THE LADY OF SHALOTT
KING ARTHUR proclaimed a solemn tournament to be held at Winchester. The
king, not less impatient than his knights for this festival, set off
some days before to superintend the preparations, leaving the queen with
her court at Camelot. Sir Launcelot, under pretence of indisposition,
remained behind also. His intention was to attend the tournament in
disguise; and having communicated his project to Guenever, he mounted
his horse, set off without any attendant, and, counterfeiting the
feebleness of age, took the most unfrequented road to Winchester, and
passed unnoticed as an old knight who was going to be a spectator of the
sports. Even Arthur and Gawain, who happened to behold him from the
windows of a castle under which he passed, were the dupes of his
disguise. But an accident betrayed him. His horse happened to stumble,
and the hero, forgetting for a moment his assumed character, recovered
the animal with a strength and agility so peculiar to himself, that they
instantly recognized the inimitable Launcelot. They suffered him,
however, to proceed on his journey without interruption, convinced that
his extraordinary feats of arms must discover him at the approaching
festival.
In the evening Launcelot was magnificently entertained as a stranger
knight at the neighboring castle of Shalott. The lord of this castle had
a daughter of exquisite beauty, and two sons lately received into the
order of knighthood, one of whom was at that time ill in bed, and
thereby prevented from attending the tournament, for which both brothers
had long made preparation. Launcelot offered to attend the other, if he
were permitted to borrow the armor of the invalid, and the lord of
Shalott, without knowing the name of his guest, being satisfied from his
appearance that his son could not have a better assistant in arms, most
thankfully accepted the offer. In the meantime the young lady, who had
been much struck by the first appearance of the stranger knight,
continued to survey him with increased attention, and, before the
conclusion of supper, became so deeply enamoured of him, that after
frequent changes of color, and other symptoms which Sir Launcelot could
not possibly mistake, she was obliged to retire to her chamber, and seek
relief in tears. Sir Launcelot hastened to convey to her, by means of
her brother, the information that his heart was already disposed of, but
that it would be his pride and pleasure to act as her knight at the
approaching tournament. The lady, obliged to be satisfied with that
courtesy, presented him her scarf to be worn at the tournament.
Launcelot set off in the morning with the young knight, who, on their
approaching Winchester, carried him to the castle of a lady, sister to
the lord of Shalott, by whom they were hospitably entertained. The next
day they put on their armor, which was perfectly plain and without any
device, as was usual to youths during the first year of knighthood,
their shields being only painted red, as some color was necessary to
enable them to be recognized by their attendants. Launcelot wore on his
crest the scarf of the maid of Shalott, and, thus equipped, proceeded to
the tournament, where the knights were divided into two companies, the
one commanded by Sir Galehaut, the other by King Arthur. Having surveyed
the combat for a short time from without the lists, and observed that
Sir Galehaut’s party began to give way, they joined the press and
attacked the royal knights, the young man choosing such adversaries as
were suited to his strength, while his companion selected the principal
champions of the Round Table, and successively overthrew Gawain, Bohort,
and Lionel. The astonishment of the spectators was extreme, for it was
thought that no one but Launcelot could possess such invincible force;
yet the favor on his crest seemed to preclude the possibility of his
being thus disguised, for Launcelot had never been known to wear the
badge of any but his sovereign lady. At length Sir Hector, Launcelot’s
brother, engaged him, and, after a dreadful combat, wounded him
dangerously in the head, but was himself completely stunned by a blow on
the helmet, and felled to the ground; after which the conqueror rode off
at full speed, attended by his companion.
They returned to the castle of Shalott, where Launcelot was attended
with the greatest care by the good earl, by his two sons, and, above
all, by his fair daughter, whose medical skill probably much hastened
the period of his recovery. His health was almost completely restored,
when Sir Hector, Sir Bohort, and Sir Lionel, who, after the return of
the court to Camelot, had undertaken the quest of their relation,
discovered him walking on the walls of the castle. Their meeting was
very joyful; they passed three days in the castle amidst constant
festivities, and bantered each other on the events of the tournament.
Launcelot, though he began by vowing vengeance against the author of his
wound, yet ended by declaring that he felt rewarded for the pain by the
pride he took in witnessing his brother’s extraordinary prowess. He then
dismissed them with a message to the queen, promising to follow
immediately, it being necessary that he should first take a formal leave
of his kind hosts, as well as of the fair maid of Shalott.
The young lady, after vainly attempting to detain him by her tears and
solicitations, saw him depart without leaving her any ground for hope.
It was early summer when the tournament took place; but some months had
passed since Launcelot’s departure, and winter was now near at hand. The
health and strength of the Lady of Shalott had gradually sunk, and she
felt that she could not live apart from the object of her affections.
She left the castle, and descending to the river’s brink placed herself
in a boat, which she loosed from its moorings, and suffered to bear her
down the current toward Camelot.
One morning, as Arthur and Sir Lionel looked from the window of the
tower, the walls of which were washed by a river, they descried a boat
richly ornamented, and covered with an awning of cloth of gold, which
appeared to be floating down the stream without any human guidance. It
struck the shore while they watched it, and they hastened down to
examine it. Beneath the awning they discovered the dead body of a
beautiful woman, in whose features Sir Lionel easily recognized the
lovely maid of Shalott. Pursuing their search, they discovered a purse
richly embroidered with gold and jewels, and within the purse a letter,
which Arthur opened, and found addressed to himself and all the knights
of the Round Table, stating that Launcelot of the Lake, the most
accomplished of knights and most beautiful of men, but at the same time
the most cruel and inflexible, had by his rigor produced the death of
the wretched maiden, whose love was no less invincible than his cruelty.
The king immediately gave orders for the interment of the lady with all
the honors suited to her rank, at the same time explaining to the
knights the history of her affection for Launcelot, which moved the
compassion and regret of all.
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Tennyson has chosen the story of the “Lady of Shalott” for the subject
of a poem. The catastrophe is told thus:
“Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
A corse between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name,
‘The Lady of Shalott.’
“Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot.
But Launcelot mused a little space;
He said, ‘She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.’”
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