volume one

HISTOEY OF THE CRUSADES. 181
and witli one LIoay of his sAvord killed the serpent, "which was
intent upon its prey. If Ave may believe an old chronicle,
the lion thus delivered attached himself to his liberator as
to a master ; he accompanied him during tlie war, and when,
after the taking of Jerusalem, the Crusaders embarked to
return into Europe, he was drowned in the sea whilst following
the vessel in which Greoftrey was.*
Several Crusaders, .whilst waiting for the signal of de-
])arture for Jerusalem, went to visit their brethren who had
established themselves in the conquered cities. Many of
them repaired to Baldwin, and joined with him in contending
against the Saracens of Meso}X)tamia. A knight, named
Foulqiie, who went with several of his companions to seek
adventures on the banks of the Euphrates, was surprised
and massacred by the Turks. His wife, whom he had taken
with Ijim, was brought before the emir of Hazart or Hezas.
Being of rare beauty, one of the principal officers of the
emir fell in love with her,t and asked her of his master in
marriage, who yielded her to him, and permitted him to
espouse her. This officer, deeply in love with a Christian
woman, avoided all occasions of fighting against the Crusa-
ders, and yet, zealous in the service of his master the emir,
made incursions into the territories of the sultan of Aleppo.
1-iedowan, wishing to avenge himself, marched with an army
of forty thousand men to attack the cit}^ of Hezas. Then
the officer wlio had married the widow of Eoulque advised
the emir to implore the assistance of the Christians.
* This anecdote, which is here quoted without giving it any more importance
tlian it merits, is related in the Magnum Chronicon Belgicum,
which is found in the collection of the historians of Germany of Pistorius.
Tl'e author says the lion followed Geoffrey like a hare
:
—Eum sequitur,
sicut lepus ; et quamdiu fuit in terra, nunquam recedens, multa ei commocla
contulit tam in venationibus quam in hello ; qui carnes venaticas
abundanter dabat. Leo verb qusecunque domino suo adversari videbat,
l)rosternabar, quern, ut dicunt, in navi positum ciim domum rediret,
derelinquere noluit, sed nolentibus eum, ut crudele animal, in navem
recipere nautis, secutus est doniinum suum, natando per mare, usque quo
labore deficit.
Tiie same fact is related by le Pere Maimbourg, who adds to his recital
this singular reflection. " Strange instruction of nature, which casts
shame U])on men by giving them,
for masters."
as she has done more than once, lions
t Albert d' Aixis the only historian who relates this and the following facts.