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GAKETH AND LYNETTE 
 
 ETC. 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE 
 
 ETC. 
 
 By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.cx. 
 
 POET LAUREATE 
 
 STRAHAN & CO. 
 56, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON 
 
 1872 
 
 [All rights reserved.'] 
 
AF these two Idylls, Gareth follows The Coming 
 OF Arthur, and The Last Tournament imme- 
 diately precedes Guinevere. 
 
 The concluding volumes of the Library Edition 
 will contain the whole series in its proper shape and 
 order. 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
GAEETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 npHE last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, 
 
 And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring 
 
 Stared at the spate. A slender- shafted Pine 
 
 Lost footing, fell, and so was whirl' d away. 
 
 * How he went down,' said Gareth, ' as a false knight 
 
 Or evil king before my lance if lance 
 
 Were mine to use — senseless cataract, 
 
 Bearing all down in thy precipitancy — 
 
 And yet thou art but swollen with cold snows, 
 
 And mine is living blood : thou dost His will, 
 
 The Maker's, and not knowest, and I that know, 
 
 Have strength and wit, in my good mother's hall 
 
4 GAEETH AND LY^-ETTE. 
 
 Linger with vacillating obedience, 
 
 Prison'd, and kept and coax'd and whistled to — 
 
 Since the good mother holds me still a child — 
 
 Good mother is bad mother unto me ! 
 
 A worse were better ; yet no worse would I. 
 
 Heaven yield her for it, but in me put force 
 
 To weary her ears with one continuous prayer. 
 
 Until she let me fly discaged to sweep 
 
 In ever-highering eagle-circles up 
 
 To the great Sun of Glory, and thence swoop 
 
 Down upon all things base, and dash them dead, 
 
 A knight of Arthur, working out his will. 
 
 To cleanse the world. Why, Gawain, when he came 
 
 With Modred hither in the summertime, 
 
 Ask'd me to tilt with him, the proven knight. 
 
 Modred for want of worthier was the judge. 
 
 Then I so shook him in the saddle, he said, 
 
 ** Thou hast half prevail'd against me," said so — he — 
 
OARETH AXD LYISTETTE. 
 
 Tho' Modred biting his thin lips was mute, 
 For he is alway sullen : what care I ? ' 
 
 And Gareth went, and hovering round her chair 
 Ask'd, * Mother, tho' ye count me still the child, 
 Sweet mother, do ye love the child ? ' She laugh'd, 
 
 * Thou art but a wild-goose to question it.' 
 
 * Then, mother, an ye love the child,' he said, 
 
 * Being a goose and rather tame than wild, 
 Hear the child's story.' * Yea, my well-beloved, 
 An 'twere but of the goose and golden eggs.' 
 
 And Gareth answer'd her with kindling eyes, 
 
 * Nay, nay, good mother, but this egg of mine 
 Was finer gold than any goose can lay; 
 
 For this an Eagle, a royal Eagle, laid 
 Almost beyond eye-reach, on such a palm 
 As glitters gilded in thy Book of Hours. 
 
6 GAEETH AND LYXETTE. 
 
 And tliere was ever haunting round the palm 
 
 A lusty youth, but poor, who often saw 
 
 The splendour sparkling from aloft, and thought 
 
 *' An I could climb and lay my hand upon it, 
 
 Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings." 
 
 But ever when he reach'd a hand to climb, 
 
 One, that had loved him from his childhood, caught 
 
 And stay'd him, ** Climb not lest thou break thy neck, 
 
 I charge thee by my love," and so the boy. 
 
 Sweet mother, neither clomb, nor brake his neck, 
 
 But brake his very heart in pining for it, 
 
 And past away.' 
 
 To whom the mother said, 
 
 * True love, sweet son, had risk'd himself and climb'd. 
 And handed down the golden treasure to him.' 
 
 And Gareth answer'd her with kindling eyes, 
 
 * Gold ? said I gold ? — ay then, why he, or she, 
 
GAKETH AJN'D LYNETTE. 
 
 Or whosoe'er it was, or half the world 
 Had ventured — had the thing I spake of been 
 Mere gold — but this was all of that true steel, 
 Whereof they forged the brand Excalibur, 
 And lightnings play'd about it in the storm, 
 And all the little fowl were flurried at it. 
 And there were cries and clashings in the nest, 
 That sent him from his senses : let me go.' 
 
