Day after day did the duke endeavor to withdraw the princess from her guardians, and numerous were the devices by which he sought to accomplish his designs upon her and her father’s throne. At length by the promise of unbounded pleasure, the duke persuaded the princess to overturn the lamp that burned at her chamber door, and to poison the dog that lay at her threshold.
That same night, when the lamp was quenched, and the mastiff silenced, the duke stole upon the guard and bore away with him the maiden.
On the morrow, great was the confusion at the emperor’s court. Men rode hither and thither in pursuit of the fugitives, for no one knew which way they had fled. One knight alone hit upon their track; a great and terrible knight he was, the emperor’s champion; and he came upon them and slew the duke, and brought the maiden back to her father.
Very wroth was the emperor with his daughter, and he left her to bewail her sins in solitude. Time and reflection brought repentance, and the princess bewailed her sins bitterly.
Now there was a good old man at Pompey’s court, who was ever ready to intercede with the emperor on behalf of penitent offenders, and to whose words Pompey listened willingly. This lord came to the emperor and told him of his daughter’s repentance; and his words were pleasant to the emperor, so that the father was reconciled to his child, and she was betrothed by him to a nobleman of worth and power.
Many and precious were the bridal gifts the princess received.
The good old lord gave her a robe of the finest and richest wool, on which was worked this moral: “I have raised thee up, beware how thou fall again.” He gave her also a ring, of which the legend was: “What have I done? How much? Why?”
From her father she received a golden coronet, on which was engraved: “Thy dignity is from me.”
From the king’s champion, who rescued her from her seducer, she received a ring, and the legend was: “I have loved thee, do thou return my love.”
The king’s son gave her a ring, and on it was written: “Thou art noble, despise not thy nobility.” Whilst on that which her brother presented to her was engraved: “Approach, fear not, I am thy brother.”