Several ancient poems represent Didier on his tower, anxiously watching the approach of the enemy, and questioning his guest as to the personal appearance of Charlemagne.  These poems have been imitated by Longfellow in one of his “Tales of a Wayside Inn.”

    “Olger the Dane, and Desiderio,
    King of the Lombards, on a lofty tower
    Stood gazing northward o’er the rolling plains,
    League after league of harvests, to the foot
    Of the snow-crested Alps, and saw approach
    A mighty army, thronging all the roads
    That led into the city.  And the King
    Said unto Olger, who had passed his youth
    As hostage at the court of France, and knew
    The Emperor’s form and face, ’Is Charlemagne
    Among that host?’ And Olger answered, ‘No.’”
                          LONGFELLOW, Tales of a Wayside Inn.

This poet, who has made this part of the legend familiar to all English readers, then describes the vanguard of the army, the paladins, the clergy, all in full panoply, and the gradually increasing terror of the Lombard king, who, long before the emperor’s approach, would fain have hidden himself underground.  Finally Charlemagne appears in iron mail, brandishing aloft his invincible sword “Joyeuse,” and escorted by the main body of his army, grim fighting men, at the mere sight of whom even Ogier the Dane is struck with fear.

    “This at a single glance Olger the Dane
    Saw from the tower; and, turning to the King,
    Exclaimed in haste:  ’Behold! this is the man
    You looked for with such eagerness!’ and then
    Fell as one dead at Desiderio’s feet.” 
                         LONGFELLOW, Tales of a Wayside Inn.

Charlemagne soon overpowered the Lombard king, and assumed the iron crown, while Ogier escaped from the castle in which he was besieged.  Shortly after, however, when asleep near a fountain, the Danish hero was surprised by Turpin.  When led before Charlemagne, he obstinately refused all proffers of reconciliation, and insisted upon Charlot’s death, until an angel from heaven forbade his asking the life of Charlemagne’s son.  Then, foregoing his revenge and fully reinstated in the royal good graces, Ogier, according to a thirteenth-century epic by Adenet, successfully encountered a Saracenic giant, and in reward for his services received the hand of Clarice, Princess of England, and became king of that realm.

[Sidenote:  Ogier in the East.] Weary of a peaceful existence, Ogier finally left England, and journeyed to the East, where he successfully besieged Acre, Babylon and Jerusalem.  On his way back to France, the ship was attracted by the famous lodestone rock which appears in many mediaeval romances, and, all his companions having perished, Ogier wandered alone ashore.  There he came to an adamantine castle, invisible by day, but radiant at night, where he was received by the famous horse Papillon, and sumptuously