But justice, so thy say be proven true.

Accursed, who from the wrongs his father did

Would shape himself a right!"

And while she past,

Came yet another widow crying to him,

"A boon, Sir King! Thine enemy, King, am I.

With thine own hand thou slewest my dear

lord,

A knight of Uther in the Barons' war,

When Lot and many another rose and fought

Against thee, saying thou wert basely born.

I held with these, and loathe to ask thee aught.

Yet lo! my husband's brother had my son

Thrall'd in his castle, and hath starved him

dead;

And standeth seized of that inheritance

Which thou that slewest the sire hast left the

son,

So tho' I scarce can ask it thee for hate,

Grant me some knight to do the battle for me,

Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son."

Then strode a good knight forward, crying to

him

"A boon, Sir King! I am her kinsman, I.

Give me to right her wrong, and slay the

man."

Then came Sir Kay, the seneschal, and cried,

"A boon, Sir King! ev'n that thou grant her

none,

This railer, that hath mock'd thee in full hall-

None; or the wholesome boon of gyve and

gag."

But Arthur, "We sit, King, to help the

wrong'd

Thro' all our realm. The woman loves her

lord.

Peace to thee, woman, with thy loves and

hates!

The kings of old had doom'd thee to the

flames,

Aurelius Emrys would have scourged thee dead,

And Uther slit thy tongue: but get thee

hence

Lest that rough humour of the kings of old

Return upon me! Thou that art her kin,

Go likewise; lay him low and slay him not,

But bring him here, that I may judge the right,

According to the justice of the King:

Then, be he guilty, by that deathless King

Who lived and died for men, the man shall

die."

Then came in hall the messenger of Mark,

A name of evil savour in the land,

The Cornish king. In either hand he bore

What dazzled all, and shone far-off as shines

A field of charlock in the sudden sun

Between two showers, a cloth of palest gold,

Which down he laid before the throne, and

knelt,

Delivering, that his lord, the vassal king,

Was ev'n upon his way to Camelot;

For having heard that Arthur of his grace

Had made his goodly cousin, Tristram, knight,

And, for himself was of the greater state,

Being a king, he trusted his liege-lord

Would yield him this large honour all the

more;

So pray'd him well to accept this cloth of

gold,

In token of true heart and fealty.

Then Arthur cried to rend the cloth, to rend

In pieces, and so cast it on the hearth.

An oak-tree smoulder'd there.

"The goodly

knight!