Historical Tales, Vol. 6 (Of 15)

rleans, by which the city has for many centuries been known.The broad Loire, the longest river of France, sweeps the foot of thesloping plain on which the city stands, and bears its commerce to thesea. Near by grows a magnificent forest, one of the largest in France,covering no less than ninety-four thousand acres. Within the cityappears the lofty spires of a magnificent cathedral, while numeroustowers rise from a maze of buildings, giving the place, from a distance,a highly attractive aspect. It is still surrounded by its mediævalwalls, outside of which extend prosperous suburbs, while far and widebeyond stretches the fertile plain.Such is the Orleans of to-day. In the past it was the scene of twostriking and romantic events, one of them associated with the name ofJoan of Arc, the most interesting figure in French history; the other,which we have now to tell, concerned with the terrible Attila and hishorde of devastating Huns, who had swept over Europe and threatened toannihilate civilization. Orleans was the turning-point in the career ofvictory of this all-conquering barbarian. From its walls he was drivenbackward to defeat.Out from the endless wilds of Scythia had poured a vast swarm of nomadhorsemen, ill-favored, fierce, ruthless, the scions of the desert andseemingly sworn to make a desert of Europe. They were led by Attila, the"Scourge of God," as he called himself, in the tracks of whose horse'shoofs the grass could never grow again, as he proudly boasted.Writers of the time picture to us this savage chieftain as a deformedmonster, short, ill-formed, with a large head, swarthy complexion,small, deep-seated eyes, flat nose, a few hairs in place of a beard, andwith a habit of fiercely rolling his eyes, as if to inspire terror. Hehad broad shoulders, a square, strong form, and was as powerful in bodyas he was ready and alert in mind. The man had been born for aconqueror, and Europe was his prey.