‘No more would I,’ answered Charming; ‘I would THe FAIR
have made such a ‘description of your majesty, that
the princess would have been all impatience to Gor pEN
jump into your majesty’s arms.’ LOCKS
The king now saw that Charming had been evil
and falsely spoken of; he took the young man
back into his favour, and said to him—
‘So be it. You shall go on an embassy to Golden
Land; and if you return without the princess, I
will cut off your head.’
Charming said he was content to run the risk.
The king desired to give him a fine equipage and
many servants and heralds to blow trumpets before
him; but Charming said that all he wanted was a
good horse, and to take with him his little dog
Dulcet.:
So next day he started at early dawn, and rode all
ee save that his little dog Dulcet ran beside
im
Charming carried with him a notebook, and when-
ever a happy thought struck him which could go
into his description of the king he was going to
give to the fair maid with golden locks, he got
off his horse, sat down, and wrote it, for fear of
forgetting it. -
He wrote—

‘My master the king is a very great lord,
His stomach is round and his shoulders are broad.’

‘That goes splendidly,’ said Charming, and he rode
on alittle way. Then anew idea struck him. He
got off his horse and wrote—

‘His temper is high, but his mind it is low,
He croaks when he talks like a carrion crow.’

Then he got on his horse again. After a while he
thought of some more words in commendation of
the king, so he got off and wrote—

171