“And what would the Emperor with me?” he demanded of the messenger, as at length they rode toward Ingelheim.

“To do battle to the death with a deadly foe of our lord the Emperor—­Eggerich von Eggermond.”

“God bless the Emperor!” exclaimed Elbegast fervently, raising his helmet.  “My life is at his service.”  Charlemagne greeted the knight affectionately and asked what he had to tell concerning the conspiracy, whereupon Sir Elbegast fearlessly denounced the villainous Eggerich, and said he, “I am ready to prove my assertions upon his body.”  The challenge was accepted, and at daybreak the following morning a fierce combat took place.  The issue, however, was never in doubt:  Sir Elbegast was victorious, the false Eggerich was slain, and his body hanged on a gibbet fifty feet high.  The emperor now revealed himself to the black knight both as his companion-robber and as the messenger who had brought him the summons to attend his Emperor.

Charlemagne’s sister, the widow of Eggerich, he gave to Sir Elbegast in marriage, and with her the broad lands which had belonged to the vanquished traitor.  Thenceforward the erstwhile robber and his sovereign were fast friends.

The place where these strange happenings befell was called Ingelheim, in memory of the celestial visitor, and Ingelheim it remains to this day.

The Knight and the Yellow Dwarf

Elfeld is the principal town of the Rheingau, and in ancient times was a Roman station called Alta Villa.  In the fourteenth century it was raised to the rank of a town by Ludwig of Bavaria, and placed under the stewardship of the Counts of Elz.

These Counts of Elz dwelt in the castle by the river’s edge, and of one of them, Ferdinand, the following tale is told.  This knight loved pleasure and wild living, and would indulge his whims and passions without regard to cost.  Before long he found that as a result of his extravagance his possessions had dwindled away almost to nothing.  He knew himself a poor man, yet his desire for pleasure was still unsatisfied.  Mortified and angry, he hid himself in the castle of Elz and spent his time lamenting his poverty and cursing his fate.  While in this frame of mind the news reached him of a tournament that the Emperor purposed holding in celebration of his wedding.  To this were summoned the chivalry and beauty of Germany from far and near, and soon knights and ladies were journeying to take their part in the tourney, the feasting and dancing.

Ferdinand realized that he was precluded from joining his brother nobles and was inconsolable.  He became the prey of rage and shame, and at last resolved to end a life condemned to ignominy.  So one day he sought a height from which to hurl himself, but ere he could carry out his purpose there appeared before him a dwarf, clad in yellow from top to toe.  With a leer and a laugh he looked up at the frantic knight, and asked why the richest noble in the land