The Story of Roland (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ... NOTES. Note I. Page 8. "then they saw Karl himself, the Iron King, crested with aa iron helmet, his arms protected with iron bracelets, an iron hauberk sheltering his iron chest and his huge shoulders, in his left hand a lance of iron lifted upright, for his right hand was always stretched toward his unconquered sword. His knees even, which are generally left bare of mail, were covered with plates of iron. What shall I say of his leggings, which, with the whole army, were wont to be of iron? In his shield there was naught but iron; and even his horse, in color and spirit, was of iron. All those who went before him, all who marched by his side, all who followed him, imitated his costume as far as possible. Iron filled the fields and the streets; the sun's rays fell upon naught but iron: so that the people of Pavia, more glace" by terror than by the iron itself, fell down before the glace" iron. 'O iron Alas, iron 1 such was the confused clamor which filled the city. Otker saw all these wonders at a glance, and said to Desier, ' Behold that which thou hast so much wished to see ' And he fell down almost lifeless." -- From Des Gestes de Charlemagne, written by a monk of St Gall, about the end of the ninth century. Quoted by J. J. Ampere, in his Histoire LdtUraire de la France avant le xii--* Siicle. Note 2. Page 3a The legend of Milon and the Princess Bertha and of the bojrhood of Roland is probably of Italian origin. It is related in a *>7 very old collection of romances, entitled Reali di Francia, and in a little poem of the sixteenth century, called Innamoramento di Milone d Anglante. It is the subject, also, of two Spanish romances of the sixteenth century. Another story of Roland's parentage and boyhood, very different in all its...