 Then Bellicent bemoan'd herself and said, 
 * Hast thou no pity upon my loneliness ? 
 Lo, where thy father Lot beside the hearth 
 Lies like a log, and all but smoulder'd out ! 
 For ever since when traitor to the King 
 He fought against him in the Barons' war, 
 And Arthur gave him back his territory, 
 His age hath slowly droopt, and now lies there 
 A yet- warm corpse, and yet unburiable. 
 
S GARKTII AXD LY]S'ETTE. 
 
 No more ; nor sees, nor hears, nor speaks, nor knows. 
 
 And both thy brethren are in Arthur's hall. 
 
 Albeit neither loved with that full love 
 
 I feel for thee, nor worthy such a love : 
 
 Stay therefore thou ; red berries charm the bird. 
 
 And thee, mine innocent, the jousts, the wars. 
 
 Who never knewest finger-ache, nor pang 
 
 Of wrench'd or broken limb — an often chance 
 
 In those brain -stunning shocks, and tourney-falls, 
 
 Frights to my heart ; but stay : follow the deer 
 
 By these tall firs and our fast-falling burns ; 
 
 So make thy manhood mightier day by day ; 
 
 Sweet is the chase : and I will seek thee out 
 
 Some comfortable bride and fair, to grace 
 
 Thy climbing life, and cherish my prone year. 
 
 Till falling into Lot's forgetfulness 
 
 I know not thee, myself, nor anything. 
 
 Stay, my best son ! ye are yet more boy than man.' 
 
GAllETH AXD LYXETTE. • iJ 
 
 Then Gareth, * An ye hold me yet for child. 
 Hear yet once more the story of the child. 
 For, mother, there was once a King, like ours ; 
 The prince his heir, when tall and marriageable, 
 Ask'd for a bride ; and thereui^on the King 
 Set two before him. One was fair, strong, arm'd — 
 But to be won by force — and many men 
 Desired her; one, good lack, no man desired. 
 And these were the conditions of the King : 
 That save he won the first by force, he needs 
 Must wed that other, whom no man desired, 
 A red-faced bride who knew herself so vile, 
 That evermore she long'd to hide herself. 
 Nor fronted man or woman, eye to eye — 
 Yea — some she cleaved to, but they died of her. 
 And one — they call'd her Fame ; and one, Mother, 
 How can ye keep me tether'd to you — Shame ! 
 Man am I grown, a man's work must I do. 
 
10 GARETH AXD LYNETTE. 
 
 Follow the deer ? follow the Christ, the King, 
 
 Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King — 
 
 Else, wherefore born ? ' 
 
 To whom the mother said, 
 * Sweet son, for there be many who deem him not. 
 Or will not deem him, wholly proven King — 
 Albeit in mine own heart I knew him King, 
 When I was frequent with him in my youth, 
 And heard him Kingly speak, and doubted him 
 No more than he, himself; but felt him mine, 
 Of closest kin to me : yet — wilt thou leave 
 Thine easeful biding here, and risk thine all. 
 Life, limbs, for one that is not proven King ? 
 Stay, till the cloud that settles round his birth 
 Hath lifted but a little. Stay, sweet son.' 
 
 And Gareth answ^er'd quickly, * Not an hour, 
 So that ye yield me — I will walk thro' fire, 
 
GARETII AKD LYNETTE. 11 
 
 Mother, to gain it — your full leave to go. 
 
 Not proven, who swept the dust of ruin'd Rome 
 
 From off the threshold of the realm, and crush'd 
 
 The Idolaters, and made the people free ? 
 
 Who should be Ej.ng save him who makes us free ? ' 
 
 So when the Queen, who long had sought in vain 
 To break him from the intent to which he grew, 
 Found her son's will unwaveringly one. 
 She answer'd craftily, * Will ye walk thro' fire ? 
 Who walks thro' fire will hardly heed the smoke. 
 Ay, go then, an ye must : only one proof. 
 Before thou ask the King to make thee knight. 
 Of thine obedience and thy love to me. 
 Thy mother, — I demand.' 
 
 And Gareth cried, 
 * A hard one, or a hundred, so I go. 
 Nay — quick ! the proof to prove me to the quick ! ' 
 
12 GAEETH AND LYXETTE. 
 
 But slowly spake the motlier looking at him, 
 * Prince, thou shalt go disguised to Arthur's hall, 
 And hire thyself to serve for meats and drinks 
 Among the scullions and the kitchen-knaves, 
 And those that hand the dish across the bar. 
 Nor shalt thou tell thy name to anyone. 
 And thou shalt serve a twelvemonth and a day.' 
 
