Historical Tales The Romance of Reality Author:Charles Morris Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE CAREER OF GRIMOALD. The Avars, led by Cacan, their king, crossed, in the year 611, the mountains of Illyria and Lom- bardy, killed Gisulph, the grand duke... more », with all his adherents, in battle, and laid siege to the city of Friuli, behind whose strong walls Eomilda, the widow of Gisulph, had taken refuge. These events formed the basis of the romantic, and perhaps largely legendary, story we have to tell. One day, so we are told, Eomilda, gazing from the ramparts of the city, beheld Cacan, the young khan of the Avars, engaged in directing the siege. So handsome to her eyes appeared the youthful soldier that she fell deeply in love with him at sight, her passion growing until, in disregard of honor and patriotism, she sent him a secret message, offering to deliver up to him the city on condition of becoming his wife. The khan, though doubtless despising her treachery to her people, was quick to close with the offer, and in a short time Friuli was in his hands. This accomplished, he returned to Hungary, taking with him Eomilda and her children, of whom there were four sons and four daughters. Cacan kept his compact with the traitress, marrying her with the primitive rites of the Hungarians. But her married life was of the shortest. He had kept his word, and such honor as he possessed was satisfied. The morning after his marriage, moved perhaps by detestation of her treachery, he caused the hapless Romilda to be impaled alive. It was a dark end to a dark deed, and the perfidy of the woman had been matched by an equal perfidy on the part of the man. The children of Eomilda were left in the hands of the Avars. Of her daughters, one subsequently married a duke of Bavaria and another a duko of Allemania. The four sons, one of whom was Grimoald, the hero of our story, managed ...« less