The sage, smiling benignantly upon the paladin, who from respect had dismounted from his horse, said to him:  “Noble chevalier, know that it is by the Divine will you have been brought to the terrestrial paradise.  Your mortal nature could not have borne to scale these heights and reach these seats of bliss if it were not the will of Heaven that you should be instructed in the means to succor Charles, and to sustain the glory of our holy faith.  I am prepared to impart the needed counsels; but before I begin let me welcome you to our sojourn.  I doubt not your long fast and distant journey have given you a good appetite.”

The aspect of the venerable man filled the prince with admiration; but his surprise ceased when he learned from him that he was that one of the Apostles of our Lord to whom he said, “I will that thou tarry till I come.”

St. John, conducting Astolpho, rejoined his companions.  These were the patriarch Enoch and the prophet Elijah; neither of whom had yet seen his dying day, but, taken from our lower world, were dwelling in a region of peace and joy, in a climate of eternal spring, till the last trumpet shall sound.

The three holy inhabitants of the terrestrial paradise received Astolpho with the greatest kindness, carried him to a pleasant apartment, and took great care of the Hippogriff, to whom they gave such food as suited him, while to the prince they presented fruits so delicious that he felt inclined to excuse our first parents for their sin in eating them without permission.

Astolpho, having recruited his strength, not only by these excellent fruits, but also by sweet sleep, roused himself at the first blush of dawn, and as soon as he left his chamber met the beloved Apostle coming to seek him.  St. John took him by the hand, and told him many things relating to the past and the future.  Among others, he said, “Son, let me tell you what is now going on in France.  Orlando, the illustrious prince who received at his birth the endowment of strength and courage more than mortal, raised up as was Samson of old to be the champion of the true faith, has been guilty of the basest ingratitude in leaving the Christian camp when it most needed the support of his arm, to run after a Saracen princess, whom he would fain marry, though she scorns him.  To punish him his reason has been taken away, so that he runs naked through the land, over mountains and through valleys, without a ray of intelligence.  The duration of his punishment has been fixed at three months, and that time having nearly expired, you have been brought hither to learn from us the means by which the reason of Orlando may be restored.  True, you will be obliged to make a journey with me, and we must even leave the earth, and ascend to the moon, for it is in that planet we are to seek the remedy for the madness of the paladin.  I propose to make our journey this evening, as soon as the moon appears over our head.”