{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart061.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart061.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart061.htm","text":"CHAPTER I\nHow Merlin was assotted and doted on one of the ladies of\nthe lake, and how he was shut in a rock under a stone\nand there died.\nSO after these quests of Sir Gawaine, Sir Tor, and King\nPellinore, it fell so that Merlin fell in a dotage on the damosel\nthat King Pellinore brought to court, and she was one of the\ndamosels of the lake, that hight Nimue. But Merlin would let her\nhave no rest, but always he would be with her. And ever she made\nMerlin good cheer till she had learned of him all manner thing\nthat she desired; and he was assotted upon her, that he might not\nbe from her. So on a time he told King Arthur that he should not\ndure long, but for all his crafts he should be put in the earth\nquick. And so he told the king many things that should befall,\nbut always he warned the king to keep well his sword and the\nscabbard, for he told him how the sword and the scabbard should\nbe stolen by a woman from him that he most trusted. Also he told\nKing Arthur that he should miss him,--Yet had ye liefer than all\nyour lands to have me again. Ah, said the king, since ye know of\nyour adventure, purvey for it, and put away by your crafts that\nmisadventure. Nay, said Merlin, it will not be; so he departed\nfrom the king. And within a while the Damosel of the Lake\ndeparted, and Merlin went with her evermore wheresomever she\nwent. And ofttimes Merlin would have had her privily away by his\nsubtle crafts; then she made him to swear that he <103>should\nnever do none enchantment upon her if he would have his will.\nAnd so he sware; so she and Merlin went over the sea unto the\nland of Benwick, whereas King Ban was king that had great war\nagainst King Claudas, and there Merlin spake with King Ban's\nwife, a fair lady and a good, and her name was Elaine, and there\nhe saw young Launcelot. There the queen made great sorrow for\nthe mortal war that King Claudas made on her lord and on her\nlands. Take none heaviness, said Merlin, for this same child\nwithin this twenty year shall revenge you on King Claudas, that\nall Christendom shall speak of it; and this same child shall be\nthe most man of worship of the world, and his first name is\nGalahad, that know I well, said Merlin, and since ye have\nconfirmed him Launcelot. That is truth, said the queen, his\nfirst name was Galahad. O Merlin, said the queen, shall I live\nto see my son such a man of prowess? Yea, lady, on my peril ye\nshall see it, and live many winters after.\nAnd so, soon after, the lady and Merlin departed, and by the way\nMerlin showed her many wonders, and came into Cornwall. And\nalways Merlin lay about the lady to have her maidenhood, and she\nwas ever passing weary of him, and fain would have been delivered\nof him, for she was afeard of him because he was a devil's son,\nand she could not beskift him by no mean. And so on a time it\nhapped that Merlin showed to her in a rock whereas was a great\nwonder, and wrought by enchantment, that went under a great\nstone. So by her subtle working she made Merlin to go under that\nstone to let her wit of the marvels there; but she wrought so\nthere for him that he came never out for all the craft he could\ndo. And so she departed and left Merlin.\n<104>","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IV CHAPTER I","type":"page"}