 For so the Queen believed that when her son 
 Beheld his only w^ay to glory lead 
 Low down thro' villain kitchen-vassalage, 
 Her own true Gareth was too princely-proud 
 To pass thereby ; so should he rest with her, 
 Closed in her castle from the sound of arms. 
 
 Silent awhile was Gareth, then replied. 
 ^ The thrall in person may be free in soul. 
 And I shall see the jousts. Thy son am I, 
 And since thou art my mother, must obey. 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 13 
 
 1 therefore yield me freely to thy will ; 
 For hence will I, disguised, and hire myself 
 To serve with scullions and with kitchen-knaves ; 
 Nor tell my name to any — no, not the King.' 
 
 Gareth awhile linger'd. The mother's eye 
 Full of the wistful fear that he would go, 
 And turning toward him wheresoe'er he turn'd, 
 Perplext his outward purpose, till an hour, 
 When waken'd by the wind which with full voice 
 Swept bellowing thro' the darkness on to dawn, 
 He rose, and out of slumber calling two 
 That still had tended on him from his birth. 
 Before the wakeful mother heard him, went. 
 
 ' The three were clad like tillers of the soil. 
 Southward they set their faces. The birds made 
 Melody on branch, and melody in mid air. 
 The damp hill-slopes were quicken'd into green, 
 
14 GARETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 And the live green had kindled into flowers, 
 For it was past the time of Easterday. 
 
 So, when their feet were planted on the plain 
 That broaden'd toward the base of Camelot, 
 Far off they saw the silver-misty morn 
 Eolling her smoke about the Royal mount, 
 That rose between the forest and the field. 
 At times the summit of the high city flash' d ; 
 At times the spires and turrets half-way down 
 Prick' d thro' the mist ; at times the great gate shone 
 Only, that open'd on the field below : 
 Anon, the whole fair city had disappear' d. 
 
 Then those who went with Gareth were amazed, 
 One crying, * Let us go no further, lord. 
 Here is a city of Enchanters, built 
 By fairy Kings.' The second echo'd him, 
 * Lord, we have heard from our wise men at home 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 15 
 
 To Northward, that this King is not the King, 
 But only changeling out of Fairyland, 
 Who drave the heathen hence by sorcery 
 And Merlin's glamour.' Then the first again, 
 * Lord, there is no such city anywhere, 
 JBut all a vision.' 
 
 Gareth answer'd them 
 With laughter, swearing he had glamour enow 
 In his own blood, his princedom, youth and hopes. 
 To plunge old Merlin in the Arabian sea ; 
 So push'd them all unwilling toward the gate. 
 And there was no gate like it under heaven. 
 For barefoot on the keystone, ^vhich was lined 
 And rippled like an ever-fieeting wave. 
 The Lady of the Lake stood : all her dress 
 Wept from her sides as water flowing away ; 
 But like the cross her great and goodly arms 
 
16 GARETH AI^D LYNETTE. 
 
 Stretch'd under all the cornice and upheld : 
 
 And drops of water fell from either hand ; 
 
 And down from one a sword was hung, from one 
 
 A censer, either worn wdth wind and storm ; 
 
 And o'er her breast floated the sacred fish ; 
 
 And in the space to left of her, and right, 
 
 Were Arthur's wars in weird devices done, 
 
 New things and old co-twisted, as if Time 
 
 Were nothing, so inveterately, that men 
 
 Were giddy gazing there ; and over all 
 
 High on the top were those three Queens, the friends 
 
 Of Arthur, who should help him at his need. 
 
 Then those with Gareth for so long a space 
 Stared at the figures, that at last it seem'd 
 The dragon-houghts and elvish emblemings 
 Began to move, seethe, twine and curl : they call'd 
 To Gareth, * Lord, the gateway is alive.' 
 
GARETH AND LYJSTETTE. 17 
 
 And Gareth likewise on them fixt his eyes 
 So long, that ev'n to him they seem'd to move. 
 Out of the city a blast of music peaFd. 
 Back from the gate started the three, to whom 
 From out thereunder came an ancient man, 
 Long-bearded, saying, * Who be ye, my sons ? ' 
 
 Then Gareth, * We be tillers of the soil, 
 Who leaving share in furrow come to see 
 The glories of our King : but these, my men, 
 (Your city moved so weirdly in the mist) 
 Doubt if the King be King at all, or come 
 From fairyland ; and whether this be built 
 By magic, and by fairy Kings and Queens ; 
 Or whether there be any city at all. 
 Or all a vision : and this music now 
 Hath scared them both, but tell thou these the truth.' 
 
