ABSTRACT
Me a n w h il e the Lord King chose four richs homens whom he sent as messengers to King Charles, who was before Messina, as you have heard already ; and sent to tell him that he commanded and said to him to leave his Kingdom; that he knew well that this Kingdom was not his, but was and should be that of the Queen, his wife, and of his children; and so that he should get out of it at once ; and that if he refused he defied him, and that he must defend himself against him, for he might be sure he would cast him out of it. What shall I tell you ? The said messengers went to King Charles and said to him what they had been ordered to say. And when King Charles heard it he said to himself : “ Now the time has come for that which thou hast always feared, and the proverb is true which says, that a man will die of that evil w'hich he fears. Wherefore, from this day onwards, as long as thou livest, thou canst not live in peace, for thou hast to do with the most accomplished knight and the most valiant in the world. N owt, come what may, for thus it has to be.” And after a long while he answered the messengers that they should leave ; that he had no intention of forsaking
