{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25654/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25654","id":"gutenberg_25654","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25654","summary":null,"tags":["Arthur, King -- Juvenile literature","Arthurian Legends","Arthurian romances -- Adaptations","Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Suzan Flanagan and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTOLD TO THE CHILDREN SERIES\nEDITED BY LOUEY CHISHOLM\n\n\n       KING ARTHUR'S KNIGHTS\n\n\n\n\n                TO\n          MARIE WINIFRED\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: BESIDE HER STOOD HER BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER\n\nPage 7]\n\n\n\n\n            STORIES OF\n\n       King Arthur's Knights\n\n      TOLD TO THE CHILDREN BY\n\n          MARY MACGREGOR\n\n         WITH PICTURES BY\n\n         KATHARINE CAMERON\n\n           [Illustration]\n\n     LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK\n     NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.\n\n\n\n\nABOUT THIS BOOK\n\n\nMore than four hundred years ago there lived a diligent man called\nSir Thomas Malory, who wrote in English words many of the beautiful\nWelsh tales about King Arthur's Knights, that the people of Wales\nloved so well.\n\nAll the stories in this little book were found in Malory's big\nbook, except 'Geraint and Enid.' But it, too, is one of the old\nWelsh tales that tell of the brave knights and fair ladies of King\nArthur's court.\n\nMany times, since Sir Thomas Malory wrote his book, have these\nstories been told again to old and young, but perhaps never before\nhave they been told to the children so simply as in this little\nbook.\n\n                                                  MARY MACGREGOR.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF STORIES\n\n                                      Page\n\n     Geraint and Enid,                   1\n\n     Lancelot and Elaine,               29\n\n     Pelleas and Ettarde,               45\n\n     Gareth and Lynette,                61\n\n     Sir Galahad and the Sacred Cup,    88\n\n     The Death of King Arthur,         107\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF PICTURES\n\n\n     GERAINT AND ENID.\n\n     Beside her stood her beautiful daughter,  _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                      At page\n\n     Through woods and swamps Enid and Geraint rode\n     silently,                                             20\n\n\n     LANCELOT AND ELAINE.\n\n     The Lily Maid of Astolat,                             44\n\n\n     PELLEAS AND ETTARDE.\n\n     Sir Pelleas was always at his lady's side,            50\n\n\n     GARETH AND LYNETTE.\n\n     Sometimes the birds and beasts, his woodland\n     friends, would call to him,                           62\n\n     The Lady Lyonors,                                     84\n\n\n     SIR GALAHAD AND THE SACRED CUP.\n\n     'My strength is as the strength of ten\n     Because my heart is pure,'                           102\n\n\n     THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR,                            114\n\n\n\n\nGERAINT AND ENID\n\n\nQueen Guinevere lay idly in bed dreaming beautiful dreams. The\nsunny morning hours were slipping away, but she was so happy in\ndreamland, that she did not remember that her little maid had\ncalled her long ago.\n\nBut the Queen's dreams came to an end at last, and all at once she\nremembered that this was the morning she had promised to go to the\nhunt with King Arthur.\n\nEven in the hunting-field, the King was not quite happy if his\nbeautiful Queen Guinevere were not there. This morning he had\nwaited for her in vain, for in dreamland the Queen had forgotten\nall about the hunt.\n\n'If I dress quickly, I shall not be very late,' thought the Queen,\nas she heard the far-off sound of the hunting-horn. And she was so\nquick that in a very short time she and her little waiting-maid\nwere out, and riding up to a grassy knoll. But the huntsmen were\nalready far away. 'We will wait here to see them ride homewards,'\nsaid the Queen, and they drew up their horses to watch and listen.\n\nThey had not waited long, when they heard the sound of horse's\nhoofs, and turning round, the Queen saw Prince Geraint, one of\nArthur's knights. He was unarmed, except that his sword hung at his\nside. He wore a suit of silk, with a purple sash round his waist,\nand at each end of the sash was a golden apple, which sparkled in\nthe sunlight.\n\n'You are late for the hunt, Prince Geraint,' said the Queen.\n\n'Like you, I have come, not to join the hunt, but to see it pass,'\nsaid the Prince, bowing low to the beautiful Queen. And he asked to\nbe allowed to wait with her and the little maid.\n\nAs they waited, three people, a lady, a knight and a dwarf, came\nout of the forest, and rode slowly past. The knight had his helmet\noff, and the Queen saw that he looked young and bold.\n\n'I cannot remember if he is one of Arthur's knights. I must know\nhis name,' she said. And she sent her little maid to find out who\nthe strange knight was.\n\nBut when the little maid asked the dwarf his master's name, the\ndwarf answered rudely that he would not tell her.\n\n'Then I will ask your master himself,' said the maid. But as she\nstepped towards the knight, the dwarf struck her with his whip, and\nthe little maid, half-angry and half-frightened, hurried back to\nthe Queen, and told her how the dwarf had treated her.\n\nPrince Geraint was angry when he heard how rude the dwarf had been\nto the Queen's little messenger, and said that he would go and find\nout the knight's name.\n\nBut the dwarf, by his master's orders, treated the Prince as rudely\nas he had treated the little maid. When Geraint felt the dwarf's\nwhip strike his cheek, and saw the blood dropping on to his purple\nsash, he felt for the sword at his side. Then he remembered that\nwhile he was tall and strong, the dwarf was small and weak, and he\nscorned to touch him.\n\nGoing back to the Queen, Geraint told her that he had not been able\nto find out the knight's name either, 'but with your leave, I will\nfollow him to his home, and compel him to ask your pardon,' said\nthe Prince. And the Queen allowed him to follow the knight.\n\n'When you come back, you will perhaps bring a bride with you,' said\nthe Queen. 'If she be a great lady, or if she be only a\nbeggar-maid, I will dress her in beautiful robes, and she shall\nstand among the fairest ladies of my court.'\n\n'In three days I shall come back, if I am not slain in battle with\nthe knight,' said Geraint. And he rode away, a little sorry not to\nhear the merry sound of the hunter's horn, and a little vexed that\nhe had undertaken this strange adventure.\n\nThrough valleys and over hills Geraint followed the lady, the\nknight and the dwarf, till at last, in the evening, he saw them go\nthrough the narrow streets of a little town, and reach a white\nfortress. Into this fortress the lady, the knight and the dwarf\ndisappeared.\n\n'I shall find the knight there to-morrow,' thought Geraint 'Now I\nmust go to an inn for food and a bed,' for he was hungry and tired\nafter his long ride.\n\nBut all the inns in the little town were full, and every one seemed\ntoo busy to take any notice of the stranger.\n\n'Why is there such a bustle in your town this evening?' asked\nGeraint, first of one person and then of another. But they hurried\npast him, muttering, 'The Sparrow-hawk has his tournament here\nto-morrow.'\n\n'The Sparrow-hawk! that is a strange name,' thought Geraint. But he\ndid not know that this was one of the names of the knight he had\nfollowed so far.\n\nSoon Geraint reached a smithy, and he looked in, and saw that the\nsmith was busy sharpening swords and spears. 'I will go in and buy\narms,' thought Geraint.\n\nAnd because the smith saw that the stranger was dressed like a\nPrince, he stopped his work for a moment to speak to him.\n\n'Arms?' he said, when Geraint told him what he wanted. 'There are\nno arms to spare, for the Sparrow-hawk holds his tournament here\nto-morrow.'\n\n'The Sparrow-hawk again!' thought Geraint. 'I wonder who he can\nbe.' Then he turned to the smith again and said, 'Though you cannot\ngive me arms, perhaps you can tell me where to find food and a\nbed.'\n\n'The old Earl Yniol might give you shelter. He lives in that\nhalf-ruined castle across the bridge,' said the smith. And he\nturned again to his work, muttering, 'Those who work for the\nSparrow-hawk have no time to waste in talk.'\n\nSo Geraint rode wearily on across the bridge and reached the\ncastle. The courtyard was quite empty and looked very dreary, for\nit was all overgrown with weeds and thistles. At the door of the\nhalf-ruined castle stood the old Earl.\n\n'It is growing late. Will you not come in and rest,' said Earl\nYniol, 'although the castle be bare, and the fare simple?'\n\nAnd Geraint said he would like to stay there, for he was so hungry\nthat the plainest food would seem a feast.\n\nAs he entered the castle, he heard some one singing. The song was\nso beautiful, and the voice was so pure and clear, that Geraint\nthought it was the sweetest song in all the world, and the old\ncastle seemed less gloomy as he listened.\n\nThen Earl Yniol led Geraint into a long low room, and this room was\nboth dining-room and kitchen.\n\nThe Earl's wife sat there, and she wore a dress that must have been\nvery grand once, but now it was old.\n\nBeside her stood her beautiful daughter, and she wore a faded silk\ngown, but Geraint thought he had never seen so fair a face.\n\n'This is the maiden who sang the beautiful song,' he thought. 'If I\ncan win her for my bride, she shall come back with me to Queen\nGuinevere. But the brightest silks the Queen can dress her in, will\nnot make her look more fair than she does in this old gown,' he\nmurmured to himself.\n\n'Enid,' said the Earl, 'take the stranger's horse to the stable,\nand then go to the town and buy food for supper.'\n\nGeraint did not like the beautiful girl to wait on him, and he got\nup eagerly to help her.\n\n'We are poor, and have no servants, but we cannot let our guest\nwait upon himself,' said the Earl proudly. And Geraint had to sit\ndown, while Enid took his horse to the stall, and went across the\nbridge to the little town to buy meat and cakes for supper.\n\nAnd as the dining-room was the kitchen too, Geraint could watch\nEnid as she cooked the food and set the table.\n\nAt first it grieved him that she should work at all, but afterwards\nhe thought, 'She touches everything with such grace and gentleness,\nthat the work grows beautiful under her white hands.'\n\nAnd when supper was ready, Enid stood behind, and waited, and\nGeraint almost forgot that he was very hungry, as he took the\ndishes from her careful hands.\n\nWhen supper was over, Geraint turned to the Earl. 'Who is this\nSparrow-hawk of whom all the townspeople chatter? Yet if he should\nbe the knight of the white fortress, do not tell me his real name.\nThat I must find out for myself.' And he told the Earl that he was\nPrince Geraint, and that he had come to punish the knight, because\nhe allowed his dwarf to be so rude to the Queen's messengers.\n\nThe Earl was glad when he heard his guest's name. 'I have often\ntold Enid of your noble deeds and wonderful adventures,' he said,\n'and when I stopped, she would call to me to go on. She loves to\nhear of the noble deeds of Arthur's knights. But now I will tell\nyou about the Sparrow-hawk. He lives in the white fortress, and he\nis my nephew. He is a fierce and cruel man, and when I would not\nallow him to marry Enid, he hated me, and made the people believe I\nwas unkind to him. He said I had stolen his father's money from\nhim. And the people believed him,' said the Earl, 'and were full of\nrage against me. One evening, just before Enid's birthday, three\nyears ago, they broke into our home, and turned us out, and took\naway all our treasures. Then the Sparrow-hawk built himself the\nwhite fortress for safety, but us he keeps in this old half-ruined\ncastle.'\n\n'Give me arms,' said Geraint, 'and I will fight this knight in\nto-morrow's tournament.'\n\n'Arms I can give you,' said the Earl, 'though they are old and\nrusty; but you cannot fight to-morrow.' And the Earl told Geraint\nthat the Sparrow-hawk gave a prize at the tournament. 'But every\nknight who fights to-morrow must have a lady with him,' said the\nEarl, 'so that if he wins the prize in fair fight from the\nSparrow-hawk, he may give it to her. But you have no lady to whom\nyou could give the prize, so you will not be allowed to fight.'\n\n'Let me fight as your beautiful Enid's knight,' said Geraint. 'And\nif I win the prize for her, let me marry her, for I love her more\nthan any one else in all the world.'\n\nThen the Earl was pleased, for he knew that if the Prince took Enid\naway, she would go to a beautiful home. And though the old castle\nwould be more dreary than ever without her, he loved his fair\ndaughter too well to wish to keep her there.\n\n'Her mother will tell Enid to be at the tournament to-morrow,' said\nthe Earl, 'if she be willing to have you as her knight.'\n\nAnd Enid was willing. And when she slept that night she dreamed of\nnoble deeds and true knights, and always in her dream the face of\neach knight was like the face of Prince Geraint.\n\nEarly in the morning Enid woke her mother, and together they went\nthrough the meadows to the place where the tournament was to be\nheld.\n\nAnd the Earl and Geraint followed, and the Prince wore the Earl's\nrusty arms, but in spite of these, every one could see that he was\na Prince.\n\nA great many lords and ladies and all the townspeople came to see\nthe tournament.\n\nThen the Sparrow-hawk came to the front of the great crowd, and\nasked if any one claimed his prize. And he thought, 'No one here is\nbrave enough to fight with me.'