 Then that old Seer made answer playing on him 
 
18 GAKETH AIST) LYXETTE. 
 
 And saying, * Son, I have seen the good ship sail 
 
 Keel upward and mast downward in the heavens, 
 
 And solid turrets topsy-turvy in air : 
 
 And here is truth ; but an it please thee not. 
 
 Take thou the truth as thou hast told it me. 
 
 For truly, as thou sayest, a Fairy King 
 
 And Fairy Queens have built the city, son ; 
 
 They came from out a sacred mountain- cleft 
 
 Toward the sunrise, each with harp in hand, 
 
 And built it to the music of their harps. 
 
 And as thou sayest it is enchanted, son, 
 
 For there is nothing in it as it seems 
 
 Saving the King ; tho' some there be that hold 
 
 The King a shadow, and the city real : 
 
 Yet take thou heed of him, for, so thou pass 
 
 Beneath this archway, then wilt thou become 
 
 A thrall to his enchantments, for the liing 
 
 Will bind thee by such vows, as is a shame 
 
GAEETH AXD LYN^ETTE. 19 
 
 A man should not be bound by, yet the which 
 No man can keep ; but, so thou dread to swear, 
 Pass not beneath this gateway, but abide 
 Without, among the cattle of the field. 
 For, an ye heard a music, like enow 
 They are building still, seeing the city is built 
 To music, therefore never built at all, 
 And therefore built for ever.' 
 
 Gareth spake 
 Anger'd, * Old Master, reverence thine own beard 
 That looks as white as utter truth, and seems 
 Wellnigh as long as thou art statured tall ! 
 Why mockest thou the stranger that hath been 
 To thee fair-spoken ? ' 
 
 But the Seer replied, 
 * Ejiow ye not then the Eiddling of the Bards ? 
 
20 GARETH AIS^D LYTs^ETTE. 
 
 '^ Confusion, and illusion, and relation, 
 Elusion, and occasion, and evasion " ? 
 I mock thee not but as thou mockest me, 
 And all that see thee, for thou art not who 
 Thou seemest, but I know thee who thou art. 
 And now thou goest up to mock the King, 
 Who cannot brook the shadow of any lie.* 
 
 Unmockingly the mocker ending here 
 Turn'd to the right, and past along the plain ; 
 Whom Gareth looking after said, * My men, 
 Our one white lie sits like a little ghost 
 Here on the threshold of our enterprise. 
 Let love be blamed for it, not she, nor I : 
 Well, we will make amends.' 
 
 With all good cheer 
 He spake and laugh'd, then enter'd with his twain 
 
GAKETH AND LYXETTE. 21 
 
 Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces 
 And stately, rich in emblem and the work 
 Of ancient kings who did their days in stone ; 
 Which Merlin's hand, the Mage at Arthur's court, 
 Knowing all arts, had touch'd, and everywhere 
 At Arthur's ordinance, tipt with lessening peak 
 And pinnacle, and had made it spire to heaven. 
 And ever and anon a knight would pass 
 Outward, or inward to the hall : his arms 
 Clash'd ; and the sound was good to Gareth's ear. 
 And out of bower and casement shyly glanced 
 Eyes of pure women, wholesome stars of love ; 
 And all about a healthful people stept 
 As in the presence of a gracious king. 
 
 Then into hall Gareth ascending heard 
 A voice, the voice of Arthur, and beheld 
 Far over heads in that long-vaulted hall 
 
22 GAEExn Am) lyxette. 
 
 The splendour of the presence of the King 
 
 Throned, and delivering doom — and look'd no more- 
 
 But felt his young heart hammering in his ears, 
 
 And thought, * For this half-shadow of a lie 
 
 The truthful King will doom me \vhen I speak.' 
 
 Yet pressing on, tho' all in fear to find 
 
 Sir Gawain or Sir Modred, saw nor one 
 
 Nor other, but in all the listening eyes 
 
 Of those tall knights, that ranged about the throne, 
 
 Clear honour shining like the dewy star 
 
 Of dawn, and faith in their great King, with pure 
 
 Affection, and the light of victory. 
 
 And glory gain'd, and evermore to gain. 
 
 Then came a widow crying to the King, 
 * A boon. Sir King ! Thy father, Uther, reffc 
 From my dead lord a field with violence : 
 For howsoe'er at first he proffer'd gold. 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 23 
 
 Yet, for tlie field was pleasant in our eyes, 
 We yielded not ; and then he reft us of it 
 Perforce, and left us neither gold nor field.' 
 
