Chapter 23 - Page 2

worse. For when Huon said, "Sir knight, thank God for
your deliverance,"- "Thank Mahomet, rather, yourself," said he, "for
he has led you this day to render service to no less a personage
than the Prince of Hyrcania."
At the sound of this blasphemy Huon drew his sword and turned upon
the miscreant, who, little disposed to encounter the prowess of
which he had so lately seen proof, betook himself to flight. He ran to
Huon's horse, and, lightly vaulting on his back, clapped spurs to
his side, and galloped out of sight.
The adventure was vexatious, yet there was no remedy. The prince and
Sherasmin continued their journey with the aid of the remaining
horse as they best might. At length, as evening set in, they
descried the pinnacles and towers of a great city full before them,
which they knew to be the famous city of Bagdad.
They were wellnigh exhausted with fatigue when they arrived at its
precincts, and in the darkness, not knowing what course to take,
were glad to meet an aged woman, who, in reply to their inquiries,
offered them such accommodations as her cottage could supply. They
thankfully accepted the offer, and entered the low door. The good dame
busily prepared the best fare her stores supplied,- milk, figs, and
peaches,- deeply regretting that the bleak winds had nipped her
almond-trees.
Sir Huon thought he had never in his life tasted any fare so good.
The old lady talked while her guests ate. She doubted not, she said,
they had come to be present at the great feast in honor of the
marriage of the Sultan's daughter, which was to take place on the
morrow. They asked who the bridegroom was to be, and the old lady
answered, "The Prince of Hyrcania," but added, "Our princess hates
him, and would rather wed a dragon than him." "How know you that?"
asked Huon; and the dame informed him that she had it from the
princess herself, who was her foster-child. Huon inquired the reason
of the princess's aversion; and the woman, pleased to find her chat
excite so much interest, replied that it was all in consequence of a
dream. "A dream!" exclaimed Huon. "Yes! a dream. She dreamed that
she was a hind, and that the Prince, as a hunter, was pursuing her,
and had almost overtaken her, when a beautiful dwarf appeared in view,
drawn in a golden car, having by his side a young man of yellow hair
and fair complexion, like one from a foreign land. She dreamed that
the car stopped where she stood, and that, having resumed her own
form, she was about to ascend it, when suddenly it faded from her view
and with it the dwarf and the fair-haired youth. But from her heart
that vision did not fade, and from that time her affianced bridegroom,
the Hyrcanian prince, had become odious to her sight. Yet the
Sultan, her