Chapter 24

CHAPTER XXIV.
OGIER, THE DANE. OGIER, the Dane, was the son of Geoffroy, who wrested Denmark from
the Pagans, and reigned the first Christian king of that country. When
Ogier was born, and before he was baptized, six ladies of ravishing
beauty appeared all at once in the chamber of the infant. They
encircled him, and she who appeared the eldest took him in her arms,
kissed him, and laid her hand upon his heart. "I give you," said
she, "to be the bravest warrior of your times." She delivered the
infant to her sister, who said, "I give you abundant opportunities
to display your valor." "Sister," said the third lady, "you have given
him a dangerous boon; I give him that he shall never be vanquished."
The fourth sister added, as she laid her hand upon his eyes and his
mouth, "I give you the gift of pleasing." The fifth said, "Lest all
these gifts serve only to betray, I give you sensibility to return the
love you inspire." Then spoke Morgana, the youngest and handsomest
of the group, "Charming creature, I claim you for my own; and I give
you not to die till you shall have come to pay me a visit in my isle
of Avalon." Then she kissed the child and departed with her sisters.
After this the king had the child carried to the font and baptized
with the name of Ogier.
In his education nothing was neglected to elevate him to the
standard of a perfect knight, and render him accomplished in all the
arts necessary to make him a hero.
He had hardly reached the age of sixteen years, when Charlemagne,
whose power was established over all the sovereigns of his time,
recollected that Geoffroy, Ogier's father, had omitted to render the
homage due to him as Emperor, and sovereign lord of Denmark, one of
the grand fiefs of the empire. He accordingly sent an embassy to
demand of the king of Denmark this homage, and on receiving a refusal,
couched in haughty terms, sent an army to enforce the demand.
Geoffroy, after an unsuccessful resistance, was forced to comply,
and as a pledge of his sincerity delivered Ogier, his eldest son, a
hostage to Charles, to be brought up at his court. He was placed in
charge of the Duke Namo of Bavaria, the friend of his father, who
treated him like his own son.
Ogier grew up more and more handsome and amiable every day. He
surpassed in form, strength, and address all the noble youths his
companions; he failed not to be present at all tourneys; he was
attentive to the elder knights, and burned with impatience to
imitate them. Yet his heart rose sometimes in secret against his
condition as a hostage, and as one apparently forgotten by his father.
The king of Denmark, in fact, was at this time occupied with new
loves. Ogier's mother having died, he had married a second wife, and
had a