Sprang to her face and filled her with delight;
But left her all the paler, when Lavaine
Returning brought the yet-unblazoned shield,
His brother's; which he gave to Lancelot,
Who parted with his own to fair Elaine:
'Do me this grace, my child, to have my shield
In keeping till I come.' 'A grace to me,'
She answered, 'twice today. I am your squire!'
Whereat Lavaine said, laughing, 'Lily maid,
For fear our people call you lily maid
In
earnest, let me bring your colour back;
Once, twice, and
thrice: now get you hence to bed:'
So kissed her, and Sir Lancelot his own hand,
And thus they moved away: she stayed a minute,
Then made a sudden step to the gate, and there--
Her bright hair blown about the serious face
Yet rosy-kindled with her brother's kiss--
Paused by the
gateway,
standing near the shield
In silence, while she watched their arms
far-offSparkle, until they dipt below the downs.
Then to her tower she climbed, and took the shield,
There kept it, and so lived in fantasy.
Meanwhile the new companions past away
Far o'er the long backs of the bushless downs,
To where Sir Lancelot knew there lived a
knightNot far from Camelot, now for forty years
A
hermit, who had prayed, laboured and prayed,
And ever labouring had scooped himself
In the white rock a
chapel and a hall
On
massive columns, like a shorecliff cave,
And cells and chambers: all were fair and dry;
The green light from the
meadows underneath
Struck up and lived along the milky roofs;
And in the
meadows
tremulous aspen-trees
And
poplars made a noise of falling showers.
And
thither wending there that night they bode.
But when the next day broke from underground,
And shot red fire and shadows through the cave,
They rose, heard mass, broke fast, and rode away:
Then Lancelot
saying, 'Hear, but hold my name
Hidden, you ride with Lancelot of the Lake,'
Abashed young Lavaine, whose
instant reverence,
Dearer to true young hearts than their own praise,
But left him leave to
stammer, 'Is it indeed?'
And after muttering 'The great Lancelot,
At last he got his
breath and answered, 'One,
One have I seen--that other, our liege lord,
The dread Pen
dragon, Britain's King of kings,
Of whom the people talk mysteriously,
He will be there--then were I
stricken blind
That minute, I might say that I had seen.'
So spake Lavaine, and when they reached the lists
By Camelot in the
meadow, let his eyes
Run through the peopled
gallery which half round
Lay like a
rainbow fallen upon the grass,
Until they found the clear-faced King, who sat
Robed in red samite, easily to be known,
Since to his crown the golden
dragon clung,
And down his robe the
dragon writhed in gold,
And from the carven-work behind him crept
Two
dragons gilded, sloping down to make
Arms for his chair, while all the rest of them
Through knots and loops and folds innumerable
Fled ever through the
woodwork, till they found
The new design
wherein they lost themselves,
Yet with all ease, so tender was the work:
And, in the
costlycanopy o'er him set,
Blazed the last diamond of the
nameless king.
Then Lancelot answered young Lavaine and said,
'Me you call great: mine is the firmer seat,
The truer lance: but there is many a youth
Now
crescent, who will come to all I am
And
overcome it; and in me there dwells
No
greatness, save it be some
far-off touch
Of
greatness to know well I am not great:
There is the man.' And Lavaine gaped upon him
As on a thing
miraculous, and anon
The trumpets blew; and then did either side,
They that assailed, and they that held the lists,
Set lance in rest, strike spur, suddenly move,
Meet in the midst, and there so furiously
Shock, that a man
far-off might well perceive,
If any man that day were left afield,
The hard earth shake, and a low
thunder of arms.
And Lancelot bode a little, till he saw
Which were the weaker; then he hurled into it
Against the stronger: little need to speak
Of Lancelot in his glory! King, duke, earl,
Count, baron--whom he smote, he overthrew.
But in the field were Lancelot's kith and kin,
Ranged with the Table Round that held the lists,
Strong men, and wrathful that a stranger
knightShould do and almost overdo the deeds
Of Lancelot; and one said to the other, 'Lo!
What is he? I do not mean the force alone--
The grace and versatility of the man!
Is it not Lancelot?' 'When has Lancelot worn
Favour of any lady in the lists?
Not such his wont, as we, that know him, know.'
'How then? who then?' a fury seized them all,
A fiery family
passion for the name
Of Lancelot, and a glory one with theirs.