\n\nBut Geraint was brave, and he called out loudly, 'I claim the\nprize for the fairest lady in the field.' And he glanced at Enid in\nher faded silk dress.\n\nThen, in a great rage, the Sparrow-hawk got ready for the fight\nwith Enid's champion, and they fought so fiercely that three times\nthey broke their spears. Then they got off their horses, and fought\nwith their swords. And the lords and ladies and all the townspeople\nmarvelled that Geraint was still alive, for the Sparrow-hawk's\nsword flashed like lightning round the Prince's head.\n\nBut Geraint, because he was fighting for the Queen, and to win the\ngracious Enid for his bride, brought down his sword with all his\nstrength on the Sparrow-hawk's helmet. The blow brought the knight\nto the ground, and Geraint put his foot on him, and demanded his\nname.\n\nAnd all the pride of the Sparrow-hawk was gone because Enid had\nseen his fall, and he quickly told Geraint his name was Edyrn.\n\n'I will spare your life,' said Geraint, 'but you must go to the\nQueen and ask her to forgive you, and you must take the dwarf with\nyou. And you must give back to Earl Yniol his earldom and all his\ntreasures.'\n\nEdyrn went to the Queen and she forgave him; and he stayed at the\ncourt and grew ashamed of his rough and cruel deeds. At last he\nbegan to fight for King Arthur, and lived ever after as a true\nknight.\n\nWhen the tournament was over, Geraint took the prize to Enid, and\nasked her if she would be his bride, and go to the Queen's court\nwith him the next day. And Enid was glad, and said she would go.\n\nIn the early morning, Enid lay thinking of her journey. 'I have\nonly my faded silk dress to wear,' she sighed, and it seemed to her\nshabbier and more faded than ever, as it hung there in the morning\nlight. 'If only I had a few days longer, I would weave myself a\ndress. I would weave it so delicately that when Geraint took me to\nthe Queen, he would be proud of it,' she thought. For in her heart\nshe was afraid that Geraint would be ashamed of the old faded silk,\nwhen they reached the court.\n\nAnd her thoughts wandered back to the evening before her birthday,\nthree long years ago. She could never forget that evening, for it\nwas then that their home had been sacked. Then she thought of the\nmorning of that day when her mother had brought her a beautiful\ngift. It was a dress, made all of silk, with beautiful silk flowers\nwoven into it. If only she could have worn that, but the robbers\nhad taken it away.\n\nBut what had happened? Enid sat up and rubbed her eyes. For at that\nmoment her mother came into the room, and over her arm was the very\ndress Enid had been thinking of.\n\n'The colours are as bright as ever,' said the mother, touching the\nsilk softly. And she told Enid how last night their scattered\ntreasures had been brought back, and how she had found the dress\namong them.\n\n'I will wear it at once,' said Enid, a glad look in her eyes. And\nwith loving hands her mother helped her to put on the old birthday\ngift.\n\nDownstairs the Earl was telling Geraint that last night the\nSparrow-hawk had sent back all their treasures. 'Among them is one\nof Enid's beautiful dresses. At last you will see her dressed as a\nPrincess,' said the Earl gladly.\n\nBut Geraint remembered that he had first seen and loved Enid in the\nfaded gown, and he thought, 'I will ask her to wear it again to-day\nfor my sake.'\n\nAnd Enid loved the Prince so dearly, that when she heard his wish,\nshe took off the beautiful dress she had been so glad to wear, and\nwent down to him in the old silk gown. And when Geraint saw Enid,\nthe gladness in his face made her glad too, and she forgot all\nabout the old dress.\n\nAll that day Queen Guinevere sat in a high tower and often glanced\nout of the window to look for Geraint and his bride. When she saw\nthem riding along the white road, she went down to the gate herself\nto welcome them. And when the Queen had dressed Enid in soft and\nshining silk, all the court marvelled at her beauty.\n\nBut because Geraint had first seen and loved her in the old faded\nsilk, Enid folded it up with care and put it away among the things\nshe loved.\n\nAnd a feast was made for the wedding-day, and in great joy Geraint\nand Enid were married.\n\nDay by day Geraint loved his wife more dearly. And Enid was happy\nin this strange new life, and she wondered at the merry lords and\nladies, and she loved the beautiful Queen, who was so kind to her.\n\nAnd Geraint was glad that Enid was often with the Queen, till one\nday he heard some people say that though the Queen was very\nbeautiful, she was not good. And Geraint heard this so often, that\nhe learned to believe it.\n\n'I must take Enid away from the court,' he thought, 'for she\nworships the Queen and may grow like her.'\n\nSo Geraint went to King Arthur, and asked to be allowed to go to\nhis own country. He told the King that robbers trampled down his\ncornfields, and carried away his cattle. 'I wish to go and fight\nthese robbers,' he said. And King Arthur allowed him to go.\n\nAnd Enid left the Queen and the lords and ladies gladly, to go with\nGeraint.\n\nBut all the time Geraint could not help thinking, 'Enid is longing\nfor the knights and ladies she knew at the court.'\n\nWhen Geraint reached his own country, he forgot all about the\nrobbers, who were destroying his land. He forgot to go to the hunt,\nor the tournament, or to look after the poor people. And this was\nall because he loved Enid so much. He thought, 'I will stay with\nher all day. I will be so kind to her that she will forget the gay\nlords and ladies, and be happy here, alone with me.'\n\nBut Enid grew sadder and paler every day. She did not wish Geraint\nto wait on her and forget every one else. She wanted him to be a\ntrue knight.\n\nAnd the people began to scoff and jeer whenever Geraint's name was\nspoken. 'The Prince is no knight,' they said. 'The robbers spoil\nhis land and carry off his cattle, but he neither cares nor\nfights. He does nothing but wait on the fair Lady Enid.'\n\nEnid knew what the people said, and she thought, 'I must tell\nGeraint, and then surely he will be ashamed, and become a brave\nknight once more.' But always her courage failed.\n\n'I think I could buckle on his armour and ride with him to battle,'\nthought Enid, 'but how can I tell him he is no worthy knight?'\n\nAnd her tears fell fast, and Geraint coming in, saw her weeping,\nand thought, 'She weeps for the gay lords and ladies of Arthur's\ncourt.'\n\nThen all at once he hated his idle life. 'It has only made Enid\ndespise me,' he thought. 'We will go together into the wilderness,\nand I will show her I can still fight.' And half in anger and half\nin sadness he called for his war-horse.\n\nThen Geraint told Enid to put on her oldest dress and ride with him\ninto the wilderness. And because he was angry with himself for\nthinking that Enid wept for the gay knights and ladies at Arthur's\ncourt, he would not ride with her, but told her to go on in front,\nand 'whatever you see or hear, do not speak to me,' he said\nsternly.\n\nThen Enid remembered the old faded silk gown. 'I will wear that,\nfor he loved me in it,' she thought.\n\nThrough woods and swamps Enid and Geraint rode in silence. And\nwhile Enid's heart cried, 'Why is Geraint angry with me?' her eyes\nwere busy glancing into every bush and corner, in case robbers\nshould attack her lord.\n\nAt last in the shadow of some trees, Enid saw three tall knights.\nThey were armed, and she heard them whisper, when they saw Geraint,\n'This is a craven-looking knight. We will slay him, and take his\narmour and his maiden.'\n\nAnd Enid thought, 'Even if it makes Geraint angry, I must tell him\nwhat the knights say, or they will attack him before he knows they\nare there.' And Enid turned back. Geraint frowned as he saw her\ncoming to speak to him, but Enid said bravely, 'There are three\nknights in front of us. They say they will fight with you.'\n\n'I do not want your warning,' said Geraint roughly, 'but you shall\nsee I can fight.'\n\nSad and pale, Enid watched the three knights spring suddenly out of\ntheir ambush and attack her lord.\n\nBut Geraint threw his spear at the tallest knight, and it pierced\nhis breast. Then with two sword thrusts, he stunned the other two.\n\nGeraint dismounted, and took the armour of the three fallen\nknights, and tied it round their horses. Twining the three bridle\nreins into one, he gave it to Enid.\n\n'Drive these horses in front, and whatever you see or hear, do not\nspeak to me,' said Geraint. But he rode a little nearer Enid than\nbefore, and that made her glad.\n\nSoon they came to a wood, and in the wood Enid again saw three\nknights. One was taller and looked stronger than Geraint, and Enid\ntrembled as she looked at him.\n\n'The knight hangs his head, and the horses are driven by a girl,'\nshe heard them mutter. 'We will kill the knight, and take his\ndamsel and his horses for ourselves.'\n\n[Illustration: THROUGH WOODS AND SWAMPS ENID AND GERAINT RODE IN\nSILENCE\n\nPage 19]\n\n'Surely,' thought Enid, 'I may warn Geraint this time, for he is\nfaint and tired after the last battle.'\n\nAnd Enid waited till Geraint rode up to her, and told him there\nwere three evil men in front of them. 'One is stronger than you,'\nshe said, 'and he means to kill you.'\n\nAnd Geraint answered angrily, 'If you would but obey me, I would\nfight one hundred knights gladly.' Yet Geraint loved Enid all the\ntime, though he spoke so roughly.\n\nThen Enid stood out of the way, and she hardly dared to look as the\nstrongest knight attacked Geraint. But Geraint hurled his spear\nthrough the strong knight's armour, and he fell over and died.\n\nThe other two knights came slowly towards Geraint, but he shouted\nhis battle-cry, and they turned and fled. But Geraint caught them,\nand killed them.\n\nAgain Geraint tied the armour of the three slain knights round\ntheir horses. Then he twisted the three reins together, and handed\nthem to Enid.\n\n'Drive these on in front,' said Geraint. And now Enid had six\nhorses to drive, and Geraint saw that they were difficult to\nmanage. Then he rode nearer Enid.\n\nThey had left the wood behind them now, and were riding through\ncornfields, where reapers were busy cutting down the waving corn.\n\nComing down the path towards them, they saw a fair-haired boy. He\nwas carrying food to the reapers. Geraint thought Enid looked\nfaint, and he was very hungry, so he stopped the lad and asked for\nfood.\n\n'I can give you some of this; it is the reapers' dinner,' said the\nboy. 'But it is coarse and plain food,' and he glanced doubtfully\nat the lady with the sad eyes and her stern-looking knight.\n\nBut Geraint thanked him, and took the food to Enid. And to please\nhim she ate a little, but Geraint was so hungry that he finished\nall the reapers' dinner.\n\n'I will reward you,' said Geraint, for the lad was dismayed to find\nnothing left for the reapers to eat. And he told him to take one\nof the horses, with the suit of armour bound round it.\n\nThen the boy was full of glee, and thought himself a knight, as he\nled the horse away.\n\nGeraint and Enid then went to the little village near the\ncornfields, and lodged there for one night.\n\nThe country they were in belonged to a cruel Earl. He had once\nwanted to marry Enid. When he heard that she was in his country, he\nmade up his mind to kill Geraint, and make Enid marry him after\nall.\n\n'I will go to the inn while they are still asleep,' thought the\nEarl, 'and kill the knight and take Enid away.'\n\nBut Geraint and Enid had got up very early that morning, and had\nleft the five horses and the five suits of armour with the\nlandlord, to pay him for their food and shelter.\n\nBy the time the Earl reached the inn Geraint and Enid had ridden a\nlong way into a wild country.\n\nThen the wicked Earl galloped after them, and Enid heard the sound\nof horse's hoofs coming nearer and nearer. As the horseman dashed\ndown upon Geraint, Enid hid her face, and asked God to spare her\ndear lord's life once more.\n\nThe fight was long and fierce, but at last Geraint overthrew the\nEarl, and left him lying half-dead in the dust.\n\nStill a little in front, Enid rode silently on, and Geraint\nfollowed, but he had been wounded in the fight with the Earl,\nthough he did not tell Enid. And the wound bled inside his armour,\ntill Geraint felt very faint, and suddenly everything seemed black\nin front of him. He reeled and fell from his horse on to a bank of\ngrass.\n\nEnid heard the crash of his armour as he fell, and in a moment she\nwas beside him. She unbuckled the armour and took off his helmet\nThen she took her veil of faded silk and bound up his wound. But\nGeraint lay quite still.\n\nEnid's horse wandered into a forest and was lost, but Geraint's\nnoble war-horse kept watch with Enid, as if he understood.\n\nAbout noon, the Earl, in whose country they now were, passed along\nwith his followers. He saw the two by the wayside, and shouted to\nEnid, 'Is he dead?'\n\n'No, no, not dead; he cannot be dead. Let him be carried out of the\nsun,' she entreated.\n\nAnd Enid's great sorrow, and her great beauty, made the Earl a\nlittle less rough, and he told his men to carry Geraint to the\nhall. 'His charger is a noble one, bring it too,' shouted the Earl.\n\nHis men unwillingly carried Geraint to the hall, and laid him down\non a stretcher there, and left him.\n\nEnid bent over him, chafing his cold hands, and calling him to come\nback to her.\n\nAfter a long time Geraint opened his eyes. He saw Enid tenderly\nwatching him, and he felt Enid's tears dropping on his face. 'She\nweeps for me,' he thought; but he did not move, but lay there as if\nhe were dead.\n\nIn the evening the Earl came into the great hall and called for\ndinner, and many knights and ladies sat down with him, but no one\nremembered Enid. But when the Earl had finished eating and\ndrinking, his eye fell on her. He remembered how she had wept for\nher wounded lord in the morning.