But whilom was a sage hight Merlin; he saidwith words,--his sayings were sooth,--that an Arthur should yet come tohelp the English."Another traditional account which Tennyson has mainly followed in a poem,is this: The king bade Sir Bedivere take his good sword Excalibur and gowith it to the water-side and throw it into the water and return to tellwhat he saw. Then Sir Bedivere took the sword, and it was so richly andpreciously adorned that he would not throw it, and came back without it.When the king asked what had happened, Sir Bedivere said, "I saw nothingbut waves and wind," and when Arthur did not believe him, and sent himagain, he made the same answer, and then, when sent a third time, he threwthe sword into the water, as far as he could. Then an arm and a hand roseabove the water and caught it, and shook and brandished it three times andvanished.Then Sir Bedivere came back to the king; he told what he had seen."Alas," said Arthur, "help me from hence, for I fear I have tarried overlong." Then Sir Bedivere took King Arthur upon his back, and went with himto the water's side. And when they had reached there, a barge with manyfair ladies was lying there, with many ladies in it, and among them threequeens, and they all had black hoods, and they wept and shrieked when theysaw King Arthur.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79