They couched their spears and pricked their steeds, and thus,
Their plumes
drivenbackward by the wind they made
In moving, all together down upon him
Bare, as a wild wave in the wide North-sea,
Green-glimmering toward the
summit, bears, with all
Its stormy crests that smoke against the skies,
Down on a bark, and overbears the bark,
And him that helms it, so they overbore
Sir Lancelot and his
charger" target="_blank" title="n.军马;委托者;控诉者">
charger, and a spear
Down-glancing lamed the
charger" target="_blank" title="n.军马;委托者;控诉者">
charger, and a spear
Pricked
sharply his own cuirass, and the head
Pierced through his side, and there snapt, and remained.
Then Sir Lavaine did well and worshipfully;
He bore a
knight of old
repute to the earth,
And brought his horse to Lancelot where he lay.
He up the side, sweating with agony, got,
But thought to do while he might yet endure,
And being lustily holpen by the rest,
His party,--though it seemed half-miracle
To those he fought with,--drave his kith and kin,
And all the Table Round that held the lists,
Back to the
barrier; then the trumpets blew
Proclaiming his the prize, who wore the sleeve
Of
scarlet, and the pearls; and all the
knights,
His party, cried 'Advance and take thy prize
The diamond;' but he answered, 'Diamond me
No diamonds! for God's love, a little air!
Prize me no prizes, for my prize is death!
Hence will I, and I
charge you, follow me not.'
He spoke, and vanished suddenly from the field
With young Lavaine into the
poplar grove.
There from his
charger" target="_blank" title="n.军马;委托者;控诉者">
charger down he slid, and sat,
Gasping to Sir Lavaine, 'Draw the lance-head:'
'Ah my sweet lord Sir Lancelot,' said Lavaine,
'I dread me, if I draw it, you will die.'
But he, 'I die already with it: draw--
Draw,'--and Lavaine drew, and Sir Lancelot gave
A marvellous great
shriek and
ghastly groan,
And half his blood burst forth, and down he sank
For the pure pain, and
wholly swooned away.
Then came the
hermit out and bare him in,
There stanched his wound; and there, in daily doubt
Whether to live or die, for many a week
Hid from the wide world's rumour by the grove
Of
poplars with their noise of falling showers,
And ever-
tremulous aspen-trees, he lay.
But on that day when Lancelot fled the lists,
His party,
knights of
utmost North and West,
Lords of waste marches, kings of
desolate isles,
Came round their great Pen
dragon,
saying to him,
'Lo, Sire, our
knight, through whom we won the day,
Hath gone sore wounded, and hath left his prize
Untaken, crying that his prize is death.'
'Heaven hinder,' said the King, 'that such an one,
So great a
knight as we have seen today--
He seemed to me another Lancelot--
Yea, twenty times I thought him Lancelot--
He must not pass uncared for. Wherefore, rise,
O Gawain, and ride forth and find the
knight.
Wounded and wearied needs must he be near.
I
charge you that you get at once to horse.
And,
knights and kings, there
breathes not one of you
Will deem this prize of ours is rashly given:
His
prowess was too
wondrous. We will do him
No
customary honour: since the
knightCame not to us, of us to claim the prize,
Ourselves will send it after. Rise and take
This diamond, and deliver it, and return,
And bring us where he is, and how he fares,
And cease not from your quest until ye find.'
So
saying, from the carven flower above,
To which it made a
restless heart, he took,
And gave, the diamond: then from where he sat
At Arthur's right, with smiling face arose,
With smiling face and frowning heart, a Prince
In the mid might and
flourish of his May,
Gawain, surnamed The Courteous, fair and strong,
And after Lancelot, Tristram, and Geraint
And Gareth, a good
knight, but therewithal
Sir Modred's brother, and the child of Lot,
Nor often loyal to his word, and now
Wroth that the King's command to sally forth
In quest of whom he knew not, made him leave
The
banquet, and concourse of
knights and kings.
So all in wrath he got to horse and went;
While Arthur to the
banquet, dark in mood,
Past, thinking 'Is it Lancelot who hath come
Despite the wound he spake of, all for gain
Of glory, and hath added wound to wound,
And
ridden away to die?' So feared the King,
And, after two days' tarriance there, returned.
Then when he saw the Queen, embracing asked,
'Love, are you yet so sick?' 'Nay, lord,' she said.
'And where is Lancelot?' Then the Queen amazed,
'Was he not with you? won he not your prize?'
'Nay, but one like him.' 'Why that like was he.'
And when the King demanded how she knew,
Said, 'Lord, no sooner had ye parted from us,
Than Lancelot told me of a common talk