\n\n'Do not weep any more, but eat and be merry. Then I will marry you,\nand you shall share my earldom, and I will hunt for you,' said the\nwild Earl.\n\nEnid's head drooped lower, and she murmured, 'Leave me alone, I\nbeseech you, for my lord is surely dead.'\n\nThe Earl hardly heard what she said, but thought Enid was thanking\nhim. 'Yes, eat and be glad,' he repeated, 'for you are mine.'\n\n'How can I ever be glad again?' said Enid, thinking, 'Surely\nGeraint is dead.'\n\nBut the Earl was growing impatient. He seized her roughly, and made\nher sit at the table, and he put food before her, shouting, 'Eat.'\n\n'No,' said Enid, 'I will not eat, till my lord arises and eats with\nme.'\n\n'Then drink,' said the Earl, and he thrust a cup to her lips.\n\n'No,' said Enid, 'I will not drink, till my lord arises and drinks\nwith me; and if he does not arise, I will not drink wine till I\ndie.'\n\nThe Earl strode up and down the hall in a great rage. 'If you will\nneither eat nor drink, will you take off this old faded dress?'\nsaid the Earl. And he told one of his women to bring Enid a robe,\nwhich had been woven across the sea, and which was covered with\nmany gems.\n\nBut Enid told the Earl how Geraint had first seen and loved her in\nthe dress she wore, and how he had asked her to wear it when he\ntook her to the Queen. 'And when we started on this sad journey, I\nwore it again, to win back his love,' she said, 'and I will never\ntake it off till he arises and bids me.'\n\nThen the Earl was angry. He came close to Enid, and struck her on\nthe cheek with his hand.\n\nAnd Enid thought, 'He would not have dared to strike me, if he had\nnot known that my lord was truly dead,' and she gave a bitter cry.\n\nWhen Geraint heard Enid's cry, with one bound he leaped to where\nthe huge Earl stood, and with one swing of his sword cut off the\nEarl's head, and it fell down and rolled along the floor.\n\nThen all the lords and ladies were afraid, for they had thought\nGeraint was dead, and they fled, and Geraint and Enid were left\nalone.\n\nAnd Geraint never again thought that Enid loved the gay lords and\nladies at King Arthur's court better than she loved him.\n\nThen they went back to their own land. And soon the people knew\nthat Prince Geraint had come back a true knight, and the old\nwhispers that he was a coward faded away, and the people called him\n'Geraint the Brave.'\n\nAnd her ladies called Enid, 'Enid the Fair,' but the people on the\nland called her 'Enid the Good.'\n\n\n\n\nLANCELOT AND ELAINE\n\n\nHer name was Elaine. But she was so fair that her father called her\n'Elaine the Fair,' and she was so lovable that her brothers called\nher 'Elaine the Lovable,' and that was the name she liked best of\nall.\n\nThe country people, who lived round about the castle of Astolat,\nwhich was Elaine's home, had another and a very beautiful name for\nher. As she passed their windows in her white frock, they looked at\nthe white lilies growing in their gardens, and they said, 'She is\ntall and graceful and pure as these,' and they called her the 'Lily\nMaid of Astolat.'\n\nElaine lived in the castle alone with her father and her two\nbrothers, and an old dumb servant who had waited on her since she\nwas a baby.\n\nTo her father Elaine seemed always a bright and winsome child,\nthough she was growing up now. He would watch her serious face as\nshe listened to Sir Torre, the grave elder brother, while he told\nher that wise maidens stayed at home to cook and sew. And he would\nlaugh as he saw her, when Sir Torre turned away, run off wilfully\nto the woods.\n\nElaine spent long happy days out of doors with her younger brother\nLavaine. When they grew tired of chasing the butterflies and\ngathering the wildflowers, they would sit under the pine-trees and\nspeak of Arthur's knights and their noble deeds, and they longed to\nsee the heroes of whom they talked.\n\n'And the tournament will be held at Camelot this year,' Lavaine\nreminded his sister. 'If some of the knights ride past Astolat, we\nmay see them as they pass.' And Elaine and Lavaine counted the days\ntill the tournament would begin.\n\nNow Arthur had offered the prize of a large diamond to the knight\nwho fought most bravely at the tournament.\n\nBut the knights murmured to each other, 'We need not hope to win\nthe prize, for Sir Lancelot will be on the field, and who can stand\nbefore the greatest knight of Arthur's court?'\n\nAnd the Queen heard what the knights said to each other, and she\ntold Lancelot how they lost courage and hope when he came on to the\nfield. 'They begin to think some magic is at work when they see\nyou, and they cannot fight their best. But I have a plan. You must\ngo to the tournament at Camelot in disguise. And though the knights\ndo not know with whom they fight, they will still fall before the\nstrength of Lancelot's arm,' added the Queen, smiling up to him.\n\nThen Lancelot disguised himself, and left the court and rode\ntowards Camelot. But when he was near Astolat he lost his way, and\nwandered into the old castle grounds, where Elaine stood, with her\nfather and brothers.\n\nAnd as Elaine's father, the old Baron, welcomed the knight, Lavaine\nand Elaine whispered together, 'This is better than to see many\nknights passing on their way to Camelot.'\n\nAnd Lancelot stayed at Astolat till evening, and he told many tales\nof Arthur's court.\n\nAs Elaine and Lavaine listened to his voice, and looked at his\nface, with the scars of many battles on it, they loved him. 'I will\nbe his squire and follow him,' thought Lavaine, and Elaine wished\nthat she might follow the strange knight too. But Sir Torre, the\ngrave elder brother, looked gloomily at the stranger, and wished he\nhad not come to Astolat.\n\nIn the evening Sir Lancelot told the Baron how he was going in\ndisguise to the tournament, and how, by mistake, he had brought his\nown shield with him. 'If you can lend me another, I will leave my\nshield with you till I come back from Camelot,' said the knight.\n\nThen they gave him Sir Torre's shield, for Sir Torre had been\nwounded in his first battle, and could not go to the tournament.\nAnd Elaine came running gladly to take the strange knight's shield\nunder her care. But none of them knew that it was Sir Lancelot's\nshield, for he had not told them his name.\n\nAnd Elaine, carrying the shield with her, climbed the tower stair,\nup to her own little room. And she put the shield carefully into a\ncorner, thinking, 'I will sew a cover for it, to keep it safe and\nbright.' Then she went downstairs again, and saw that the knight\nwas going, and that Lavaine was going too.\n\n'He has asked the knight to take him as his squire,' she thought.\n'But although I cannot go,' she murmured sadly, 'I can ask him to\nwear my favour at the tournament.' For in those days a knight often\nwore the colours of the lady who loved him.\n\nVery shyly Elaine told the knight her wish. Would he wear her\nfavour at the tournament? It was a red sleeve, embroidered with\nwhite pearls.\n\nLancelot thought how fair Elaine was, as she looked up at him with\nlove and trust in her eyes, but he told her gently that he had\nnever yet worn a lady's favour, and that he could not wear hers.\n\n'If you have never worn one before, wear this,' she urged timidly.\n'It will make your disguise more complete.' And Lancelot knew that\nwhat she said was true, and he took the red sleeve embroidered with\npearls, and tied it on his helmet.\n\nSo Elaine was glad, and after the knight and Lavaine had ridden\naway, she went up the turret stair again to her little room. She\ntook the shield from the corner, and handled the bruises and dints\nin it lovingly, and made pictures to herself of all the battles and\ntournaments it had been through with her knight.\n\nThen Elaine sat down and sewed, as Sir Torre would have wise\nmaidens do. But what she sewed was a beautiful cover for the\nshield, and that Sir Torre would not have her do, for he cared\nneither for the strange knight nor his shield.\n\nLancelot rode on towards Camelot, with Lavaine as his squire, till\nthey came to a wood where a hermit lived. And they stayed at the\nhermitage all night, and the next morning they rode on till they\nreached Camelot.\n\nAnd when Lavaine saw the King sitting on a high throne, ready to\njudge which knight was worthy to have the diamond, he did not think\nof the grandeur of the throne, nor of the King's marvellous dress\nof rich gold, nor of the jewels in his crown. He could think only\nof the nobleness and beauty of the great King's face, and wish that\nhis fair sister Elaine might see him too.\n\nThen many brave knights began to fight, and all wondered why Sir\nLancelot was not there. And they wondered more at the strange\nknight, with the bare shield and the red sleeve with pearls on his\nhelmet, who fought so bravely and overthrew the others one by one.\n\nAnd the King said, 'Surely this is Sir Lancelot himself.' But when\nhe saw the lady's favour on the knight's helmet, he said, 'No, it\ncannot be Sir Lancelot.'\n\nWhen at last the tournament was over, the King proclaimed that the\nstrange knight who wore the red sleeve embroidered with pearls had\nwon the prize, and he called him to come to take the diamond.\n\nBut no one came, and the knight with the red sleeve was nowhere to\nbe seen. For Sir Lancelot had been wounded in his last fight, and\nwhen it was over, had ridden hastily from the field, calling\nLavaine to follow. And when they had ridden a little way into the\nwood, Sir Lancelot fell from his horse. 'The head of the spear is\nstill in my side,' he moaned; 'draw it out, Lavaine.'\n\nAt first Lavaine was afraid, for he thought of the pain it would\ngive the knight, and he was afraid too that the wound would bleed\ntill his knight bled to death. But because Sir Lancelot was in\ngreat suffering, Lavaine at last took courage, and pulled the head\nof the spear out of Lancelot's side. Then he, with great\ndifficulty, helped the knight on to his horse, and slowly and\npainfully they rode towards the hermitage.\n\nThey reached it at last, and the hermit came out and called two of\nhis servants to carry the knight into his cell; and they unarmed\nhim and put him to bed. Then the hermit dressed the knight's wound\nand gave him wine to drink.\n\nWhen King Arthur found the strange knight had disappeared, and\nheard that he was wounded, he said that the prize should be sent to\nso gallant a victor. 'He was tired and wounded, and cannot have\nridden far,' said the King. And turning to Sir Gawaine, he gave him\nthe diamond, and told him to go and find the knight and give him\nthe prize he had won so bravely.\n\nBut Sir Gawaine did not want to obey the King. He did not want to\nleave the feasting and merriment that followed the tournament. Yet\nsince all Arthur's knights had taken a vow of obedience, Gawaine\nwas ashamed not to go, so sulkily, like no true knight, he left the\nfeast.\n\nAnd Sir Gawaine rode through the wood and past the hermitage where\nthe wounded knight lay; and because he was thinking only of his own\ndisappointment, his search was careless, and he did not see the\nshelter Sir Lancelot had found. He rode on till he came to\nAstolat. And when Elaine and her father and her brother Sir Torre\nsaw the knight, they called to him to come in and tell them about\nthe tournament, and who had won the prize.\n\nThen Sir Gawaine told how the knight with the red sleeve\nembroidered with white pearls had gained the prize, but how, being\nwounded, he had ridden away without claiming it. He told too how\nthe King had sent him to find the unknown knight and to give him\nthe diamond.\n\nBut because Elaine was very fair, and because he did not greatly\nwish to do the order of the King, Sir Gawaine lingered there,\nwandering in the old castle garden, with 'the Lily Maid of\nAstolat.' And he told Elaine courtly tales of lords and ladies, and\ntried to win her love, but she cared for no one but the knight\nwhose shield she guarded.\n\nOne day, as Elaine grew impatient with the idle Sir Gawaine, she\nsaid she would show him the shield the strange knight had left with\nher. 'If you know the arms engraved on the shield, you will know\nthe name of the knight you seek, and perhaps find him the sooner,'\nshe said.\n\nAnd when Sir Gawaine saw the shield he cried, 'It is the shield of\nSir Lancelot, the noblest knight in Arthur's court.'\n\nElaine touched the shield lovingly, and murmured, 'The noblest\nknight in Arthur's court.'\n\n'You love Sir Lancelot, and will know where to find him,' said Sir\nGawaine. 'I will give you the diamond, and you shall fulfil the\nKing's command.'\n\nAnd Sir Gawaine rode away from Astolat, kissing the hands of the\nfair Elaine, and leaving the diamond with her. And when he reached\nthe court he told the lords and ladies about the fair maid of\nAstolat who loved Sir Lancelot. 'He wore her favour, and she guards\nhis shield,' he said.\n\nBut when the King heard that Sir Gawaine had come back, without\nfinding the strange knight, and leaving the diamond with the fair\nmaid of Astolat, he was displeased. 'You have not served me as a\ntrue knight,' he said gravely; and Sir Gawaine was silent, for he\nremembered how he had lingered at Astolat.\n\nWhen Elaine took the diamond from Sir Gawaine she went to her\nfather. 'Let me go to find the wounded knight and Lavaine,' she\nsaid. 'I will nurse the knight as maidens nurse those who have worn\ntheir favours.' And her father let her go.\n\nWith the grave Sir Torre to guard her, Elaine rode into the wood,\nand near the hermitage she saw Lavaine.\n\n'Take me to Sir Lancelot,' cried the Fair Elaine. And Lavaine\nmarvelled that she knew the knight's name.\n\nThen Elaine told her brother about Sir Gawaine, and his careless\nsearch for Lancelot, and she showed him the diamond she brought for\nthe wounded knight.