United States or Sweden ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"She shall go with me," said Geraint, "to the court of Arthur, and Arthur and Guenever, they shall dispose of her as they will." And the next day they proceeded to Arthur's court. So far concerning Geraint. Now this is how Arthur hunted the stag. The men and the dogs were divided into hunting-parties, and the dogs were let loose upon the stag.
His hunting-parties, his supper-parties, the fetes he gave upon every occasion, the worldly inventiveness, the sumptuousness and reckless extravagance that made each of these affairs seem like a supplement to "The Arabian Nights' Entertainments," the sybaritic luxury of his surroundings, the incredible prodigality of his expenditure, all served profoundly to scandalize and embitter the Empress.
There were other associations with her home, of childish sorrows and passions before she had known God, of hunting-parties and genial ruddy men who smelt of fur and blood, of her mother's chilly steady presence associations that jarred with the inner life; whereas in the convent there had been nothing that was not redolent with efforts and rewards of the soul.
About twelve miles from Paris there was a little village of Versailles, surrounded by an immense forest, whose solemn depths frequently resounded with the baying of the hounds of hunting-parties, as the gayly dressed court swept through the glades. On one occasion, Louis XIV., in the eagerness of the chase, became separated from most of the rest of the party.
This princess, who was Beatrice's first cousin and only five years older than Lodovico's wife, is mentioned not only as present with her husband at all court festivities and hunting-parties, but as her constant companion in all her occupations and amusements, both at Vigevano and Pavia.
The Prince was only too willing to wait a while, and the Princess entertained him so well with feasts and hunting-parties that day after day slipped by, and still he lingered. At last, however, the thought of his home and his father's grief made him decide to return at once. "My Princess," he said, "since it is so hard to part, wilt thou not ride with me upon the Enchanted Horse?
Nothing went forward for several days but concerts of music, accompanied with magnificent feasts and collations in the gardens, or hunting-parties in the vicinity of the palace, which abounded with all sorts of game, stags, hinds, and fallow deer, and other beasts peculiar to the kingdom of Bengal, which the princess could pursue without danger.
When daylight appeared we beheld with wonder the island where the wild goats abounded. My comrades walked around, admiring the beauty of the place, while the nymphs, daughters of Zeus, roused the goats that they might give us milk. We took our bows and arrows from the ships immediately and, forming three hunting-parties, killed a great number of the nimble creatures.
"Sometimes I met hunting-parties or women gathering berries, and bought corn and beans from them, but for the most part I lived on seeds and roots and wild apples. "By the time I had been a month or two without killing, the smell of meat left me. Rabbits ran into my hands, and the mink, stealing along the edge of the marsh to look for frogs, did not start from me.
In this very spot where we were then camped, a party of Arab hunters had, two years previous, been surprised at night and killed by the Bas-e, who still boasted of the swords that they possessed as spoils from that occasion. The Bas-e knew this spot as the favorite resting-place of the Hamran hunting-parties, and they might be not far distant NOW, as we were in the heart of their country.
Word Of The Day