Book: The Legends Of King Arthur And His Knights

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But when King Arthur saw him ride upon Sir Ector's horse his wrath was
very great, and with his sword he smote King Cradlemont upon the helm, and
shore off the fourth part thereof and of the shield, and drave the sword
onward to the horse's neck and slew the horse, and hurled the king upon
the ground.

And now the battle waxed so great and furious that all the noise and sound
thereof rang out by water and by wood, so that Kings Ban and Bors, with
all their knights and men-at-arms in ambush, hearing the tumult and the
cries, trembled and shook for eagerness, and scarce could stay in secret,
but made them ready for the fray and dressed their shields and harness.

But when King Arthur saw the fury of the enemy, he raged like a mad lion,
and stirred and drove his horse now here, now there, to the right hand and
to the left, and stayed not in his wrath till he had slain full twenty
knights. He wounded also King Lot so sorely in the shoulder that he left
the field, and in great pain and dolour cried out to the other kings, "Do
ye as I devise, or we shall be destroyed. I, with the King of the Hundred
Knights, King Anguisant, King Yder, and the Duke of Cambinet, will take
fifteen thousand men and make a circuit, meanwhile that ye do hold the
battle with twelve thousand. Then coming suddenly we will fall fiercely on
them from behind and put them to the rout, but else shall we never stand
against them."

So Lot and four kings departed with their party to one side, and the six
other kings dressed their ranks against King Arthur and fought long and
stoutly.

But now Kings Ban and Bors, with all their army fresh and eager, broke
from their ambush and met face to face the five kings and their host as
they came round behind, and then began a frantic struggle with breaking of
spears and clashing of swords and slaying of men and horses. Anon King
Lot, espying in the midst King Bors, cried out in great dismay, "Our Lady
now defend us from our death and fearful wounds; our peril groweth great,
for yonder cometh one of the worshipfullest kings and best knights in all
the world."

"Who is he?" said the King of the Hundred Knights.

"It is King Bors of Gaul," replied King Lot, "and much I marvel how he may
have come with all his host into this land without our knowledge."

"Aha!" cried King Carados, "I will encounter with this king if ye will
rescue me when there is need."

"Ride on," said they.

So King Carados and all his host rode softly till they came within a
bow-shot of King Bors, and then both hosts, spurring their horses to their
greatest swiftness, rushed at each other. And King Bors encountered in
the onset with a knight, and struck him through with a spear, so that he
fell dead upon the earth; then drawing his sword, he did such mighty feats
of arms that all who saw him gazed with wonder. Anon King Ban came also
forth upon the field with all his knights, and added yet more fury, sound,
and slaughter, till at length both hosts of the eleven kings began to
quake, and drawing all together into one body, they prepared to meet the
worst, while a great multitude already fled.

Then said King Lot, "Lords, we must take yet other means, or worse loss
still awaits us. See ye not what people we have lost in waiting on the
footmen, and that it costs ten horsemen to save one of them? Therefore it
is my counsel to put away our footmen from us, for it is almost night, and
King Arthur will not stay to slaughter them. So they can save their lives
in this great wood hard by. Then let us gather into one band all the
horsemen that remain, and whoso breaketh rank or leaveth us, let him be
straightway slain by him that seeth him, for it is better that we slay a
coward than through a coward be all slain. How say ye?" said King Lot;
"answer me, all ye kings."

"It is well said," replied they all.

And swearing they would never fail each other, they mended and set right
their armour and their shields, and took new spears and set them
steadfastly against their thighs, waiting, and so stood still as a clump
of trees stands on the plain; and no assaults could shake them, they held
so hard together; which when King Arthur saw he marvelled greatly, and was
very wroth. "Yet," cried he, "I may not blame them, by my faith, for they
do as brave men ought to do, and are the best fighting men and knights of
most prowess that I ever saw or heard tell of." And so said also Kings Ban
and Bors, and praised them greatly for their noble chivalry.

But now came forty noble knights out of King Arthur's host, and prayed
that he would suffer them to break the enemy. And when they were allowed,
they rode forth with their spears upon their thighs, and spurred their
horses to their hottest. Then the eleven kings, with a party of their
knights, rushed with set spears as fast and mightily to meet them; and
when they were encountered, all the crash and splinter of their spears and
armour rang with a mighty din, and so fierce and bloody was their onset
that in all that day there had been no such cruel press, and rage, and
smiting. At that same moment rode fiercely into the thickest of the
struggle King Arthur and Kings Ban and Bors, and slew downright on both
hands right and left, until their horses went in blood up to the fetlocks.

