Now it must be told that the earl hasted with
Helen to the seaside, and put her in a little boat,
with a barrel of wine and three loaves. He had
drawn the ring from the finger of the queen's hand
that was cut off and had put it on his daughter's
hand that was also cut off. And he enclosed the
hand of the queen, wrapped round in the gold bro-
cade, in a common cover, and bound it to one of
the babes, fast to its side.
122 PATIENT HELEN

Then the earl, weeping sore, thrust the boat out to
sea, and commended it to the gentlest winds of
heaven, and he returned home, and put his daughter's
hand with the ring on it in a golden casket set with
pearls and emeralds, and set it in his bedchamber.
Now it must be told how that the wind wafted the
patient Helen, as she sat nursing her two babes, over
the blue water towards the coast of Brittany. She
could do little with the boat, for she had one hand
only, and with that she attended to the twin babes.
The waves drove the boat up on the shore, and
Helen stepped out, carrying her babes, and went into
an oak wood, and found a rock, and under the shade of
the rock she laid the children. They were fast asleep,
so she returned to the boat for the little cask of wine
and the three loaves. She was some time in bringing
them, because she was not as yet accustomed to
having one hand. '

Now when she came back to the rock, both the
children were gone. They had, in fact, been carried
off by a lion and a bear.
