No More Learning

And you must not tell your name to anyone
and you must serve that way for a year and a day. "

The queen made this condition, thinking that Gareth would be too proud
to play the slave. But he thought a moment, then answered: "A slave may
be free in his soul, and I can see the jousts there. You are my mother
so I must obey you and I will be a scullion in King Arthur's kitchen and
keep my name a secret from everyone, even the king. "

So Bellicent grieved and watched Gareth every moment wherever he went,
dreading the time when he should leave. And he waited until one windy
night when she slept, then called two servants and slipped away with
them, all three dressed like poor peasants of the field.

They walked away towards the south and as they came to the plain
stretching to the mountain of Camelot, they saw the royal city upon its
brow. Sometimes its spires and towers flashed in the sunlight; sometimes
only the great gate shone out before their eyes, or again the whole fair
town vanished away. Then the servants said:

"Let us go no further, Lord. It's an enchanted city, and all a vision.
The people say anyway, that Arthur isn't the true king, but only a
changeling from fairyland, and that Merlin won his battles for him with
magic. "

Gareth laughed and replied that he had magic enough in his blood and
hopes to plunge old Merlin into the Arabian sea. And he pushed them on
to the gate. There was no other gate like it under heaven. The Lady of
the Lake stood barefooted on the keystone and held up the cornice.
Drops
of water fell from either hand and above were the three queens who were
Arthur's friends, and on each side Arthur's wars were pictured in weird
devices with dragons and elves so intertwined that they made men dizzy
to look at them. The servants cried out, "Lord, the gateway is alive! "
Then a blast of music pealed out of the city, and the three queens
stepped aside while an old man with a long beard came out and asked:

"Who are you, my sons? "

"We are peasants," answered Gareth, "who have come to see the glories of
your king, but the city looked so strange through the morning mist that
my men are wondering whether it is not a fairy city or perhaps no city
at all. So tell us the truth about it. "

"Oh, it's a fairy city," the old man answered, "and a fairy king and
queen came out of the mountain cleft at sunrise with harps in their
hands and built it to music, which means it never was built at all, and
therefore built forever. "

"Why do you mock me so? " Gareth cried angrily.

"I am not mocking you so much as you are mocking me and every one who
looks at you, for you are not what you seem, still I know what you truly
are. "

Then the old man turned away and Gareth said to his men: "Our poor
little white lie stands like a ghost at the very beginning of our
enterprise. Blame my mother's love for it and not her nor me. "

So they all laughed and came into the city of Camelot with its shadowy
and stately palaces. Here and there a knight passed in or out, his arms
clashing and the sound was good to Gareth's ears. Or out of a casement
window glanced the pure eyes of lovely women. But Gareth made at once
for the hall of the king where his heart fairly hammered into his ears
as he wondered whether Arthur would turn him aside because of the half
shadow of a lie he had told the old man by the gate about being a
peasant. There were many supplicants coming before the king to tell him
of some hurt done them by marauders or the wild beasts, and each one was
given a knight by the king to help them.