Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/103

Rh who were wont to do her bidding, and sought their aid to frame something which should deceive her son, who still lay prone upon the earth, refusing to be consoled for the loss of Florimel.

By their advice and her own wicked devices, the witch formed a creature so like to Florimel, that no one looking on the false semblance could doubt it to be the true reality. This image was moulded of virgin wax, tinged with vermilion, to the color of soft flesh. Her hair was woven of fine threads of yellow gold; her eyes of sapphire, set to move in her head like twin stars; and in this lovely body she placed a wicked sprite of the air, who was skilled in all deceit, and knew how to chain the hearts of men in subtle bonds which could not be easily unriven.

To her ungainly son the witch presented this sprite as the lady to whom he had lost his heart. He was rapt with joy at seeing her, and more than filled with delight that she no longer shrank from his rude presence. Soon persuading her to walk abroad with him, he led her into the cool paths of the green wood which surrounded their dwelling.

Now it happened that when Sir Satyrane spread abroad the manner in which he had found the girdle of Florimel upon the sand, there was