Read "Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France" by Alfred John Church online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
When Gerames and the Lady Sybil had tarried for three months in the / tower, and had heard no tidings of Huon, they were greatly troubled / and doubted what they should do. And while they doubted, it chanced / that certain pagans came in a ship bringing tribute to the giant. / When Gerames perceived them, he said to his company, "We do ill to / tarry here, when Huon, it may be, needs our help. Let us take this / ship, therefore, and sail over the sea till we come to Babylon. " So / they took the ship, the pagans not being able to hinder them.
When they were come to Babylon, Gerames led his company to the / Admiral's palace, and went in and saluted him where he sat with his / lords, saying, "Now may Mahomet, of whose gift both corn and wine / come to the sons of men, preserve the Admiral Gaudys! " "Friend," / said the Admiral, "you are welcome to this place. Tell me your name / and country. " "I come," answered Gerames, "from the city of / Mombraunt, and I am son to King Ivoryn. " Now Ivoryn was brother to / the Admiral. The Admiral rose up from his place and said, "Then are / you doubly welcome. Pray tell me how fares my brother, King Ivoryn? " / "He is in good health," answered Gerames. "And who are these that / are with you? " said the Admiral. "These," said Gerames, "are / Frenchmen, whom the King took when they were sailing on the sea. He / sends them to you for your sport, that on the feast of St. John / Baptist you may set them bound to stakes in the meadow, and let the / archers shoot at them, trying who shall shoot the best. This damsel / whom I have with me shall, if it please you, be put with your / daughter that she may learn the French tongue more perfectly. " "All / this," answered the Admiral, "shall be done as you desire. Now, for / the present, put these caitiffs in prison, and see that they have / enough of meat and drink that they die not of famine, as there lately / died in this place one Huon of Bordeaux. A fair knight he was, / albeit he was a Christian."