Maxen Wledig was emperor of Rome, and he was a comelier man, and a better and a wiser than any emperor that had been before him.  And one day he held a council of kings, and he said to his friends, “I desire to go to-morrow to hunt.”  And the next day in the morning he set forth with his retinue, and came to the valley of the river that flowed towards Rome.  And he hunted through the valley until mid-day.  And with him also were two-and-thirty crowned kings, that were his vassals; not for the delight of hunting went the emperor with them, but to put himself on equal terms with those kings.

And the sun was high in the sky over their heads and the heat was great.  And sleep came upon Maxen Wledig.  And his attendants stood and set up their shields around him upon the shafts of their spears to protect him from the sun, and they placed a gold enamelled shield under his head; and so Maxen slept.

And he saw a dream.  And this is the dream that he saw.  He was journeying along the valley of the river towards its source; and he came to the highest mountain in the world.  And he thought that the mountain was as high as the sky; and when he came over the mountain, it seemed to him that he went through the fairest and most level regions that man ever yet beheld, on the other side of the mountain.  And he saw large and mighty rivers descending from the mountain to the sea, and towards the mouths of the rivers he proceeded.  And as he journeyed thus, he came to the mouth of the largest river ever seen.  And he beheld a great city at the entrance of the river, and a vast castle in the city, and he saw many high towers of various colours in the castle.  And he saw a fleet at the mouth of the river, the largest ever seen.  And he saw one ship among the fleet; larger was it by far, and fairer than all the others.  Of such part of the ship as he could see above the water, one plank was gilded and the other silvered over.  He saw a bridge of the bone of a whale from the ship to the land, and he thought that he went along the bridge, and came into the ship.  And a sail was hoisted on the ship, and along the sea and the ocean was it borne.  Then it seemed that he came to the fairest island in the whole world, and he traversed the island from sea to sea, even to the furthest shore of the island.  Valleys he saw, and steeps, and rocks of wondrous height, and rugged precipices.  Never yet saw he the like.  And thence he beheld an island in the sea, facing this rugged land.  And between him and this island was a country of which the plain was as large as the sea, the mountain as vast as the wood.  And from the mountain he saw a river that flowed through the land and fell into the sea.  And at the mouth of the river he beheld a castle, the fairest that man ever saw, and the gate of the castle was open, and he went into the castle.  And in the castle he saw a fair hall, of which the roof seemed to be all gold, the walls of the hall seemed to be entirely of glittering precious gems, the doors all seemed to be of gold.  Golden seats he saw in the hall, and silver tables.  And on a seat opposite to him he beheld two auburn-haired youths playing at chess.  He saw a silver board for the chess, and golden pieces thereon.  The garments of the youths were of jet-black satin, and chaplets of ruddy gold bound their hair, whereon were sparkling jewels of great price, rubies, and gems, alternately with imperial stones.  Buskins of new Cordovan leather on their feet, fastened by slides of red gold.

And beside a pillar in the hall he saw a hoary-headed man, in a chair of ivory, with the figures of two eagles of ruddy gold thereon.  Bracelets of gold were upon his arms, and many rings were on his hands, and a golden torque about his neck; and his hair was bound with a golden diadem.  He was of powerful aspect.  A chessboard of gold was before him, and a rod of gold, and a steel file in his hand.  And he was carving out chessmen.

And he saw a maiden sitting before him in a chair of ruddy gold.  Not more easy than to gaze upon the sun when brightest, was it to look upon her by reason of her beauty.  A vest of white silk was upon the maiden, with clasps of red gold at the breast; and a surcoat of gold tissue upon her, and a frontlet of red gold upon her head, and rubies and gems were in the frontlet, alternating with pearls and imperial stones.  And a girdle of ruddy gold was around her.  She was the fairest sight that man ever beheld.

The maiden arose from her chair before him, and he threw his arms about the neck of the maiden, and they two sat down together in the chair of gold: and the chair was not less roomy for them both, than for the maiden alone.  And as he had his arms about the maiden’s neck, and his cheek by her cheek, behold, through the chafing of the dogs at their leashing, and the clashing of the shields as they struck against each other, and the beating together of the shafts of the spears, and the neighing of the horses and their prancing, the emperor awoke.

And when he awoke, nor spirit nor existence was left him, because of the maiden whom he had seen in his sleep, for the love of the maiden pervaded his whole frame.  Then his household spake unto him.  “Lord,” said they, “is it not past the time for thee to take thy food?”  Thereupon the emperor mounted his palfrey, the saddest man that mortal ever saw, and went forth towards Rome.

And thus he was during the space of a week.  When they of the household went to drink wine and mead out of golden vessels, he went not with any of them.  When they went to listen to songs and tales, he went not with them there; neither could he be persuaded to do anything but sleep.  And as often as he slept, he beheld in his dreams the maiden he loved best; but except when he slept he saw nothing of her, for he knew not where in the world she was.

One day the page of the chamber spake unto him; now, although he was page of the chamber, he was king of the Romans.  “Lord,” said he, “all the people revile thee.”  “Wherefore do they revile me?” asked the emperor.  “Because they can get neither message nor answer from thee as men should have from their lord.  This is the cause why thou art spoken evil of.”  “Youth,” said the emperor, “do thou bring unto me the wise men of Rome, and I will tell them wherefore I am sorrowful.”

Then the wise men of Rome were brought to the emperor, and he spake to them.  “Sages of Rome,” said he, “I have seen a dream.  And in the dream I beheld a maiden, and because of the maiden is there neither life, nor spirit, nor existence within me.”  “Lord,” they answered, “since thou judgest us worthy to counsel thee, we will give thee counsel.  And this is our counsel; that thou send messengers for three years to the three parts of the world to seek for thy dream.  And as thou knowest not what day or what night good news may come to thee, the hope thereof will support thee.”

So the messengers journeyed for the space of a year, wandering about the world, and seeking tidings concerning his dream.  But when they came back at the end of the year, they knew not one word more than they did the day they set forth.  And then was the emperor exceeding sorrowful, for he thought that he should never have tidings of her whom best he loved.

Then spoke the king of the Romans unto the emperor.  “Lord,” said he, “go forth to hunt by the way thou didst seem to go, whether it were to the east, or to the west.”  So the emperor went forth to the hunt, and he came to the bank of the river.  “Behold,” said he, “this is where I was when I saw the dream, and I went towards the source of the river westward.”

And thereupon thirteen messengers of the emperor’s set forth, and before them they saw a high mountain, which seemed to them to touch the sky.  Now this was the guise in which the messengers journeyed; one sleeve was on the cap of each of them in front, as a sign that they were messengers, in order that through what hostile land soever they might pass no harm might be done them.  And when they were come over this mountain, they beheld vast plains, and large rivers flowing there through.

“Behold,” said they, “the land which our master saw.”

And they went along the mouths of the rivers, until they came to the mighty river which they saw flowing to the sea, and the vast city, and the many-coloured high towers in the castle.  They saw the largest fleet in the world, in the harbour of the river, and one ship that was larger than any of the others.  “Behold again,” said they, “the dream that our master saw.”  And in the great ship they ............