|
|
| |
|
|
Sir Thomas
Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, 1469
First Printed: Wm. Claxton, 1485
Edited: Eugene Vinaver 1947
Translated
from Middle English to Modern English
|
Death of
Arthur
|
|
|
|
|
 Book 21, Chapter V
Death of Arthur:
But I may not stand, mine head works so. Ah Sir
Launcelot, said King Arthur, 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 took up the king the
one part, and Sir Bedivere the other part, and in the lifting the
king swooned; and Sir Lucan fell in a swoon with the lift, that the
part of his guts fell out of his body, and therewith the noble
knight’s heart brast. And when the king awoke, he beheld Sir Lucan,
how he lay foaming at the mouth, and part of his guts lay at his
feet. Alas, said the king, this is to 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. Alas, he would not complain him, his
heart was so set to help me; now Jesus have mercy upon his soul! Then
Sir Bedivere wept for the death of his brother. Leave this mourning
and weeping, said the king; for all this will not avail me, for wit
thou well and I might live myself, the death of Sir Lucan would
grieve me evermore; but my time hieth fast, said the king.
Therefore, said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, take thou Excalibur, my
good sword, and go with it yonder water side, 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 lightly bring you word again.
 So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld
that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft was 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. And
then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And so, as he might,
he came again unto the king, and said he had been at the water, and
had thrown the sword in the water. What saw 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 commandment; as thou art to me dief and dear, spare
not, but throw it in. Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the
sword in his hand; and then him thought sin and shame to throw away
that noble sword, and so eft he hid the sword, and returned again,
and told the king that he had been at the water, and done his
commandment. What saw thou there? Said the king. Sir, he said, I saw
nothing but the waters wap and waves wan.
 Ah, traitor untrue, said King Arthur, now thou hast
betrayed me twice. Who would have weened that, thou that hast been
to me so life and dear? And thou art named a noble knight, and would
betray me for the richness of the sword. But now go again lightly,
for they long tarrying putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for
I have taken cold. And but if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I
may see thee, I shall slay thee with mine own hands; for thou
wouldst 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 water side; and 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 and 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 hence; for I dread me I have
tarried over long. Then Sir Bedivere took the king upon his back,
and so went with him to the water side. And when they were at the
water side, even fast by the bank hoved a little barge with many
fair ladies in it, and among them was a queen, and all they had
black hoods, and all they wept and shrieken when they saw King
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 them 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 caught over-much
cold. And so then they rowed from the land, and Sir Bedivere cried:
Ah my lord Arthur, what shall become of me, now ye go from me and
leave me here along among mine enemies? Comfort thyself, said the
king, and do as well as thou mayst, for in me is not 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.
But ever the queen and ladies wept and shrieked, that it was pity to
hear. And as soon as Sir Bedivere had lost sight of the barge, he
wept and wailed, and so took the forest; and so he went all that
night, and in the morning he was ware betwixt to holts hoar, of a
chapel and an hermitage.
Book 21 Chapter VI:
Then was Sir Bedivere glad, and thither he went; and
when he came into the chapel, he saw where lay an hermit groveling
on all fours, there fast by a tomb was new graven. When the hermit
saw Sir Bedivere he knew him well, for he was but little tofore
Bishop of Canterbury, that Sir Modred flemed. Sir, said Bedivere,
what man is there interned that ye pray so fast for? Fair son, said
the hermit. I wot not verily, but by deeming. But this night, at
midnight, there came a number of ladies, and brought hither a dead
corpse, and pray me to bury him; and here they offered an hundred
tapers, and gave me an hundred besants. Alas, said Sir Bedivere,
that was my lord King Arthur, that here liest in this chapel. The
Sir Bedivere swooned; and when he awoke he prayed the hermit he
might abide with him still there, to live with fasting and prayers.
For from hence will I never go, said Sir Bedivere, by my will, but
all the days of my life here to pray for my Lord Arthur. Ye are
welcome to me, said the hermit, for I know ye better than ye win
that I do. Ye are the bold Bedivere, and the full noble duke, Sir
Lucan the Butler, was your brother, Then Sir Bedivere told the
hermit all as ye have heard to fore. So there bode Sir Bedivere with
the hermit that tofore Bishop of Canterbury, and there Sir Bedivere
put upon him poor clothes, and served the hermit full lowly in
fasting and prayers.
Thus of Arthur I find never more written in books that be
authorized, nor more of the very certainty of his death heard I
never read, but thus was he led away in a ship wherein were three
queens; that one was King Arthur’s sister, Queen Morgan le Fay; the
other was the Queen of Northgalis; the third was the Queen of the
Waste Lands. Also there was Nimue, the chief lady of the lake, that
had wedded Pelleas the good knight; and this lady had done much for
King Arthur, for she would never suffer Sir Pelleas to be in no
place where he should be in danger of his life; and so he lived to
the uttermost of his days with her in great rest. More of the death
of King Arthur could I never find, but that ladies brought him to
his burials; and such one was buried there, that the hermit bare
witness that sometime was Bishop of Canterbury, but yet the hermit
knew not in certain that he was verily the body of King Arthur; for
this tale Sir Bedivere, knight of the Table Round, made it to be
written.
|
|
| |
|
|
