He said he had
something
to
tell me that I must know before he left the world.
tell me that I must know before he left the world.
Tennyson
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.
He said he had something to
tell me that I must know before he left the world. He said that they
two, Merlin and he, sat beside the bed of King Uther on the night when
the king passed away, moaning and wailing because he left no heir to his
throne. After the king's death as Merlin and Bleys walked out from the
castle walls into the dismal misty night, they saw a wonderful
fairy-ship shaped like a winged dragon sailing the heavens, with shining
people collected on its decks; but in the twinkling of an eye the ship
was gone.
"Then Merlin and Bleys passed down into the cove by the seashore to
watch the billows, one after the other, as they lapped up against the
beach. And as they looked at last a great wave gathered up one-half of
the ocean and came full of voices, slowly rising and plunging, roaring
all the while. Then all the wave was in a flame; and down in the wave
and in the flame they saw lying a naked babe that was carried by the
water to Merlin's very feet.
"'The king! ' cried Merlin. 'Here's an heir for Uther. '
"Then as old Merlin spoke the fringe of that terrible great flaming
breaker lashed at him as he held up the baby; it rose up round him in a
mantle of fire so that he and the child were clothed in fire. Then
suddenly there was a calm, the stars looked out and the sky was open.
"'And this same child,' Bleys whispered to me, 'is the young king who
reigns. And I could not die in peace unless the story had been told. '
Then Bleys passed away into the land where nobody can question him.
"So I came to Merlin to ask him whether that was all true about the
shining dragon-ship and the tiny bare baby floating down from heaven
over on the glory of the seas; but Merlin just laughed, as he always
does, and answered me in the riddles of the old song, this way:
"'Rain, rain and sun! a rainbow in the sky!
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.
He said he had something to
tell me that I must know before he left the world. He said that they
two, Merlin and he, sat beside the bed of King Uther on the night when
the king passed away, moaning and wailing because he left no heir to his
throne. After the king's death as Merlin and Bleys walked out from the
castle walls into the dismal misty night, they saw a wonderful
fairy-ship shaped like a winged dragon sailing the heavens, with shining
people collected on its decks; but in the twinkling of an eye the ship
was gone.
"Then Merlin and Bleys passed down into the cove by the seashore to
watch the billows, one after the other, as they lapped up against the
beach. And as they looked at last a great wave gathered up one-half of
the ocean and came full of voices, slowly rising and plunging, roaring
all the while. Then all the wave was in a flame; and down in the wave
and in the flame they saw lying a naked babe that was carried by the
water to Merlin's very feet.
"'The king! ' cried Merlin. 'Here's an heir for Uther. '
"Then as old Merlin spoke the fringe of that terrible great flaming
breaker lashed at him as he held up the baby; it rose up round him in a
mantle of fire so that he and the child were clothed in fire. Then
suddenly there was a calm, the stars looked out and the sky was open.
"'And this same child,' Bleys whispered to me, 'is the young king who
reigns. And I could not die in peace unless the story had been told. '
Then Bleys passed away into the land where nobody can question him.
"So I came to Merlin to ask him whether that was all true about the
shining dragon-ship and the tiny bare baby floating down from heaven
over on the glory of the seas; but Merlin just laughed, as he always
does, and answered me in the riddles of the old song, this way:
"'Rain, rain and sun! a rainbow in the sky!
