In Rome, a very generous emperor called Polinianus once ruled who was served by many knights. He had a distinguished but domineering wife who was so false of heart that she loved a knight more than her husband and therefore wished him dead.
One day the emperor said that he would undertake a pilgrimage across the sea, and asked his wife to provide an orderly rule and to manage his possessions wisely during his absence. “With God’s help,” she answered, “everything will be well cared for.”
However, as soon as her husband was gone she called for a magician and told him, “My husband is out of the country on a pilgrimage. If you kill him so that he never again returns to me you will get anything from me that you wish.” The magician said, “I am certainly able to kill the emperor regardless where in the world he may be, and for my trouble I ask nothing more than to be the love of your heart.” The wife granted the desire, and the magician prepared an image from wax and earth that appeared similar to the emperor, placed it before him as a target.
Meanwhile, the emperor was on his pilgrimage to Rome (sic). One day he met a cleric. They greeted each other and the emperor asked if there was anything new. The cleric hesitated and then sighed sorrowfully “What troubles you, good fellow,” asked the emperor, “why are you sad?” “By your passing,” replied the cleric, “because you will undoubtedly die still today if no precautions are taken.”
“How can that be?” asked the emperor. “Your wife has been a strumpet,” answered the cleric, “and today she has arranged it so that you must die.”
“I know that my wife is a strumpet,” said the emperor, “but I didn’t know that I was so close to death. If you know the means to save me then all of my worldly goods stand at your disposal.”
“Certainly there is a means,” answered the cleric “when you are willing to follow me.”
“I am ready to do anything that you request,” said the emperor.
The cleric said, “Your wife engaged a magician and he is to kill you using his magic tricks. For this purpose, he has made an image that he will shoot. If he hits it in the breast, you will die where you are if you are not helped. So quickly follow my counsel and I will save your life. Throw off your clothes and get into the bath that I’ve prepared here in this house.”
The emperor quickly got into the bath, where the cleric placed in his hand a golden mirror and said, “In this mirror you will see everything that I described to you earlier.” When the emperor had sat in the bath for a while, the cleric told him to look in the mirror and to tell him what he saw. “I see everything that is taking place in my house, exactly as you said,” replied the emperor. “Now the magician is drawing his bow and aiming at the image.”
“If your life is dear to you,” said the cleric, “duck under as soon as he is ready to shoot, because if he hits the image he also hits you.”
At that moment, the emperor dove under. When he again raised his head out of the water, the cleric asked him what he now saw in the mirror. The emperor answered that the magician missed the image with his first try, but was again drawing his bow to shoot again. “Duck under again,” said the cleric, “or death will have you.”
The emperor obeyed, and when he again came up, he said to the cleric, “Now I was very afraid that the magician would hit the image. He is now talking with my wife and says that he’ll be a child of death if he misses the image a third time.”
“Look once again in the mirror,” the cleric said.
He’s again drawing the bow,” said the emperor, “and now I’m filled with even more fear than ever.”
“Do as before, and you have nothing to fear.”
The emperor ducked under once again, and when he again came up and looked in the mirror his spirit became lighter. “What do you see now?” asked the cleric.
“The magician missed the image,” replied the emperor, and instead hit himself in the chest. My wife is mourning, and has hidden the body under her bed.”
“Now I’ve saved your life,” said the cleric. “Give me my reward and leave in peace.” The emperor gave him whatever he asked for, and they parted. The emperor then returned to his own house and found the body under his wife’s bed. He then went to the head of the city, one whom the English call “mær” (mayor) and charged his wife. She was executed, her heart was torn out and her body was cut into three pieces as a warning to others. The emperor took another wife and ended his life in peace.