Lohengrin received a horn from his father, who bade him sound it thrice on arriving at his destination, and an equal number of times when he wished to return to Montsalvatch.  Then he also reminded him that a servant of the Grail must reveal neither his name nor his origin unless asked to do so, and that, having once made himself known, he was bound to return without delay to the holy mountain.

Thus reminded of the custom of all the Templars, Lohengrin sprang into the boat, and was rapidly borne away, to the sound of mysterious music.

[Sidenote:  Else of Brabant.] While Lohengrin was swiftly wafted over the waters, Else, Duchess of Brabant, spent her days in tears.  She was an orphan, and, as she possessed great wealth and extensive lands, many were anxious to secure her hand.  Among these suitors her guardian, Frederick of Telramund, was the most importunate; and when he saw that she would never consent to marry him, he resolved to obtain her inheritance in a different way.

One day, while Else was wandering alone in the forest, she rested for a moment under a tree, where she dreamed that a radiant knight came to greet her, and offered her a little bell, saying that she need but ring it whenever she required a champion.  The maiden awoke, and as she opened her eyes a falcon came gently sailing down from the sky and perched upon her shoulder.  Seeing that he wore a tiny bell like the one she had noticed in her dream, Else unfastened it; and as the falcon flew away, she hung it on her rosary.

A few days later Else was in prison, for Frederick of Telramund had accused her of a great crime.  He said that she had received the attentions of a man beneath her, or, according to another version, that she had been guilty of the murder of her brother.  Henry the Fowler, Emperor of Germany, hearing of this accusation, came to Cleves, where, as the witnesses could not agree, he ordered that the matter should be settled by a judicial duel.

[Illustration:  ARRIVAL OF LOHENGRIN.—­Pixis.]

Frederick of Telramund, proud of his strength, challenged any man to prove him mistaken at the point of the sword.  But no champion appeared to fight for Else, who, kneeling in her cell, beat her breast with her rosary, until the little silver bell attached to it rang loudly as she fervently prayed, “O Lord, send me a champion.”  The faint tinkling of the bell floated out of the window, and was wafted away to Montsalvatch.  It grew louder and louder the farther it traveled, and its sound called the knights into the temple, where Lohengrin received his orders from the Holy Grail.

The day appointed for the duel dawned, and just as the heralds sounded the last call for Else’s champion to appear, the swan boat glided up the Rhine, and Lohengrin sprang into the lists, after thrice blowing his magic horn.