“I found you, my dear Rosalinde, because you were good and charitable.”
Then he told how he had returned from the Crusades to a ruined castle.
“I questioned the peasants around, who said Hanno had besieged it, and that you and the children had escaped. Then I led my train against him and took him prisoner, and sent out horsemen to find word of you. It seemed they would never come back, and when they did my heart almost broke, for although they had scoured the land they had no news. There was one, however, who did not return, and thinking he had been killed, I gave up hope. But six weeks later he came with a strange story, and gave me a colored egg, and imagine my joy, to find upon it in your own handwriting, the motto of my house:
“In God’s protecting goodness trust,
For He will aid the kind and just.”
Then, continuing the story, Lord Arno told how he had gone in the guise of a pilgrim to the home of the peasant from whom the cavalier received the egg, and learning that his wife and children were in the valley, had come seeking them.
Word that the lovely woman had been found by her husband soon traveled throughout the village, and the people, young and old, came to welcome him.
He was a true and valiant knight and thanked them for their kindness to his loved ones, for the Lady Rosalinde had told him of her stay in the valley, and of how good and gentle the peasants were.
“And now, my dear friends,” he said, “to show you how grateful I am, I promise to give a fine, big cow to every family in the village. And every year at Easter time, my wife and I will send colored eggs to the children, not only to those of this valley, but to every boy and girl in the realm.”
Then Lord Arno and his family departed, rebuilt their ruined castle, and lived happily there. But they never forgot the charcoal burners in the valley, and every year sent quantities of gay eggs to the children. As years passed the custom spread from country to country, until now colored eggs are given at Easter time to children in every Christian land.