_Of the great lamentation of the fair maid of Astolat when Launcelot
should depart, and how she died for his love._
My lord Sir Launcelot, now I see ye will depart, now, fair knight and
courteous knight, have mercy upon me, and suffer me not to die for thy
love. What would ye that I did? said Sir Launcelot. I would have you to
my husband, said Elaine. Fair damsel, I thank you, said Sir Launcelot,
but truly, said he, I cast me never to be wedded man. Then, fair
knight, said she, will ye be my love? Jesu defend me, said Sir
Launcelot, for then I rewarded to your father and your brother full
evil for their great goodness. Alas, said she, then must I die for your
love. Ye shall not so, said Sir Launcelot, for wit ye well, fair
maiden, I might have been married and I had would, but I never applied
me to be married yet. But because, fair damsel, that ye love me as ye
say ye do, I will, for your good will and kindness, shew you some
goodness, and that is this; that wheresoever ye will beset your heart
upon some good knight that will wed you, I shall give you together a
thousand pound yearly, to you and to your heirs. Thus much will I give
you, fair madam, for your kindness, and always while I live to be your
own knight. Of all this, said the maiden, I will none, for, but if ye
will wed me, or else be my lover, wit you well, Sir Launcelot, my good
days are done. Fair damsel, said Sir Launcelot, of these two things ye
must pardon me. Then she shrieked shrilly, and fell down in a swoon;
and then women bare her into her chamber, and there she made overmuch
sorrow. And then Sir Launcelot would depart; and there he asked Sir
Lavaine what he would do. What should I do, said Sir Lavaine, but
follow you, but if ye drive me from you, or command me to go from you?
Then came Sir Bernard to Sir Launcelot, and said to him, I cannot see
but that my daughter Elaine will die for your sake. I may not do
withal, said Sir Launcelot, for that me sore repenteth; for I report me
to yourself that my proffer is fair, and me repenteth, said Sir
Launcelot, that she loveth me as she doth: I was never the causer of
it, for I report me to your son, I early nor late proffered her bounty
nor fair behests; and as for me, said Sir Launcelot, I dare do all that
a good knight should do, that she is a true maiden, both for deed and
for will; and I am right heavy of her distress, for she is a full fair
maiden, good, and gentle, and well taught. Father, said Sir Lavaine, I
dare make good she is pure and good as my lord Sir Launcelot hath said;
but she doth as I do, for since I first saw my lord Sir Launcelot I
could never depart from him, nor nought I will and I may follow him.
Then Sir Launcelot took his leave, and so they departed, and came unto
Winchester. And when Arthur wist that Sir Launcelot was come, whole and
sound, the king made great joy of him, and so did Sir Gawaine, and all
the knights of the Round Table except Sir Agravaine and Sir Mordred.
Also queen Guenever was wood wroth with Sir Launcelot, and would by no
means speak with him, but estranged herself from him, and Sir Launcelot
made all the means that he might to speak with the queen, but it would
not be.
Now speak we of the fair maiden of Astolat, that made such sorrow day
and night, that she never slept, eat, nor drank; and ever she made her
complaint unto Sir Launcelot. So when she had thus endured a ten days,
that she feebled so that she must needs pass out of this world, then
she shrived her clean, and received her Creator. And ever she
complained still upon Sir Launcelot. Then her ghostly father bade her
leave such thoughts. Then she said, Why should I leave such thoughts?
am I not an earthly woman? and all the while the breath is in my body I
may complain me, for my belief is I do none offence though I love an
earthly man, and I take God to my record I never loved none but Sir
Launcelot du Lake, nor never shall; and a pure maiden I am for him and
for all other. And since it is the sufferance of God that I shall die
for the love of so noble a knight, I beseech the High Father of heaven
to have mercy upon my soul, and upon mine innumerable pains that I
suffered may be allegiance of part of my sins. For sweet Lord Jesu,
said the fair maiden, I take thee to record, on thee I was never great
offender against thy laws, but that I loved this noble knight Sir
Launcelot out of measure, and of myself, good Lord, I might not
withstand the fervent love wherefore I have my death. And then she
called her father Sir Bernard, and her brother Sir Tirre, and heartily
she prayed her father that her brother might write a letter like as she
did endite it; and so her father granted her. And when the letter was
written word by word like as she devised, then she prayed her father
that she might be watched until she were dead,—And while my body is
hot, let this letter be put in my right hand, and my hand bound fast
with the letter until that I be cold, and let me be put in a fair bed,
with all the richest clothes that I have about me, and so let my bed,
and all my richest clothes, be laid with me in a chariot unto the next
place where Thames is, and there let me be put within a barget, and but
one man with me, such as ye trust to steer me thither, and that my
barget be covered with black samite, over and over. Thus, father, I
beseech you, let it be done. So her father granted it her faithfully,
all things should be done like as she had devised. Then her father and
her brother made great dole, for, when this was done, anon she died.
And so when she was dead, the corpse, and the bed, all was led the next
way unto Thames, and there a man, and the corpse, and all, were put
into Thames, and so the man steered the barget unto Westminster, and
there he rowed a great while to and fro or any espied it.