Some flush'd, and others dazed, as one who wakes
Half-blinded at the coming of a light.
"But when he spake and cheer'd his Table Round
With large, divine, and comfortable words
Beyond my tongue to tell thee - I beheld
From eye to eye thro' all their Order flash
A momentary likeness of the king;
And ere it left their faces, thro' the cross
And those around it and the crucified,
Down from the casement over Arthur, smote
Flame-color, vert, and azure, in three rays,
One falling upon each of three fair queens,
Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends
Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright,
Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.
"And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit
And hundred winters are but as the hands
Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.
" And near him stood the Lady of the lake,
Who knows a subtler magic than his own, -
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.
She gave the king his huge cross-hilted sword,
Whereby to drive the heathen out: a mist
Of incense curl'd about her, and her face
Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom,
But there was heard among the holy hymns
A voice as of the waters, for she dwells
Down in a deep, calm, whatsoever storms
May shake the world, and, when the surface rolls,
Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.
"There likewise I beheld Excalibur
Before him at his crowning borne, the sword
That rose from out the bosom of the lake,
And Arthur row'd across and took it, - rich
With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt,
Bewildering heart and eye,
That men are blinded by it, - on one side,
Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world, 'Take me,' but turn the blade and you shall see,
And written in the speech ye speak yourself,
'Cast me away!' and sad was Arthur's face
Taking it, but old Merlin counsell'd him,
'Take thou and strike! the time to cast away
Is yet far off'; so this great brand the king
Took, and by this will beat his foemen down."
Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought To sift his doubtings to the last, and ask'd, Fixing full eyes of question on her face, "The swallow and the swift are near akin, But thou art closer to this noble prince, Being his own dear sister"; and she said, "Daughter of Gorloïs and Ygerne am I"; "And therefore Arthur's sister," asked the King. She answer'd, "These be secret things," and sign'd To those two sons to pass and let them be. And Gawain went, and breaking into song Sprang out, and follow'd by his flying hair Ran like a colt, and leapt at all he saw:
But Modred laid his ear beside the doors,
And there half heard; the same that afterward
Struck for the throne, and, striking, found his doom.
And then the Queen made answer, "What know I?
For dark my mother was in eyes and hair,
And dark in hair and eyes am I; and dark
Was Gorloïs, yea, and dark was Uther too,
Wellnigh to blackness, but this king is fair
Beyond the race of Britons and of men.
Moreover always in my mind I hear
A cry from out the dawning of my life,
A mother weeping, and I hear her say,
"Oh that ye had some brother, pretty one,
To guard thee on the rough ways of the world."
"Ay," said the King, "and hear ye such a cry?
But when did Arthur chance upon thee first?"
"O king!" she cried, "and I will tell thee true:
He found me first when yet a little maid
Beaten I had been for a little fault
Whereof I was not guilty; and out I ran
And flung myself down on a bank of heath,
And hated this fair world and all therein,
And wept, and wish'd that I were dead; and he
I know not whether of himself he came,
Or brought by Merlin, who, they say, can walk
Unseen, at pleasure - he was at my side,
And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart,
And dried my tears, being a child with me.
And many a time he came, and evermore,
As I grew, greater grew with me; and sad
At times he seem'd, and sad with him was I,
Stern too at times, and then I loved him not,
But sweet again, and then I loved him well.
And now of late I see him less and less,
But those first days had golden hours for me,
For then I surely thought he would be king.
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