\n\n'Take me to him,' she cried again. And as they went, Sir Torre\nturned and rode gloomily back to Astolat, for it did not please him\nthat the Fair Elaine should love Sir Lancelot.\n\nWhen Lavaine and Elaine reached the hermitage, the hermit welcomed\nthe fair maid, and took her to the cell where Lancelot lay.\n\n'The knight is pale and thin,' said Elaine; 'I will nurse him.'\n\nDay by day and for many nights Elaine nursed him tenderly as a\nmaiden should, till at last one glad morning the hermit told her\nshe had saved the knight's life.\n\nThen when Sir Lancelot grew stronger, Elaine gave him the diamond,\nand told him how the King had sent him the prize he had won so\nhardly. And Lancelot grew restless, and longed to be at the King's\ncourt once more.\n\nWhen the knight was able to ride, he went back to Astolat with\nElaine and Lavaine. And as he rested there, he thought, 'Before I\ngo, I must thank the Lily Maid, and reward her for all she has done\nfor me.'\n\nBut when he asked Elaine how he could reward her, she would answer\nonly that she loved him, and wished to go to court with him, as\nLavaine would do.\n\n'I cannot take you with me,' said the knight courteously; 'but\nwhen you are wedded, I will give you and your husband a thousand\npounds every year.'\n\nBut Elaine wanted nothing but to be with Sir Lancelot.\n\n'My Lily Maid will break her heart,' said her father sadly, 'unless\nthe knight treats her less gently.'\n\nBut Sir Lancelot could not be unkind to the maid who had nursed him\nso tenderly. Only, next morning when he rode away, carrying his\nshield with him, though he knew Elaine watched him from her turret\nwindow, he neither looked up nor waved farewell. And Elaine knew\nshe would never see Sir Lancelot again.\n\nThen day by day she grew more sad and still. 'She will die,' said\nher father sadly, as he watched her; and the grave Sir Torre\nsobbed, for he loved his sister dearly.\n\nOne day Elaine sent for her father to come to her little turret\nroom.\n\n'Promise me that when I die you will do as I wish. Fasten the\nletter I shall write tightly in my hand, and clothe me in my\nfairest dress. Carry me down to the river and lay me in the barge,\nand, alone with our old dumb servant, let me be taken to the\npalace.'\n\nAnd her father promised. And when Elaine died there was great\nsadness in Astolat.\n\nThen her father took the letter and bound it in her hand, and by\nher side he placed a lily. And they clothed her in her fairest\ndress, and carried her down to the river, and laid her in the\nbarge, alone with the old dumb servant.\n\nAnd the barge floated quietly down the stream, guided by the old\ndumb man.\n\nThen when it reached the palace steps, it stopped, and the King and\nthe Queen and all the knights and ladies came to see the strange\nsight.\n\nAnd the King took the letter from the fair maid's hand and read it\naloud.\n\n'I am the Lily Maid of Astolat, and because Sir Lancelot left me, I\nmake unto all ladies my moan. Pray for my soul.'\n\nWhen they heard it the lords and ladies wept with pity.\n\nAnd Sir Lancelot buried Elaine sadly. And sometimes when those who\nloved him were jealous and unkind, he thought tenderly of the pure\nand simple love of the Lily Maid of Astolat.\n\n[Illustration: THE LILY MAID OF ASTOLAT\n\nPage 44]\n\n\n\n\nPELLEAS AND ETTARDE\n\n\nFar away in a dreary land there lived a lad called Pelleas. The men\nwere rough and the women grave in the dreary land where Pelleas\nlived.\n\nTo this far-away country there had come tales of the gay lords and\nladies of Arthur's court.\n\nPelleas heard, in great astonishment, that the men in Arthur's\ncountry were brave and gentle, and that the women smiled. He would\ngo away from his own land, he thought, and see these strange and\nhappy people.\n\nSoon the rough men in his country laughed at Pelleas, for he began\nto grow brave and gentle like the knights who were so often in his\nthoughts.\n\nAnd the grave women looked at each other in surprise, as they saw\nthe lad's bright face and caught the smile on his lips. Pelleas\nhad been dreaming about the gay ladies he had heard of, till some\nof their gladness had passed into his face.\n\nWhen he was older Pelleas left his country and all the land that\nbelonged to him there. He would take his horse and his sword and\nask the great King Arthur to make him one of his knights, for had\nhe not learned knightly ways from the wonderful tales he had heard\nlong ago?\n\nAfter many days Pelleas reached the court. And when the King had\nlistened to the young man's story, and had seen his beauty and\nstrength, he gladly made him his knight.\n\nThen Pelleas was ready to begin his adventures. He would go to\nCarleon, where, for three days, the King's tournament was to be\nheld.\n\nThe King had promised a golden circlet and a good sword to the\nknight who showed himself the strongest. The golden circlet was to\nbe given to the fairest lady in the field, and she was to be called\nthe 'Queen of Beauty.'\n\nOn his way to Carleon, Pelleas rode along a hot and dusty road.\nThere were no trees to shelter him from the scorching sun, but he\nrode on steadfastly, for he knew that a great shady forest lay\nbefore him.\n\nWhen at last Pelleas reached the forest, he was so hot and tired\nthat he dismounted, and tying his horse to a tree, he lay down\ngratefully under a large oak and fell asleep.\n\nSounds of laughter and merriment woke him, and opening his eyes he\nsaw a group of maidens close by.\n\nPelleas was bewildered. Could they be wild woodland nymphs, he\nthought, as, only half-awake, he lay there, and watched them\nflitting in and out among the tall trees.\n\nThey wore bright dresses, blue and yellow and purple, and to\nPelleas the forest seemed all aglow.\n\nThe maidens were talking together, and looking first in one\ndirection and then in another. They were lost in the forest, on\ntheir way to the great tournament at Carleon.\n\nThen the lost maidens caught sight of the knight, lying\nhalf-asleep under the oak-tree. 'He will be able to show us the\nway,' they said joyfully to one another, for they guessed that he\ntoo was on his way to the tournament.\n\n'I will speak to the knight,' said the Lady Ettarde, the tallest\nand most beautiful of all the maidens, and she left the others and\nwent towards Pelleas. But when she told the knight that she and her\nlords and ladies had lost their way, and asked him to tell her how\nto reach Carleon, he only looked at her in silence. Was she one of\nthe woodland nymphs? Was he still dreaming, and was she the lady of\nhis dreams?\n\nAs the lady still stood there, he roused himself and tried to\nspeak. But because he was bewildered by her beauty, he stammered\nand answered foolishly.\n\nThe Lady Ettarde turned to the merry lords and ladies who had\nfollowed her. 'The knight cannot speak, though he is so strong and\ngood-looking,' she said scornfully.\n\nBut Sir Pelleas was wide-awake at last. He sprang to his feet, and\ntold the Lady Ettarde that he had been dreaming, and that she had\nseemed to him a part of his dream. 'But I too am going to Carleon,'\nhe added, 'and I will show you the way.'\n\nAnd as they rode through the forest Sir Pelleas was always at his\nlady's side. When the branches were in her way he pushed them\naside, when the path was rough he guided her horse. In the evening\nwhen the Lady Ettarde dismounted, Pelleas was there to help her,\nand in the morning again it was Pelleas who brought her horse and\nhelped her to mount.\n\nNow the Lady Ettarde was a great lady in her own land; knights who\nhad fought many battles and won great fame had served her, and she\ncared nothing for the young untried knight's love and service.\n\n'Still he looks so strong, that I will pretend to care for him,'\nshe thought, 'and then perhaps he will try to win the golden\ncirclet for me, and I shall be called the \"Queen of Beauty.\"' For\nthe Lady Ettarde was a cruel and vain lady, and cared more for the\ngolden circlet and to be called the 'Queen of Beauty,' than for\nthe happiness of the young knight Pelleas. And so for many days the\nLady Ettarde was kind to Sir Pelleas, and at last she told him that\nshe would love him if he would win the golden circlet for her.\n\n'The lady of my dreams will love me,' the knight murmured. And\naloud he said proudly that if there were any strength in his right\narm, he would win the prize for the Lady Ettarde.\n\nThen the lords and ladies that were with Ettarde pitied the young\nknight, for they knew their lady only mocked him.\n\nAt last they all reached Carleon, and the next morning the\ntournament began.\n\nAnd the Lady Ettarde watched her knight merrily, as each day he\novercame and threw from their horses twenty men.\n\n'The circlet will be mine,' she whispered to her lords and ladies.\nBut they looked at her coldly, for they knew how unkindly she would\nreward Sir Pelleas.\n\nAt the end of three days the tournament was over, and King Arthur\nproclaimed that the young knight Pelleas had won the golden circlet\nand the sword.\n\n[Illustration: SIR PELLEAS WAS ALWAYS AT HIS LADY'S SIDE\n\nPage 49]\n\nThen in the presence of all the people, Sir Pelleas took the golden\ncirclet and handed it to the Lady Ettarde, saying aloud that she\nwas the fairest lady on the field and the Queen of Beauty.\n\nThe Lady Ettarde was so pleased with her prize, that for a day or\ntwo she was kind to her knight, but soon she grew tired of him, and\nwished that she might never see him again.\n\nStill even when she was unkind, Sir Pelleas was happy, for he\ntrusted the beautiful lady, and said to himself, 'She proves me, to\nsee if I really love her.'\n\nBut the Lady Ettarde knew she would never love Sir Pelleas, even if\nhe died for her.\n\nThen her ladies were angry, as they saw how she mocked the knight,\nfor they knew that greater and fairer ladies would have loved Sir\nPelleas for his strength and great knightliness.\n\n'I will go back to my own country,' said the Lady Ettarde, 'and see\nmy faithful knight no more.'\n\nWhen Pelleas heard that the Lady Ettarde was going home he was\nglad. He remembered the happy days he had spent as they rode\ntogether through the forest, and he looked forward to other happy\ndays in the open air, when he could again shield the lady from the\nroughness of the road.\n\nBut when the Lady Ettarde saw that Sir Pelleas was following her\ninto her own country, she was angry.\n\n'I will not have the knight near me,' she said proudly to her\nladies. 'I will have an older warrior for my love.' And they knew\ntheir lady's cruel ways, and in pity kept the knight away.\n\nAs they rode along the days seemed long to Pelleas, for he neither\nsaw nor spoke to the Lady Ettarde.\n\nWhen she got near her own castle, she rode on more swiftly, telling\nher lords and ladies to follow her closely. The drawbridge was\ndown, and the Lady Ettarde rode across it, and waiting only till\nher lords and ladies crossed it, ordered the bridge to be drawn up,\nwhile Pelleas was still on the other side.\n\nThe knight was puzzled. Was this a test of his love too, or did the\nlady for whom he had won the golden circlet indeed not care for\nhim? But that he would not believe. 'She will grow kinder if I am\nfaithful,' he thought, and he lived in a tent beneath the castle\nwalls for many days.\n\nThe Lady Ettarde heard that Pelleas still lingered near the castle,\nand in her anger she said, 'I will send ten of my lords to fight\nthis knight, and then I shall never see his face again.'\n\nBut when Pelleas saw the ten lords coming towards him, he armed\nhimself, and fought so bravely that he overthrew each of them.\n\nBut after he had overthrown them, he allowed them to get up and to\nbind him hand and foot, and carry him into the castle. 'For they\nwill carry me into the presence of the Lady Ettarde,' he thought.\n\nBut when she saw Pelleas, the Lady Ettarde mocked him, and told her\nlords to tie him to the tail of a horse and turn him out of the\ncastle.\n\n'She does it to find out if I love her truly,' thought Sir Pelleas\nagain, as he struggled back to his tent below the castle.\n\nAnother ten lords were sent to fight the faithful knight, and again\nPelleas overthrew them, and again he let himself be bound and\ncarried before the Lady Ettarde.\n\nBut when she spoke to him even more unkindly than before, and\nmocked at his love for her, Sir Pelleas turned away. 'If she were\ngood as she is beautiful, she could not be so cruel,' he thought\nsadly.\n\nAnd he told her that though he would always love her, he would not\ntry to see her any more.\n\nNow one of King Arthur's knights, called Sir Gawaine, had been\nriding past the castle when the ten lords attacked Sir Pelleas.\n\nAnd Sir Gawaine had looked on in dismay. He had seen the knight\noverthrow the ten lords, and stand there quietly while the\nconquered men got to their feet. He had seen them bind him hand and\nfoot, and carry him into the castle.\n\n'To-morrow I will look for him, and offer him my help,' thought Sir\nGawaine, for he was sorry for the brave young knight.\n\nThe next morning he found Sir Pelleas in his tent, looking very\nsad. And when Sir Gawaine asked the knight why he was so sad, Sir\nPelleas told him of his love for the Lady Ettarde and of her\nunkindness. 'I would rather die a hundred times than be bound by\nher lords,' he said, 'if it were not that they take me into her\npresence.'\n\nThen Sir Gawaine cheered Sir Pelleas and offered to help him, for\nhe too was one of Arthur's knights.\n\nAnd Sir Pelleas trusted him, for had not all King Arthur's knights\ntaken the vows of brotherhood and truth?\n\n'Give me your horse and armour,' said Sir Gawaine. 'I will go to\nthe castle with them, and tell the Lady Ettarde that I have slain\nyou. Then she will ask me to come in, and I will talk of your\ngreat love and strength, till she learns to love you.'