Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/408

396 the escape of their master. They answered exactly as the case was; and Grimmoaldus, turning to his counsellors, said, "What punishment do they deserve who have done this contrary to our royal pleasure?" All agreed that it should be capital. Some protested that they should be flayed alive; and others, that they should be crucified. "By Him that made me," replied the king, "they are deserving of honour, not death, for their unshaken fidelity." Acting up to this feeling, Grimmoaldus loaded them with favours; but Geribaldus the traitor was miserably, though justly slain by the hand of Godobert's squire, the follower of him whom he had treacherously deprived of life and kingdom. This happened on the solemn festival of St. John the Baptist.

My beloved, the knight Onulphus is any good Christian; Portaticus is the soul. Grimmoaldus typifies Christ, and Hungary the world. The horses taken from the pasture