Now many among them nursed deep wounds taken in the fighting and when Huon saw their plight he said:
“Since this quest was laid upon me only, I shall ride alone to its finish. Stay you here and tend your hurts until I come again. But if I come not within the next waxing and waning of the moon, count me as one dead and bear back to Bordeaux the story of our faring.”
They all cried out against this, but Huon would not listen to their hot protests. Then, at last, Gerames said:
“Before you now lies the Castle of Dunother where dwells the Giant Angalafar. Take another road and avoid this one danger.”
But when Huon had bade them all be of good cheer and farewell, he chose the road to Dunother, being minded to see the famed hold of the Giant Angalafar.
XII. HOW HUON FARED AT CASTLE DUNOTHER
Dunother arose gray and grim from a barren plain. From its stark towers no banners flew and there was about it an air of ill omen, so that Huon was half-minded to ride by it. Only to his ears there sounded a regular thud-thudding noise for which he could see no source until he came, drawn by curiosity, to the gate.
There stood, on either side of the portal, two giants fashioned of steel and brass by a skill which was that of no mortal man. In the hands of these giants rested thick clubs of iron and with these clubs they beat the ground before the gate so that nothing might pass through and escape horrible death. Huon watched for a long time but he could see no instant when one or the other of the clubs was not in motion.
As he so watched he heard a voice call to him and, lilting his eyes to the tower above the gate, he saw in a window there a damsel of much beauty and few years. She did cry upon him to wait, and shortly after the giants ceased their pounding so that Huon might ride through the now open gate to the courtyard where the damsel stood awaiting him.
When he did dismount and come to her she did weep most piteously and cling to him, saying:
“Oh, gentle lord, for seven years no mortal man has ridden hither in answer to my prayers—so have I served a loathly giant as handmaiden without hope of succor. I pray you, free me from this fate. Know you I am Sebylle, once a maiden of high degree in the kingdom of France. But my father did choose to come to this foul land upon a holy pilgrimage. And while he was so gone from me, my lady mother died and I was left desolate. So did I determine to follow my father. But when I came into this country I found no man who could tell me of him. And then the caravan with which I journeyed was overwhelmed by Angalafar. The men he killed at once, but he had never before sighted a Christian maid. So he brought me hither where I am a serving wench in his household.”
Huon’s anger quickened as he heard her tale and he promised in his heart that he would have the life of Angalafar for the way he had served a maid of France. So when the maiden came to herself and urged him to leave before the Giant returned, he refused all her pleas.
“You will only meet your death because of your stubbornness,” she told him sorrowfully. “For Angalafar hath a suit of mail which cannot be riven by any lance or sword forged by man. Wearing it he cannot be conquered. Nor can another man put it on him save by Angalafar’s own wish. As long as he lives will that be so.”
When Huon heard this he thirsted greatly for that suit of mail and vowed that he would have it from Angalafar, to serve him even as it had served the Giant for many years. But the maiden began to mourn as if Huon were already dead before her eyes and reproached him with his stubbornness in not fleeing Dunother before Angalafar returned.
Bidding her be of good heart Huon lingered through the day, eating of the fine meats the damsel served him and drinking the wine from his magic cup. And in the cool of the evening Angalafar returned to the castle, a whole ox held beneath his arm as one might carry a pet hare.
Truly a fearsome sight was this monster, being more than thirty feet tall and having the tusks of a wild boar to serve him as teeth. But he was in a good humor because of the ox, so that when Huon came boldly out before him he did not smite him instantly but rather roared at him the questions of who was he and why had he come to Dunother.
Huon replied without fear, cheerily enough.
“It is told through this land that you do keep such a suit of mail as no mortal man has seen— since it holds its wearer safe from all attack. I am Huon of Bordeaux, a knight of the realm of France, who has journeyed hither to see this marvel.”
Angalafar was pleased with this answer and he brought forth from a chest a suit of mail which shone as if each link within its fashioning had been cut from gold or silver.
“Look well,” he said to Huon, “for this will be your last sight upon earth, since I intend to put a speedy end to you—”
But Huon allowed no part of the wonder he felt within him to show upon his face. Rather did he strive to look most coldly upon the mail as he said:
“So this poor, small thing be that boast of Dunother? Faith, by Our Lord, I have seen better in my own armory of Bordeaux. It is too small to even cover my shoulders!”
Now at these slighting words Angalafar was greatly wroth and in his anger he lost the keenness of his wit, for he cried out:
“Put it on thy back, outlander, and see whether or no it will fit across thy puny boy’s shoulders!”
With a high heart Huon did as Angalafar bid and never had a coat of mail fit him so well. Light it was as the silk of Cathay and yet as strong as a brand forged by the olden gods. When he stood full armed Angalafar demanded:
“Do you not find this now the finest mail you have ever known?”
“True,” replied Huon, drawing his sword. “So fine is this mail that I do wish it to be mine hereafter. I thank thee right heartily, Angalafar, for so princely a gift.”
Then did Angalafar perceive how he had been tricked and, with a bellow of rage, he struck at Huon with his ax. But the stroke fell upon the coat of mail and to the knight it was but the buffet of a feather. So it was with all the blows which the Giant showered upon him until at last, missing his footing in one blind rush, Angalafar fell to the floor of the hall. Huon sprang at the fallen monster and hacked off his head, thus putting an end to the evil life of this deathly giant.
The French knight then called upon the Damsel Sebylle to come forth from her hiding and greatly did she rejoice at the sight other captor so brought to naught and laid low. To her did Huon then give the Castle of Dunother and all that it contained, so that she, who had been a serving wench, was now a lady of much wealth and wide lands. For himself he did take only the coat of mail which he wore as he rode on into the land of the Saracens toward the dread city of Babylon.
XIII. OF MALABRON THE SEA BEAST. AND THE GIANT AGRAPUT
Now it chanced that across the road to Babylon lay a deep river whereof the waters did rush very swiftly and the dark current did seem to Huon to be a trap. Here was no bridge, nor was there any ford for travelers and the young knight, having upon his back the weight of sword, shield and mail, could see no way of winning through the flood. So he sat down upon the bank and stared into the sullen depths of the stream.
Then before his eyes the water were troubled as if some great creature strove there. And from the curls of foam arose the naked head and shoulders of a young and comely man. But when the stranger swam most easily to where Huon rested upon the bank, lo, he revealed that a scaled tail served him as lower limbs.
Huon was amazed at such a sight and his surprise was even greater when the river creature hailed him thus: