Note 3: — CAP. XLVIII.

And from thence men go through lyttle Armony,3 & in that countrey is an olde castell that is on a rock, yt men call the castell of Spirys, & there men finde an hawke sitting upon a perch right well made & a faire lady of Fayry that keepeth it, & he that will wake4 this same hawke seven days and seven nightes, and some say that it is not but three days and three nightes, alone without any company and without slepe, this faire ladie shall come unto him at the vii dayes or iii dayes ende & shall graunte unto him the first thing that he will aske of worldly things, and that hath often ben proved. And so uppon a time it befell that a man which that tyme was Kinge of Armonye that was a righte doughty5 man waked uppon a tyme, and at the seven dayes ende the lady came to him and bade him aske what he would for he had wel done his devoure,6 and the king aunswered and sayde that he was a great lorde and in good peace, and he was riche, so that he would aske nothing but all onely the body of the fayre lady, or to haue his will of hir. Then this fayre lady aunswered and sayde unto him, that he was a foole, for he wist not what he asked, for he might not have hir, for he shoulde not haue asked hir but worldly thinges & she was not worldly. And the king sayde he woulde nought else, and she said sith he would aske nought else, she should graunt him three thinges and all that came after hym, and sayde unto him, Sir kinge you shall haue warre without peace unto the ix degree, and you shall be in subjection of your enemies, and you shall have greate nede of good and cattell, and sithen that tyme all the Kynges of Armonye have been in warre and nedefull7 and under trybute of the Sarasyns. Also a poore mannes sonne as he waked on a tyme, and asked the lady that he might be rych and happy in marchaundise and the ladye graunted him, but she sayde to him that he hadde asked his undoynge for great pryde that he shoulde haue thereof. And this became so greate a marchaunte bothe by sea and lande, that he was so ryche that he knew not the thousande parte of hys goods. Also a Knight of the Templers waked likewise and when he had done, he desired to haue a purse full of golde and what soever he tooke thereof it shoulde ever be full againe and the ladye graunted it hym, but she tolde him that hee had desyred his destruction for great mistrowing that hee shoulde have of the same purse, and so it befell. But he that shal wake hath great nede for to kepe him from slepe, for if he sleepe he is lost that he shall neuer bee sene, but that is not the righte way, but for the mervaile. And from Topasonde men go to greate Armony to a citie that men call Artyron8 that was wont to be a great Citie, but Turkes have destroyed it, for there neyther groweth no wyne nor fruyt. From this Artyron men go to an hyll that is called Sabissacol & there nere is another hil that men call Arath,9 but the Jewes call it Thano where Archa Noe10 rested after the diluvie11 & yet it is on that hyll, a man may se it from ferre in cleare wether, & the hilles be xii12 myle of height & some saye they haue bene there & put theyr fingers in the holes where the fende13 went out when Noe sayde in this maner of wyse Benedicite. But they note well, for none may go on that hyll for snowe, that is alwaye uppon that hyll bothe wynter and somer, that no man may go by and never yode14 syth Noe was, but a monke, through the grace of God, broughte a planke that yet is at the Abbey, at the hyll foote, and he had great desyre to go uppon that hyll, and aforced him thereto, and when he was at the thyrde part upwarde he was so wery that he might goe no further, and he rested him & slept and when he was awake he was downe at the hyll foote, and then prayed he to God devoutly that he would suffer him to go upon the hill, and the Aungell sayd that he should go upon the hil, and so he dyd, and since that tyme no man came there. And therefore men shoulde not beleve such wordes.