The Frank officer to whom the bard related his dream, wished, without doubt, to be agreeable to one recommended by the king, and took upon himself to realize the prophecy. He proposed a hunting party to the young man, where, he said, he would meet a certain marvellous hare, called the silver hare, but with the secret purpose of contriving a meeting with the [{813}] young girl of his dream. His hope was not deceived. As they entered the forest where lodged the pretended silver hare, they heard a voice singing in the distance. The young man trembled and reined up his horse. "I hear," said he, "I hear the voice singing which I heard last night."
Without replying to him the royal officer turned himself toward the part of the forest whence the voice proceeded, and following a footpath which wound along the side of a stream, they reached a spring, near to which a young girl was occupied in gathering simples.
"The young girl sat by the fountain," says a poet. "White was her dress, and rosy her face.
"So white her dress, so rosy her face, that she seemed an eglantine flower blooming in the snow.
"And she did naught but sing: 'Although I am, alas! but a poor iris on the banks of the water, they call me its Little Queen.
"The Lord Count said to the young girl as he approached her, 'I salute you, Little Queen of the Fountain. How gaily thou dost sing, and how fair thou art!
"'How fair thou art, and how gaily thou dost sing. What flowers are those you gather there?'
"'I am not fair, I sing not gaily, and these are not flowers that I gather;
"'These are not flowers that I gather, but different kinds of salutary plants;
"'One is good for those who are sad; for the blind, the other is good; and the third, if I can find it, is that which will cure death.'