Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/95

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The Demon of the Ring.
15

filled with wine which would have been a credit to a kingly banquet, was not wanting, the hospitable entertainer led his wearied guest to his resting-place, wishing him to forget in the arms of the God of dreams his deeply wrought sorrows. On Udo’s awakening next morning he, to his great surprise, saw that he was no longer within the fisherman’s hut, but on a regal state bed filled with the softest down, in a kingly apartment, splendidly furnished. The sun welcomed him through the rich and variously stained glass windows, and he felt as if the noble orb’s beneficent rays revived his drooping spirits. As soon as he moved several servants entered, respectfully awaiting his orders: the first questions he addressed to them were to learn where he was, how he came into the palace, and to whom it belonged. They answered that he was in the town of Geden,[3] on the river Vistula, in the palace of the king, whose name was Waidewuth the Powerful.

Udo was amazed at finding in the king of the Amber shore, of whom so many wondrous tales were reported, a friend and ally; he had never dreamed that the wizard Waidewuth, to whom he had given hospitality, was so powerful a monarch. He had scarcely recovered from his amazement when the