Angelica, unable to forget Rinaldo since she has partaken of the waters of love, now induces the magician Malgigi to entice her beloved to an island over which she reigns, where she vainly tries to win his affections and to detain him by her side.  Still under the influence of the waters of hate, Rinaldo escapes, only to land in a gloomy country, where he is plunged into a loathsome den.  There a monster is about to devour him, when Angelica comes to his rescue.  But, even though she saves his life, he ungratefully refuses to return her affection, and abruptly leaves her to encounter other untoward adventures.  Meantime Orlando, still searching for Angelica, encounters a sorceress who gives him a magic draught which causes him to forget the past, and detains him a captive in the island of Dragontine.

Meanwhile the many knights enamoured with Angelica have gone to besiege her father’s capital, but while they are thus employed she escapes from the city—­thanks to her magic ring—­and goes to deliver Orlando.  In return, he pledges himself to drive the besiegers away and save her father’s capital, and on the way thither encounters Rinaldo, with whom, not knowing who he is, he fights two days, so equally are they matched in strength and skill.  The moment comes, however, when Orlando is on the point of slaying Rinaldo, and refrains only because Angelica opportunely reveals his opponent’s name.

Still urged by Angelica, Orlando next hastens off to destroy the magic island and free its captives, who hurry back to France while their rescuer journeys to Cathay.  There Angelica pretends she has fallen in love with him, and accompanies him when he returns to France under pretext of becoming a Christian.  Their way again lies through the forest of Arden, where this time Angelica drinks from the fountain of hatred.  All her former love for Rinaldo therefore vanishes, and, as the latter has at the same time partaken of the water of love, their parts are reversed, for it is he who now pursues Angelica whom he previously loathed.  His attentions so incense Orlando that he begins a fight, which Charlemagne checks, declaring that Angelica—­who is placed in charge of Duke Namus—­shall be awarded to the warrior who distinguishes himself most in the coming war.

In the course of this campaign these two knights meet with many adventures, and are accompanied by Bradamant—­Rinaldo’s sister—­who manfully fights by their side.  Among their opponents the most formidable are Rogero and the pagan Rodomont, whose boastful language has given rise to the term rodomontade.  During one of their encounters, Rogero discovers that his antagonist is Bradamant—­a woman—­and falls desperately in love with her.

It is at this point that Boiardo’s poem ends; and Ariosto, adopting his characters, immediately begins weaving three principal strands of narrative,—­one relating to the wars of Charlemagne, another to Orlando’s madness, and the third to the love of Rogero and Bradamant,—­Rogero, an ancestor of the Ferrara family (Ariosto’s patrons), being the real hero of his poem.