{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart001.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart001.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart001.htm","text":"CHAPTER II\nHow Uther Pendragon made war on the duke of Cornwall, and how by\nthe mean of Merlin he lay by the duchess and gat Arthur.\nTHEN Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he\ncame to King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with\nMerlin. Where is he? said the king. Sir, said Ulfius, he will\nnot dwell long. Therewithal Ulfius was ware where Merlin stood\nat the porch of the pavilion's door. And then Merlin was bound\nto come to the king. When King Uther saw him, he said he was\nwelcome. Sir, said Merlin, I know all your heart every deal; so\nye will be sworn unto me as ye be a true king anointed, to fulfil\nmy desire, ye shall have your desire. Then the king was sworn\nupon the Four Evangelists. Sir, said Merlin, this is my desire:\nthe first night that ye shall lie by Igraine ye shall get a child\non her, and when that is born, that it shall be delivered to me\nfor to nourish there as I will have it; for it shall be your\nworship, and the child's avail, as mickle as the child is worth.\nI will well, said the king, as thou wilt have it. Now make you\nready, said Merlin, this night ye shall lie with Igraine in the\ncastle of Tintagil; and ye shall be like the duke her husband,\nUlfius shall be like Sir Brastias, a knight of the duke's, and I\nwill be like a knight that hight Sir Jordanus, a knight of the\nduke's. But wait ye make not many questions with her nor her\nmen, but say ye are diseased, and so hie you to bed, and rise not\non the morn till I come to you, for the castle of Tintagil is but\nten miles hence; so this was done as they devised. But the duke\nof Tintagil espied how the king rode from the siege of Terrabil,\nand therefore that night he issued out of the castle at a postern\nfor to have distressed the king's host. And so, through his own\nissue, the duke himself was slain or ever the king came at the\ncastle of Tintagil.\n<4>\nSo after the death of the duke, King Uther lay with Igraine more\nthan three hours after his death, and begat on her that night\nArthur, and on day came Merlin to the king, and bade him make him\nready, and so he kissed the lady Igraine and departed in all\nhaste. But when the lady heard tell of the duke her husband, and\nby all record he was dead or ever King Uther came to her, then\nshe marvelled who that might be that lay with her in likeness of\nher lord; so she mourned privily and held her peace. Then all\nthe barons by one assent prayed the king of accord betwixt the\nlady Igraine and him; the king gave them leave, for fain would he\nhave been accorded with her. So the king put all the trust in\nUlfius to entreat between them, so by the entreaty at the last\nthe king and she met together. Now will we do well, said Ulfius,\nour king is a lusty knight and wifeless, and my lady Igraine is a\npassing fair lady; it were great joy unto us all, an it might\nplease the king to make her his queen. Unto that they all well\naccorded and moved it to the king. And anon, like a lusty\nknight, he assented thereto with good will, and so in all haste\nthey were married in a morning with great mirth and joy.\nAnd King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney then wedded Margawse that\nwas Gawaine's mother, and King Nentres of the land of Garlot\nwedded Elaine. All this was done at the request of King Uther.\nAnd the third sister Morgan le Fay was put to school in a\nnunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk\nof necromancy. And after she was wedded to King Uriens of the\nland of Gore, that was Sir Ewain's le Blanchemain's father.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK I CHAPTER II","type":"page"}