At these words, Rogero, confused, abashed, cast his eyes upon the ground, and knew not what to answer.  Melissa seized the moment, slipped the ring on his finger, and the paladin was himself again.  What a thunderclap to him!  Overcome by shame, he dared not to encounter the looks of his instructor.  When at last he raised his eyes he beheld not that venerable form, but the priestess Melissa, who in virtue of the ring now appeared in her true person.  She told him of the motives which had led her to come to his rescue, of the griefs and regrets of Bradamante, and of her unwearied search for him.  “That charming Amazon,” she said, “sends you this ring, which is a sovereign antidote to all enchantments.  She would have sent you her heart in my hands, if it would have had greater power to serve you.”

It was needless for Melissa to say more.  Rogero’s love for Alcina, being but the work of enchantment, vanished as soon as the enchantment was withdrawn, and he now hated her with an equal intensity, seeing no longer anything in her but her vices, and feeling only resentment for the shame that she had put upon him.

His surprise when he again beheld Alcina was no less than his indignation.  Fortified by his ring from her enchantments, he saw her as she was, a monster of ugliness.  All her charms were artificial, and, truly viewed, were rather deformities.  She was, in fact, older than Hecuba or the Sibyl of Cumae; but an art, which it is to be regretted our times have lost, enabled her to appear charming, and to clothe herself in all the attractions of youth.  Rogero now saw all this, but, governed by the counsels of Melissa, he concealed his surprise, assumed under some pretext his armor, long neglected, and bound to his side Belisarda, his trusty sword, taking also the buckler of Atlantes, covered with its veil.

He then selected a horse from the stables of Alcina, without exciting her suspicions; but he left the Hippogriff, by the advice of Melissa, who promised to take him in charge, and train him to a more manageable state.  The horse he took was Rabican, which belonged to Astolpho.  He restored the ring to Melissa.

Rogero had not ridden far when he met one of the huntsmen of Alcina, bearing a falcon on his wrist, and followed by a dog.  The huntsman was mounted on a powerful horse, and came boldly up to the paladin, demanding, in a somewhat imperious manner, whither he was going so rapidly.  Rogero disdained to stop or to reply; whereupon the huntsman, not doubting that he was about making his escape, said, “What if I, with my falcon, stop your ride?” So saying, he threw off the bird, which even Rabican could not equal in speed.  The huntsman then leapt from his horse, and the animal, open-mouthed, darted after Rogero with the swiftness of an arrow.  The huntsman also ran as if the wind or fire bore him, and the dog was equal to Rabican in swiftness.  Rogero, finding flight impossible, stopped and faced his pursuers;