Page:Select Popular Tales from the German of Musaeus.djvu/138

124 form, Lady Blanche, adorned with costly bridal ornaments. She leant on one of the twelve maidens, when she perceived the dreaded stepmother, and timidly cast down her eyes. Richilda’s blood froze in her veins; she sank on the ground as if struck by lightning, her eyes grew dim, and she fell down in a deep swoon. But, by the exertions of the courtiers and ladies, she again returned to consciousness against her will. Then the Knight of the Grave, read her a lecture, every word of which smote her soul, and he then led the beautiful Blanche to the altar, where the Bishop, in his pontifical robes, married the noble pair, and afterwards the twelve dowered maidens to their beloved. When the ceremony was over, the bridal procession went into the dancing-hall. The skilful dwarfs had in the mean time, with great care, prepared a pair of steel slippers, put them in the fire, and made them hot. Then Gunzalin, the strong Gascon knight, stepped forward, and asked the poisoner to dance, to begin the bridal festival, and though she would willingly have declined, neither prayers nor resistance were of any avail. He embraced her with his powerful arm, the dwarfs put on the red-hot slippers, and Gunzalin dragged her down the hall, in so rapid a dance, that the very floor smoked, and the musicians blew so heartily that all her groans and cries of pain were drowned in the noisy music. After endless twirls and circles, the active knight turned the heated dancer out of the hall, down the staircase, into a well-guarded prison, where the wicked sufferer had time and leisure for repentance. But Godfrey of Ardennes and Blanche, his fair and innocent bride, lived in peace and happiness to a good old age, and their descendants long flourished prosperously after them.