\n\nAnd Sir Gawaine rode away, wearing the armour and helmet of Sir\nPelleas, and promising to come back in three days.\n\nThe Lady Ettarde was walking up and down outside the castle, when\nshe saw the knight approaching. 'Sir Pelleas again,' she thought\nangrily, and turned to go into the castle.\n\nBut Sir Gawaine called to her to stay. 'I am not Sir Pelleas, but a\nknight who has slain him.'\n\n'Take off your helmet that I may see your face,' said the Lady\nEttarde, as she turned to look at him.\n\nWhen she saw that it was really a strange knight, she took him into\nher castle. 'Because you have slain Sir Pelleas, whom I hated, I\nwill love you,' said the cruel Lady Ettarde.\n\nSir Gawaine saw how beautiful the lady was, and he forgot her\nunkindness to Sir Pelleas, and he loved her. And because he was not\na true knight, Sir Gawaine did not think of Pelleas, who waited so\nanxiously for his return.\n\nThree days passed, but he did not go back, and in the castle all\nwas joy and merriment.\n\nSix days passed, and still Sir Gawaine stayed with the beautiful\nLady Ettarde.\n\nAt last Sir Pelleas could bear his loneliness no longer. That night\nhe went up to the castle, and swam across the river. When he\nreached the front of the castle, he saw a great many tents. And all\nthe lords and ladies were asleep in their tents, and Sir Gawaine\nwas there too.\n\n'He has forgotten me, and will stay here always with the Lady\nEttarde,' muttered Sir Pelleas in scorn, and he drew the sword he\nhad won at the tournament, to slay the false knight Sir Gawaine.\n\nThen, all at once, he remembered the vows he had taken, when the\ngreat King had knighted him, and slowly he sheathed his sword, and\nwent gloomily down to the river.\n\nBut Sir Pelleas could not make up his mind to go away, and again he\nturned and went back to the tent, where Sir Gawaine lay, still\nasleep.\n\nOnce more Sir Pelleas drew his sword, and laid it across the false\nknight's bare neck.\n\nWhen Sir Gawaine woke in the morning, he felt the cold steel, and\nputting up his hand, he found the sword that Sir Pelleas had left.\n\nSir Gawaine did not know how the sword had come there, but when he\ntold the Lady Ettarde what had happened, and showed her the sword,\nshe knew it was the one that Sir Pelleas had won at the tournament,\nwhen he had given her the golden circlet.\n\n'You have not slain the knight who loved me,' cried the Lady\nEttarde, 'for he has been here, and left his sword across your\nthroat.' And then she hated Gawaine because he had told her a lie,\nand she drove him from her castle.\n\nAnd the Lady Ettarde thought of her true knight Sir Pelleas, and at\nlast she loved him with all her heart.\n\nBut when he had left his sword across Sir Gawaine's throat, Pelleas\nhad gone sadly back to his tent, and taking off his armour, had\nlain down to die.\n\nThen the knight's servant was in great distress, because his master\nwould neither eat nor sleep, but lay in his tent getting more pale\nand more thin day by day. And the servant was wandering sadly along\nthe bank of the river, wondering how he could help his master, when\nhe met a beautiful maiden called the 'Lady of the Lake.'\n\nThe maiden asked why he looked so sad, and, won by her gentleness,\nhe told her how his master had been hated by the Lady Ettarde, and\nbetrayed by the false knight Sir Gawaine.\n\n'Bring me to your master,' said the Lady of the Lake.\n\nAnd when she had come to the tent and saw Sir Pelleas, she loved\nhim.\n\n'I will send him to sleep,' she murmured, 'and when he wakes he\nwill be well.' And she threw an enchantment over him, and he slept.\n\nWhen Sir Pelleas awoke, he felt strong once more, and at last he\nknew that the cruel Lady Ettarde had never been the lady of his\ndreams, and he loved her no longer.\n\nBut when the Lady Ettarde knew that Sir Pelleas loved her no more,\nshe wept sorrowfully, and died of her grief.\n\nThen the gentle Lady of the Lake asked Pelleas to come with her to\nher own beautiful Lake-land. And as they rode together, her simple\nkindness made the knight happy again, and he learned to love the\nLady of the Lake, and they lived together and loved each other all\ntheir lives long.\n\n\n\n\nGARETH AND LYNETTE\n\n\nGareth was a little prince. His home was an old grey castle, and\nthere were great mountains all round the castle. Gareth loved these\nmountains and his beautiful home at the foot of them. He had lived\nthere all his life.\n\nGareth had no little boys or girls to play with, for there were no\nhouses near his mountain home.\n\nBut Gareth was happy all day long. Sometimes in the bright summer\nmornings the streams would call to him. Then he would follow them\nup the mountains, till he found the place where the streams ended\nin tiny silver threads.\n\nSometimes the birds and beasts, his woodland friends, would call to\nhim, and then Gareth would wander about in the forest with them\ntill evening came. Then he would tell his mother the wonderful\nthings he had seen, and the wonderful things he had heard in the\nforests and on the mountain-sides.\n\nGareth's mother, the Queen of Orkney, loved the little prince so\nmuch that she was never dull. She had no one to talk to except her\nlittle son, for her husband was old, so old that he could not talk\nto his Queen. And if she talked to him, he was almost too deaf to\nhear what she said.\n\nBut though the Queen was never dull, she was sometimes unhappy. She\nwas afraid that some day, when Gareth was older, he would want to\nleave her to go into the world, perhaps to go to the great King\nArthur's court, as his three brothers had done.\n\nNow Gareth had already heard stories about the brave deeds of King\nArthur's knights. He knew that they were strong men, and that they\nfought for the weak people, and that they often had great\nadventures, when they were sent to punish the King's enemies. And\nGareth longed to be a man, for 'when I am a man, I will be one of\nArthur's knights, too,' he thought.\n\n[Illustration: SOMETIMES THE BIRDS & BEASTS HIS WOODLAND FRIENDS\nWOULD CALL TO HIM\n\nPage 61]\n\nAt last, one day, his mother knew that what she had been afraid of\nhad come to pass. She knew that Gareth would not be content to stay\namong the mountains much longer. But when he threw his arms round\nher, and coaxed her to let him go, she thought, 'Surely I can keep\nhim a little longer.' And she said, 'Your father is old, and your\nbrothers have left me, you will not leave me alone, Gareth. You\nwill stay and be a great huntsman and follow the deer.' But all the\ntime her heart whispered, 'He will not stay.'\n\nAnd Gareth said, 'Let me go, sweet mother. Now I am a man, I must\ndo a man's work. \"Follow the deer!\" No; now I must follow the\nKing.'\n\nBut still his mother would not let him go. 'The next time he asks\nme, I will try another way,' she thought. And when Gareth came\nagain and pleaded to be allowed to go to the court, she said, 'Yes,\nyou may go, if for one whole year you will tell no one your name,\nor that you are a prince, and if for that whole year you will go\ninto the King's kitchen and work there.' 'These things will be too\ndifficult for my princely boy,' she thought.\n\nBut Gareth wanted to go so much, that he promised not to tell any\none his name, nor that he was a prince. 'And I will go to the\ncourt, only to work in the King's kitchen for a year,' promised\nGareth proudly. And then his mother knew that her plan had failed,\nand she wept.\n\nBut Gareth was glad. He got up early one morning, and without\nsaying good-bye to his mother, for he could not bear to see her sad\nface again, he left his mountain home, and went out into the wide\nworld.\n\nWhen three men, dressed like ploughmen, left the castle, no one\nwould have known that one of them was a prince. For Gareth had left\nall his beautiful clothes behind him, and was dressed just like the\ntwo servants he took with him. But still he was glad, for though he\nremembered he was going to work in a kitchen, he thought a year\nwould soon pass, and then, perhaps, King Arthur would make him one\nof his knights.\n\nOn a certain day, every year, there was a great feast at Arthur's\ncourt. Now the King would not sit down to the feast till he had\nheard if any of his people were in trouble, and if they wished one\nof his knights to go to help them. And on this day too, people\ncould come into the King's presence to ask for any boon or good\nthing they wished. Gareth reached the court, with his two servants,\non one of these feast-days.\n\n'The King will listen to my wish to-day. I will go to him at once,'\nthought Gareth. And leaning on the shoulders of his servants, so as\nto look less princely, he came into the large dining-hall.\n\n'Grant me only this boon,' Gareth entreated the King, 'that I may\nwork in your kitchen and eat and drink there for a year. After that\nI will fight.'\n\nAnd King Arthur looked at Gareth, and saw that though he leaned on\nhis servants he was tall and strong, and that though he wore rough\nclothes, he was as noble-looking as any of his knights.\n\n'You ask but a small boon,' said the King. 'Would you not rather\nserve me as my knight?'\n\nAnd Gareth longed to say 'Yes.' But as he could not break the\npromise he had given to his mother, he said again, that the only\nboon he asked was to be allowed to work in the King's kitchen.\n\nThen the King sent for Sir Kay, the steward of his kitchen, and\ntold him to make Gareth one of his kitchen-boys. But Sir Kay did\nnot wish this noble-looking lad in his kitchen, and he made fun of\nhim and mocked him, because he would not tell his name, nor where\nhis home was.\n\nBut Sir Lancelot, the noblest knight in all the land, was kind to\nGareth, and Gareth's brother, Sir Gavaine, who had gone to Arthur's\ncourt long ago, was kind to him too. Yet Sir Gavaine did not know\nthat Gareth was his brother, for the little prince he had left at\nhome looked very different to the King's new kitchen-boy.\n\nIn the kitchen Gareth soon began to find out what a difficult task\nhe had undertaken, for the sake of one day being a knight. He ate\nhis meals with rough kitchen-boys, and as Gareth's mother had\ntaught her little prince daintily, he did not like their rough\nways; and at night he slept in a shed with dirty kitchen-boys.\n\nAnd because Sir Kay did not like Gareth, he would bustle and hurry\nhim, and make him work harder than any of the other lads, and give\nhim all the roughest work to do. It was Gareth who had to draw the\nwater and cut the wood, while the other servants played.\n\nBut when at last his work was done, Gareth would listen gladly as\nthe servants talked of Lancelot and the King. He loved to hear how\nLancelot had twice saved the King's life, and how since then there\nhad grown up a great friendship between the King and his brave\nknight.\n\nAnd Gareth was glad when he heard that though Lancelot was first in\nall the tournaments or mock battles, yet on the battle-field his\nhero King was mightiest of all.\n\nBut when the servants' talk was rough and rude, Gareth would not\nlisten, but sang some of his old mountain-songs, carolling like\nany lark, and the servants stopped their talk to listen.\n\nIt seemed a long year to Gareth, the longest year in all his life,\nbut at last it came to an end. A whole year had passed, and another\nof the King's great feast-days had begun.\n\nGareth woke up on that morning, thinking, 'Now at last I can be one\nof King Arthur's knights; now at last I am free.'\n\nIn the dining-room he sprang eagerly to the King's side. 'A boon,\nKing Arthur, grant me this boon,' he cried, 'that I serve you no\nlonger as a kitchen-page, but as a knight.'\n\nArthur loved the noble-looking lad, and was pleased with his\neagerness. 'I make you my knight, to win glory and honour for our\nland,' said the King. But the secret of Gareth's knighthood was to\nbe kept from all but Sir Lancelot, till the new knight, Sir Gareth,\nhad won for himself great fame.\n\n'You shall begin at once,' said the King. And he promised Gareth\nthat he should be the first of all his knights to leave his court\nthat day.\n\nAs he spoke, a beautiful lady called Lynette came into the hall, in\ngreat haste. 'A knight to rescue my sister, King Arthur,' she\ncried.\n\n'Who is your sister, and why does she need a knight?' asked the\nKing.\n\nAnd Lynette told Arthur that her sister was called the Lady\nLyonors, and that Lyonors was rich and had many castles of her own,\nbut a cruel knight, called the Red Knight, had shut her up in one\nof her own castles. The name of the castle in which she was a\nprisoner was Castle Dangerous. And the Red Knight said he would\nkeep Lady Lyonors there, till he had fought King Arthur's bravest\nknight. Then he would make Lyonors his wife. 'But,' said Lynette,\n'my sister will never be the bride of the Red Knight, for she does\nnot love him.'\n\nThen Arthur, looking round his knights, saw Gareth's eyes growing\nbright, and heard Gareth's voice ringing out, 'Your promise, King.'\n\nAnd the King said to Gareth, 'Go and rescue the Lady Lyonors from\nthe Red Knight.'\n\n'A kitchen-page go to rescue the Lady Lyonors!' shouted Sir Kay in\nscorn.\n\nWhen Lynette heard that, she was angry, and said, 'I came for Sir\nLancelot, the greatest of all your knights, and you give me a\nkitchen-boy.' In her anger, she walked out of the palace gates, and\nrode quickly down the streets. She neither looked nor waited to see\nif Gareth followed.\n\n'I will wait for nothing,' thought the new knight, and he hurried\nafter Lynette to the palace gates, but there he was stopped.\n\nGareth's mother had not forgotten that a year had passed since her\nboy had left her. In her quiet castle she had been busy planning a\nsurprise for her prince.\n\n'Gareth will be a knight to-day,' she thought. 'I will send our\ndwarf to him with a noble war-horse and armour fit for a knight.