And then Sir
Bedivere
hid
Excalibur under a tree.
Excalibur under a tree.
Tennyson
" drew a little back,
And drove his heel into the smoulder'd log,
That sent a blast of sparkles up the flue;
And so to bed; where yet in sleep I seem'd
To sail with Arthur under looming shores.
Point after point; till on to dawn, when dreams
Begin to feel the truth and stir of day,
To me, methought, who waited with a crowd,
There came a bark that, blowing forward, bore,
King Arthur, like a modern gentleman
Of stateliest port; and all the people cried,
"Arthur is come again: he cannot die".
Then those that stood upon the hills behind
Repeated--"Come again, and thrice as fair";
And, further inland, voices echoed--
"Come With all good things, and war shall be no more".
At this a hundred bells began to peal,
That with the sound I woke, and heard indeed
The clear church-bells ring in the Christmas morn.
[Footnote 1: 'Cf. Morte d'Arthur', xxxi. , iv. : "They led him betwixt
them to a little chapel from the not far seaside". ]
[Footnote 2: 'Cf. Id. ', v. :
"'Therefore,' said Arthur, 'take thou my good sword Excalibur and go
with it to yonder waterside. And when thou comest there I charge thee
throw my sword on that water and come again and tell me what thou
there seest. '
'My lord,' said Bedivere, 'your commandment shall be done and lightly
will I bring thee word again. '
So Sir Bedivere departed and by the way he beheld that noble sword,
that the pommel and the haft were all of precious stones, and then he
said to himself, 'If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof
shall never come to good but harm and loss'.
And then Sir Bedivere hid
Excalibur under a tree. "]
[Footnote 3: 1842-1853. Studs. ]
[Footnote 4: Literally from Virgil ('AEn. ', iv. , 285).
"Atque animum nunc huc celerem nunc dividit illuc. "]
[Footnote 5: 'Cf. Romance, Id. ', v. :
"'I saw nothing but the waters wap and the waves wan. '"]
[Footnote 6: 'Romance, Id. ', v. :
"'That is untruly said of thee,' said the king, 'therefore go thou
lightly again and do my command as thou to me art lief and dear; spare
not, but throw in. '
Then Sir Bedivere returned again and took the sword in his hand, and
then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword, and so
eft he hid the sword and returned again, and told the king that he had
been to the water and done his commandment. "]
[Footnote 7: This line was not inserted till 1853.
And drove his heel into the smoulder'd log,
That sent a blast of sparkles up the flue;
And so to bed; where yet in sleep I seem'd
To sail with Arthur under looming shores.
Point after point; till on to dawn, when dreams
Begin to feel the truth and stir of day,
To me, methought, who waited with a crowd,
There came a bark that, blowing forward, bore,
King Arthur, like a modern gentleman
Of stateliest port; and all the people cried,
"Arthur is come again: he cannot die".
Then those that stood upon the hills behind
Repeated--"Come again, and thrice as fair";
And, further inland, voices echoed--
"Come With all good things, and war shall be no more".
At this a hundred bells began to peal,
That with the sound I woke, and heard indeed
The clear church-bells ring in the Christmas morn.
[Footnote 1: 'Cf. Morte d'Arthur', xxxi. , iv. : "They led him betwixt
them to a little chapel from the not far seaside". ]
[Footnote 2: 'Cf. Id. ', v. :
"'Therefore,' said Arthur, 'take thou my good sword Excalibur and go
with it to yonder waterside. And when thou comest there I charge thee
throw my sword on that water and come again and tell me what thou
there seest. '
'My lord,' said Bedivere, 'your commandment shall be done and lightly
will I bring thee word again. '
So Sir Bedivere departed and by the way he beheld that noble sword,
that the pommel and the haft were all of precious stones, and then he
said to himself, 'If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof
shall never come to good but harm and loss'.
And then Sir Bedivere hid
Excalibur under a tree. "]
[Footnote 3: 1842-1853. Studs. ]
[Footnote 4: Literally from Virgil ('AEn. ', iv. , 285).
"Atque animum nunc huc celerem nunc dividit illuc. "]
[Footnote 5: 'Cf. Romance, Id. ', v. :
"'I saw nothing but the waters wap and the waves wan. '"]
[Footnote 6: 'Romance, Id. ', v. :
"'That is untruly said of thee,' said the king, 'therefore go thou
lightly again and do my command as thou to me art lief and dear; spare
not, but throw in. '
Then Sir Bedivere returned again and took the sword in his hand, and
then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword, and so
eft he hid the sword and returned again, and told the king that he had
been to the water and done his commandment. "]
[Footnote 7: This line was not inserted till 1853.
