OF THE PASSING OF KING ARTHUR
When the King was laid in the chapel he thought himself well eased.
Then heard they people cry in the field, and Sir Lucan went out to wit
what the noise betokened. As he went he saw and heard in the moonlight
how the plunderers and robbers were come into the battlefield to
pillage and rob many a full noble knight of rings and jewels; and who
that were not dead all out, there they slew them for their harness and
their riches.
When Sir Lucan understood this work, he came to the King as soon as he
might, and told him all what he had heard and seen. "Therefore by my
advice," said Sir Lucan, "it is best that we bring you to some town."
"I would it were so," said the King, "but I may not stand, my head
works so. Ah, Sir Launcelot, this day have I sore missed thee. Alas,
that ever I was against thee, for now have I my death, whereof Sir
Gawaine me warned in my dream."
Then Sir Lucan and Sir Bedivere took up the King, and in the lifting
the King swooned, and Sir Lucan, that was grievously wounded in many
places, also fell in a swoon with the lift, and therewith the noble
knight died. When King Arthur came to himself again, he beheld Sir
Lucan dead and Sir Bedivere weeping for his brother, and he said: "This
is unto me a full heavy sight to see this noble duke so die for my
sake, for he would have holpen me that had more need of help than I.
Yet, Sir Bedivere, weeping and mourning will not avail me; for wit thou
well, if I might live myself, the death of Sir Lucan would grieve me
evermore. But my time hieth fast. Therefore, Sir Bedivere, take thou
Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder waterside, and when
thou comest there, I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come
again, and tell me what thou there seest."
"My lord," said Bedivere, "your commandment shall be done, and I will
lightly bring you word again."
So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword,
whose pommel and haft were all of precious stones, and then he said to
himself, "If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof shall never
come good, but harm and loss."
Then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree, and as soon as he might
he came again unto the King, and said he had been at the water, and had
thrown the sword into the water.
"What sawest thou there?" said the King.
"Sir," he said, "I saw nothing but waves and winds."
"That is untruly said of thee," said the King; "therefore go thou
lightly again, and do my command as thou art to me lief and dear; spare
not, but throw it."
Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the sword in his hand; and
then him thought it sin and shame to throw away that noble sword. And
so again he hid the sword, and returned, and told the King that he had
been at the water, and done his commandment.
"What sawest thou there?" said the King.
"Sir," he said, "I saw nothing but the waters lap and the waves toss."
"Ah, traitor, untrue," said King Arthur, "now hast thou betrayed me
twice. Who would have thought that thou that hast been to me so lief
and dear, and that art named a noble knight, wouldest betray me for the
riches of the sword. But now go again lightly, for thy long tarrying
putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken cold. And
unless thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I shall slay
thee with mine own hands, for thou wouldest for my rich sword see me
dead."
Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it
up, and went to the waterside. There he bound the girdle about the
hilts, and then he threw the sword as far into the water as he might.
And there came an arm and an hand above the water, and met it, and
caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished
away the hand with the sword in the water.
So Sir Bedivere came again to the King, and told him what he saw.
"Alas," said the King, "help me thence, for I fear me I have tarried
over long."
Then Sir Bedivere took the King upon his back, and so went with him to
that waterside. And when they were at the waterside, even fast by the
bank hove a little barge, with many fair ladies in it, and among them
all was a queen, and all they had black hoods, and all they wept and
shrieked when they saw King Arthur.
[Illustration: The Passing of Arthur]
"Now put me into the barge," said the King; and so he did softly. And
there received him three queens with great mourning, and so they set
him down, and in one of their laps King Arthur laid his head, and then
that queen said, "Ah, dear brother, why have ye tarried so long from
me? Alas, this wound on your head hath caught over much cold."
And so then they rowed from the land, and Sir Bedivere beheld all these
ladies go from him. Then he cried, "Ah, my lord Arthur, what shall
become of me now ye go from me, and leave me here alone among mine
enemies!"
"Comfort thyself," said the King, "and do as well as thou mayest, for
in me is no trust for to trust in. For I will into the vale of
Avilion, to heal me of my grievous wound. And if thou hear never more
of me, pray for my soul."
Ever the queens and the ladies wept and shrieked, that it was pity to
hear. And as soon as Sir Bedivere had lost the sight of the barge he
wept and wailed, and so took the forest, and he went all that night;
and in the morning he was ware betwixt two ancient cliffs of a chapel
and an hermitage, and he was glad.
When he came into the chapel he saw a hermit praying by a tomb new
graven. The hermit was the Bishop of Canterbury that Sir Mordred had
banished, and Sir Bedivere asked him what man was there interred.
"Fair son," said the hermit, "I wot not verily, but this night, at
midnight, here came a number of ladies, and brought hither a dead
corpse, and prayed me to bury him; and here they offered an hundred
tapers, and gave me an hundred besants."
Then Sir Bedivere knew that King Arthur lay buried in that chapel, and
he prayed the hermit that he might abide with him still there. So
there abode Sir Bedivere with the hermit, that was tofore Bishop of
Canterbury, and there Sir Bedivere put on poor clothes, and served the
hermit full lowly in fasting and in prayers.
Thus of Arthur I find never more written in books that be authorised,
nor more of the certainty of his death heard I tell, but that he was
thus led away in a ship wherein were three queens. The hermit that
some time was Bishop of Canterbury bare witness that ladies brought a
knight to his burial in the chapel, but the hermit knew not in certain
that it was verily the body of King Arthur;--for this tale Sir
Bedivere, knight of the Round Table, made to be written.
Some men still say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not
dead, but tarried by the will of our Lord Jesu in another place. And
men say that he shall come again, and shall win the holy cross. I will
not say it shall be so, but rather I will say, here in this world he
changed his life. But many men say that there is written upon his tomb
these words: "_Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rex que futurus_": "_Here
lies Arthur, King that was and King that shall be._"