And while the slaughter and the noise and shouting were at their greatest,
suddenly there came down through the battle Merlin the Wizard, upon a
great black horse, and riding to King Arthur, he cried out, "Alas, my
Lord! will ye have never done? Of sixty thousand have ye left but fifteen
thousand men alive. Is it not time to stay this slaying? for God is ill
pleased with ye that ye have never ended, and yonder kings shall not be
altogether overthrown this time. But if ye fall upon them any more, the
fortune of this day will turn, and go to them. Withdraw, Lord, therefore,
to thy lodging, and there now take thy rest, for to-day thou hast won a
great victory, and overcome the noblest chivalry of all the world. And now
for many years those kings shall not disturb thee. Therefore, I tell
thee, fear them no more, for now they are sore beaten, and have nothing
left them but their honour; and why shouldest thou slay them to take
that?"

Then said King Arthur, "Thou sayest well, and I will take thy counsel."
With that he cried out, "Ho!" for the battle to cease, and sent forth
heralds through the field to stay more fighting. And gathering all the
spoil, he gave it not amongst his own host, but to Kings Ban and Bors and
all their knights and men-at-arms, that he might treat them with the
greater courtesy as strangers.

Then Merlin took his leave of Arthur and the two other kings, and went to
see his master, Blaise, a holy hermit, dwelling in Northumberland, who had
nourished him through all his youth. And Blaise was passing glad to see
him, for there was a great love ever between them; and Merlin told him how
King Arthur had sped in the battle, and how it had ended; and told him the
names of every king and knight of worship who was there. So Blaise wrote
down the battle, word for word, as Merlin told him; and in the same way
ever after, all the battles of King Arthur's days Merlin caused Blaise,
his master, to record.




CHAPTER III

_The Adventure of the Questing Beast--King Arthur drives the Saxons from
the Realm--The Battles of Celidon Forest and Badon Hill_


Anon, thereafter, came word to King Arthur that Ryence, King of North
Wales, was making war upon King Leodegrance of Camelgard; whereat he was
passing wroth, for he loved Leodegrance well, and hated Ryence. So he
departed with Kings Ban and Bors and twenty thousand men, and came to
Camelgard, and rescued Leodegrance, and slew ten thousand of Ryence's men
and put him to flight. Then Leodegrance made a great festival to the three
kings, and treated them with every manner of mirth and pleasure which
could be devised. And there had King Arthur the first sight of Guinevere,
daughter of Leodegrance, whom in the end he married, as shall be told
hereafter.

Then did Kings Ban and Bors take leave, and went to their own country,
where King Claudas worked great mischief. And King Arthur would have gone
with them, but they refused him, saying, "Nay, ye shall not at this time,
for ye have yet much to do in these lands of your own; and we with the
riches we have won here by your gifts shall hire many good knights, and,
by the grace of God, withstand the malice of King Claudas; and if we have
need we will send to ye for succour; and likewise ye, if ye have need,
send for us, and we will not tarry, by the faith of our bodies."

When the two kings had left, King Arthur rode to Caerleon, and thither
came to him his half-sister Belisent, wife to King Lot, sent as a
messenger, but in truth to espy his power; and with her came a noble
retinue, and also her four sons--Gawain, Gaheris, Agravaine, and Gareth.
But when she saw King Arthur and his nobleness, and all the splendour of
his knights and service, she forbore to spy upon him as a foe, and told
him of her husband's plots against him and his throne. And the king, not
knowing that she was his half-sister, made great court to her; and being
full of admiration for her beauty, loved her out of measure, and kept her
a long season at Caerleon. Wherefore her husband, King Lot, was more than
ever King Arthur's enemy, and hated him till death with a passing great
hatred.

At that time King Arthur had a marvellous dream, which gave him great
disquietness of heart. He dreamed that the whole land was full of many
fiery griffins and serpents, which burnt and slew the people everywhere;
and then that he himself fought with them, and that they did him mighty
injuries, and wounded him nigh to death, but that at last he overcame and
slew them all. When he woke, he sat in great heaviness of spirit and
pensiveness, thinking what this dream might signify, but by-and-by, when
he could by no means satisfy himself what it might mean, to rid himself of
all his thoughts of it, he made ready with a great company to ride out
hunting.

