For more than a year the English people heard no tidings of their king. They knew that he had started home from the Holy Land. They had heard, too, of his shipwreck, and it was rumored that he was held as a prisoner in some distant land. But nobody knew where that land was.

Now Richard in his happier days at home had trained up a young rhymer, or minstrel, whose name was Blondel de Nesle. Before going to the Holy Land, he had spent many a pleasant hour in Blondel's company, listening to his beautiful songs. For the young minstrel had a rare, rich voice, full of the most charming melody; and no other singer in England or France could excel him. Sometimes Richard himself had composed little songs which he and Blondel sang together; and a strong love, like that of two brothers, had sprung up between the minstrel and the king.

Very sad was Blondel when no news could be heard of Richard. He wandered hither and thither about the king's lonely palace, and would not open his mouth to sing for anybody. At last he said, "I know that my master is a prisoner in a strange land. I will seek him; I will find him; I will save him."

With his harp in his hand he set out on his quest. He traveled through many lands in that part of Europe where he would be most likely to find his master. He made friends wherever he went. For in those days minstrels were welcome in every palace and in every hut, and Blondel's wonderful voice delighted all who heard it.

One day he stopped at a little inn by the edge of a great forest. It was quite near to a strong castle which was surrounded by high walls of rough, gray stones.

"Whose castle is that?" he asked of the inn-keeper.

"It belongs to the Duke of Austria," was the answer. "But the duke has other and finer places, and it is now a year since he was last here. While he is away the Count Tribables is master of the castle."

Then Blondel inquired if there were any prisoners in the castle; for he asked that question in every place he visited.

"Only one," answered the innkeeper. "He is kept in the dungeon at the bottom of the tower. I know not who he is. The duke keeps a close watch upon him and feeds him well, and so I think he must be somebody."

That evening Blondel sang before the Count Tribables and his family in the gray castle. All who heard him praised his fine voice and loved him for his gentle manners. They begged him to stay a while; for he had made the dreary old place merrier than it had been for many a day.

The next morning Blondel wandered around to the great tower. He saw a slit in the wall which he knew was the only means by which light was let into the dungeon below. He sat down on a block of stone and tuned his harp. Then he began to sing a song which he and King Richard had sung together in the old happy days before his master had gone crusading:—

This was the first half of the song; and when he had sung it he paused. Then, far down in the dismal dungeon, he heard the clear but mournful voice of King Richard singing the rest:—

Blondel sprang to his feet, his heart filled with delight. "O Richard! O my king!" he cried in ecstasy. Then he hurried away, to do what he could to secure his master's liberty.

He went to the emperor of Germany and to the king of France, and finally back to England, telling how Richard was cruelly kept in prison by the Duke of Austria.

The king of France would have been glad to leave Richard in prison; for he was one of his bitterest foes. The emperor of Germany was but little more friendly; yet many of his knights and warriors said that it was a shame to treat the king of England so meanly.

Then the French king accused Richard of having tried to poison him when both were crusading in the Holy Land. Upon this, the emperor ordered that Richard should be brought out of his dungeon and made to plead his case before the high court of Germany. He hoped in this way to get rid of the troublesome prisoner.

Richard pleaded his case so well that many who heard him wept. Pale and weak from his long imprisonment, he told how the Duke of Austria had abused him. He showed how the French king had plotted to have him put to death. Then he spoke of the battles he had won in the Holy Land, shouting the war cry of "God help us! God help us!"

The high court had nothing to gain by declaring him guilty. And so it was decided that he should be set free on the payment of a large ransom to the emperor and the duke.

It was Blondel and Queen Eleanor, Richard's mother, who helped to raise the ransom. With his harp and his fine voice, Blondel so wrought upon the feelings of the English people that they paid more willingly the price that was required of them. They gave the value of one fourth of all the movable property that they owned, and we may well doubt whether any king was worth so much. Then Queen Eleanor herself carried the money to Germany and put it in the hands of the emperor and the duke. And when Richard the Lion-hearted was at last a free man again, in his own country, it was Blondel who first welcomed him back.