{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart074.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart074.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart074.htm","text":"CHAPTER XIV\nHow Queen Morgan le Fay made great sorrow for the\ndeath of Accolon, and how she stole away the scabbard\nfrom Arthur.\nTHEN came tidings unto Morgan le Fay that Accolon was dead, and\nhis body brought unto the church, and how <123>King Arthur had\nhis sword again. But when Queen Morgan wist that Accolon was\ndead, she was so sorrowful that near her heart to-brast. But\nbecause she would not it were known, outward she kept her\ncountenance, and made no semblant of sorrow. But well she wist\nan she abode till her brother Arthur came thither, there should\nno gold go for her life.\nThen she went unto Queen Guenever, and asked her leave to ride\ninto the country. Ye may abide, said Queen Guenever, till your\nbrother the king come home. I may not, said Morgan le Fay, for I\nhave such hasty tidings, that I may not tarry. Well, said\nGuenever, ye may depart when ye will. So early on the morn, or\nit was day, she took her horse and rode all that day and most\npart of the night, and on the morn by noon she came to the same\nabbey of nuns whereas lay King Arthur; and she knowing he was\nthere, she asked where he was. And they answered how he had laid\nhim in his bed to sleep, for he had had but little rest these\nthree nights. Well, said she, I charge you that none of you\nawake him till I do, and then she alighted off her horse, and\nthought for to steal away Excalibur his sword, and so she went\nstraight unto his chamber, and no man durst disobey her\ncommandment, and there she found Arthur asleep in his bed, and\nExcalibur in his right hand naked. When she saw that she was\npassing heavy that she might not come by the sword without she\nhad awaked him, and then she wist well she had been dead. Then\nshe took the scabbard and went her way on horseback. When the\nking awoke and missed his scabbard, he was wroth, and he asked\nwho had been there, and they said his sister, Queen Morgan had\nbeen there, and had put the scabbard under her mantle and was\ngone. Alas, said Arthur, falsely ye have watched me. Sir, said\nthey all, we durst not disobey your sister's commandment. Ah,\nsaid the king, let fetch the best horse may be found, and bid Sir\nOntzlake arm him in all haste, and take another good horse and\nride with me. So anon the king and Ontzlake were well armed, and\nrode after this lady, and so they came by a cross and found a\ncowherd, and they asked the <124>poor man if there came any lady\nriding that way. Sir, said this poor man, right late came a lady\nriding with a forty horses, and to yonder forest she rode. Then\nthey spurred their horses, and followed fast, and within a while\nArthur had a sight of Morgan le Fay; then he chased as fast as he\nmight. When she espied him following her, she rode a greater\npace through the forest till she came to a plain, and when she\nsaw she might not escape, she rode unto a lake thereby, and said,\nWhatsoever come of me, my brother shall not have this scabbard.\nAnd then she let throw the scabbard in the deepest of the water\nso it sank, for it was heavy of gold and precious stones.\nThen she rode into a valley where many great stones were, and\nwhen she saw she must be overtaken, she shaped herself, horse and\nman, by enchantment unto a great marble stone. Anon withal came\nSir Arthur and Sir Ontzlake whereas the king might know his\nsister and her men, and one knight from another. Ah, said the\nking, here may ye see the vengeance of God, and now am I sorry\nthat this misadventure is befallen. And then he looked for the\nscabbard, but it would not be found, so he returned to the abbey\nwhere he came from. So when Arthur was gone she turned all into\nthe likeliness as she and they were before, and said, Sirs, now\nmay we go where we will.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IV CHAPTER XIV","type":"page"}