The Death of King Arthur (5 page)

‘I wish to joust with you.'

‘You had better not do that,' the king replied. ‘You are still young. Your might will be no match for mine.'

‘No matter. I wish to joust with you.'

‘Since you are so sure of yourself, I have no alternative but to fight. From where do you come?'

‘From the court of King Arthur.'

So the two warriors fought against each other. Their battle was hard and fierce; King Pellinor broke the shield of Griflet and, smashing the spear, laid Griflet low upon the ground with a wide wound in his side.

When the king saw him fall to the earth, he dismounted and ran over to him. He feared that the young man was dead, but saw with relief that he was slowly beginning to recover. He placed him on his horse, invoking God's blessing. ‘He has a mighty heart,' he said to himself. ‘If he lives, he will prove to be a great warrior.' So Griflet went back to Arthur's court, where he was tended by doctors and was healed.

Then there came into the court twelve wise and aged knights, sent to England by the Emperor of Rome. As soon as they came into Arthur's presence they asked that tribute be paid to their master. ‘Or else,' one of them said, ‘he will lay waste to you and all of your land.'

‘Well,' the king replied, ‘you may speak with impunity as ambassadors. But I tell you this. Under other circumstances your words would have meant death. I owe your emperor no tribute. The only thing I will offer him is a sharp sword or a sharp spear in the field of battle. May that day come soon!'

So the twelve knights left in a rage. Arthur was angry at their presumption. But he was still more angered at King Pellinor for wounding Sir Griflet. ‘Get my horse and armour ready,' he told his chamberlain. ‘I have work to do in the wood.'

On the following day he was armed and mounted outside the city, for the sake of secrecy, and then rode off alone towards the spring. As he made his way he saw Merlin being chased by three ruffians along a woodland path. So he raised his sword and, charging them, called out, ‘Flee, churls!' Which is, of course, what they did.

‘Ah, Merlin,' Arthur said. ‘If I had not chanced upon you here, you would have been killed.'

‘Not so, sire. I could have saved myself at any moment. You are in fact nearer to death than I am. You are about to meet a mortal foe. And God is not your friend.'

They went on their way, talking, until they came up to the spring and the bright pavilion where King Pellinor sat fully armed in a chair of gold. ‘Sir knight,' Arthur asked him, ‘why do you sit here challenging every knight that passes this way? That is not a good custom.'

‘I have followed this custom for a long time. If you wish to amend it, then you must fight me to the finish.'

‘I will amend it.'

‘I will defend it.'

They prepared themselves for battle. They both brought out their spears and rode against each other so hard that their weapons were shattered in their hands. Then Arthur raised his sword.

‘No swords,' King Pellinor said. ‘We should fight only with spears.'

‘I have none left,' Arthur told him.

‘My squire will bring one for both of us.' The squire brought out two sharp spears, and each warrior chose between them. Once again they were so furious in fighting that these spears were shattered. Arthur put his hand on his sword.

‘Not so!' Pellinor called out to him. ‘You are the finest jouster I have ever known. For the sake of the high Order of Knighthood, we must still ride against each other with spears.' So his squire brought them two more, and they resumed their battle. In the course of it, King Pellinor proved so strong that Arthur fell to the ground. But he was still eager to continue the contest and now, on foot, he was able to use his sword. ‘I will test you now,' he said to King Pellinor.

Pellinor dismounted, and pulled out his own sword. They fell upon each other like rams in conflict, and by dint of hard blows much blood was spilled. The part of the forest in which they fought was covered in gore. When their strength ebbed they rested, and then they clashed swords again. Pellinor struck hard, after many hours of fighting, and dashed Arthur's sword to pieces. ‘Now,' he said, ‘you are in my power. I can slay you or save you. So yield to me now, or else face certain death.'

‘As to that,' Arthur replied, ‘death is welcome to me. I will never surrender.' The king then leaped at Pellinor and caught him by the waist, throwing him to the ground and taking off his helmet. They wrestled briefly, but Pellinor was a man of great might. He pinned Arthur down, and was about to smite off his head when Merlin rushed over.

