But for he heard of Arthur newly crown'd, Tho' not without an uproar made by those Who cried, "He is not Uther's son"-the King Sent to him, saying, "Arise, and help us, thou! For here between the man and beast we die."

And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms, But heard the call, and came: and Guinevere Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass; But since he neither wore ou helm or shield The golden symbol of his kinglihood,

But rode a simple knight among his knights,
And many of these in richer arms than he,
She saw him not, or mark'd not, if she saw,
One among many, tho' his face was bare.
But Arthur, looking downward as he past,
Felt the light of her eyes into his life
Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitch'd
His tents beside the forest. Then he drave
The heathen, after slew the beast, and fell'd
The forest, letting in the sun, and made
Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight,
And so return'd.

For while he linger'd there, A doubt that ever smoulder'd in the hearts Of those great lords and barons of his realm Flash'd forth and into war: for most of these, Colleaguing with a score of petty kings, Made head against him, crying, "Who is he That he should rule ns? who hath proven him King Uther's son? for lo! we look at him, And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice, Are like to those of Uther whom we knew, This is the son of Gorloïs, not the King; This is the son of Auton, not the King."

And Arthur, passing thence to battle, felt
Travail, and throes and agonies of the life,
Desiring to be join'd with Guinevere;

And thinking as he rode, "Her father said
That there between the man and beast they die.
Shall I not lift her from this laud of beasts
Up to my throne, and side by side with me?
What happiness to reign a lonely king,
Vext-0 ye stars that shudder over me,
O earth that soundest hollow under me-
Vext with waste dreams? for saving I be join'd
To her that is the fairest under heaven,
I seem as nothing in the mighty world,
And cannot will my will, nor work my work
Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm
Victor and lord. But were I join'd with her,
Then might we live together as one life,
And reigning with one will in everything
Have power on this dark land to lighten it,
And power on this dead world to make it live."

Thereafter-as he speaks who tells the taleWhen Arthur reach'd a field-of-battle bright With pitch'd pavilions of his foe, the world Was all so clear about him, that he saw The smallest rock far on the faintest hill, And even in high day the morning star. So when the King had set his banner broad, At once from either side, with trumpet-blast, And shonts, and clarions shrilling unto blood, The long-lanced battle let their horses run. And now the barons and the kings prevail'd And now the King, as here and there that war Went swaying; but the Powers who walk the world Made lightnings and great thunders over him, And dazed all eyes, till Arthur by main might, And mightier of his hands with every blow, And leading all his knighthood threw the kings Carádos, Urien, Cradlemont of Wales, Claudias, and Clariance of Northumberland, The King Brandagoras of Latangor,

With Anguisant of Erin, Morganore,
And Lot of Orkney. Then, before a voice
As dreadful as the shout of one who sees
To one who sins, and deems himself alone
And all the world asleep, they swerved and brake
Flying, and Arthur call'd to stay the brands
That hack'd among the flyers, "Ho! they yield!"
So like a painted battle the war stood
Silenced, the living quiet as the dead,
And in the heart of Arthur joy was lord.
He laugh'd upon his warrior whom he loved
And houor'd most. "Thou dost not doubt me King,
So well thine arm hath wrought for me to-day."
"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 chauce what will, I trust thee to the death."

Then quickly from the fonghten field he sent Ultius, 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 call'd A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom Ile 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 thro' 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 to-day, Then beast and man had had their share of me: But summon here before us yet once more Ultius, 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 Gorloïs, Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves, Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son ?"

And Ulfius and Brastias answer'd, "Ay." Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spakeFor bold in heart and act and word was he, Whenever slauder breathed against the King

"Sir, there be many rumors on this head: For there be those who hate him in their hearts, Call him base-born, and, since his ways are sweet And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man: And there be those who deem him more than mau, And dream he dropt from heaven: but my belief In all this matter-so ye care to learnSir, 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:
Aud 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 dishonor 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 enter'd in,
And there was none to call to but himself.
So, compass'd by the power of the King,
Enforced she was to wed him in her tears,
And with a shameful swiftness: 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
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 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 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 base-born.' Yet Merlin thro' his craft,
And while the people clamor'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 shamefuluess, 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 doubtful throne is ice on summer seas. Ye come from Arthur's court. Victor his men Report him! Yea, but ye-think ye this kingSo many those that hate him, and so strong, So few his knights, however brave they beHath 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 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 flush'd, and others dazed, as one who wakes
Ilalf-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-color, 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 ownClothed 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 rous, 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 yourself, Cast me away! And sad was Arthur's face Taking it, but old Merlin counsell'd him, Take thon 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 fuil 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 1! 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.

