Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/127

 of him because he took no notice of anything that was said or done. 'Young man,' said Maxen, 'bring to me the wise men of Rome and I will tell them why I am sorrowful.'

The wise men sat round, and Maxen said:

'Wise men of Rome, I have had a dream. In the dream I saw a maiden, and for thinking of her I have no life or spirit left in me, and I can think of nothing but her.'

'Lord,' answered the wise men, 'since thou judgest us worthy to advise thee, this is our advice: that thou shalt send messengers into the three parts of the world to seek for the maiden of the dream. As thou knowest not what day or night may bring good news of her, the hope will give thee life.'

Messengers travelled for a year, wandering over the earth, seeking news of the island, the castle, and the maiden of Maxen's dream. But at the end of the year, though they had seen many islands, many castles, many maidens, they had discovered nothing about the dream. The Emperor was now more sorrowful than ever; he thought that he should never see the maiden again, and all his hours of sleep were busy with visions as if he had been awake, and his waking hours were all one dream.

Then the King of the Romans advised the Emperor to go forth to hunt as he had done on the day of the dream, and he did so and came to the bank of the river where he had slept. 'This,' said he, 'is where I was lying when I had the dream, and from here I seemed to go westward.'

Thirteen messengers, who had been taught about his dream, set out in search towards the west. They came to the highest mountain in the world, and from the summit they saw mighty rivers descending to the sea. They travelled over the fairest of plains, and came to a great city at the mouth of one of the rivers of the