"If I want to be gentle I must serve and worship
lovely Queen Guinevere too.
lovely Queen Guinevere too.
Tennyson
After we had buried him, we talked with an old
woodman who told us that there's a demon of the woods who had probably
slain the knight. This demon, he said, was once a man who lived all
alone and learned black magic. He hated people so much that when he died
he became a fiend. The woodman showed us the cave where he has seen the
demon go in and out and where he lives. We saw the print of a horse's
hoof, but no more. "
"Foully and villainously slain! " cried Arthur thinking of his poor
killed knight in the woods. "Who will go hunt this demon of the woods
for me? "
"I! " exclaimed Balan, ready to dart instantly away, but first he
embraced Balin, saying, "Good brother, hear; don't let your angry
passions conquer you, fight them away. Remember how these knights of the
Round Table welcomed you back. Be a loving brother with them and don't
imagine that there is hatred among them here any more than there is in
heaven itself. "
When bad Balan left, Balin set himself to learn how to curb his wildness
and become a courteous and manly knight. He always hovered about
Lancelot, the pattern knight of all the court, to see how he did, and
when he noticed Lancelot's sweet smiles and his little pleasant words
that gladdened every knight or churl or child that he passed, Balin
sighed like some lame boy who longed to scale a mountain top and could
scarcely limp up one hundred feet from the base.
"It's Lancelot's worship of the queen that helps to make him gentle,"
said he to himself.
"If I want to be gentle I must serve and worship
lovely Queen Guinevere too. Suppose I ask the King to let me have some
token of hers on my shield instead of these pictures of wild beasts with
big teeth and grins. Then whenever I see it I'll forget my wild heats
and violences. "
"What would you like to bear on your shield? " asked the king when Balin
spoke to him about his wish.
"The queen's own crown-royal," replied Balin.
Then the queen smiled and turned to Arthur. "The crown is only the
shadow of the king," she said, "and this crown is the shadow of that
shadow. But let him have it if it will help him out of his violences. "
"It's no shadow to me, my queen," cried Balan, "no shadow to me, king.
It's a light for me. "
So Balin was given the crown to bear on his shield and whenever he
looked at it, it seemed to make him feel gentle and patient.
But one morning as he heard Lancelot and the queen talking together on
the white walk of lilies that led to Queen Guinevere's bower, all his
old passions seemed to come back and filled him and he darted madly away
on his horse, not stopping until he had passed the fount where he had
sat with his brother Balan and had dived into the skyless woods beyond.
There the gray-headed woodman was hewing away wearily at a branch of a
tree.
[Illustration: BALIN WAS GIVEN THE CROWN TO WEAR ON HIS SHIELD. ]
"Give me your axe, Churl," cried Balin, and with one sharp cut he struck
it down.
woodman who told us that there's a demon of the woods who had probably
slain the knight. This demon, he said, was once a man who lived all
alone and learned black magic. He hated people so much that when he died
he became a fiend. The woodman showed us the cave where he has seen the
demon go in and out and where he lives. We saw the print of a horse's
hoof, but no more. "
"Foully and villainously slain! " cried Arthur thinking of his poor
killed knight in the woods. "Who will go hunt this demon of the woods
for me? "
"I! " exclaimed Balan, ready to dart instantly away, but first he
embraced Balin, saying, "Good brother, hear; don't let your angry
passions conquer you, fight them away. Remember how these knights of the
Round Table welcomed you back. Be a loving brother with them and don't
imagine that there is hatred among them here any more than there is in
heaven itself. "
When bad Balan left, Balin set himself to learn how to curb his wildness
and become a courteous and manly knight. He always hovered about
Lancelot, the pattern knight of all the court, to see how he did, and
when he noticed Lancelot's sweet smiles and his little pleasant words
that gladdened every knight or churl or child that he passed, Balin
sighed like some lame boy who longed to scale a mountain top and could
scarcely limp up one hundred feet from the base.
"It's Lancelot's worship of the queen that helps to make him gentle,"
said he to himself.
"If I want to be gentle I must serve and worship
lovely Queen Guinevere too. Suppose I ask the King to let me have some
token of hers on my shield instead of these pictures of wild beasts with
big teeth and grins. Then whenever I see it I'll forget my wild heats
and violences. "
"What would you like to bear on your shield? " asked the king when Balin
spoke to him about his wish.
"The queen's own crown-royal," replied Balin.
Then the queen smiled and turned to Arthur. "The crown is only the
shadow of the king," she said, "and this crown is the shadow of that
shadow. But let him have it if it will help him out of his violences. "
"It's no shadow to me, my queen," cried Balan, "no shadow to me, king.
It's a light for me. "
So Balin was given the crown to bear on his shield and whenever he
looked at it, it seemed to make him feel gentle and patient.
But one morning as he heard Lancelot and the queen talking together on
the white walk of lilies that led to Queen Guinevere's bower, all his
old passions seemed to come back and filled him and he darted madly away
on his horse, not stopping until he had passed the fount where he had
sat with his brother Balan and had dived into the skyless woods beyond.
There the gray-headed woodman was hewing away wearily at a branch of a
tree.
[Illustration: BALIN WAS GIVEN THE CROWN TO WEAR ON HIS SHIELD. ]
"Give me your axe, Churl," cried Balin, and with one sharp cut he struck
it down.