As soon as he was in the forest, the king saw a great hart before him, and
spurred his horse, and rode long eagerly after it, and chased until his
horse lost breath and fell down dead from under him. Then, seeing the hart
escaped and his horse dead, he sat down by a fountain, and fell into deep
thought again. And as he sat there alone, he thought he heard the noise of
hounds, as it were some thirty couple in number, and looking up he saw
coming towards him the strangest beast that ever he had seen or heard tell
of, which ran towards the fountain and drank of the water. Its head was
like a serpent's, with a leopard's body and a lion's tail, and it was
footed like a stag; and the noise was in its belly, as it were the baying
or questing of thirty couple of hounds. While it drank there was no noise
within it; but presently, having finished, it departed with a greater
sound than ever.

The king was amazed at all this; but being greatly wearied, he fell
asleep, and was before long waked up by a knight on foot, who said,
"Knight, full of thought and sleepy, tell me if thou sawest a strange
beast pass this way?"

"Such a one I saw," said King Arthur to the knight, "but that is now two
miles distant at the least. What would you with that beast?"

"Sir," said the knight, "I have followed it for a long time, and have
killed my horse, and would to heaven I had another to pursue my quest
withal."

At that moment came a yeoman with another horse for the king, which, when
the knight saw, he earnestly prayed to be given him. "For I have followed
this quest," said he, "twelve months, and either I shall achieve him or
bleed of the best blood of my body."

It was King Pellinore who at that time followed the questing beast, but
neither he nor King Arthur knew each other.

"Sir Knight," said King Arthur, "leave that quest and suffer me to have
it, and I will follow it other twelve months."

"Ah, fool," said the knight, "thy desire is utterly in vain, for it shall
never be achieved but by me, or by my next of kin."

Therewith he started to the king's horse, and mounted to the saddle,
crying out, "Grammercy, this horse is mine!"

"Well," said the king, "thou mayest take my horse by force, and I will not
say nay; but till we prove whether thou or I be best on horseback, I shall
not rest content."

"Seek me here," said the knight, "whenever thou wilt, and here by this
fountain thou shalt find me;" and so he passed forth on his way.

Then sat King Arthur in a deep fit of study, and bade his yeomen fetch him
yet another horse as quickly as they could. And when they left him all
alone came Merlin, disguised as a child of fourteen years of age, and
saluted the king, and asked him why he was so pensive and heavy.

"I may well be pensive and heavy," he replied, "for here even now I have
seen the strangest sight I ever saw."

"That know I well," said Merlin, "as well as thyself, and also all thy
thoughts; but thou art foolish to take thought, for it will not amend
thee. Also I know what thou art, and know thy father and thy mother."

"That is false," said King Arthur; "how shouldst thou know? thy years are
not enough."

"Yea," said Merlin, "but I know better than thou how thou wast born, and
better than any man living."

"I will not believe thee," said King Arthur, and was wroth with the child.

So Merlin departed, and came again in the likeness of an old man of
fourscore years of age; and the king was glad at his coming, for he seemed
wise and venerable. Then said the old man, "Why art thou so sad?"

"For divers reasons," said King Arthur; "for I have seen strange things
to-day, and but this moment there was here a child who told me things
beyond his years to know."

"Yea," said the old man, "but he told thee truth, and more he would have
told thee hadst thou suffered him. But I will tell thee wherefore thou art
sad, for thou hast done a thing of late for which God is displeased with
thee, and what it is thou knowest in thy heart, though no man else may
know."

"What art thou," said King Arthur, starting up all pale, "that tellest me
these tidings?"

"I am Merlin," said he, "and I was he in the child's likeness, also."

"Ah," said King Arthur, "thou art a marvellous and right fearful man, and
I would ask and tell thee many things this day."

As they talked came one with the king's horses, and so, King Arthur
mounting one, and Merlin another, they rode together to Caerleon; and
Merlin prophesied to Arthur of his death, and also foretold his own end.