\nSurely he will begin his adventures the more gladly, that I help to\nsend him forth,' she murmured, thinking half-regretfully of the\nlong year she had made him spend in the kitchen.\n\nAnd Gareth was glad when he saw his mother's gift; and when he had\nput on the armour, there was no more handsome knight in all King\nArthur's court than Sir Gareth. He mounted his horse, and, telling\nthe dwarf to follow, rode quickly after Lynette.\n\nBut Gareth had not gone far, when he heard shouts behind him, and,\nturning, he saw that Sir Kay was riding after him.\n\n'If it is possible, I will bring my kitchen-boy boy back again,'\nthought Sir Kay, 'for he works well.' 'Have you forgotten that I am\nyour master?' he shouted, as he reached Gareth.\n\n'You are no longer my master,' said Gareth, 'and I know that you\nare the most unkind of all Arthur's knights.'\n\nThen Sir Kay was so angry that he drew his sword, and Gareth drew\nhis and struck Sir Kay so hard a blow, that he tumbled off his\nhorse, and lay on the ground as if he were dead. Then Gareth took\naway his old master's sword and shield, and telling the dwarf to\ntake Sir Kay's horse, he once more hurried on to reach Lynette.\n\nBoth Lancelot and Lynette had seen Sir Gareth fight with Sir Kay,\nfor the King had asked Sir Lancelot to ride on before Gareth, that\nhe might know if his new knight could use his sword.\n\nWhen Lancelot had seen Sir Kay fall to the ground, he rode back to\nthe court to tell King Arthur that his knight, Sir Gareth, was\nstrong and true. And he sent men to bring home the wounded Sir Kay.\n\nNow Lynette was more cross than ever because Lancelot had left her,\nand when Gareth at last rode up to her, she cried rudely, 'You are\nonly a kitchen-knave. Your clothes smell of cooking, and your dress\nis soiled with grease and tallow. Ride further off from me.'\n\nBut what she said was not true, for Gareth had put on the beautiful\narmour his mother had sent him.\n\nAs Lynette mocked, Gareth rode quietly behind. In spite of her\nunkindness, he was happy. After the long days spent in the hot\nkitchen, the forest breeze seemed to touch him more gently than in\nthe old days, and the trees seemed to him more beautiful. But\nthough the streams seemed more clear, they still called to him,\njust as the streams in his own mountains used to do.\n\nBut Gareth had not much time to think of the trees and streams, for\nsuddenly he heard the steps of some one hurrying through the\nforest, crushing the fallen twigs and crisp leaves underfoot in his\ngreat haste. Was it an adventure?\n\n'Where are you running to?' said Gareth, as a man came in sight.\n\n'O sir, six thieves have fallen upon my lord, and bound him to a\ntree, and I am afraid they will kill him.'\n\n'Show me where your lord is,' said Gareth. And they rode together\nto the place where the knight was tied to a tree.\n\nThen Gareth struck the first robber down with his sword, and killed\nanother, and slew the third as he turned to run away.\n\n'There were six thieves,' thought Gareth; but when he turned to\nlook for the other three, they were nowhere to be seen. They had\nall run away in great fright.\n\nThen Gareth unbound the knight. And the knight was very grateful,\nand said, 'Come and stay at my castle to-night, and to-morrow I\nwill reward you.'\n\n'I want no reward,' said Gareth. 'And besides, I must follow this\nlady.' But when he rode up to Lynette, she said, 'Ride further off,\nfor still you smell of the kitchen.' 'You are no knight, though you\nkilled the robbers.'\n\nThen the knight who had been set free rode up, and asked Lynette to\ncome to his castle, and as it was getting dark in the forest, she\nwas glad to stay with him that night.\n\nAt supper-time, the knight put a chair for Gareth beside Lynette.\n\n'Sir Knight, you are wrong to put a kitchen-knave beside me,' said\nthe lady, 'for I am of noble birth.'\n\n'The noble-looking knight a kitchen-knave! What does the lady\nmean!' But he took Gareth to another table, and sat there himself\nwith him.\n\nThe next morning Gareth and Lynette thanked the knight, and rode\non, till they came to another great forest, and at the end of the\nforest they reached a broad river. There was only one place where\nthe river was narrow and could be crossed, and this passage was\nguarded by two knights.\n\n'Will you fight two knights,' mocked Lynette, 'or will you turn\nback again?'\n\n'Six knights would not make me turn back,' said Gareth, as he\nrushed into the river. One knight rushed in from the further side,\nand Gareth and he fought with their swords in the middle of the\nstream. At last Gareth smote him on the helmet so violently that he\nfell down into the water and was drowned.\n\nThen Gareth spurred his horse up the bank where the other knight\nstood waiting for him, and this knight fought so fiercely that he\nbroke Gareth's spear. Then they both drew their swords, and fought\nfor a long time, till in the end Gareth won the victory.\n\nGareth then crossed over the river again to Lynette, and told her\nto ride on, for the passage across the river was clear.\n\n'Alas, that a kitchen-page should kill two brave knights!' cried\nLynette. 'But do not think your skill killed these men.' And she\ntold Gareth she had seen the horse of the first knight stumble, and\nthat that was why he was drowned. 'And, as for the second knight,\nyou came behind and slew him like a coward,' she said.\n\n'Lady,' said Gareth, 'say what you like; but lead on, and I follow\nto deliver your sister.' So Gareth and the lady rode on till\nevening.\n\nIn the evening they came to a strange and dreary country, where\neverything looked black. On one side of a black hawthorn hung a\nblack banner, on the other side hung a black shield. Beside the\nshield there was a long black spear, and close to the spear there\nwas a great black horse, covered with silk, and the silk was black.\nAnd looking blacker than all the rest was a huge black rock.\n\nThrough the darkness they could see some one sitting near the rock.\nIt was a knight, and he was armed in black armour, and his name was\n'the Knight of the Black Land.'\n\nLynette saw the knight. 'Flee down the valley, before the Black\nKnight saddles his horse,' she called to Gareth. But she knew that\neven the Black Knight would not frighten her kitchen-knave.\n\nThe Black Knight saddled his horse and rode up to them. 'Is this\nyour knight, and has he come to fight me?' he asked Lynette.\n\n'He is only a kitchen-boy, he is no knight of mine,' Lynette\nanswered. And in a cruel voice she added, 'I wish you could slay\nhim and take him out of my way; but he does wonderful deeds with\nhis sword, and has just slain two knights.'\n\n'If he is no knight, I will take his horse and armour, and let him\ngo. It would be a shame to take his life,' said the Black Knight.\n\nGareth was very angry when he heard this. 'I am on my way to Castle\nDangerous, and I mean to reach it,' he said to the Black Knight.\n'And as for my horse and armour, you cannot have them unless you\ntake them from me in fair fight.'\n\nThen they began to fight on foot, and the Black Knight wounded\nGareth, but Gareth smote him with such strength, that his sword cut\nthrough the knight's armour, and then the Black Knight fell to the\nground and died. This was the fiercest fight Gareth had ever\nfought, and it lasted for an hour and a half.\n\nOnce more Gareth went back to Lynette a conqueror, but still she\ncried, 'Do not come near me, kitchen-knave. You have slain a noble\nknight. Let me ride on alone.'\n\n'Whatever happens I will follow you till we reach the Lady\nLyonors,' said Gareth.\n\nThey were coming near to Castle Dangerous now, but before they\nreached it, a knight dressed all in green stopped them.\n\nAnd Gareth fought the Green Knight too. But when he had struck him\nto the ground, the Green Knight begged Gareth to spare his life.\n\n'It is useless to ask me to spare your life, for you shall die,\nunless the Lady Lynette asks me to set you free,' said Gareth. And\nhe began to undo the helmet of the Green Knight, as if he meant to\nslay him.\n\n'I will never ask a favour of a kitchen-page,' said Lynette\nhaughtily. 'I will never ask you to spare the Green Knight's life.'\n\n'Spare my life,' entreated the Green Knight, 'and I and my thirty\nfollowers will serve you for ever.'\n\n'It is useless for you to ask me,' repeated Gareth. 'Only the Lady\nLynette can save your life.' And again he lifted his sword, as if\nto slay the Green Knight.\n\n'You will not slay him, for if you do, you will be sorry,'\nstammered Lynette, as she saw Gareth's sword coming down to kill\nthe knight.\n\nGareth heard Lynette's voice, and at once put away his sword, and\ngave the Green Knight his freedom.\n\nIn his gratitude the knight persuaded Gareth and Lynette to stay\nwith him that night, 'and in the morning I will help you to reach\nCastle Dangerous,' he said.\n\nThat evening at supper-time, Lynette again mocked Gareth. He had\nnever asked her to be more gentle to him, but now he said, 'Mock me\nno more, for in spite of all your taunts I have killed many\nknights, and cleared the forests of the King's enemies.'\n\nNow Lynette had begun to feel ashamed of her unkindness, and as she\nlistened to Gareth, and thought how loyally he had served her, she\nfelt sorry that she had been so unkind. And she asked Gareth to\nforgive her for being so rude.\n\n'I forgive you with all my heart,' said Gareth, and at last they\nrode on happily side by side.\n\nThen Gareth sent his dwarf on in front to tell Lynette's sister\nthat they were near her castle. And the Lady Lyonors asked the\ndwarf a great many questions about his master.\n\n'He is a noble knight and a kind master,' said the dwarf; and he\ntold the lady of all the adventures they had met on their way to\nher castle. And Lyonors longed to see the knight who had fought so\noften and so bravely to reach her.\n\nAnd now there was only the Red Knight between Gareth and the Lady\nLyonors.\n\nOn the great tree, outside the castle, Gareth saw hanging the\nbodies of forty knights, with their shields round their necks and\ntheir spurs on their heels. As he looked at this terrible sight,\nGareth was afraid.\n\nThen Lynette reminded him of all his victories, and of how even the\nBlack Knight had yielded to him. But what encouraged Gareth more\nthan all Lynette said was that, when he looked up to the castle, he\nsaw a beautiful lady at one of the windows. She smiled and waved\nher hands to him, and he knew that this was the Lady Lyonors. Then\nall his courage came back.\n\n'This is the fairest lady I have ever seen,' thought Gareth. 'I ask\nnothing better than to be allowed to do battle for her, and win her\nfrom the Red Knight.'\n\nOutside the castle, hanging on a sycamore tree, was a great horn,\nmade of an elephant's bone, and whoever wished to fight the Red\nKnight must blow this horn.\n\nGareth looked again at the window where Lyonors still watched, and\nhesitating no longer, blew the horn so piercingly and so long, that\nhe woke all the echoes of the wood.\n\nThen the Knight of the Red Lands armed himself in great haste, and\nhis barons brought him a red spear, and a steed covered with red\nsilk. And the Red Knight rode proudly down into the valley, to slay\nGareth, as he had slain the other forty knights.\n\n'Do not look any longer at the castle window,' said the Red Knight\nroughly to Gareth. 'The Lady Lyonors is mine. I have fought many\nbattles for her.'\n\n'I know that the Lady Lyonors does not love you nor your ways, for\nthey are cruel,' said Gareth, 'and I will rescue her from you, or\ndie.'\n\n'Look at the dead knights on those trees, and beware,' said the Red\nKnight, 'or soon I will hang your body beside theirs.'\n\n'That is a sight that makes me only more anxious to fight,' said\nGareth, 'for you break the rules of all true knights by your\ncruelty.'\n\n'Talk no more,' said the Red Knight, 'but get ready for the\ncombat.'\n\nThen Gareth told Lynette to go further off, to a place of safety.\n\nAnd the two knights smote each other so fiercely in the front of\ntheir shields that they both fell off their horses, still holding\nthe reins in their hands. And they lay stunned on the ground so\nlong, that those who were watching from the castle thought their\nnecks were broken.\n\nBut after a time, leaving their horses, they fought on foot. And\nthe battle was so rough that great pieces of their shields and\narmour were knocked off, and left lying on the field.\n\nAnd they fought till twelve o'clock. But by that time they were so\nworn out that they staggered about, scarcely knowing where they\nwent, and their wounds bled so much that they were faint.\n\nThey fought till evening, and then they both agreed to rest for a\nlittle while.\n\nThen Gareth took off his helmet, and looked up to the castle\nwindow. And when he saw the Lady Lyonors looking down at him, with\ngreat kindness in her eyes, his heart felt all at once light and\nglad.\n\nAnd her kindness made him strong, and he started up quickly and\ncalled to the Red Knight to fight, 'and this time to the death,'\nsaid Gareth.\n\nIn his fury the Red Knight knocked the sword out of Gareth's hand,\nand before he could get it again, he gave him such a blow on his\nhelmet that Gareth stumbled and fell to the ground.\n\nThen Lynette called out, 'O Gareth, have you lost your courage? My\nsister weeps and breaks her heart, because her true knight has\nfallen.'\n\nWhen Gareth heard that, he got up, and with a great effort leaped\nto where his sword lay, and caught it in his hand, and began to\nfight as if he fought a new battle.\n\n[Illustration: THE LADY LYONORS\n\nPage 84]\n\nAnd his strokes fell so quickly on his foe, that the Red Knight\nlost his sword and fell to the ground, and Gareth threw himself on\nhim to slay him. But the knight begged piteously for his life.\n\n'Go to the castle and yield your homage to the Lady Lyonors,' said\nGareth. 'And if she is willing to pardon you, you are free, after\nyou restore the lands and castles you have taken from her.'