Sweet is the chase: and I will seek thee out
Some comfortable bride and fair, to grace
Thy climbing life, aud cherish my prone year,
Till falling into Lot's forgetfuluess

I know not thee, myself, nor anything.

Silent awhile was Gareth, then replied, "The thrall in person may be free in soul, And I shall see the jousts. Thy son am I, And since thou art my mother, must obey. I therefore yield me freely to thy will;

Then Gareth, "An ye hold me yet for child,
Hear yet once more the story of the child.
For, mother, there was once a King, like ours;
The prince his heir, when tall and marriageable,
Ask'd for a bride; and thereupon the King

Set two before him. One was fair, strong, arm'd—
But to be won by force-and many men
Desired her; one, good lack, no man desired.
And these were the conditions of the King:
That save he won the first by force, he needs
Must wed that other, whom no man desired,
A red-faced bride who knew herself so vile,
That evermore she long'd to hide herself,
Nor fronted man or woman, eye to eye-
Yea-some she cleaved to, but they died of her.
And one-they call'd her Fame; and one,-O mother,
How can ye keep me tether'd to yon-Shame!
Man am I grown, a man's work must I do.
Follow the deer? follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King-
Else, wherefore born?"

To whom the mother said,

To serve with scullions and with kitchen-knaves; Nor tell my name to any-no, not the King."

Gareth awhile linger'd. The mother's eye Full of the wistful fear that he would go, And turning toward him wheresoe'er he turn'd, Perplext his outward purpose, till an hour, When waken'd by the wind which with full voice Swept bellowing thro' the darkness on to dawn, He rose, and out of slumber calling two That still had tended on him from his birth, Before the wakeful mother heard him, went.

The three were clad like tillers of the soil. Southward they set their faces. The birds made Melody on branch, and melody in mid-air. The damp hill-slopes were quicken'd into green, And the live green had kindled into flowers, For it was past the time of Easterday.

So, when their feet were planted on the plain That broaden'd toward the base of Camelot, Far off they saw the silver-misty morn Rolling her smoke about the royal mount,

Or will not deem him, wholly proven King--
Albeit in mine own heart I knew him King,
When I was frequent with him in my youth,
And heard him Kingly speak, and doubted him
No more than he, himself; but felt him mine,
Of closest kin to me: yet-wilt thou leave
Thine easeful biding here, and risk thine all,
Life, limbs, for one that is not proven King?
Stay, till the cloud that settles round his birth
Iath lifted but a little. Stay, sweet son."

With laughter, swearing he had glamour enow
In his own blood, his princedom, youth, and hopes,
To plunge old Merlin in the Arabian Sea;
So push'd them all unwilling toward the gate.
And there was no gate like it under heaven.
For barefoot on the key-stone, which was lined
And rippled like an ever-fleeting wave,
The Lady of the Lake stood: all her dress
Wept from her sides as water flowing away;
But like the cross her great and goodly arms
Stretch'd under all the cornice and upheld:
And drops of water fell from either hand;
And down from one a sword was hung, from one
A censer, either worn with wind and storm;
And o'er her breast floated the sacred fish;
And in the space to left of her, and right,
Were Arthur's wars in weird devices done,
New things and old co-twisted, as if Time
Were nothing, so inveterately, that men
Were giddy gazing there; and over all

High on the top were those three queens, the friends
Of Arthur, who should help him at his need.

Then those with Gareth for so long a space Stared at the figures, that at last it seem'd The dragon-boughts and elvish emblemings Began to move, seethe, twine, and curl: they call'd To Gareth, "Lord, the gateway is alive."