‘Knight,' he said, ‘hold your hand. If you slay this man you will endanger the whole kingdom. He is of more worship than you know.'

‘What? Who is he?'

‘He is Arthur.'

Pellinor was still ready to kill him, and raised his sword. But Merlin cast an enchantment on him, and the warrior fell to the ground in a great sleep. Then the magician took up his king and rode away with him on Pellinor's horse. ‘What have you done?' Arthur asked him. ‘Have you killed this man with your craft? He was a noble knight. I would rather have lost my land than that he should lose his life.'

‘Have no fear,' Merlin replied. ‘He is in better health than you. He will awake within the hour. I told you of his fearlessness and strength. If I had not come to your aid, you would now be lying dead. But in time to come he will do you good service. His name is King Pellinor. He will sire two sons, Percival and Lamorak, who will surpass all other knights living. He will also tell you the name of the child your half-sister will bear, and who will be the bane of your kingdom.'

The king and Merlin made their way to a hermitage, where there dwelled a skilful doctor. This man tended Arthur's wounds with herbs that grew around the hermitage, and within three days they were healed.

Then Arthur and Merlin rode off. ‘I am the shadow of myself,' the king said. ‘I have no sword.'

‘Do not concern yourself. A sword will be found for you soon enough.'

So they rode until they came to a fair lake with placid waters. ‘Look,' Merlin said. ‘There is your sword.' And, at that moment, from the surface of the water there emerged an arm clothed in white that in its hand held a shining sword. The air was filled with sweet sounds, and the light from the sword suffused the whole lake. Then Arthur saw a lady sailing towards him in a dark boat; she was wearing a black cape, and her hair was covered with a hood. ‘This is the Lady of the Lake,' Merlin told him. ‘She lives in a great palace within a cavern. Speak graciously to her, and she will give you the sword.'

The lady came up to the shore and greeted the king with a deep bow. He saluted her in turn. ‘Fair lady,' he said, ‘whose sword is that, being held above the water? I wish that it were mine.'

‘Arthur,' she replied, ‘the sword is mine. But if you will present me with a gift, for which I will ask you soon, then I will give the sword to you.'

‘What is this gift you desire? It will be yours.'

‘Go into the barge over there. Row yourself to the sword, and take it with its scabbard out of the water. I will ask you for my gift when the time comes.'

Arthur and Merlin dismounted from their horses, tied them to two trees, and then climbed aboard the barge. When they came up to the sword the king took it by its handle and lifted it from the water. Then the arm and the hand disappeared into the lake.

So they came back to the shore, and rode off. ‘Which is finer,' Merlin asked him, ‘the sword or the scabbard?'

‘The sword.'

‘Now there you are wrong. The scabbard is worth ten times more than the sword. I will tell you the reason. While you have the scabbard about you, you will never lose a drop of blood. Keep it beside you. Even when badly wounded, you will be safe.'

They returned to Caerleon, where the knights welcomed them with great joy. When the men heard of the adventures of Arthur, they wondered why he had put himself in such jeopardy. But the wiser among them realized that it was good to serve such a king, who put himself at the same risk as his warriors.

Soon after this adventure Arthur called for the gathering of all noble children born on the first day of May; that was the day, according to Merlin, when the future destroyer of the king and of his kingdom had been born to his half-sister. The king was determined to act on this prophecy. So the children of lords and knights were yielded up to him, on pain of death, among them the child named Mordred, who was sent by the wife of King Lot.

Then Arthur ordered that all these infants should be embarked on a ship and left to the mercy of the sea; but by the fortune of the winds and the waves this sad ship was wrecked on the cliffs near a castle. Most of the children were drowned but Mordred himself was saved; he was fostered by a good man of the country, and was brought to Arthur's court at the age of fourteen. This story is yet to be told.

