“Even Prince John, in admiration of Locksley’s skill, lost for an instant his dislike to his person. ‘These twenty nobles,’ he said, ‘which, with the bugle, thou hast fairly won, are thine own; we will make them fifty, if thou wilt take livery and service with us as a yeoman of our bodyguard, and be near to our person. For never did so strong a hand bend a bow, or so true an eye direct a shaft.’ ”[[71]]
Locksley, however, declares that it is impossible for him to enter the Prince’s service, generously shares his prize with the worthy Hubert, and retires once more to his beloved haunts among the lights and shadows of the good greenwood.
CHARLEMAGNE.
From painting by Dürer in the Museum at Nuremburg.
CHARLEMAGNE RECEIVING HIS GUESTS.
Original drawing by Byam Shaw.
LEGENDS OF CHARLEMAGNE
INTRODUCTION
Those who have investigated the origin of the romantic fables relating to Charlemagne and his peers are of opinion that the deeds of Charles Martel, and perhaps of other Charleses, have been blended in popular tradition with those properly belonging to Charlemagne. It was indeed a most momentous era; and if our readers will have patience, before entering on the perusal of the fabulous annals which we are about to lay before them, to take a rapid survey of the real history of the times, they will find it hardly less romantic than the tales of the poets.