Was it possible for him to stay there alone when the whole
of France had risen?
In the _Chanson d'Aspremont_, which is one of our most captivating
_chansons de geste_, Charlemagne is leaving for Italy with his army, and
passes by Laon. In the donjon five children, one of whom is his nephew
Roland, are imprisoned under the care of Turpin. The Emperor, who knows
them well, has had them locked up for fear they would join his troops.
But when they hear the ivory horns sounding and the horses neighing,
they are determined to escape. They try to cajole the porter, but he is
adamant and incorruptible. This faithful servitor is immediately well
beaten. They take away his keys, pass over his body, and are soon out of
the prison. But their adventures are only beginning. To procure
themselves horses they attack and unhorse five Bretons, and to get arms
they repeat the same process. They are so successful that they manage to
join the Emperor's army before it has crossed the Alps. Will our new
Roland allow himself to be outdistanced by these terrible children of
former ages? It is not the army with its ivory horns that he has heard
departing, but the whole marching nation, fighting to live and endure,
and to enable honor and justice and right to live and endure with her.
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