And now King Arthur, having utterly dispersed and overwhelmed those kings
who had so long delayed his coronation, turned all his mind to overthrow
the Saxon heathens who yet in many places spoiled the land. Calling
together, therefore, his knights and men-at-arms, he rode with all his
hosts to York, where Colgrin, the Saxon, lay with a great army; and there
he fought a mighty battle, long and bloody, and drove him into the city,
and besieged him. Then Baldulph, Colgrin's brother, came secretly with six
thousand men to assail King Arthur and to raise the siege. But King Arthur
was aware of him, and sent six hundred horsemen and three thousand foot to
meet and fall on him instead. This therefore they did, encountering them
at midnight, and utterly defeated them, till they fled away for life. But
Baldulph, full of grief, resolved to share his brother's peril; wherefore
he shaved his head and beard, and disguised himself as a jester, and so
passed through King Arthur's camp, singing and playing on a harp, till by
degrees he drew near to the city walls, where presently he made himself
known, and was drawn up by ropes into the town.

Anon, while Arthur closely watched the city, came news that full six
hundred ships had landed countless swarms of Saxons, under Cheldric, on
the eastern coast. At that he raised the siege, and marched straight to
London, and there increased his army, and took counsel with his barons how
to drive the Saxons from the land for evermore.

Then with his nephew, Hoel, King of the Armorican Britons, who came with a
great force to help him, King Arthur, with a mighty multitude of barons,
knights, and fighting men, went swiftly up to Lincoln, which the Saxons
lay besieging. And there he fought a passing fierce battle, and made
grievous slaughter, killing above six thousand men, till the main body of
them turned and fled. But he pursued them hotly into the wood of Celidon,
where, sheltering themselves among the trees from his arrows, they made a
stand, and for a long season bravely defended themselves. Anon, he ordered
all the trees in that part of the forest to be cut down, leaving no
shelter or ambush; and with their trunks and branches made a mighty
barricade, which shut them in and hindered their escape. After three days,
brought nigh to death by famine, they offered to give up their wealth of
gold and silver spoils, and to depart forthwith in their empty ships;
moreover, to pay tribute to King Arthur when they reached their home, and
to leave him hostages till all was paid.

This offer, therefore, he accepted, and suffered them to depart. But when
they had been a few hours at sea, they repented of their shameful flight,
and turned their ships back again, and landing at Totnes, ravaged all the
land as far as the Severn, and, burning and slaying on all sides, bent
their steps towards Bath.

When King Arthur heard of their treachery and their return, he burned with
anger till his eyes shone like two torches, and then he swore a mighty
oath to rest no more until he had utterly destroyed those enemies of God
and man, and had rooted them for ever out of the land of Britain. Then
marching hotly with his armies on to Bath, he cried aloud to them, "Since
these detestable impious heathens disdain to keep their faith with me, to
keep faith with God, to whom I sware to cherish and defend this realm,
will now this day avenge on them the blood of all that they have slain in
Britain!"

In like manner after him spoke the archbishop, standing upon a hill, and
crying that to-day they should fight both for their country and for
Paradise, "For whoso," he said, "shall in this holy war be slain, the
angels shall forthwith receive him; for death in this cause shall be
penance and absolution for all sins."

At these words every man in the whole army raged with hatred, and pressed
eagerly to rush upon those savages.

Anon King Arthur, dressed in armour shining with gold and jewels, and
wearing on his head a helmet with a golden dragon, took a shield painted
with the likeness of the blessed Mary. Then girding on Excalibur and
taking in his right hand his great lance Ron, he placed his men in order
and led them out against the enemy, who stood for battle on the slope of
Badon Hill, ranged in the form of a wedge, as their custom was. And they,
resisting all the onslaughts of King Arthur and his host, made that day a
stout defence, and at night lay down upon the hill.

But on the next day Arthur led his army once again to the attack, and with
wounds and slaughter such as no man had ever seen before, he drove the
heathen step by step before him, backwards and upwards, till he stood with
all his noblest knights upon the summit of the hill.

And then men saw him, "red as the rising sun from spur to plume," lift up
his sword, and, kneeling, kiss the cross of it; and after, rising to his
feet, set might and main with all his fellowship upon the foe, till, as a
troop of lions roaring for their prey, they drove them like a scattered
herd along the plains, and cut them down till they could cut no more for
weariness.

That day King Arthur by himself alone slew with his word Excalibur four
hundred and seventy heathens. Colgrin also, and his brother Baldulph, were
slain.

