The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-18

Occur de Leon" 1t has remained the
most celebrated story of the Crusades
IN the English language, and though Edith
Plantagenet is pure Invention and great
liberties have been taken with dates and
facts in assigning the parts to some of
the minor characters, yet, on the whole,
the story is of sufficient historical ac-
curacy besides being a most fascinating
tale. No writer has ever been SO thor
oughly satuated with the spirit of
medieval ehivalry as Sir Walter or so
able to make it live again in his pages.
'i1he Talisman" gave him an exceptional
opportunity for the employment of his
peculiar genius in this respect.
~ IR KENNETH of Scotland, Knight
of the Red Cross, pursuing his
~ way across the burning sands of
Syria on his way to the desolate region OF
Engaddi. where dwelt a holy hermit to
whom he had been dispatched on a secret
embassy by the Council of the Princes of
the Crusade. was well nigh spent with
toll when the cluster of palm trees which
guard the fountain oasis called the Dia-
mond of tho Desert came into view. His
heavy warhorse sank fetlock deep in the
powderv sand at every step, and the
blazing sun, now approaching its me-
ridian was reflected with dazzling bright
ness from the panoply of mall which
clothed not only the knight but portions
of his charger as well. To the great
weight of horse and rider and their armor
was added the weight of cumbersome
weapons consisting of cross-handled
broadsword, long, steel-tipped and shod
spear and ponderous battleax.
Between Sir Kenneth and the longed-for
swell of water in the wilderness now APP
peared a speck which, rapidly enlarg
ing into view, resolved itself into a
light-armed, lithe-limbed Saraeen warrior
without armor and mounted upon
graceful Arabian steed which seemed
scarcely to touch the sands as it flew
rather tnan trod upon the unstable sur
face.
Though there was truce between the
Crusaders and the Sedan Saladn such
chance encounters of strangers in remote
places meant always trial at arms I'M
til the question of superiority should be
decided or the intentions of the travellers
mutually revealed. In the present in
stance the combat between the Emir, for
of such rank the Saracen appeared, and
the Christian knight was of protracted
duration, Oriental rapidty of movement
and adroitness being equally opposed by
the ponderosity and brute force which
characterized the warfare of the cru
saders. Each having achieved in turn
some slight advantage and each finding
the other generous as well as a brave
foe, a truce was called and together they
wendell their way to the oasis, taking
their MONDAY refreshment together I'M
der the palm trees like brothers tried.
After their rest Ilderim, for such the
Emir announced his name to be, guided
the knight of the Couchant Leopard, as
Sir Kenneth was called from the device
upon his Shield to Engaddl, and that
night both slept in the hermits cell. A
half-crazed man was this hermit, given to
fasts and vigils and cruel self-inf1icted tor
lures in expiauon for past sins of whose
forgiveness he despaired But he was ac-
counted wise in counsel, able TO pre-
dict the future from the stars and, being
consulted by both Christian and pagan,
was under the protection of both. IIav-
ing delivered his letter from the Princes
of the Crusade to the holy man, Sir Ken
meth was sleeping the profound slumber
born of the fatigues of the day when he
was awakened by the hermit, who, max
secret passage into a spacious chapel cut
out of the living rock.
In one end of the chapel myriads of ta-
pers burned before a shrine and there
came the sound of the voices Of women
and boys singing the lauds, or earliest Of
nee, of the church. Then suddenly the
doors of the shrine flew open and amid
blaze of light appeared the words Vera
CRUZ under large fragment of the true
cross while a choir of female voices sang
Gloria Patri.
The hermit his eyes bandaged that he
might not gaze upon the relic which he
deemed himself unworthy to behold, lay
PROSTATE upon the steps outside the chapel
door and the knight bewildered and
startled by the strangeness of the situa-
ton, fell upon his knees and with bowed
head made his prisons devoutly. Then
door beside the chancel opened and pro-
cession swept around the chapel. First
came acolytes swinging censers, then an
array of nuns and last a company of
yelled ladies, all dressed alike in the hab-
its of lay sisters, but the forms of some of
whom, in spite of this, seemed strangely
familiar to the astonished knight. AS they
QdSBoQ lne spot Wiltlo oiT Aeuhclu fNlicil
no head was turned in his direction, but
white hand, the sight of which made the
heart of the Scot beat tumultuously, stole
out from a long sleeve and rosebud was
dropped in front of him. Three times the
procession made the circuit of the chapel
and each time a rosebud was dropped be-
fore the kneelng knight. Then the pro-
cession disappeared, the lights went out
and Sir Kenneth was conducted by the
hermit back to his couch, upon which,
however he found no more sleep that
night.
The chapel which the knight had been
permitted to behold was in fact that of
the Convent of Engaddi, which the gener-
osity of 6aladin permitted to still exist
upon the scene of the Temptation of our
Lord, and the ladies in the garb of lay
sisters were Queen Berengaria and her
maids of honor, who had undertaken a
\. pilgrimage to this sacred shrine to pray
for tho recovery of Richard of the Lion
Heart, who now lay sick of a fever in
his tent in the midst of the camp of the
Crusaders And that white hand which
had dropped the pink rosebuds before
the kneeling Sir Kenneth was the hand
OF Edith Plantagenet, near kinswoman of