vainly tried to remove the blood stains from the infant's hands. Then,
unable to care properly for him themselves, they entrusted it to some
ladies in a castle near by, bidding them call the babe Ruddy Main, or
the Red Handed, and send him to court when he had grown up.

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