Many
weary days he wandered without response, almost without hope; yet still
faithful Blondel roamed on, heedless of the palaces of the land, seeking
only its prisons and strongholds.
At length arrived a day in which, from a fortress window above his head,
came an echo of the strain he had just sung. He listened in ecstasy.
Those were Norman words; that was a well-known voice; it could be but
the captive king.
"O Richard! O my king!" sang the minstrel again, in a song of his own
devising.
From above came again the sound of familiar song. Filled with joy, the
faithful minstrel sought England's shores, told the nobles where the
king could be found, and made strenuous exertions to obtain his ransom,
efforts which were at length crowned with success.
Through the alluring avenues of romance the voice of Blondel still comes
to us, singing his signal lay of "O Richard! O my king!" but history has
made no record of the pretty tale, and back to history we must turn.
The imprisoned king was placed on trial before the German Diet at Worms,
charged with--no one knows what. Whatever the charge, the sentence was
that he should pay a ransom of one hundred thousand pounds of silver,
and acknowledge himself a vassal of the emperor.
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