Page:Popular Tales of the Germans (Volume 1).djvu/216

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198
THE STEALING

he, is folly; a brave knight muſt not fight on purpoſe to be overcome, but to conquer, and acquire renown and praiſe. Conſider, moreover, that the prince would decide on your challenge not according to the laws of knighthood, but jealouſy, and remand you without delay to the antichamber of Pluto. But as love prevails over the dread of death, and I obſerve your paſſion is ſtronger than your reaſon, ſo that nothing can divert you from the beautiful Zoe, I will pour a drop of the balſam of hope into your heart, which may revive though it cannot cure you. Hear, therefore, a ſecret known but to few philoſophers, and which no reward nor hope of gain could extort from me, though friendſhip and compaſſion for your ſituation is able to break the ſeal of ſilence—your adored Zoe deſcends, like many of our Grecian beauties, as well as thoſe of other countries, from the lineage of the fairies, and is only related on one ſide to the race of mortals. The antient tra-‘dition