Nicaeus and Iduna quitted, with many kind words, the cavern of the
Eremite, and took their way along the winding bank of the river.
Throughout the moonlit night they travelled, ascending the last and
highest chain of mountains and reaching the summit by dawn. The
cheerful light of morning revealed to them the happy plains of a
Christian country. With joyful spirits they descended into the fertile
land, and stopped at a beautiful Greek village, embowered in orchards
and groves of olive-trees.

The Prince of Athens instantly inquired for the Primate, or chief
personage of the village, and was conducted to his house; but its
master, he was informed, was without, supervising the commencement of
the vintage. Leaving Iduna with the family of the Primate, Nicaeus went
in search of him. The vineyard was full of groups, busied in the most
elegant and joyous of human occupations, gathering, with infinite
bursts of merriment, the harvest of the vine. Some mounted on ladders,
fixed against the festooning branches, plucked the rich bunches, and
threw them below, where girls, singing in chorus, caught them in
panniers, or their extended drapery. In the centre of the vineyard, a
middle-aged man watched with a calm, but vigilant eye, the whole
proceedings, and occasionally stimulated the indolent, or prompted the
inexperienced.

"Christo," said the Prince of Athens, when he had approached him. The
Primate turned round, but evidently did not immediately recognise the
person who addressed him.

"I see," continued the prince, "that my meditated caution was
unnecessary. My strange garb is a sufficient disguise."