One May Day, Queen Meroudys, wife of King Orfeo went with three of her ladies to sport herself in an orchard, and she fell asleep under a ymp tree. Her ladies did not like to wake her, so the let her sleep until twilight. Suddenly, she awoke from her sleep, crying and wailing, and began to tear her cheeks and rend her clothes.
Her ladies were frightened, and ran to fetch all the knights and ladies out to help them. They carried her up to her room, and King Orfeo begged her to tell him what was the matter. At first she cried, wailed, and struggled unlike herself, who had always been gentle, still, and happy, but at last she spoke and told him what had happened to her.
She had not been long asleep under the ymp tree, when a noble knight rode up to her and told her to go with him to his lord, the King of Faeries. She answered that she dared not and would not go. With that the king himself rode up, lifted her up on to his horse and carried her away to a noble palace in a fair country. He showed her everything then took her back to the tree. Before he left her, he told her that she must be there next day at twilight ready to go with him, and if she resisted, he would tear her into pieces.
Orfeo said he would go with her and protect her: so at twilight next evening he was with her, with all his army ringing the tree around in a deep band. The host of the fairy king appeared, and they began to fight, but suddenly Meroudys was drawn away invisible from the very middle of the ring, and no one could find her.
Then Orfeo was as a man distracted. When no trace of Meroudys could be found he called his nobles together, and appointed his steward regent in his absence and his successor if he died. He laid aside his robes and his crown, and barefoot and in rags, he went out into the wilderness. The only possession he took with him was his harp, for he was the best harper in the world.
For ten years he lived in the wilderness, his only shelter a hollow tree; his clothing was of moss, leaves, and his own long beard and hair. His food was wild fruits in the summer and roots in the winter. When the warm days came he sat in the sun and harped, so that all wild beasts came round him, tamed by his music, and the birds filled every tree.
One day, he heard the sound of horns and a troop of fairy knights rode past him hunting. A little after them came a bevy of ladies hawking, and among them, he saw Lady Meroudys. She also saw him and recognized him but said nothing. Her tears fell to see him so lean, shaggy, and ragged, burnt black with sun and frost.
When the ladies saw that the two knew each other they turned about and bore Meroudys away. Orfeo followed them, running as fast as their horses could gallop. He watched them go into a cleft in a rock and followed them through a long winding cave. When he came out in full light, he saw a fair country with a great palace standing up in the distance. It was built of shining crystal and precious stones; he was drawn to it.
He knocked at the gate of the shining palace, and when the porter opened it he claimed a minstrel's right of entry. Inside, he saw men and women sleeping in twilight and among them his wife her ymp tree. Beyond them was the royal throne-room. On the dais sat the king and queen in shining splendor surrounded by a great and rich company.
Orfeo went up to the foot of the throne and fell on his knees. "Lord," he said, "is it thy will to hear my minstrelry?"
The king spoke that he did not send for the minstrel and questioned his identity. Orfeo returned without fear that he was a harper, and that it was the duty of all such to offer their music to kings and nobles if they desired to hear it.
The king gave him permission to play. He tuned his harp and began, from every room in the palace the fairies poured in to listen, and cast themselves down at his feet. At the end, the king promised him any boon he asked and he asked for the lady asleep under the ymp tree.
"That would be a bad coupling," said the king, "for you are wild and rough and lean and she is fair and gentle. It would be a foul thing to give her to you."
"Yet it would be a fouler thing," said Orfeo, "for a great king to break his plighted promise made before all his knights."
"You are a brave man," said the king in admiration. "Take her with you."
So the two left the underworld in great joy. There was no looking back or loss. They went home in great happiness. When they returned to their home the steward had been true to his trust: they were welcomed back with joy and lived out their lives in great happiness.