5

He laughed upon his warrior whom he loved 

And honoured most. `Thou dost not doubt me King, 

So well thine arm hath wrought for me today.' 

`Sir and my liege,' he cried, `the fire of God 

Descends upon thee in the battle-field: 

I know thee for my King!' Whereat the two, 

For each had warded either in the fight, 

Sware on the field of death a deathless love. 

And Arthur said, `Man's word is God in man: 

Let chance what will, I trust thee to the death.'

Then quickly from the foughten field he sent 

Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere, 

His new-made knights, to King Leodogran, 

Saying, `If I in aught have served thee well, 

Give me thy daughter Guinevere to wife.'

Whom when he heard, Leodogran in heart 

Debating--`How should I that am a king, 

However much he holp me at my need, 

Give my one daughter saving to a king, 

And a king's son?'--lifted his voice, and called 

A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom 

He trusted all things, and of him required 

His counsel: `Knowest thou aught of Arthur's birth?'

Then spake the hoary chamberlain and said, 

`Sir King, there be but two old men that know: 

And each is twice as old as I; and one 

Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served 

King Uther through his magic art; and one 

Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys, 

Who taught him magic, but the scholar ran 

Before the master, and so far, that Bleys, 

Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wrote 

All things and whatsoever Merlin did 

In one great annal-book, where after-years 

Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth.'

6

To whom the King Leodogran replied, 

`O friend, had I been holpen half as well 

By this King Arthur as by thee today, 

Then beast and man had had their share of me: 

But summon here before us yet once more 

Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere.'

Then, when they came before him, the King said, 

`I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl, 

And reason in the chase: but wherefore now 

Do these your lords stir up the heat of war, 

Some calling Arthur born of Gorlos, 

Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves, 

Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son?'

And Ulfius and Brastias answered, `Ay.' 

Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights 

Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spake-

For bold in heart and act and word was he, 

Whenever slander breathed against the King--

`Sir, there be many rumours on this head: 

For there be those who hate him in their hearts, 

Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet, 

And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man: 

And there be those who deem him more than man, 

And dream he dropt from heaven: but my belief 

In all this matter--so ye care to learn-

Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time 

The prince and warrior Gorlos, he that held 

Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea, 

Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne: 

And daughters had she borne him,--one whereof, 

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent, 

Hath ever like a loyal sister cleaved 

To Arthur,--but a son she had not borne. 

7->

7

And Uther cast upon her eyes of love: 

But she, a stainless wife to Gorlos, 

So loathed the bright dishonour of his love, 

That Gorlos and King Uther went to war: 

And overthrown was Gorlos and slain. 

Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged 

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men, 

Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls, 

Left her and fled, and Uther entered in, 

And there was none to call to but himself. 

So, compassed by the power of the King, 

Enforced was she to wed him in her tears, 

And with a shameful swiftness: afterward, 

Not many moons, King Uther died himself, 

Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule 

After him, lest the realm should go to wrack.

And that same night, the night of the new year, 

By reason of the bitterness and grief 

That vext his mother, all before his time 

Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born 

Delivered at a secret postern-gate 

To Merlin, to be holden far apart 

Until his hour should come; because the lords 

Of that fierce day were as the lords of this, 

Wild beasts, and surely would have torn the child 

Piecemeal among them, had they known; for each 

But sought to rule for his own self and hand, 

And many hated Uther for the sake Of Gorlos.

8

Wherefore Merlin took the child, 

And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight 

And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife 

Nursed the young prince, and reared him with her own; 

And no man knew. And ever since the lords 

Have foughten like wild beasts among themselves, 

So that the realm has gone to wrack: but now, 

This year, when Merlin (for his hour had come) 

Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall, 

Proclaiming, "Here is Uther's heir, your king," 

A hundred voices cried, "Away with him! 

No king of ours! a son of Gorlos he, 

Or else the child of Anton, and no king, 

Or else baseborn." Yet Merlin through his craft, 

And while the people clamoured for a king, 

Had Arthur crowned; but after, the great lords 

Banded, and so brake out in open war.'

Then while the King debated with himself 

If Arthur were the child of shamefulness, 

Or born the son of Gorlos, after death, 

Or Uther's son, and born before his time, 

Or whether there were truth in anything 

Said by these three, there came to Cameliard, 

With Gawain and young Modred, her two sons, 

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent; 

Whom as he could, not as he would, the King 

Made feast for, saying, as they sat at meat,

`A doubtful throne is ice on summer seas. 

9->

9

Ye come from Arthur's court. Victor his men 

Report him! Yea, but ye--think ye this king-

So many those that hate him, and so strong, 

So few his knights, however brave they be-

Hath body enow to hold his foemen down?'

`O King,' she cried, `and I will tell thee: few, 

Few, but all brave, all of one mind with him; 

For I was near him when the savage yells 

Of Uther's peerage died, and Arthur sat 

Crowned on the das, and his warriors cried, 

"Be thou the king, and we will work thy will 

Who love thee." Then the King in low deep tones, 

And simple words of great authority, 

Bound them by so strait vows to his own self, 

That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some 

Were pale as at the passing of a ghost, 

Some flushed, and others dazed, as one who wakes 

Half-blinded at the coming of a light.

`But when he spake and cheered his Table Round 

With large, divine, and comfortable words, 

Beyond my tongue to tell thee--I beheld 

From eye to eye through all their Order flash 

A momentary likeness of the King: 

And ere it left their faces, through the cross 

And those around it and the Crucified, 

Down from the casement over Arthur, smote 

Flame-colour, vert and azure, in three rays, 

One falling upon each of three fair queens, 

Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends 

Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright 

Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.

10

`And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit 

And hundred winters are but as the hands 

Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.

`And near him stood the Lady of the Lake, 

Who knows a subtler magic than his own-

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. 

She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword, 

Whereby to drive the heathen out: a mist 

Of incense curled about her, and her face 

Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom; 

But there was heard among the holy hymns 

A voice as of the waters, for she dwells 

Down in a deep; calm, whatsoever storms 

May shake the world, and when the surface rolls, 

Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.

`There likewise I beheld Excalibur 

Before him at his crowning borne, the sword 

That rose from out the bosom of the lake, 

And Arthur rowed across and took it--rich 

With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt, 

Bewildering heart and eye--the blade so bright 

That men are blinded by it--on one side, 

Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world, 

"Take me," but turn the blade and ye shall see, 

And written in the speech ye speak yourself, 

"Cast me away!" And sad was Arthur's face 

Taking it, but old Merlin counselled him, 

"Take thou and strike! the time to cast away 

Is yet far-off." So this great brand the king 

Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.'

11->

11

Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought 

To sift his doubtings to the last, and asked, 

Fixing full eyes of question on her face, 

`The swallow and the swift are near akin, 

But thou art closer to this noble prince, 

Being his own dear sister;' and she said, 

`Daughter of Gorlos and Ygerne am I;' 

`And therefore Arthur's sister?' asked the King. 

She answered, `These be secret things,' and signed 

To those two sons to pass, and let them be. 

And Gawain went, and breaking into song 

Sprang out, and followed by his flying hair 

Ran like a colt, and leapt at all he saw: 

But Modred laid his ear beside the doors, 

And there half-heard; the same that afterward 

Struck for the throne, and striking found his doom.

And then the Queen made answer, `What know I? 

For dark my mother was in eyes and hair, 

And dark in hair and eyes am I; and dark 

Was Gorlos, yea and dark was Uther too, 

Wellnigh to blackness; but this King is fair 

Beyond the race of Britons and of men. 

Moreover, always in my mind I hear 

A cry from out the dawning of my life, 

A mother weeping, and I hear her say, 

"O that ye had some brother, pretty one, 

To guard thee on the rough ways of the world."'

`Ay,' said the King, `and hear ye such a cry? 

12

And then the Queen made answer, `What know I? 

For dark my mother was in eyes and hair, 

And dark in hair and eyes am I; and dark 

Was Gorlos, yea and dark was Uther too, 

Wellnigh to blackness; but this King is fair 

Beyond the race of Britons and of men. 

Moreover, always in my mind I hear 

A cry from out the dawning of my life, 

A mother weeping, and I hear her say, 

"O that ye had some brother, pretty one, 

To guard thee on the rough ways of the world."'

`Ay,' said the King, `and hear ye such a cry? 

But when did Arthur chance upon thee first?'

`O King!' she cried, `and I will tell thee true: 

He found me first when yet a little maid: 

Beaten I had been for a little fault 

Whereof I was not guilty; and out I ran

 And flung myself down on a bank of heath, 

And hated this fair world and all therein, 

And wept, and wished that I were dead; and he-

I know not whether of himself he came, 

Or brought by Merlin, who, they say, can walk 

Unseen at pleasure--he was at my side, 

And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart, 

And dried my tears, being a child with me. 

And many a time he came, and evermore 

As I grew greater grew with me; and sad 

At times he seemed, and sad with him was I, 

Stern too at times, and then I loved him not, 

But sweet again, and then I loved him well. 

And now of late I see him less and less, 

But those first days had golden hours for me, 

For then I surely thought he would be king.

13->

13

`But let me tell thee now another tale: 

For Bleys, our Merlin's master, as they say, 

Died but of late, and sent his cry to me, 

To hear him speak before he left his life. 

Shrunk like a fairy changeling lay the mage; 

And when I entered told me that himself 

And Merlin ever served about the King, 

Uther, before he died; and on the night 

When Uther in Tintagil past away 

Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two 

Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe, 

Then from the castle gateway by the chasm 

Descending through the dismal night--a night 

In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost-

Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps 

It seemed in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof 

A dragon winged, and all from stern to stern 

Bright with a shining people on the decks, 

And gone as soon as seen. And then the two 

Dropt to the cove, and watched the great sea fall, 

Wave after wave, each mightier than the last, 

Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep 

And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged 

Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame: 

And down the wave and in the flame was borne 

A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet, 

Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried 

"The King! Here is an heir for Uther!" And the fringe 

Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand, 

Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word, 

And all at once all round him rose in fire, 

So that the child and he were clothed in fire. 

14

And presently thereafter followed calm, 

Free sky and stars: "And this the same child," he said, 

"Is he who reigns; nor could I part in peace 

Till this were told." And saying this the seer 

Went through the strait and dreadful pass of death, 

Not ever to be questioned any more 

Save on the further side; but when I met 

Merlin, and asked him if these things were truth-

The shining dragon and the naked child 

Descending in the glory of the seas-

He laughed as is his wont, and answered me 

In riddling triplets of old time, and said:

`"Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky! 

A young man will be wiser by and by; 

An old man's wit may wander ere he die. 

Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea! 

And truth is this to me, and that to thee; 

And truth or clothed or naked let it be. 

Rain, sun, and rain! and the free blossom blows: 

Sun, rain, and sun! and where is he who knows? 

From the great deep to the great deep he goes.

`So Merlin riddling angered me; but thou 

Fear not to give this King thy only child, 

Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing 

Hereafter; and dark sayings from of old 

Ranging and ringing through the minds of men, 

And echoed by old folk beside their fires 

For comfort after their wage-work is done, 

Speak of the King; and Merlin in our time 

Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn 

Though men may wound him that he will not die, 

But pass, again to come; and then or now 

Utterly smite the heathen underfoot, 

Till these and all men hail him for their king.'

15->

15

She spake and King Leodogran rejoiced, 

But musing, `Shall I answer yea or nay?' 

Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw, 

Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew, 

Field after field, up to a height, the peak 

Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king, 

Now looming, and now lost; and on the slope 

The sword rose, the hind fell, the herd was driven, 

Fire glimpsed; and all the land from roof and rick, 

In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind, 

Streamed to the peak, and mingled with the haze 

And made it thicker; while the phantom king 

Sent out at times a voice; and here or there 

Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest 

Slew on and burnt, crying, `No king of ours, 

No son of Uther, and no king of ours;' 

Till with a wink his dream was changed, the haze 

Descended, and the solid earth became 

As nothing, but the King stood out in heaven, 

Crowned. And Leodogran awoke, and sent 

Ulfius, and Brastias and Bedivere, 

Back to the court of Arthur answering yea.

Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved 

And honoured most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth 

And bring the Queen;--and watched him from the gates: 

And Lancelot past away among the flowers, 

(For then was latter April) and returned 

Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere. 

16

To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint, 

Chief of the church in Britain, and before 

The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the King 

That morn was married, while in stainless white, 

The fair beginners of a nobler time, 

And glorying in their vows and him, his knights 

Stood around him, and rejoicing in his joy.

Far shone the fields of May through open door, 

The sacred altar blossomed white with May, 

The Sun of May descended on their King, 

They gazed on all earth's beauty in their Queen, 

Rolled incense, and there past along the hymns 

A voice as of the waters, while the two 

Sware at the shrine of Christ a deathless love: 

And Arthur said, `Behold, thy doom is mine.

Let chance what will, I love thee to the death!' 

To whom the Queen replied with drooping eyes, 

`King and my lord, I love thee to the death!' 

And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake, 

`Reign ye, and live and love, and make the world 

Other, and may thy Queen be one with thee, 

And all this Order of thy Table Round 

Fulfil the boundless purpose of their King!'

    17->

17

So Dubric said; but when they left the shrine 

Great Lords from Rome before the portal stood, 

In scornful stillness gazing as they past; 

Then while they paced a city all on fire 

With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew, 

And Arthur's knighthood sang before the King:--

`Blow, trumpet, for the world is white with May; 

Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away! 

Blow through the living world--"Let the King reign."

`Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur's realm? 

Flash brand and lance, fall battleaxe upon helm, 

Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.

`Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard 

That God hath told the King a secret word. 

Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.

`Blow trumpet! he will lift us from the dust. 

Blow trumpet! live the strength and die the lust! 

Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

`Strike for the King and die! and if thou diest, 

The King is King, and ever wills the highest. 

Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

18

`Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May! 

Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day! 

Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! 

Let the King reign.

`The King will follow Christ, and we the King 

In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing. 

Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.'

So sang the knighthood, moving to their hall. 

There at the banquet those great Lords from

 Rome, 

The slowly-fading mistress of the world, 

Strode in, and claimed their tribute as of yore.

But Arthur spake, `Behold, for these have sworn 

To wage my wars, and worship me their King; 

The old order changeth, yielding place to new; 

And we that fight for our fair father Christ, 

Seeing that ye be grown too weak and old 

To drive the heathen from your Roman wall, 

No tribute will we pay:' so those great lords 

Drew back in wrath, and Arthur strove with Rome.

And Arthur and his knighthood for a space 

Were all one will, and through that strength the King 

Drew in the petty princedoms under him,

 Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame 

The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reigned.