Many of the lords of the realm were angry at the loss of their children, but for the most part they blamed Merlin rather than Arthur. Yet, for fear and dread of their sovereign, they said and did nothing. An evil world had been born.

The Knight with the Two Swords

After the death of Uther Pendragon, as we have written, Arthur became sovereign of England. Yet this was not accomplished without a struggle, because there were many kings residing upon the land who fought one with another and aspired to become leader of the whole country. One day, when the court was at Winchester, Arthur was told that King Rience of North Wales had invaded the kingdom; he was laying waste the realm, and killing the people.

‘If this report is true,' Arthur said, ‘we must launch our power against him and lay him waste.'

‘It is true,' one of his knights told him. ‘I have seen his army.'

‘Then the moment has come to destroy him before he reaches further.'

So Arthur called all of his warriors, and lords, and knights, to a general council at the castle called Camelot. In those far-off days Winchester itself was known as Camelot. It was a blessed city.

When the king was comfortably lodged there, in the company of all his kin, there came to him a lady who had been sent by the great Lady Lile of the enchanted island of Avalon. She said that she bore with her a message from that lady. Then she let her mantle fall, and revealed a noble sword strapped to her side.

‘Fair lady,' the king said to her, ‘why do you wear such a weapon? It is not fit for a female to carry a sword.'

‘I carry this sword to my shame, sire,' she replied. ‘It brings me sorrow. But it can be taken only by a knight of absolute truth and valour. Only he will be able to lift it from its sheath. If a knight of these virtues stands before me, I will be saved. I travelled to the court of King Rience, where I was told by report that many good knights were gathered, but not one of them could take out this sword.'

‘This is a marvel,' the king said. ‘I will try myself to take it. I may not be the greatest and most valiant of all knights, but I will set an example to everyone else here.'

He put his hand around the hilt of the sword, but however hard he tried he could not lift it. ‘Sire,' the lady said, ‘there is no need to struggle with it. He that is destined to take it needs to use little strength.'

‘You speak the truth,' Arthur told her. ‘Now come up, all the rest of you. Try your skill.'

The lady then turned to them. ‘But take care that you are not tainted by treachery or any other fault. The knight who removes this sword must be free of all sin.' So most of the knights of the Round Table tried to lift the sword, but none of them succeeded. At that point the lady wailed in sorrow. ‘I had hoped,' she said, ‘that at this court I would find a faithful knight filled with virtue.'

‘I swear in God's name,' Arthur told her, ‘that the knights of my court are as good as any others in the world. But it is not in their destiny to help you. I am sorry. I beg your forgiveness.'

It so happened that in Arthur's company that day was a poor knight who had been held prisoner in London for half a year after he had killed a cousin of the king in open combat. His name was Sir Balin. He had been released from prison, and had travelled secretly to the court to restore his fortunes. He had seen the failure of the other knights to remove the sword from its sheath, and he believed that he could succeed in the task. But he was so poor and so piteously arrayed that he dared not put himself forward. Yet he knew in his heart that he could do it. So, just as the lady was departing, Balin called to her, ‘Good lady, I beg you to let me try to lift the sword. I may seem poor to you, but I will prove that I can assist you.'

The lady saw that he was a good-looking man, but she believed that his outward show of poverty meant that he had committed some villainy in the past. ‘Do not put yourself to any trouble,' she told him. ‘What makes you believe that you can succeed where the others have proved unable to do so? You do not look like a fortunate knight.'

‘Ah, lady, fine clothes do not make an honest man. I have within me that which passes show. I have strength and sincerity. Many good knights go through the world unknown.'

‘You speak the truth, sir. So. Try your strength.'

Sir Balin took the hilt, and drew out the sword without any difficulty. The king and the court looked on in astonishment, but the bitter envy of other knights was thereby aroused by his triumph.

‘You have succeeded,' the lady said. ‘You are the most virtuous of all knights, free of the vices of felony or treason. You will achieve many wonderful feats in the course of your life. Now, gentle and courteous knight, give me back the sword.'