Lay a great water, and the moon was full.

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere:
'The sequel of today unsolders all

The goodliest fellowship of famous knights
Whereof this world holds record. Such a sleep

They sleep--the men I loved. I think that we
Shall never more, at any future time,

Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds,
Walking about the gardens and the halls

Of Camelot, as in the days that were.
I perish by this people which I made,--

Though Merlin sware that I should come again
To rule once more; but, let what will be, be,

I am so deeply smitten through the helm
That without help I cannot last till morn.

Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur,
Which was my pride: for thou rememberest how

In those old days, one summer noon, an arm
Rose up from out the bosom of the lake,

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,
Holding the sword--and how I rowed across

And took it, and have worn it, like a king;
And, wheresoever I am sung or told

In aftertime, this also shall be known:
But now delay not: take Excalibur,

And fling him far into the middle mere:
Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me word.'

To him replied the bold Sir Bedivere:
'It is not meet, Sir King, to leave thee thus,

Aidless, alone, and smitten through the helm--
A little thing may harm a wounded man;

Yet I thy hest will all perform at full,
Watch what I see, and lightly bring thee word.'

So saying, from the ruined shrine he stept,
And in the moon athwart the place of tombs,

Where lay the mighty bones of ancient men,
Old knights, and over them the sea-wind sang

Shrill, chill, with flakes of foam. He, stepping down
By zigzag paths, and juts of pointed rock,

Came on the shining levels of the lake.
There drew he forth the brand Excalibur,

And o'er him, drawing it, the winter moon,
Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth

And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt:
For all the haft twinkled with diamond sparks,

Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work
Of subtlest jewellery. He gazed so long

That both his eyes were dazzled as he stood,
This way and that dividing the swift mind,

In act to throw: but at the last it seemed
Better to leave Excalibur concealed

There in the many-knotted waterflags,
That whistled stiff and dry about the marge.

So strode he back slow to the wounded King.
Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere:

'Hast thou performed my mission which I gave?
What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?'

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere:
'I heard the ripple washing in the reeds,

And the wild water lapping on the crag.'
To whom replied King Arthur, faint and pale:

'Thou hast betrayed thy nature and thy name,
Not rendering true answer, as beseemed

Thy fealty, nor like a noble knight:
For surer sign had followed, either hand,

Or voice, or else a motion of the mere.
This is a shameful thing for men to lie.

Yet now, I charge thee, quickly go again,
As thou art lief and dear, and do the thing

I bade thee, watch, and lightly bring me word.'
Then went Sir Bedivere the second time

Across the ridge, and paced beside the mere,
Counting the dewy pebbles, fixed in thought;

But when he saw the wonder of the hilt,
How curiously and strangely chased, he smote

His palms together, and he cried aloud:
'And if indeed I cast the brand away,

Surely a precious thing, one worthy note,
Should thus be lost for ever from the earth,

Which might have pleased the eyes of many men.
What good should follow this, if this were done?

What harm, undone? Deep harm to disobey,
Seeing obedience is the bond of rule.

Were it well to obey then, if a king demand
An act unprofitable, against himself?

The King is sick, and knows not what he does.
What record, or what relic of my lord

Should be to aftertime, but empty breath
And rumours of a doubt? But were this kept,

Stored in some treasure-house of mighty kings,
Some one might show it at a joust of arms,

Saying, "King Arthur's sword, Excalibur,
Wrought by the lonelymaiden of the Lake.

Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps
Upon the hidden bases of the hills."

So might some old man speak in the aftertime
To all the people, winning reverence.

But now much honour and much fame were lost.'
So spake he, clouded with his own conceit,

And hid Excalibur the second time,
And so strode back slow to the wounded King.

Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily:
'What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?'

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere:
'I heard the water lapping on the crag,

And the long ripple washing in the reeds.'
To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath:

'Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue,
Unknightly, traitor-hearted! Woe is me!

Authority forgets a dying king,
Laid widowed of the power in his eye

That bowed the will. I see thee what thou art,
For thou, the latest-left of all my knights,

In whom should meet the offices of all,
Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt;

Either from lust of gold, or like a girl
Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes.

Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice,
And the third time may prosper, get thee hence:

But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur,
I will arise and slay thee with my hands.'

Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran,
And, leaping down the ridges lightly, plunged

Among the bulrush beds, and clutched the sword,
And strongly wheeled and threw it. The great brand

Made lightnings in the splendour of the moon,
And flashing round and round, and whirled in an arch,

Shot like a streamer of the northern morn,
Seen where the moving isles of winter shock

By night, with noises of the Northern Sea.
So flashed and fell the brand Excalibur:

But ere he dipt the surface, rose an arm
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,

And caught him by the hilt, and brandished him
Three times, and drew him under in the mere.

And lightly went the other to the King.
Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath:

'Now see I by thine eyes that this is done.
Speak out: what is it thou hast heard, or seen?'

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere:
'Sir King, I closed mine eyelids, lest the gems

Should blind my purpose, for I never saw,
Nor shall see, here or elsewhere, till I die,

Not though I live three lives of mortal men,
So great a miracle as yonder hilt.

Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him;
But when I looked again, behold an arm,

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,
That caught him by the hilt, and brandished him

Three times, and drew him under in the mere.'
And answer made King Arthur, breathing hard:

'My end draws nigh; 'tis time that I were gone.
Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight,

And bear me to the margin; yet I fear
My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die.'

So saying, from the pavement he half rose,
Slowly, with pain, reclining on his arm,

And looking wistfully with wide blue eyes
As in a picture. Him Sir Bedivere

Remorsefully regarded through his tears,
And would have spoken, but he found not words;

Then took with care, and kneeling on one knee,
O'er both his shoulders drew the languid hands,

And rising bore him through the place of tombs.
But, as he walked, King Arthur panted hard,

Like one that feels a nightmare on his bed
When all the house is mute. So sighed the King,

Muttering and murmuring at his ear, 'Quick, quick!
I fear it is too late, and I shall die.'

But the other swiftlystrode from ridge to ridge,
Clothed with his breath, and looking, as he walked,

Larger than human on the frozen hills.
He heard the deep behind him, and a cry

Before. His own thought drove him like a goad.
Dry clashed his harness in the icy caves

And barren chasms, and all to left and right
The bare black cliff clanged round him, as he based

His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang
Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels--

And on a sudden, lo! the level lake,
And the long glories of the winter moon.

Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge,
Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern,

Beneath them; and descending they were ware
That all the decks were dense with stately forms,

Black-stoled, black-hooded, like a dream--by these
Three Queens with crowns of gold: and from them rose

A cry that shivered to the tingling stars,
And, as it were one voice, an agony

Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills
All night in a waste land, where no one comes,

Or hath come, since the making of the world.
Then murmured Arthur, 'Place me in the barge.'

So to the barge they came. There those three Queens
Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept.

But she, that rose the tallest of them all
And fairest, laid his head upon her lap,

And loosed the shattered casque, and chafed his hands,
And called him by his name, complaining loud,

And dropping bitter tears against a brow
Striped with dark blood: for all his face was white

• perish [´periʃ] v.灭亡；消灭；(使)死去 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• lightly [´laitli] ad.轻微地，稍微 (初中英语单词)
• pointed [´pɔintid] a.尖(锐)的；中肯的 (初中英语单词)
• mission [´miʃən] n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• curiously [´kjuəriəsli] ad.好奇地；稀奇古怪地 (初中英语单词)
• strangely [´streindʒli] ad.奇怪地；陌生地 (初中英语单词)
• worthy [´wə:ði] a.有价值的；值得的 (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
• wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
• betray [bi´trei] vt.背叛；辜负；暴露 (初中英语单词)
• strongly [´strɔŋli] ad.强烈地；强有力地 (初中英语单词)
• elsewhere [,elsweə] ad.在别处；向别处 (初中英语单词)
• miracle [´mirəkl] n.奇迹；令人惊奇的 (初中英语单词)
• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• frozen [´frəuzn] freeze 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• harness [´hɑ:nis] vt.上马具 n.马具 (初中英语单词)
• barren [´bærən] a.贫瘠的；不生育的 (初中英语单词)
• funeral [´fju:nərəl] n.葬礼，丧葬；困难 (初中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• shrine [ʃrain] n.神龛；神殿；圣地 (高中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• strode [strəud] stride的过去式 (高中英语单词)
• ripple [´ripəl] n.涟漪 v.(使)起涟漪 (高中英语单词)
• motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)
• obedience [ə´bi:djəns] n.服从；顺从 (高中英语单词)
• prosper [´prɔspə] v.(使...)繁荣(成功) (高中英语单词)
• mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
• margin [´mɑ:dʒin] n.边缘；空白；余地 (高中英语单词)
• pavement [´peivmənt] n.路面；铺筑材料 (高中英语单词)
• slippery [´slipəri] a.滑的；不稳固的 (高中英语单词)
• stately [´steitli] a.庄严的，雄伟的 (高中英语单词)
• fellowship [´feləuʃip] n.团体；伙伴关系；友谊 (英语四级单词)
• zigzag [´zigzæg] n.锯齿形 a.工字形(的) (英语四级单词)
• drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
• shameful [´ʃeimfəl] a.可耻的；猥亵的 (英语四级单词)
• winning [´winiŋ] n.&a.胜利(的) (英语四级单词)
• unkind [,ʌn´kaind] a.不客气的；不和善的 (英语四级单词)
• nightmare [´naitmeə] n.梦魇；恶梦 (英语四级单词)
• lamentation [,læmen´teiʃən] n.悲痛，哀悼，痛哭 (英语四级单词)
• knightly [´naitli] a.&ad.骑士般的(地) (英语六级单词)
• smitten [´smitn] smite的过去分词 (英语六级单词)
• mystic [´mistik] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (英语六级单词)
• undone [,ʌn´dʌn] a.未完成的，没有做的 (英语六级单词)
• unprofitable [ʌn´prɔfitəbl] a.没有利润的；无益的 (英语六级单词)
• streamer [´stri:mə] n.飘扬的旗帜；飘带 (英语六级单词)
• wistfully [´wistfuli] ad.渴望地；不满足地 (英语六级单词)
• languid [´læŋgwid] a.精神不振的 (英语六级单词)