"Now put me in the barge," said Arthur, and the three queens received himwith great tenderness, and King Arthur laid his head in the lap of one,and she said, "Ah, dear brother, why have ye tarried so long, until yourwound was cold?" And then they rowed away, and King Arthur said to SirBedivere, "I will go unto the valley of Avalon to heal my grievous wound,and if I never return, pray for my soul." He was rowed away by the weepingqueens, and one of them was Arthur's sister Morgan le Fay; another was thequeen of Northgalis, and the third was the queen of Waste Lands; and itwas the belief for years in many parts of England that Arthur was notdead, but would come again to reign in England, when he had been nursedlong enough by Morgan le Fay in the island of Avalon.The tradition was that King Arthur lived upon this island in an enchantedcastle which had the power of a magnet, so that every one who came near itwas drawn thither and could not get away. Morgan le Fay was its ruler(called more correctly Morgan la fee, or the fairy), and her name Morganmeant sea-born. By one tradition, the queens who bore away Arthur wereaccompanied in the boat by the bard and enchanter, Merlin, who had longbeen the king's adviser, and this is the description of the island said tohave been given by Merlin to another bard, Taliessin:--"'We came to that green and fertile island which each year is blessedwith two autumns, two springs, two summers, two gatherings of fruit,--theland where pearls are found, where the flowers spring as you gather them--that isle of orchards called the "Isle of the Blessed.
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