He laughed upon his warrior whom he loved
And honoured most. 'Thou dost not doubt me King,

So well thine arm hath wrought for me today.'
'Sir and my liege,' he cried, 'the fire of God

Descends upon thee in the battle-field:
I know thee for my King!' Whereat the two,

For each had warded either in the fight,
Sware on the field of death a deathless love.

And Arthur said, 'Man's word is God in man:
Let chance what will, I trust thee to the death.'

Then quickly from the foughten field he sent
Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere,

His new-made knights, to King Leodogran,
Saying, 'If I in aught have served thee well,

Give me thy daughter Guinevere to wife.'
Whom when he heard, Leodogran in heart

Debating--'How should I that am a king,
However much he holp me at my need,

Give my one daughter saving to a king,
And a king's son?'--lifted his voice, and called

A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom
He trusted all things, and of him required

His counsel: 'Knowest thou aught of Arthur's birth?'
Then spake the hoary chamberlain and said,

'Sir King, there be but two old men that know:
And each is twice as old as I; and one

Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served
King Uther through his magic art; and one

Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys,
Who taught him magic, but the scholar ran

Before the master, and so far, that Bleys,
Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wrote

All things and whatsoever Merlin did
In one great annal-book, where after-years

Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth.'
To whom the King Leodogran replied,

'O friend, had I been holpen half as well
By this King Arthur as by thee today,

Then beast and man had had their share of me:
But summon here before us yet once more

Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere.'
Then, when they came before him, the King said,

'I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl,
And reason in the chase: but wherefore now

Do these your lords stir up the heat of war,
Some calling Arthur born of Gorlois,

Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves,
Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son?'

And Ulfius and Brastias answered, 'Ay.'
Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights

Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spake--
For bold in heart and act and word was he,

Whenever slander breathed against the King--
'Sir, there be many rumours on this head:

For there be those who hate him in their hearts,
Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet,

And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man:
And there be those who deem him more than man,

And dream he dropt from heaven: but my belief
In all this matter--so ye care to learn--

Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time
The prince and warrior Gorlois, he that held

Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea,
Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne:

And daughters had she borne him,--one whereof,
Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent,

Hath ever like a loyal sister cleaved
To Arthur,--but a son she had not borne.

And Uther cast upon her eyes of love:
But she, a stainless wife to Gorlois,

So loathed the bright dishonour of his love,
That Gorlois and King Uther went to war:

And overthrown was Gorlois and slain.
Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men,
Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls,

Left her and fled, and Uther entered in,
And there was none to call to but himself.

So, compassed by the power of the King,
Enforced was she to wed him in her tears,

And with a shamefulswiftness: afterward,
Not many moons, King Uther died himself,

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

Delivered 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 Gorlois. 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 reared 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 Gorlois he,

Or else the child of Anton, and no king,
Or else baseborn." Yet Merlin through his craft,

And while the people clamoured for a king,
Had Arthur crowned; 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 Gorlois, 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 doubtfulthrone 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
Crowned on the dais, 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 flushed, and others dazed, as one who wakes
Half-blinded at the coming of a light.

'But when he spake and cheered his Table Round
With large, divine, and comfortable words,

Beyond my tongue to tell thee--I beheld
From eye to eye through all their Order flash

A momentarylikeness of the King:
And ere it left their faces, through 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 curled 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 rowed 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 yourself,

"Cast me away!" And sad was Arthur's face
Taking it, but old Merlin counselled 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 asked,
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 Gorlois and Ygerne am I;'

'And therefore Arthur's sister?' asked the King.
She answered, 'These be secret things,' and signed

To those two sons to pass, and let them be.
And Gawain went, and breaking into song

Sprang out, and followed 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.

• warrior [´wɔriə] n.勇士，战士 (初中英语单词)
• wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• counsel [´kaunsəl] n.商议；劝告；律师 (初中英语单词)
• scholar [´skɔlə, ´skɑ-] n.学者；奖学金获得者 (初中英语单词)
• prince [´prins] n.王子；亲王；君主 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
• divine [di´vain] a.神圣的 v.预言 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• likewise [´laikwaiz] ad.同样地；也，又 (初中英语单词)
• beheld [bi´held] behold的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• swallow [swɔləu] n.燕子 v.吞，咽；淹没 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)
• summon [´sʌmən] vt.召集；号召 (高中英语单词)
• theirs [ðeəz] pron.他们的 (高中英语单词)
• overthrown [,əuvə´θrəun] overthrow的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• bitterness [´bitənis] n.苦味；辛酸；苦难 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• doubtful [´dautful] a.怀疑的，可疑的 (高中英语单词)
• throne [θrəun] n.宝座；王位 (高中英语单词)
• strait [streit] n.海峡 (高中英语单词)
• likeness [´laiknis] n.相似；肖像；外表 (高中英语单词)
• heathen [´hi:ðən] n.异教徒 (高中英语单词)
• incense [´insens, in´sens] n.香(气) vt.激怒 (高中英语单词)
• whereat [weər´æt] ad.对于...；在这里 (英语四级单词)
• chamberlain [´tʃeimbəlin] n.(国王的)侍从；管家 (英语四级单词)
• whatsoever [,wɔtsəu´evə] (强势语)=whatever (英语四级单词)
• cuckoo [´kuku:] n.杜鹃，布谷鸟 (英语四级单词)
• lesser [´lesə] a.较小的；次要的 (英语四级单词)
• wherefore [´weəfɔ:] ad.为什么；因此 (英语四级单词)
• slander [´slɑ:ndə] vt.&n.诽谤(罪) (英语四级单词)
• wedded [´wedid] a.(已)结婚的；献身的 (英语四级单词)
• shameful [´ʃeimfəl] a.可耻的；猥亵的 (英语四级单词)
• victor [´viktə] n.&a.胜利者(的) (英语四级单词)
• momentary [´məuməntəri] a.瞬息间的 (英语四级单词)
• casement [,keismənt] n.窗扉 (英语四级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
• swiftness [´swiftnis] n.迅速，敏捷 (英语六级单词)
• mystic [´mistik] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (英语六级单词)