While Orlando stood in silence contemplating her beauty he heard a voice exclaim:  “Seize the fairy by the forelock, if thou hopest fair success.”  But his attention was arrested by another object, and he heeded not the warning.  He saw on a sudden an array of towers, pinnacles and columns, palaces with balconies and windows, extended alleys with trees, in short a scene of architectural magnificence surpassing all he had ever beheld.  While he stood gazing in silent astonishment the scene slowly melted away and disappeared. [Footnote:  This is a poetical description of a phenomenon which is said to be really exhibited in the strait of Messina, between Sicily and Calabria.  It is called Fata Morgana, or Mirage.]

When he had recovered from his amazement he looked again toward the fountain.  The fairy had awaked and risen, and was dancing round its border with the lightness of a leaf, timing her footsteps to this song: 

    “Who in this world would wealth and treasure share,
     Honor, delight, and state, and what is best,
     Quick let him catch me by the lock of hair
     Which flutters from my forehead; and be blest.

    “But let him not the proffered good forbear,
     Nor till he seize the fleeting blessing rest;
     For present loss is sought in vain to-morrow,
     And the deluded wretch is left in sorrow.”

The fairy, having sung thus, bounded off, and fled from the flowery meadow over a high and inaccessible mountain.  Orlando pursued her through thorns and rocks, while the sky gradually became overcast, and at last he was assailed by tempest, lightning, and hail.

While he thus pursued, a pale and meagre woman issued from a cave, armed with a whip, and, treading close upon his steps, scourged him with vigorous strokes.  Her name was Repentance, and she told him it was her office to punish those who neglected to obey the voice of Prudence, and seize the fairy Fortune when he might.

Orlando, furious at this chastisement, turned upon his tormentor, but might as well have stricken the wind.  Finding it useless to resist, he resumed his chase of the fairy, gained upon her, and made frequent snatches at her white and vermilion garments, which still eluded his grasp.  At last, on her turning her head for an instant, he profited by the chance, and seized her by the forelock.  In an instant the tempest ceased, the sky became serene, and Repentance retreated to her cave.

Orlando now demanded of Morgana the keys of her prison, and the fairy, feigning a complacent aspect, delivered up a key of silver, bidding him to be cautious in the use of it, since to break the lock would be to involve himself and all in inevitable destruction; a caution which gave the Count room for long meditation, and led him to consider

    How few amid the suitors who importune
    The dame, know how to turn the keys of Fortune.

Keeping the fairy still fast by the forelock, Orlando proceeded toward the prison, turned the key, without occasioning the mischiefs apprehended, and delivered the prisoners.