{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart019.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart019.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart019.htm","text":"CHAPTER XX\nHow King Pellinore took Arthur's horse and followed the\nQuesting Beast, and how Merlin met with Arthur.\nSIR knight, said the king, leave that quest, and suffer me\nto have it, and I will follow it another twelvemonth. Ah,\nfool, said the knight unto Arthur, it is in vain thy desire,\n<37>for it shall never be achieved but by me, or my next kin.\nTherewith he started unto the king's horse and mounted into the\nsaddle, and said, Gramercy, this horse is my own. Well, said the\nking, thou mayst take my horse by force, but an I might prove\nthee whether thou were better on horseback or I.--Well, said the\nknight, seek me here when thou wilt, and here nigh this well thou\nshalt find me, and so passed on his way. Then the king sat in a\nstudy, and bade his men fetch his horse as fast as ever they\nmight. Right so came by him Merlin like a child of fourteen year\nof age, and saluted the king, and asked him why he was so\npensive. I may well be pensive, said the king, for I have seen\nthe marvellest sight that ever I saw. That know I well, said\nMerlin, as well as thyself, and of all thy thoughts, but thou art\nbut a fool to take thought, for it will not amend thee. Also I\nknow what thou art, and who was thy father, and of whom thou wert\nbegotten; King Uther Pendragon was thy father, and begat thee on\nIgraine. That is false, said King Arthur, how shouldest thou\nknow it, for thou art not so old of years to know my father?\nYes, said Merlin, I know it better than ye or any man living. I\nwill not believe thee, said Arthur, and was wroth with the child.\nSo departed Merlin, and came again in the likeness of an old man\nof fourscore year of age, whereof the king was right glad, for he\nseemed to be right wise.\nThen said the old man, Why are ye so sad? I may well be heavy,\nsaid Arthur, for many things. Also here was a child, and told me\nmany things that meseemeth he should not know, for he was not of\nage to know my father. Yes, said the old man, the child told you\ntruth, and more would he have told you an ye would have suffered\nhim. But ye have done a thing late that God is displeased with\nyou, for ye have lain by your sister, and on her ye have gotten a\nchild that shall destroy you and all the knights of your realm.\nWhat are ye, said Arthur, that tell me these tidings? I am\nMerlin, and I was he in the child's likeness. Ah, said King\nArthur, ye are a marvellous man, but I marvel much of thy words\nthat I must die in battle. Marvel not, said Merlin, for it is\n<38>God's will your body to be punished for your foul deeds; but\nI may well be sorry, said Merlin, for I shall die a shameful\ndeath, to be put in the earth quick, and ye shall die a\nworshipful death. And as they talked this, came one with the\nking's horse, and so the king mounted on his horse, and Merlin on\nanother, and so rode unto Carlion. And anon the king asked Ector\nand Ulfius how he was begotten, and they told him Uther Pendragon\nwas his father and Queen Igraine his mother. Then he said to\nMerlin, I will that my mother be sent for that I may speak with\nher; and if she say so herself then will I believe it. In all\nhaste, the queen was sent for, and she came and brought with her\nMorgan le Fay, her daughter, that was as fair a lady as any might\nbe, and the king welcomed Igraine in the best manner.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK I CHAPTER XX","type":"page"}