I did not make this song,
That I sing, that I sing!
When the king at last managed to stop laughing for a few minutes, he translated the lines so that every one could hear.
At first Count William looked very blank; then, realizing how cleverly the tables had been turned upon him and he had been caught in his own prank, he enjoyed the joke as much as anybody, and laughed the loudest of all. Indeed, such a “Ha, ha!” as went up through the whole banquet-hall was never before heard, and the very rafters seemed to shake with glee.
The good king was so delighted with the entertainment that he called Count Reynaurd and Count William both before him, and taking a hand of each, he declared that the jeweled collar must be divided equally between them. He at once ordered his goldsmiths to set to work to make it into two collars instead of one; which they could very easily do, as it was so wide and heavy.
Then the king had a lovely silver cup brought in for Pierrot, because of his cleverness in the Latin tongue; and afterward the whole company of troubadours and minnesingers and pages sat down and feasted so merrily that, years later, when Pierrot himself grew to be a famous troubadour, he used often to sing, in the castles of the French nobles, of the gaiety of that great festival.
THE LOST RUNE
THE LEGEND OF A LOST POEM AND THE ADVENTURES
OF LITTLE ELSA IN RESTORING
IT TO HER PEOPLE
Eery, airy,
Elf and fairy,