. Joyfully will I show forth the holy tree--no longer can I hide it now by reason of my hunger. This durance is too fearful, this need too great, and this torture too bitter day by day. No longer can I 705 endure to suffer, and conceal my knowledge concerning the tree of life, though before I was filled with folly, and confess the truth too late.' 11. THE FINDING OF THE CROSSES. When she who there held sway over the heroes understood the changed bearing of the man, she 710 straightway bade release him from his prison, his dungeon, his narrow cell. Then quickly they did so, and took him out of the pit with care, as the queen had bidden them. And they resolutely 715 took their way to that place upon the hill where the Lord was crucified on the cross, the Son of God and Prince of the heavenly realm. Weakened by hunger, he knew not yet clearly where through 720 the wiles of the devil the holy rood lay hid beneath the earth, nor where it rested in its tomb, safe in a secret place, long hidden from men.