Read "The Tale of King Coustans the Emperor" by William Morris online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
THIS tale telleth us that there was erewhile an Emperor of Byzance, which / as now is called Constantinople; but anciently it was called Byzance. / There was in the said city an Emperor; pagan he was, and was held for / wise as of his law. He knew well enough of a science that is called / Astronomy, and he knew withal of the course of the stars, and the / planets, and the moon: and he saw well in the stars many marvels, and he / knew much of other things wherein the paynims much study, and in the lots / they trow, and the answers of the Evil One, that is to say, the Enemy. / This Emperor had to name Musselin; he knew much of lore and of sorceries, / as many a pagan doth even yet.
Now it befell on a time that the Emperor Musselin went his ways a / night-tide, he and a knight of his alone together, amidst of the city / which is now called Constantinople, and the moon shone full clear.