Having thus provided for the orphan, Sir Guyon, whose horse and spear meanwhile have been purloined by Braggadocchio, decides to recover possession of them, and to seek the Bower of Bliss to slay the witch Acrasia, who has caused such grievous harm.  On this quest Sir Guyon and the palmer encounter the madman Furor, and then reach a stream which is too deep to ford.  While they are seeking some conveyance to bear them across, they perceive a skiff rowed by a fair lady, Phaedria,—­or Mirth.  At their call she pushes her boat close to them, but no sooner has Sir Guyon sprung aboard than she pushes off, leaving the palmer behind in spite of all entreaties.  Although impelled neither by oars nor sails, Phaedria’s boat drifts rapidly over the Idle Sea, and Sir Guyon, on questioning its owner, learns they are bound for her magic realm.

They have scarcely touched the sedgy shores of a charming island, when a ruffian, Cymochles,—­or Deceit,—­bursts out of the thicket to claim the lady.  Undaunted by the size of his challenger, Sir Guyon attacks him, and the duel might have proved fatal had not Phaedria cast herself between the champions, begging them not to quarrel in the land of love and delight.  Thereupon Sir Guyon hotly informs her he has no desire to slay Deceit or to claim her, and, seeing she cannot make any impression upon him, Phaedria angrily bids him re-enter the boat, which soon bears him to the place which he wished to reach.

Although still mourning the loss of his companion, the palmer, Sir Guyon decides to continue his quest for the Bower of Bliss.  While passing through a dense thicket, his attention is attracted by a clank of metal, and peering through the branches he descries an old, dirt-encrusted man, surrounded by mounds of precious stones and coins, which keep dropping through his fingers.  This creature is Mammon,—­God of Wealth,—­who is so busy counting his treasures that at first he pays no heed to Sir Guyon.  When questioned, however, he boasts he is more powerful than any potentate in the world, and tries to entice Sir Guyon to enter into his service by promising him much gold.  For a moment Sir Guyon wavers, but finally decides not to accept the offer until he has ascertained whether Mammon’s riches have been honestly gained.  To show whence he draws them, the money-god now conveys Sir Guyon to the bowels of the earth, and there lets him view his minions mining gold, silver, and precious stones, and thus constantly increasing his hoard.  But, although sorely tempted, Sir Guyon perceives that Mammon’s workmen are oppressed by Care and driven by Force and Fraud, who keep them constantly at work and never allow Sleep to approach them.  This discovery makes him decide to have nothing to do with Mammon’s treasures, although he is led into a hall where hosts of people are paying homage to the money king’s daughter, who, he is told, will be his bride if he will only accept her father’s offers.  Coldly rejoining that his troth is already plighted, Sir Guyon refuses, only to emerge from this hall into a garden, through whose branches he catches fleeting glimpses of the underworld.  In one of its rivers he even beholds Tantalus, undergoing torments from hunger and thirst, in punishment for sins committed while on earth.