\n\nThen the Red Knight gladly restored all he had stolen. And after he\nhad been forgiven by the Lady Lyonors, he journeyed to the court,\nand told Arthur all that Sir Gareth had done.\n\nAnd Lynette came and took off Gareth's armour and bathed his\nwounds, and he rested in his tent for ten days.\n\n'I will go to the castle and ask Lyonors to come home with me and\nbe my wife,' thought Gareth, as soon as his wounds were healed. But\nwhen he came to the castle, he found the drawbridge pulled up, and\nmany armed men were there, who would not let him enter.\n\n'But Lyonors, I must see Lyonors,' thought Gareth. 'Surely she will\nwish to see me,' and he looked wistfully up to the window, and\nthere beautiful as ever, was his Lady Lyonors.\n\n'I cannot love you altogether,' said Lyonors, 'till you have been\nKing Arthur's knight for another year, and helped to clear the land\nfrom his enemies.'\n\nThough he was a good knight, Gareth's heart was heavy as he\nlistened. 'If I do not see Lyonors for a year,' he thought, 'the\nmonths will pass more slowly and seem more empty than those long\nmonths I spent in the King's kitchen.' But as Gareth was a right\nloyal knight, he bowed to his lady's will. He had freed the castle\nfrom the Red Knight, and now it was open to every one, only he\nhimself was banished. And he went away sadly but faithfully to find\nnew adventures.\n\nAnd when Gareth slept in the forests or on the wild mountain-sides,\nhe often dreamed of the day that would come when his year's\nwanderings were over, when Lyonors would be his wife, and together\nthey would go back to King Arthur's court, and he would at last be\nknown to every one as Sir Gareth and a prince.\n\nHe dreamed, too, of the happier day, when he would take the\nbeautiful Lyonors to his mother, and show her the mountain home he\nloved so well.\n\n\n\n\nSIR GALAHAD AND THE SACRED CUP\n\n\n    'My strength is as the strength of ten,\n     Because my heart is pure,'\n\nsang Galahad gladly. He was only a boy, but he had just been made a\nknight by Sir Lancelot, and the old abbey, where he had lived all\nhis life, rang with the echo of his song.\n\nSir Lancelot heard the boy's clear voice singing in triumph. As he\nstopped to listen, he caught the words,\n\n    'My strength is as the strength of ten,\n     Because my heart is pure,'\n\nand the great knight wished he were a boy again, and could sing\nthat song too.\n\nTwelve nuns lived in the quiet abbey, and they had taught Galahad\nlovingly and carefully, ever since he had come to them as a\nbeautiful little child. And the boy had dwelt happily with them\nthere in the still old abbey, and he would be sorry to leave them,\nbut he was a knight now. He would fight for the King he reverenced\nso greatly, and for the country he loved so well.\n\nYet when Sir Lancelot left the abbey the next day, Galahad did not\ngo with him. He would stay in his old home a little longer, he\nthought. He would not grieve the nuns by a hurried farewell.\n\nSir Lancelot left the abbey alone, but as he rode along he met two\nknights, and together they reached Camelot, where the King was\nholding a great festival.\n\nKing Arthur welcomed Sir Lancelot and the two knights. 'Now all the\nseats at our table will be filled,' he said gladly. For it pleased\nthe King when the circle of his knights was unbroken.\n\nThen all the King's household went to service at the minster, and\nwhen they came back to the palace they saw a strange sight.\n\nIn the dining-hall the Round Table at which the King and his\nknights always sat seemed strangely bright.\n\nThe King looked more closely, and saw that at one place on this\nRound Table were large gold letters. And he read, 'This is the seat\nof Sir Galahad, the Pure-hearted.' But only Sir Lancelot knew that\nSir Galahad was the boy-knight he had left behind him in the quiet\nold abbey.\n\n'We will cover the letters till the Knight of the Pure Heart\ncomes,' said Sir Lancelot; and he took silk and laid it over the\nglittering letters.\n\nThen as they sat down to table they were disturbed by Sir Kay, the\nsteward of the King's kitchen.\n\n'You do not sit down to eat at this festival,' Sir Kay reminded the\nKing, 'till you have seen or heard some great adventure.' And the\nKing told his steward that the writing in gold had made him forget\nhis usual custom.\n\nAs they waited a squire came hastily into the hall. 'I have a\nstrange tale to tell,' he said. 'As I walked along the bank of the\nriver I saw a great stone, and it floated on the top of the water,\nand into the stone there has been thrust a sword.'\n\nThen the King and all his knights went down to the river, and they\nsaw the stone, and it was like red marble. And the sword that had\nbeen thrust into the stone was strong and fair. The handle of it\nwas studded with precious stones, and among the stones there were\nletters of gold.\n\nThe King stepped forward, and bending over the sword read these\nwords: 'No one shall take me away but he to whom I belong. I will\nhang only by the side of the best knight in the world.'\n\nThe King turned to Sir Lancelot. 'The sword is yours, for surely\nthere lives no truer knight.'\n\nBut Sir Lancelot answered gravely, 'The sword is not mine. It will\nnever hang by my side, for I dare not try to take it.'\n\nThe King was sorry that his great knight's courage failed, but he\nturned to Sir Gawaine and asked him to try to take the sword.\n\nAnd at first Sir Gawaine hesitated. But when he looked again at the\nprecious stones that sparkled on the handle, he hesitated no\nlonger. But he no sooner touched the sword than it wounded him, so\nthat he could not use his arm for many days.\n\nThen the King turned to Sir Percivale. And because Arthur wished\nit, Sir Percivale tried to take the sword; but he could not move\nit. And after that no other knight dared to touch the fair sword;\nso they turned and went back to the palace.\n\nIn the dining-hall the King and his knights sat down once more at\nthe Round Table, and each knight knew his own chair. And all the\nseats were filled except the chair opposite the writing in gold.\n\nIt had been a day full of surprise, but now the most wonderful\nthing of all happened. For as they sat down, suddenly all the doors\nof the palace shut with a loud noise, but no one had touched the\ndoors. And all the windows were softly closed, but no one saw the\nhands that closed them.\n\nThen one of the doors opened, and there came in a very old man\ndressed all in white, and no one knew whence he came.\n\nBy his side was a young man in red armour. He had neither sword nor\nshield, but hanging by his side was an empty sheath.\n\nThere was a great silence in the hall as the old man said slowly\nand solemnly, 'I bring you the young knight Sir Galahad, who is\ndescended from a king. He shall do many great deeds, and he shall\nsee the Holy Grail.'\n\n'He shall see the Holy Grail,' the knights repeated, with awe on\ntheir faces.\n\nFor far back, in the days of their boyhood, they had heard the\nstory of the Holy Grail. It was the Sacred Cup out of which their\nLord had drunk before He died.\n\nAnd they had been told how sometimes it was seen carried by angels,\nand how at other times in a gleam of light. But in whatever way it\nappeared, it was seen only by those who were pure in heart.\n\nAnd as the old man's words, 'He shall see the Holy Grail,' fell on\ntheir ears, the knights thought of the story they had heard so long\nago, and they were sorry, for they had never seen the Sacred Cup,\nand they knew that it was unseen only by those who had done wrong.\n\nBut the old man was telling the boy-knight to follow him. He led\nhim to the empty chair, and lifted the silk that covered the golden\nletters. 'This is the seat of Sir Galahad, the Pure-hearted,' he\nread aloud. And the young knight sat in the empty seat that\nbelonged to him.\n\nThen the old man left the palace, and twenty noble squires met him,\nand took him back to his own country.\n\nWhen dinner was ended, the King went over to the chair where his\nboy-knight sat, and welcomed him to the circle of the Round Table.\nAfterwards he took Sir Galahad's hand, and led him out of the\npalace to show him the strange red stone that floated on the river.\nWhen Sir Galahad heard how the knights could not draw the sword out\nof the stone, he knew that this adventure was his.\n\n'I will try to take the sword,' said the boy-knight, 'and place it\nin my sheath, for it is empty,' and he pointed to his side. Then\nhe laid his hand on the wonderful sword, and easily drew it out of\nthe stone, and placed it in his sheath.\n\n'God has sent you the sword, now He will send you a shield as\nwell,' said King Arthur.\n\nThen the King proclaimed that the next day there would be a\ntournament in the meadows of Camelot. For before his knights went\nout to new adventures, he would see Sir Galahad proved.\n\nAnd in the morning the meadows lay bright in the sunshine. And the\nboy-knight rode bravely to his first combat, and overthrew many\nmen; but Sir Lancelot and Sir Percivale he could not overthrow.\n\nWhen the tournament was over the King and his knights went home to\nsupper, and each sat in his own seat at the Round Table.\n\nAll at once there was a loud crashing noise, a noise that was\nlouder than any peal of thunder. Was the King's wonderful palace\nfalling to pieces?\n\nBut while the noise still sounded a marvellous light stole into\nthe room, a light brighter than any sunbeam.\n\nAs the knights looked at one another, each seemed to the other to\nhave a new glory and a new beauty in his face.\n\nAnd down the sunbeam glided the Holy Grail. It was the Sacred Cup\nthey had all longed to see. But no one saw it, for it was invisible\nto all but the pure-hearted Sir Galahad.\n\nAs the strange light faded away, King Arthur heard his knights\nvowing that they would go in search of the Holy Grail, and never\ngive up the quest till they had found it.\n\nAnd the boy-knight knew that he too would go over land and sea,\ntill he saw again the wonderful vision.\n\nThat night the King could not sleep, for his sorrow was great. His\nknights would wander into far-off countries, and many of them would\nforget that they were in search of the Holy Grail. Would they not\nhave found the Sacred Cup one day if they had stayed with their\nKing and helped to clear the country of its enemies?\n\nIn the morning the streets of Camelot were crowded with rich and\npoor. And the people wept as they watched the knights ride away on\ntheir strange quest. And the King wept too, for he knew that now\nthere would be many empty chairs at the Round Table.\n\nThe knights rode together to a strange city and stayed there all\nnight. The next day they separated, each going a different way.\n\nSir Galahad rode on for four days without adventure. At last he\ncame to a white abbey, where he was received very kindly. And he\nfound two knights there, and one was a King.\n\n'What adventure has brought you here?' asked the boy-knight.\n\nThen they told him that in this abbey there was a shield. And if\nany man tried to carry it, he was either wounded or dead within\nthree days.\n\n'But to-morrow I shall try to bear it,' said the King.\n\n'In the name of God, let me take the shield,' said Sir Galahad\ngravely.\n\n'If I fail, you shall try to bear it,' said the King. And Galahad\nwas glad, for he had still no shield of his own.\n\nThen a monk took the King and the young knight behind the altar,\nand showed them where the shield hung. It was as white as snow, but\nin the middle there was a red cross.\n\n'The shield can be borne only by the worthiest knight in the\nworld,' the monk warned the King.\n\n'I will try to bear it, though I am no worthy knight,' insisted the\nKing; and he took the shield and rode down into the valley.\n\nAnd Galahad waited at the abbey, for the King had said he would\nsend his squire to tell the young knight how the shield had\nprotected him.\n\nFor two miles the King rode through the valley, till he reached a\nhermitage. And he saw a warrior there, dressed in white armour, and\nsitting on a white horse.\n\nThe warrior rode quickly towards the King, and struck him so hard\nthat he broke his armour. Then he thrust his spear through the\nKing's right shoulder, as though he held no shield.\n\n'The shield can be borne only by a peerless knight. It does not\nbelong to you,' said the warrior, as he gave it to the squire,\ntelling him to carry it back to the abbey and to give it to Sir\nGalahad with his greeting.\n\n'Then tell me your name,' said the squire.\n\n'I will tell neither you nor any one on earth,' said the warrior.\nAnd he disappeared, and the squire saw him no more.\n\n'I will take the wounded King to an abbey, that his wounds may be\ndressed,' thought the squire.\n\nAnd with great difficulty the King and his squire reached an abbey.\nAnd the monks thought his life could not be saved, but after many\ndays he was cured.\n\nThen the squire rode back to the abbey where Galahad waited. 'The\nwarrior who wounded the King bids you bear this shield,' he said.\n\nGalahad hung the shield round his neck joyfully, and rode into the\nvalley to seek the warrior dressed in white.\n\nAnd when they met they saluted each other courteously. And the\nwarrior told Sir Galahad strange tales of the white shield, till\nthe knight thanked God that now it was his. And all his life long\nthe white shield with the red cross was one of his great treasures.\n\nNow Galahad rode back to the abbey, and the monks were glad to see\nhim again. 'We have need of a pure knight,' they said, as they took\nSir Galahad to a tomb in the churchyard.\n\nA pitiful noise was heard, and a voice from the tomb cried,\n'Galahad, servant of God, do not come near me.' But the young\nknight went towards the tomb and raised the stone.\n\nThen a thick smoke was seen, and through the smoke a figure uglier\nthan any man leaped from the tomb, shouting, 'Angels are round\nthee, Galahad, servant of God. I can do you no harm.'