Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/123

Rh which he pitched his tent was in the vicinity of his wife's abode; and, strange to say, the sons themselves, in the general distribution of the soldiers, were quartered with their own mother; but all the while ignorant with whom they were stationed.

About mid-day, the lads sitting together, related the various mutations to which their infancy had been subject; and the mother, who was at no great distance, became an attentive auditor. "Of what I was, while a child," said the elder of the brothers, "I remember nothing, except that my beloved father was a leader of a company of soldiers; and that my mother, who was very beautiful, had two sons, of whom I was the elder. We accompanied our parents from the habitation in which we had constantly resided, during the night, and embarking on board a vessel that immediately put to sea, sailed I know not whither. Our mother remained in the ship, but wherefore, I am also ignorant. In the meantime, our father carried my brother and myself in his arms, and me he left upon the nearer bank of a river, until he had