Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/68

56 reflected their soft light upon the cupolas of the basaltic chambers. The noble pair lost no time in making their egress from the labyrinthic corridors through the distant entrance of a misshapen crag in the rock. The disenchanted maiden now felt the cordial and balsamic power of all-vivifying nature, and rapturously inhaled the fragrance of the flowers, wafted towards her by a soft zephyr over the blooming meadow. They sat down upon a neighbouring hill, where he had full leisure to admire her excessive beauty, uniting in one person all the charms bestowed upon the three graces, and he naturally felt an ardent desire to know who the stranger was, and how she became enchanted in the forest. He begged her to tell him all concerning herself, and the young lady imparting the utmost grace to her discourse, spoke thus:—

“I am Hildegarde, the daughter of Radbod, Prince of Pomerania. Zornebock, Prince of Servia, asked me in marriage from my father, but being a disgusting giant and a pagan, and having the reputation of dealing in the black art, he was refused, on pretence of my too tender youth. Upon this refusal, the heathen was so violently enraged, that he made war against my good father, killed him in battle, and seized