Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/97

water, and I smote my horse with my spurs, and I was almost drowned, but he rid through the water without any peril: then said he to me, you did foolishly, for that you brought not with you your bridge. Verily said the emperor, he saith truth, for he called the squires the bridge, that should have ridden before you, and assayed the deepness of the water. Then said the king, we rode further, and at the last he prayed me to dine with him. And when he had dined, he said, I did unwisely, because I brought not with me my father and mother. Truly said the emperor, he was a wise man, and saith [wisely]: for he called your father and mother, bread and wine, and other victual. Then said the king, we rode further, and anon after he asked me leave to go from me, and I asked earnestly whether he went: and he answered again, and said, this day seven years, I left a net in a private place, and now I will ride to see it; and if it be broken and torn, then will I leave it, but if it be as I left it, then shall it be unto me right precious. When the emperor heard this, he cryed with a loud voice, and said, O ye my knights and servants, come ye with me speedily unto my daughter's chamber, for surely that is the net of which he spake; and forthwith his