took up his lodging there. And when it was night the weather became so foul, black, dark, and such a tempest of lightning and thunder, that all those who were there became so terrified that they could not for fear move hand or foot, but lay on the ground like dead men. The proud Payn was very much frightened but he put his trust in God, whose sign of the cross he carried with him, and saw that he could have no help but from God. He lay upon the ground, and with good devotion prayed God and his mother Mary that they would defend him that night from the power of the devil. Hardly had he finished his prayer, when the fiend came in the semblance of Geomagog, and he carried a great club in his hand, and from his mouth cast fire and smoke, with which the whole town was illuminated. Payn had a good hope in God, and signed himself with a cross, and boldly attacked the fiend. The fiend raised his club and would have struck Payn, but he avoided the blow. The devil, by virtue of the cross, was all struck with fear, and lost his strength, for he could not approach the cross. Payn pursued him till he struck him with his sword; then he began to cry out, and fell flat on the ground, and yielded himself vanquished. ‘Knight,’ said he, ‘you have conquered me, not by your own strength, but by virtue of the cross which you carry.’ ‘Tell me,’ said Payn, ‘you foul creature, who you are and what you do in this town, I conjure you, in the name of God and of the Holy Cross.’ The fiend began to relate from word to word as the Briton had said before; and told how, when Geomagog was dead, he immediately rendered his soul to Beelzebub, their prince, and he entered the body of Geomagog, and came in his semblance into these parts, and kept the great treasure which Geomagog had collected and put into a house he had made underground in that town. Payn demanded of him, ‘What kind of creature he was?’ and he said, ‘He was formerly an angel, but now is, by his forfeit, a diabolical spirit.’ ‘What treasure,’ said Payn, ‘had Geomagog?’ ‘Oxen, cows, swans, peacocks, horses, and all other animals, made of fine gold; and there was a golden bull, which, through me, was his prophet, and in him was all his belief; and he told him the events that were to come; and twice a year the giants used to honour their god, the golden bull, whereby so much gold is collected that all this country was called ‘The White Land.’ And I and my companion inclosed the land with a high wall and deep fosse, so that there was no entrance except through this town, which was full of evil spirits.’ ‘Now, you shall tell me,’ said Payn, ‘where is the treasure of which you have spoken?’ ‘Vassal,’ said he, ‘speak no more of that, for it is destined for others; but you shall be lord of all this honour.’”