Oberon, however, had pity at last upon the unfortunate knight, and sent one of his invisible servants, who not only unbound him, but transported him, with miraculous rapidity, over land and sea, and deposited him at the door of a gardener’s house in Tunis.

[Sidenote:  Sherasmin’s search.] After parting from his master at Lepanto, Sherasmin traveled on until he came to the gates of the palace with his precious casket.  Then only did he realize that Charlemagne would never credit his tale unless Huon were there with his bride to vouch for its truth.  Instead of entering the royal abode he therefore hastened back to Rome, where for two months he awaited the arrival of the young couple.  Then, sure that some misfortune had overtaken them, the faithful Sherasmin wandered in pilgrim guise from place to place seeking them, until he finally came to Tunis, where Fatima, Amanda’s maid, had been sold into slavery, and where he sorrowfully learned of his master’s death.

To be near Fatima, Sherasmin took a gardener’s position in the Sultan’s palace, and when he opened the door of his humble dwelling one morning he was overjoyed to find Huon, who had been brought there by the messenger of Oberon.  An explanation ensued, and Huon, under the assumed name of Hassan, became Sherasmin’s assistant in the Sultan’s gardens.

The pirates, in the mean while, hoping to sell Amanda to the Sultan himself, had treated her with the utmost deference; but as they neared the shore of Tunis their vessel suffered shipwreck, and all on board perished miserably, except Amanda.  She was washed ashore at the Sultan’s feet.  Charmed by her beauty, the Sultan conveyed her to his palace, where he would immediately have married her had she not told him that she had made a vow of chastity which she was bound to keep for two years.

[Sidenote:  Huon and Amanda reunited.] Huon, unconscious of Amanda’s presence, worked in the garden, where the Sultan’s daughter saw him and fell in love with him.  As she failed to win him, she became very jealous.  Soon after this Fatima discovered Amanda’s presence in the palace, and informed Huon, who made a desperate effort to reach her.  This was discovered by the jealous princess, and since Huon would not love her, she was determined that he should not love another.  She therefore artfully laid her plans, and accused him of a heinous crime, for which the Sultan, finding appearances against him, condemned him to death.  Amanda, who was warned by Fatima of Huon’s danger, rushed into the Sultan’s presence to plead for her husband’s life; but when she discovered that she could obtain it only at the price of renouncing him forever and marrying the Sultan, she declared that she preferred to die, and elected to be burned with her beloved.  The flames were already rising around them both, when Oberon, touched by their sufferings and their constancy, suddenly appeared, and again hung his horn about Huon’s neck.