Sherasmin followed him reluctantly, finding cause for alarm in the very silence of the dense shade, and timorously glancing from side to side in the gloomy recesses, where strange forms seemed to glide noiselessly about.
"Meanwhile the wand'ring travelers onward go Unawares within the circuit of a wood, Whose mazy windings at each step renew'd, In many a serpent-fold, twin'd to and fro, So that our pair to lose themselves were fain." WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).
[Sidenote: Meeting with Oberon.] The travelers lost their way entirely as they penetrated farther into the forest, and they came at last to a little glade, where, resting under the spreading branches of a mighty oak, they were favored with the vision of a castle.

Its golden portals opened wide to permit of the egress of Oberon, king of the fairies, the son of Julius Caesar and Morgana the fay.

He came to them in the radiant guise of the god of love, sitting in a chariot of silver, drawn by leopards.
Sherasmin, terrified at the appearance of this radiant creature, and under the influence of wild, unreasoning fear, seized the bridle of his master's steed and dragged him into the midst of the forest, in spite of all his remonstrances.

At last he paused, out of breath, and thought himself safe from further pursuit; but he was soon made aware of the goblin's wrath by the sudden outbreak of a frightful storm.
"A tempest, wing'd with lightning, storm, and rain, O'ertakes our pair: around them midnight throws Darkness that hides the world: it peels, cracks, blows, As if the uprooted globe would split in twain; The elements in wild confusion flung, Each warr'd with each, as fierce from chaos sprung.
Yet heard from time to time amid the storm, The gentle whisper of th' aerial form Breath'd forth a lovely tone that died the gales among." WIELAND, _Oberon_ (Sotheby's tr.).
All Sherasmin's efforts to escape from the spirit of the forest had been in vain.

Oberon's magic horn had called forth the raging tempest, and his power suddenly stayed its fury as Huon and his companion overtook a company of monks and nuns.