\n\nThe knight stooped down and saw a body all dressed in armour lying\nthere, and a sword lay by its side.\n\n'This was a false knight,' said Sir Galahad. 'Let us carry his body\naway from this place.'\n\n'You will stay in the abbey and live with us,' entreated the monks.\nBut the boy-knight could not rest. Would he see the light that was\nbrighter than any sunbeam again? Would his adventures bring him at\nlast to the Holy Grail?\n\nSir Galahad rode on many days, till at last he reached a mountain.\nOn the mountain he found an old chapel. It was empty and very\ndesolate. Galahad knelt alone before the altar, and asked God to\ntell him what to do next.\n\nAnd as he prayed a voice said, 'Thou brave knight, go to the Castle\nof Maidens and rescue them.'\n\nGalahad rose, and gladly journeyed on to the Castle of Maidens.\n\nThere he found seven knights, who long ago had seized the castle\nfrom a maiden to whom it belonged. And these knights had imprisoned\nher and many other maidens.\n\nWhen the seven knights saw Sir Galahad they came out of the castle.\n'We will take this young knight captive, and keep him in prison,'\nthey said to each other, as they fell upon him.\n\nBut Sir Galahad smote the first knight to the ground, so that he\nalmost broke his neck. And as his wonderful sword flashed in the\nlight, sudden fear fell on the six knights that were left, and they\nturned and fled.\n\nThen an old man took the keys of the castle to Galahad. And the\nknight opened the gates of the castle, and set free many prisoners.\nHe gave the castle back to the maiden to whom it belonged, and sent\nfor all the knights in the country round about to do her homage.\n\nThen once again Sir Galahad rode on in search of the Holy Grail.\nAnd the way seemed long, yet on and on he rode, till at last he\nreached the sea.\n\nThere, on the shore, stood a maiden, and when she saw Sir Galahad,\nshe led him to a ship and told him to enter.\n\n[Illustration: \"MY STRENGTH IS AS THE STRENGTH OF TEN BECAUSE MY\nHEART IS PURE\"\n\nPage 88]\n\nThe wind rose and drove the ship, with Sir Galahad on board,\nbetween two rocks. But when the ship could not pass that way, the\nknight left it, and entered a smaller one that awaited him.\n\nIn this ship was a table, and on the table, covered with a red\ncloth, was the Holy Grail. Reverently Sir Galahad sank on his\nknees. But still the Sacred Cup was covered.\n\nAt last the ship reached a strange city, and on the shore sat a\ncrippled man. Sir Galahad asked his help to lift the table from the\nship.\n\n'For ten years I have not walked without crutches,' said the man.\n\n'Show that you are willing, and come to me,' urged the knight.\n\nAnd the cripple got up, and when he found that he was cured, he ran\nto Sir Galahad, and together they carried the wonderful table to\nthe shore.\n\nThen all the city was astonished, and the people talked only of the\ngreat marvel. 'The man that was a cripple for ten years can walk,'\neach said to the other.\n\nThe King of the city heard the wonderful tale, but he was a cruel\nKing and a tyrant. 'The knight is not a good man,' he said to his\npeople, and he commanded that Galahad should be put in prison. And\nthe prison was underneath the palace, and it was dark and cold\nthere.\n\nBut down into the darkness streamed the light that had made Galahad\nso glad long ago at Camelot. And in the light Galahad saw the Holy\nGrail.\n\nA year passed and the cruel King was very ill, and he thought he\nwould die. Then he remembered the knight he had treated so\nunkindly, and who was still in the dark, cold prison. 'I will send\nfor him, and ask him to forgive me,' murmured the King.\n\nAnd when Galahad was brought to the palace, he willingly forgave\nthe tyrant who had put him in prison.\n\nThen the King died, and there was great dismay in the city, for\nwhere would they find a good ruler to sit on the throne?\n\nAs they wondered, they heard a voice that told them to make Sir\nGalahad their King, and in great joy the knight was crowned.\n\nThen the new King ordered a box of gold and precious stones to be\nmade, and in this box he placed the wonderful table he had carried\naway from the ship. 'And every morning I and my people will come\nhere to pray,' he said.\n\nFor a year Sir Galahad ruled the country well and wisely.\n\n'A year ago they crowned me King,' thought Galahad gravely, as he\nwoke one morning. He would get up early, and go to pray at the\nprecious table.\n\nBut before the King reached the table he paused. It was early.\nSurely all the city was asleep. Yet some one was already there,\nkneeling before the table on which, uncovered, stood the Sacred\nCup.\n\nThe man kneeling there looked holy as the saints look. Surrounding\nhim was a circle of angels. Was it a saint who kneeled, or was it\nthe Lord Himself?\n\nWhen the man saw Sir Galahad, he said, 'Come near, thou servant of\nJesus Christ, and thou shalt see what thou hast so much longed to\nsee.'\n\nAnd with joy Sir Galahad saw again the Holy Grail. Then as he\nkneeled before it in prayer, his soul left his body and was carried\nby angels into heaven.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR\n\n\nIt was not to win renown that King Arthur had gone far across the\nsea, for he loved his own country so well, that to gain glory at\nhome made him happiest of all.\n\nBut a false knight with his followers was laying waste the country\nacross the sea, and Arthur had gone to wage war against him.\n\n'And you, Sir Modred, will rule the country while I am gone,' the\nKing had said. And the knight smiled as he thought of the power\nthat would be his.\n\nAt first the people missed their great King Arthur, but as the\nmonths passed they began to forget him, and to talk only of Sir\nModred and his ways.\n\nAnd he, that he might gain the people's praise, made easier laws\nthan ever Arthur had done, till by and by there were many in the\ncountry who wished that the King would never come back.\n\nWhen Modred knew what the people wished, he was glad, and he made\nup his mind to do a cruel deed.\n\nHe would cause letters to be written from beyond the sea, and the\nletters would tell that the great King Arthur had been slain in\nbattle.\n\nAnd when the letters came the people read, 'King Arthur is dead,'\nand they believed the news was true.\n\nAnd there were some who wept because the noble King was slain, but\nsome had no time to weep. 'We must find a new King,' they said. And\nbecause his laws were easy, these chose Sir Modred to rule over\nthem.\n\nThe wicked knight was pleased that the people wished him to be\ntheir King. 'They shall take me to Canterbury to crown me,' he said\nproudly. And the nobles took him there, and amid shouts and\nrejoicings he was crowned.\n\nBut it was not very long till other letters came from across the\nsea, saying that King Arthur had not been slain, and that he was\ncoming back to rule over his own country once more.\n\nWhen Sir Modred heard that King Arthur was on his way home, he\ncollected a great army and went to Dover to try to keep the King\nfrom landing.\n\nBut no army would have been strong enough to keep Arthur and his\nknights away from the country they loved so well. They fought\nfiercely till they got on shore and scattered all Sir Modred's men.\n\nThen the knight gathered together another army, and chose a new\nbattle-field.\n\nBut King Arthur fought so bravely that he and his men were again\nvictorious, and Sir Modred fled to Canterbury.\n\nMany of the people began to forsake the false knight now, and\nsaying that he was a traitor, they went back to King Arthur.\n\nBut still Sir Modred wished to conquer the King. He would go\nthrough the counties of Kent and Surrey and raise a new army.\n\nNow King Arthur had dreamed that if he fought with Sir Modred again\nhe would be slain. So when he heard that the knight had raised\nanother army, he thought, 'I will meet this traitor who has\nbetrayed me. When he looks in my face, he will be ashamed and\nremember his vow of obedience.'\n\nAnd he sent two bishops to Sir Modred. 'Say to the knight that the\nKing would speak with him alone,' said Arthur.\n\nAnd the traitor thought, 'The King wishes to give me gold or great\npower, if I send my army away without fighting.' 'I will meet King\nArthur,' he said to the bishops.\n\nBut because he did not altogether trust the King he said he would\ntake fourteen men with him to the meeting-place, 'and the King must\nhave fourteen men with him too,' said Sir Modred. 'And our armies\nshall keep watch when we meet, and if a sword is lifted it shall be\nthe signal for battle.'\n\nThen King Arthur arranged a feast for Sir Modred and his men. And\nas they feasted all went merrily till an adder glided out of a\nlittle bush and stung one of the knight's men. And the pain was so\ngreat, that the man quickly drew his sword to kill the adder.\n\nAnd when the armies saw the sword flash in the light, they sprang\nto their feet and began to fight, 'for this is the signal for\nbattle,' they thought.\n\nAnd when evening came there were many thousand slain and wounded,\nand Sir Modred was left alone. But Arthur had still two knights\nwith him, Sir Lucan and Sir Bedivere.\n\nWhen King Arthur saw that his army was lost and all his knights\nslain but two, he said, 'Would to God I could find Sir Modred, who\nhas caused all this trouble.'\n\n'He is yonder,' said Sir Lucan, 'but remember your dream, and go\nnot near him.'\n\n'Whether I die or live,' said the King, 'he shall not escape.' And\nseizing his spear he ran to Sir Modred, crying, 'Now you shall\ndie.'\n\nAnd Arthur smote him under the shield, and the spear passed through\nhis body, and he died.\n\nThen, wounded and exhausted, the King fainted, and his knights\nlifted him and took him to a little chapel not far from a lake.\n\nAs the King lay there, he heard cries of fear and pain from the\ndistant battle-field.\n\n'What causes these cries?' said the King wearily. And to soothe the\nsick King, Sir Lucan said he would go to see.\n\nAnd when he reached the battle-field, he saw in the moonlight that\nrobbers were on the field stooping over the slain, and taking from\nthem their rings and their gold. And those that were only wounded,\nthe robbers slew, that they might take their jewels too.\n\nSir Lucan hastened back, and told the King what he had seen.\n\n'We will carry you farther off, lest the robbers find us here,'\nsaid the knights. And Sir Lucan lifted the King on one side and Sir\nBedivere lifted him on the other.\n\nBut Sir Lucan had been wounded in the battle, and as he lifted the\nKing he fell back and died.\n\nThen Arthur and Sir Bedivere wept for the fallen knight.\n\nNow the King felt so ill that he thought he would not live much\nlonger, and he turned to Sir Bedivere: 'Take Excalibur, my good\nsword,' he said, 'and go with it to the lake, and throw it into its\nwaters. Then come quickly and tell me what you see.'\n\nSir Bedivere took the sword and went down to the lake. But as he\nlooked at the handle with its sparkling gems and the richness of\nthe sword, he thought he could not throw it away. 'I will hide it\ncarefully here among the rushes,' thought the knight. And when he\nhad hidden it, he went slowly to the King and told him he had\nthrown the sword into the lake.\n\n'What did you see?' asked the King eagerly.\n\n'Nothing but the ripple of the waves as they broke on the beach,'\nsaid Sir Bedivere.\n\n'You have not told me the truth,' said the King. 'If you love me,\ngo again to the lake, and throw my sword into the water.'\n\nAgain the knight went to the water's edge. He drew the sword from\nits hiding-place. He would do the King's will, for he loved him.\nBut again the beauty of the sword made him pause. 'It is a noble\nsword; I will not throw it away,' he murmured, as once more he hid\nit among the rushes. Then he went back more slowly, and told the\nKing that he had done his will.\n\n'What did you see?' asked the King.\n\n'Nothing but the ripples of the waves as they broke on the beach,'\nrepeated the knight.\n\n'You have betrayed me twice,' said the King sadly, 'and yet you are\na noble knight! Go again to the lake, and do not betray me for a\nrich sword.'\n\nThen for the third time Sir Bedivere went to the water's edge, and\ndrawing the sword from among the rushes, he flung it as far as he\ncould into the lake.\n\nAnd as the knight watched, an arm and a hand appeared above the\nsurface of the lake. He saw the hand seize the sword, and shaking\nit three times, disappear again under the water. Then Sir Bedivere\nwent back quickly to the King, and told him what he had seen.\n\n'Carry me to the lake,' entreated Arthur, 'for I have been here too\nlong.'\n\n[Illustration: Page 115]\n\nAnd the knight carried the King on his shoulders down to the\nwater's side. There they found a barge lying, and seated in it were\nthree Queens, and each Queen wore a black hood. And when they saw\nKing Arthur they wept.\n\n'Lay me in the barge,' said the King. And when Sir Bedivere had\nlaid him there, King Arthur rested his head on the lap of the\nfairest Queen. And they rowed from land.\n\nSir Bedivere, left alone, watched the barge as it drifted out of\nsight, and then he went sorrowfully on his way, till he reached a\nhermitage. And he lived there as a hermit for the rest of his life.\n\nAnd the barge was rowed to a vale where the King was healed of his\nwound.\n\nAnd some say that now he is dead, but others say that King Arthur\nwill come again, and clear the country of its foes.\n\n\nEdinburgh: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTE\n\n\nMinor punctuation corrections have been made; however, all\nspellings appear as in the original.\n\nRemoved a duplicate title page for GERAINT AND ENID.","title":"Stories of King Arthur's Knights, Told to the Children","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":20507}