Then the king bade Cador, Duke of Cornwall, follow Cheldric, the chief
leader, and the remnant of his hosts, unto the uttermost. He, therefore,
when he had first seized their fleet, and filled it with chosen men, to
beat them back when they should fly to it at last, chased them and slew
them without mercy so long as he could overtake them. And though they
crept with trembling hearts for shelter to the coverts of the woods and
dens of mountains, yet even so they found no safety, for Cador slew them,
even one by one. Last of all he caught and slew Cheldric himself, and
slaughtering a great multitude took hostages for the surrender of the
rest.

Meanwhile, King Arthur turned from Badon Hill, and freed his nephew Hoel
from the Scots and Picts, who besieged him in Alclud. And when he had
defeated them in three sore battles, he drove them before him to a lake,
which was one of the most wondrous lakes in all the world, for it was fed
by sixty rivers, and had sixty islands, and sixty rocks, and on every
island sixty eagles' nests. But King Arthur with a great fleet sailed
round the rivers and besieged them in the lake for fifteen days, so that
many thousands died of hunger.

Anon the King of Ireland came with an army to relieve them; but Arthur,
turning on him fiercely, routed him, and compelled him to retreat in
terror to his land. Then he pursued his purpose, which was no less to
destroy the race of Picts and Scots, who, beyond memory, had been a
ceaseless torment to the Britons by their barbarous malice.

So bitterly, therefore, did he treat them, giving quarter to none, that at
length the bishops of that miserable country with the clergy met together,
and, bearing all the holy relics, came barefooted to the king to pray his
mercy for their people. As soon as they were led before him they fell down
upon their knees, and piteously besought him to spare the few survivors of
their countrymen, and grant them any corner of the land where they might
live in peace. When he thus heard them, and knew that he had now fully
punished them, he consented to their prayer, and withdrew his hosts from
any further slaughter.

Then turned he back to his own realm, and came to York for Christmas, and
there with high solemnity observed that holy tide; and being passing
grieved to see the ruin of the churches and houses, which the rage or the
pagans had destroyed, he rebuilt them, and restored the city to its
ancient happy state.

And on a certain day, as the king sat with his barons, there came into the
court a squire on horseback, carrying a knight before him wounded to the
death, and told the king that hard by in the forest was a knight who had
reared up a pavilion by the fountain, "and hath slain my master, a valiant
knight, whose name was Nirles; wherefore I beseech thee, Lord, my master
may be buried, and that some good knight may avenge his death."

At that stepped forth a squire named Griflet, who was very young, being of
the same age with King Arthur, and besought the king, for all the service
he had done, to give him knighthood.

"Thou art full young and tender of age," said King Arthur, "to take so
high an order upon thee."

"Sir," said Griflet, "I beseech thee make me a knight;" and Merlin also
advising the king to grant his request, "Well," said Arthur, "be it then
so," and knighted him forthwith. Then said he to him, "Since I have
granted thee this favour, thou must in turn grant me a gift."

"Whatsoever thou wilt, my lord," replied Sir Griflet.

"Promise me," said King Arthur, "by the faith of thy body, that when thou
hast jousted with this knight at the fountain, thou wilt return to me
straightway, unless he slay thee."

"I promise," said Sir Griflet; and taking his horse in haste, he dressed
his shield, and took a spear in his hand and rode full gallop till he came
to the fountain, by the side of which he saw a rich pavilion, and a great
horse standing well saddled and bridled, and on a tree close by there hung
a shield of many colours and a long lance.

Then Sir Griflet smote upon the shield with the butt of his spear until he
cast it to the ground. At that a knight came out of the pavilion and said,
"Fair knight, why smote ye down my shield?"

"Because," said Griflet, "I would joust with thee."

"It were better not," replied the knight; "for thou art young and but
lately made a knight, and thy strength is small compared to mine."

"For all that," said Sir Griflet, "I will joust with ye."

"I am full loath," replied the knight; "but if I must I must."

Then did they wheel their horses far apart, and running them together,
the strange knight shivered Sir Griflet's spear to fragments, and smote
him through the shield and the left side, and broke his own spear into Sir
Griflet's body, so that the truncheon stuck there, and Sir Griflet and his
horse fell down. But when the strange knight saw him overthrown, he was
sore grieved, and hastily alighted, for he thought that he had slain him.
Then he unlaced his helm and gave him air, and tended him carefully till
he came out of his swoon, and leaving the truncheon of his spear in his
body, he set him upon horse, and commended him to God, and said he had a
mighty heart, and if he lived would prove a passing good knight. And so
Sir Griflet rode to the court, where, by aid of good physicians, he was
healed in time and his life saved.

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