BROIEFORT, THE BLACK ARABIAN 1 65 



tied his feet together underneath, and took him 

 into Rheims, where the archbishop ordered him 

 to be placed in his own prison. 



As for Broief ort, the gallant horse was taken to 

 Meaux, where he was made to draw a heavy two- 

 wheeled cart loaded with stones and bricks and 

 mortar. For seven years he toiled, half-fed, 

 broken-spirited, hopeless. His once beautiful 

 coat became rough and ragged, showing the out- 

 lines of every rib beneath; his mane, unkempt 

 and uncared for, was knotted in many a snarl; 

 his long tail, which had once been his pride, was 

 filled with burs and thorns ; his breast and shoul- 

 ders were galled by the ill-fitting harness; his 

 eyes lost their fire, and his chin drooped with 

 despair. 



VI. THE PRISON 



For seven years, also, Ogier languished in prison. 

 Charlemagne would have been glad to put him 

 to death, but he knew that every knight in 

 France would cry out against it. So long, how- 

 ever, as the good archbishop lived, the brave 

 Dane fared much better than his horse. Every 

 day he was given a gallon of wine to drink, and 

 two loaves of bread and the half of a pig to eat. 



