No More Learning

"Merlin, the magician, came there too, with his hundred years of art
like so many hands of vassals to wait upon the young king. Near Merlin
stood the mystical, marvelous Lady of the Lake, who knows a deeper magic
than Merlin's own, dressed in white. A mist of incense curled all about
her and her face was fairly hidden in the dim gloom. But when the holy
hymns were sung a voice like flowing waters sounded through the music.
It was the voice of the Lady of the Lake who lives in the lowest waters
of the lake where it is always calm, no matter what storms may blow over
the earth and who when the waves tumble and roll above her can walk out
upon their crests just as our Lord did.

"_It was she who gave Arthur his remarkable sword_ Excalibur, with its
hilt like a cross wherewith he drove away the heathen for you. That
strange sword rose up from out the bosom of the lake, and Arthur rowed
over in a little boat and took it. The sword is incrusted with rich
jewels on the hilt, with a blade so bright that men are blinded by it.
On one side the words 'Take me' are graven upon it in the oldest
language of the world, while on the other side the words 'Cast me away'
are carved in the tongue that you speak.

[Illustration: SHE GAVE ARTHUR HIS REMARKABLE SWORD]

"Arthur became very sad when he saw the second inscription, but Merlin
advised him to take the beautiful blade and use it; he told him that now
was the time to strike and that the time to cast away was very, very far
off. So Arthur took the tremendous sword and with it he will beat down
his enemies, King Leodogran. "

Leodogran was pleased with the queen's words, but he wished to test the
story Bedivere had told him, so he looked into her eyes narrowly as he
observed, with a question in his tones, "The swallow and the swift are
very near kin, but you are still closer to this noble prince as you are
his own dear sister. "

"I am the daughter of Gerlois and Ygerne," she answered.

"Yes, that is why you are Arthur's sister," the king returned still
questioningly.

"These are secret things," the Queen of Orkney replied, and she motioned
with her hand for her two sons to leave her alone in the room with the
king.
Gawain immediately skipped away singing, his hair flying after and
frolicked outside like a frisky pony, _but cunning Modred laid his ear
close beside the door to listen_, so that he half heard all the strange
story his mother told the king. This is what the queen said in the
beginning to the king.

[Illustration: CUNNING MODRED BESIDE THE DOOR TO LISTEN]

"What should I know about it? For my mother's hair and eyes were dark,
and so were the eyes and hair of Gerlois, and Uther was dark too, almost
black, but the King Arthur is fairer than anyone else in Britain.
However, I remember how my mother used often to weep and say, 'O that
you had some brother, pretty little one, to guard you from the rough
ways of the world. "

"Yes? She said that? " Leodogran rejoined, "but when did you see Arthur
first? "

"O king, I will tell you all about it," cried the Queen of Orkney. "Once
when I was a little bit of a girl and had been beaten for some childish
fault that I had not committed, I ran outside and flung myself on a
grassy bank and hated all the world and everything in it, and wished I
were dead. But all of a sudden little Arthur stood by my side. I don't
know how he came or anything about it. Perhaps Merlin brought him, for
Merlin, they say, can walk about and nobody see him, if he will, but any
rate, Arthur was there by my side, comforting me and drying my tears.
After that Arthur came very often without anybody knowing it and we were
children together, and in those golden days I felt sure he would be
king.

"But now I must tell you about Bleys, the old wizard who taught the
magician Merlin. You know they both served King Uther, and just a little
while ago when Bleys died he sent for me.