Huon of the Horn

A tale of that Duke of Bordeaux who came to sorrow at the hands of Charlemagne & yet won the favor of Oberon, the elf king, to his lasting fame & great glory. This is a later addition to the Charlemagne cycle last translated into English by Sir John Bourchier (Lord Berners) as "Boke of Duke Huon de Burdeux" in 1534 & adapted by Andre Norton in 1951. "An unusual tho circumscribed item, this translation of the 1534 English version of the romance of Huon of Bordeaux, included in the cycle of the Charlemagne Saga. With relaxed sentence structure which nevertheless retains some of the archaic flavor of the Lord Berners translation, the several legends of the hero who became a friend of the King of the Fariries & later ruler of Fairyland is told in brief episodes. Actually, in spite of a profusion of serpents, elves & magic props, the incidents don't have the universal appeal of some of the Arthur legends, for example, or the Roland tales. Huon's struggles against the Saracens, his meetin Huon, Duke of Bordeaux, never suspected that the evil Earl Amaury was busily plotting his downfall. So the young duke fell easily into Amaury's trap – tricked into slaying the Emperor Charlemagne's only son. The earl fed Charlemagne's wrath with lies, and the bewildered Huon found himself exiled from France. His only chance for redemption lay in the completion of four impossible tasks in the land of the deadly Saracens – a quest doomed to failure. Huon now faced danger that would still the heart of the stoutest knight. First he had to win the aid of Oberon, King of the Elves. Only then could he hope to survive the dark peril of Babylon to take the greatest prize of all – beautiful Claramonde, daughter to the Emir! But Amaury's deceit was still at work in Charlemagne's heart. Even if Huon could overcome all the hosts of Babylon, his greatest battle would still await... SUMMARY: Part of the Charlemagne legend retold with fanciful trappings. Science fiction,General,Science Fiction - General,Fiction,Non-Classifiable,Nonfiction,History,Tales,Medieval,Legends,Tales,France,Romances