Not many moons, King Uther died him

self,

Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule After him, lest the realm should go to wrack.

And that same night, the night of the new

year,

By reason of the bitterness and grief

That vext his mother, all before his time
Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born
Deliver'd at a secret postern-gate
To Merlin, to be holden far apart

Until his hour should come; because the lords

Of that fierce day were as the lords of this, Wild beasts, and surely would have torn the child

Piecemeal among them, had they known; for each

But sought to rule for his own self and hand,

And many hated Uther for the sake
Of Gorloïs. Wherefore Merlin took the

child,

And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife Nursed the young prince, and rear'd him

with her own;

And no man knew. And ever since the lords

Have foughten like wild beasts among

themselves,

So that the realm has gone to wrack: but now,

This year, when Merlin (for his hour had come)

Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall,

Proclaiming, "Here is Uther's heir, your

king,"

A hundred voices cried, "Away with him!
No king of ours! a son of Gorloïs he,
Or else the child of Anton, and no king,

Or else baseborn." Yet Merlin thro' his craft,

And while the people clamour'd for a king,

Had Arthur crown'd; but after, the great lords

Banded, and so brake out in open war.'

Then while the King debated with himself

If Arthur were the child of shamefulness,

Or born the son of Gorloïs, after death, Or Uther's son, and born before his time, Or whether there were truth in anything Said by these three, there came to Cameliard,

With Gawain and young Modred, her two sons,

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent;

Whom as he could, not as he would, the King

Made feast for, saying, as they sat at meat,

'A doubtful throne is ice on summer

seas.

Ye come from Arthur's court. Victor his

men

Report him! Yea, but ye-think ye this

king

So many those that hate him, and so

strong,

So few his knights, however brave they be

Hath body enow to hold his foemen down?'

'O King,' she cried, and I will tell

thee: few,

Few, but all brave, all of one mind with him;

For I was near him when the savage yells Of Uther's peerage died, and Arthur sat Crown'd on the daïs, and his warriors cried, "Be thou the king, and we will work thy will

Who love thee." Then the King in low deep tones,

And simple words of great authority, Bound them by so strait vows to his own self,

That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some

Were pale as at the passing of a ghost, Some flush'd, and others dazed, as one

who wakes

Half-blinded at the coming of a light.

'But when he spake and cheer'd his

Table Round

With large divine and comfortable words
Beyond my tongue to tell thee-I beheld
From eye to eye thro' all their Order flash
A momentary likeness of the King:
And ere it left their faces, thro' the cross
And those around it and the Crucified,
Down from the casement over Arthur,

smote

Flame-colour, vert and azure, in three

rays,

One falling upon each of three fair queens, Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends

Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.

'And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit

And hundred winters are but as the hands Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.

'And near him stood the Lady of the Lake,

Who knows a subtler magic than his

own

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.

She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword,

Whereby to drive the heathen out: a mist Of incense curl'd about her, and her face Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom;

But there was heard among the holy hymns

A voice as of the waters, for she dwells Down in a deep, calm, whatsoever storms May shake the world, and when the surface rolls,

Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.

"There likewise I beheld Excalibur Before him at his crowning borne, the sword

That rose from out the bosom of the lake, And Arthur row'd across and took it-rich With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt, Bewildering heart and eye-the blade so bright

That men are blinded by it-on one side, Graven in the oldest tongue of all this

world,

"Take me," but turn the blade and ye shall see,

And written in the speech ye speak your

self,

"Cast me away!" And sad was Arthur's face

Taking it, but old Merlin counsell'd him, "Take thou and strike! the time to cast

away

Is yet far-off." So this great brand the king

Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.'

Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought

To sift his doubtings to the last, and ask'd, Fixing full eyes of question on her face, 'The swallow and the swift are near akin, But thou art closer to this noble prince, Being his own dear sister;' and she said, 'Daughter of Gorloïs and Ygerne am I;' 'And therefore Arthur's sister?' ask'd the King.

She answer'd, 'These be secret things,' and sign'd

To those two sons to pass and let them be. And Gawain went, and breaking into song Sprang out, and follow'd by his flying hair' Ran like a colt, and leapt at all he saw : But Modred laid his ear beside the doors, And there half heard; the same that afterward

Struck for the throne, and striking found his doom.

And then the Queen made answer,

'What know I?

For dark my mother was in eyes and hair, And dark in hair and eyes am I ; and dark Was Gorlois, yea and dark was Uther too, Wellnigh to blackness; but this King is fair

Beyond the race of Britons and of men. Moreover, always in my mind I hear A cry from out the dawning of my life, A mother weeping, and I hear her say, "O that ye had some brother, pretty one, To guard thee on the rough ways of the world.""

Ay,' said the King, and hear ye such a cry?

But when did Arthur chance upon thee first?'

'O King!' she cried, and I will tell thee true :

He found me first when yet a little maid: Beaten I had been for a little fault Whereof I was not guilty ; and out I ran And flung myself down on a bank of

heath,

And hated this fair world and all therein, And wept, and wish'd that I were dead;

and he

I know not whether of himself he came, Or brought by Merlin, who, they say,

can walk

Unseen at pleasure-he was at my side And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart,

And dried my tears, being a child with me. And many a time he came, and evermore As I grew greater grew with me; and sad At times he seem'd, and sad with him was I,

Stern too at times, and then I loved him not,

But sweet again, and then I loved him well.

And now of late I see him less and less, But those first days had golden hours for

me,

For then I surely thought he would be king.

'But let me tell thee now another tale : For Bleys, our Merlin's master, as they say,

Died but of late, and sent his cry to me, To hear him speak before he left his life. Shrunk like a fairy changeling lay the

mage;

And when I enter'd told me that himself And Merlin ever served about the King, Uther, before he died; and on the night. When Uther in Tintagil past away Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe,