Sir Orfeo is established as King of Winchester and celebrated as the greatest harpist in the world.

Queen Heurodis falls asleep under a grafted tree in the royal orchard and is visited by the fairy king in a dream.

Heurodis wakes from her dream in a frenzy, scratching her face until it bleeds and tearing her clothes apart.

Heurodis tells Orfeo that the fairy king has commanded her to return to the orchard the following day.

Orfeo assembles a thousand armed knights to protect Heurodis when she must return to the grafted tree.

Despite the protection of a thousand knights, Heurodis vanishes and is taken to the fairy kingdom.

Orfeo appoints his steward to govern the kingdom and declares he will leave for the wilderness.

Living alone in the wilderness, Orfeo finds his only comfort in playing his harp for the wild animals.

Orfeo spots his lost wife Heurodis riding among a group of fairy ladies in the wilderness.

Orfeo follows the fairy ladies through a passage in the side of a rocky hill into the otherworld.

Orfeo plays his harp before the fairy king and queen, enchanting everyone in the fairy court.

Delighted by Orfeo's music, the fairy king makes a rash promise to grant the harper any wish.

When the fairy king refuses to surrender Heurodis, Orfeo insists he honor his sworn word.

Orfeo reveals his true identity as king to his steward and the entire assembled court.

Orfeo and Heurodis are both recrowned as king and queen of Winchester.

Sir Orfeo is a beloved king and master harpist whose perfect life is shattered when his queen, Heurodis, is abducted by the fairy king after a terrifying dream vision. Unable to protect her despite mustering a thousand knights, Orfeo abandons his throne and lives as a beggar in the wilderness for years. By chance he spots Heurodis among the fairy women and follows her into the otherworld, where his extraordinary harp-playing enchants the fairy king. The fairy king rashly promises to grant Orfeo any wish, and when Orfeo demands Heurodis, the king is forced to honor his word. After returning home in disguise, Orfeo tests his steward's loyalty before revealing himself and reclaiming his throne. The couple are recrowned, and their love and Orfeo's music have triumphed over the forces of the otherworld.

The king's quest to reclaim his stolen queen.

The poem opens by praising the tradition of Breton lays, stories told by harpers about love and adventure.

Queen Heurodis and her two maids walk to the royal orchard at noon and sit beneath a grafted tree.

In the dream vision, the fairy king shows Heurodis the splendor of his palace and commands her to return.

The fairy king warns Heurodis that if she resists her abduction, his servants will tear her limb from limb.

Before going into exile, Orfeo tells his court he wishes never to see a woman again.

Orfeo swaps his royal robes for a rough beggar's cloak and goes into the wilderness barefoot.

Wandering the wilderness alone, Orfeo sometimes sees the fairy king and his retinue riding past at noon.

Orfeo sees sixty fairy ladies on horseback hunting with falcons along a river in the wilderness.

Orfeo and Heurodis lock eyes in a long, silent, tearful gaze before the fairy ladies hurry her away.

Inside the fairy castle, Orfeo finds Heurodis sleeping peacefully under a grafted tree, just as before her abduction.

Orfeo knocks on the fairy castle gate and persuades the porter to admit him as a wandering minstrel.

After the fairy king promises to grant any wish, Orfeo asks for Heurodis to be returned to him.

Orfeo and Heurodis return to Winchester and spend the night unrecognized in a beggar's lodging.

The steward collapses in shock and grief after the disguised Orfeo claims the king was killed by lions.

After Orfeo and Heurodis die, the faithful steward is named to inherit the realm.

This pool traces the story through its secondary moments, from the poem's opening praise of the Breton lai tradition to the final fate of the realm. It follows Heurodis's encounter with the fairy king in her dream, including his vivid display of his splendid kingdom and his threatening ultimatum. Orfeo's transformation into a beggar, his lonely wanderings in the wilderness, and his observations of the fairy court's strange rituals fill the story's middle section. Inside the fairy castle, Orfeo locates the sleeping Heurodis and cleverly gains entry through the porter, eventually winning her release after a well-timed demand. The pool closes with the loyal steward proving his worth in grief, and a final note that long after the royal couple's deaths, he inherits the realm they worked so hard to restore.

The hidden details behind the main adventure.

Orfeo's royal lineage is traced back to Pluto, god of the underworld, and Juno, queen of the gods.

In the dream vision, fairy knights seize Heurodis and carry her to meet their king for the first time.

Heurodis is forcibly carried back to the palace still shrieking and struggling against her attendants.

Orfeo vows to stay beside Heurodis wherever she goes and refuses to accept any separation from her.

After Heurodis vanishes, Orfeo declares his life is over and that he cannot remain as king without her.

Orfeo notices that the fairy knights who hunt through the wilderness never capture or kill any animals.

Orfeo watches fairy knights and ladies dancing beautifully in the wilderness to the sound of tabours and trumpets.

The fairy ladies hurry Heurodis away from Orfeo before the two can exchange a single spoken word.

Orfeo decides to follow the fairy ladies into their kingdom regardless of the danger or consequence.

Orfeo emerges inside the otherworld to behold a dazzling castle with towers of gold and walls of crystal.

The fairy king confronts Orfeo and demands to know who dared enter his kingdom without being summoned.

The fairy king honors his rash promise and agrees to let Orfeo take Heurodis back with him.

Orfeo and Heurodis make the long journey back from the fairy kingdom to Winchester together.

Orfeo tells the steward he found his harp beside the remains of a man mauled by lions.

Orfeo and Heurodis live happily together for many years after their reunion.

This pool focuses on the pivotal turning points and revelations that drive the story forward, beginning with Orfeo's mythic lineage and the traumatic moment Heurodis is first dragged before the fairy king in her dream. Orfeo's vow of undying loyalty, his desolation after losing Heurodis, and his years of quietly observing the fairy world's uncanny parallels with his own all build toward the crucial moment he sees her again and decides to act. His dangerous entry into the fairy kingdom, his confrontation with the fairy king, and the king's final decision to honor his promise mark the story's climax. The return journey and the disguised Orfeo's ingenious loyalty test reveal how deeply love and faithfulness define every character in the poem. The pool ends on a note of hard-won happiness, as the reunited couple at last begin their restored life together.