Yet the chief glory of this regal court was the band of Paladins, (Palace knights), sworn to the Emperor and to each other—Roland of Brittany, Oliver of Genoa, Ogier the Dane, Richard of Normandy, Guy of Burgundy, Rinaldo of the White Thorn, Terry of Ardennes, old Neymes of Bavaria, and the rest. Save perhaps at that Round Table of King Arthur, never was there gathered together such a company of heroes as these Douzepeers. All the world of christendom and paynimry resounded with their fame.
Amid one of these high festivals there arrived messengers spurring hotly from Nager. White-faced,
they told of the coming of a Moorish giant hight Ferragus. He sent defiance to Charles and all his knights. Men said no weapon might harm him, while he himself was possessed of twenty men's strength.
Also he was surrounded by a reputation of magic art; for as Valentine and Orson later discovered, his home was on an island far to the south. Here glittered a strong castle of shining metal; and in a chamber therein stood on a pillar a marvellous brazen head, "composed a long time ago by the necromancy of a magician, which Head was of such an excellent composition, that it gave Answer to anything that was demanded." In addition he had for servitor one Pacolet, a dwarf, a very cunning wizard, who had made a wooden horse that would carry him through the air whithersoever he would. Natheless, be what he might, the Saracen challenger must be met, for the honor of knighthood. The Emperor therefore marched to Nager and pitched his camp there.
When the giant appeared from the city next morning, all were aghast at the sight. He was twelve cubits high, and the fingers which gripped his huge brand were three palms in length. From his loathly dark face his eyebrows stuck out like stiff pig's bristles. A hideous and fell creature he looked, and when the French knights beheld his monstrous thews they had little desire to seek "los" in that encounter.
Bold Ogier the Dane, however, demanded the honor of the fight. Carefully he armed himself, chose the heaviest lance he could find, and mounted his stoutest charger. Then he sped forth over the plain before
the watching army. When he approached the giant, he set spurs to his horse and thundered down upon him with a speed and force that seemed irresistible.
With utter indifference the monster received the spear point on his shield, and the tough wood flew to pieces. Ferragus was not even staggered by the onset. He stepped forward, thrust a great arm about Ogier, lifted him bodily from his horse, and, despite all the struggles of this renowned warrior, carried him off beneath his arm to the castle, no more disturbed than a falcon is by the fluttering of the prey in his talons.
Next there came against him Rinaldo of the White Thorn, but he fared no better, being seized and borne away in the same manner.
Scornfully the giant taunted the French king: