Famous Tales of Fact and Fancy Part 21

And Ulfius and Brastias answer'd, "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 rumors on this head: For there be those who hate him in their hearts, Call him base-born, and since his ways are sweet, And theirs are b.e.s.t.i.a.l, 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.

And Uther cast upon her eyes of love: But she, a stainless wife to Gorlos, So loathed the bright dishonor 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 enter'd in, And there was none to call to but himself.

So, compa.s.s'd by the power of the King, Enforced she was 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 Deliver'd 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. 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 rear'd 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 base-born.' Yet Merlin thro' his craft, And while the people clamor'd for a king, Had Arthur crown'd; 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.

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 Crown'd 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 pa.s.sing of a ghost.

Some flush'd, and others dazed, as one who wakes Half-blinded at the coming of a light.

"But when he spake and cheer'd his Table Round With large, divine and comfortable words, Beyond my tongue to tell thee--I beheld From eye to eye thro' all their Order flash A momentary likeness of the King: And ere it left their faces, thro' the cross And those around it and the Crucified, Down from the cas.e.m.e.nt over Arthur, smote Flame-color, 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.

"And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit And hundred winters are but as the hands Of loyal va.s.sals 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 curl'd about her, and her face Well-nigh 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 row'd 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 counseled 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."

Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought To sift his doubtings to the last, and ask'd, Fixing full eyes of question on her face, "The swallow and the swift are near akin, But thou art closer to this n.o.ble 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 sign'd To those two sons to pa.s.s and let them be.

And Gawain went, and breaking into song Sprang out, and follow'd 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, Well-nigh 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 wish'd 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 seem'd, 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.

"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 enter'd 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 pa.s.sing forth to breathe, Then from the castle gateway by the chasm Descending thro' the dismal night--a night In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost-- Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps It seem'd in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof A dragon wing'd, and all from stem 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 watch'd 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, Lash'd 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.

And presently thereafter follow'd calm, Free sky and stars: 'And this same child,' he said, 'Is he who reigns: nor could I part in peace Till this were told.' And saying this the seer Went thro' the strait and dreadful pa.s.s of death, Not ever to be question'd any more Save on the further side; but when I met Merlin, and ask'd him if these things were truth-- The shining dragon and the naked child Descending in the glory of the seas-- He laugh'd as is his wont, and answer'd 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 anger'd me; but thou Fear not to give this King thine only child, Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing Hereafter; and dark sayings from of old Ranging and ringing thro' the minds of men, And echo'd 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 Tho' men may wound him that he will not die, But pa.s.s, again to come; and then or now Utterly smite the heathen under foot, Till these and all men hail him for their king."

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, Stream'd 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 Crown'd. 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 honor'd most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth And bring the Queen;--and watch'd him from the gates; And Lancelot past away among the flowers, (For then was latter April) and return'd Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere.

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 n.o.bler time, And glorying in their vows and him, his knights Stood round him, and rejoicing in his joy.

Far shone the fields of May thro' open door, The sacred altar blossom'd white with May, The Sun of May descended on their King, They gazed on all earth's beauty in their Queen, Roll'd 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!"

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 roll'd away!

Blow thro' the living world--'Let the King reign.'

"Shall Rome or heathen rule in Arthur's realm?

Flash brand and lance, fall battle-axe upon helm, Fall battle-axe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.

"Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard That G.o.d hath told the King a secret word.

Fall battle-axe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.

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

Blow trumpet! live the strength and die the l.u.s.t!

Clang battle-axe, 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 battle-axe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

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

Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day!

Clang battle-axe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

"The King will follow Christ, and we the King, In whom high G.o.d hath breathed a secret thing.

Fall battle-axe, and clash 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 claim'd 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.