 Said Arthur, * Whether would ye ? gold or field ? ' 
 To whom the woman weeping, * Nay, my lord, 
 The field was pleasant in my husband's eye.' 
 
 And Arthur, * Have thy pleasant field again. 
 And thrice the gold for Uther's use thereof. 
 According to the years. No boon is here. 
 But justice, so thy say be proven true. 
 Accursed, who from the wrongs his father did 
 Would shape himself a right ! ' 
 
 And while she past, 
 Game yet another widow crying to him, 
 * A boon. Sir King ! Thine enemy. King, am I. 
 With thine own hand thou slewest my dear lord, 
 A knight of Uther in the Barcns' war, 
 
24 G.VEETH AND LYXETTE. 
 
 ^Mien Lot and many another rose and fought 
 Against thee, saying thou wert basely born. 
 I held with these, and loathe to ask thee aught. 
 Yet lo ! my husband's brother had my son 
 Thrall'd in his castle, and hath starved him dead ; 
 And standeth seized of that inheritance 
 Which thou that slowest the sire hast left the son. 
 So tho' I scarce can ask it thee for hate. 
 Grant me some knight to do the battle for me, 
 Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.' 
 
 Then strode a good knight forward, crying to him 
 ' A boon. Sir King ! I am her kinsman, I. 
 Give me to right her wrong, and slay the man.* 
 
 Then came Sir Kay, the seneschal, and cried, 
 * A boon, Sir King ! ev'n that thou grant her none, 
 This railer, that hath mock'd thee in full hall — 
 None ; or the wholesome boon of gyve and gag.' 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 But Arthur, * We sit, King, to help the wrong'd 
 Thro' all our realm. The woman loves her lord. 
 Peace to thee, woman, with thy loves and hates ! 
 The kings of old had doom'd thee to the flames, 
 Aurelius Emrys would have scourged thee dead. 
 And Uther slit thy tongue : but get thee hence — 
 Lest that rough humour of the kings of old 
 Return upon me ! Thou that art her kin. 
 Go likewise ; lay him low and slay him not. 
 But bring him here, that I may judge the right, 
 According to the justice of the King : 
 Then, be he guilty, by that deathless King 
 "Who lived and died for men, the man shall die.' 
 
 . Then came in hall the messenger of Mark, 
 A name of evil savour in the land, 
 The Cornish king. In either hand he boro 
 "What dazzled all, and shone far-olf as shines 
 
26 GARETH AISD LYIS^ETTE. 
 
 A field of charlock in the sudden sun 
 Between two showers, a cloth of jDalest gold, 
 AVhich down he laid before the throne, and knelt, 
 Delivering, that his lord, the vassal king. 
 Was ev'n upon his way to Camelot ; 
 For having heard that Arthur of his grace 
 Had made his goodly cousin, Tristram, knight, 
 And, for himself was of the greater state, 
 Being a king, he trusted his liege-lord 
 Would yield him this large honour all the more ; 
 So pray'd him well to accept this cloth of gold, 
 In token of true heart and fealty. 
 
 Then Arthur cried to rend the cloth, to rend 
 In pieces, and so cast it on the hearth. 
 An oak-tree smoulder'd there. * The goodly knight ! 
 What ! shall the shield of Mark stand among these ? ' 
 For, midway down the side of that long hall 
 
GARETH AXD LYIs^ETTE. ! 
 
 A stately pile, — whereof along the front, 
 Some blazon'd, some but carven, and some blank, 
 There ran a treble range of stony shields, — 
 Rose, and high-arching overbrow'd the hearth. 
 And under every shield a knight was named : 
 For this was Arthur's custom in his hall ; 
 When some good knight had done one noble deed, 
 His arms were carven only ; but if twain 
 His arms were blazon'd also ; but if none 
 The shield was blank and bare without a sign 
 Saving the name beneath ; and Gareth saw 
 The shield of Gawain blazon'd rich and bright. 
 And Modred's blank as death ; and Arthur cried 
 To rend the cloth and cast it on the hearth. 
 
 * More like are we to reave him of his crown 
 Than make him knight because men call him king. 
 The kings we found, ye know we stay'd their hands 
 
28 GARETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 From war among themselves, but left them kings ; 
 Of whom were any bounteous, merciful. 
 Truth- speaking, brave, good livers, them we enroll'd 
 Among us, and they sit within our hall 
 But Mark hath tarnish'd the great name of king, 
 As Mark would sully the low state of churl : 
 t And, seeing he hath sent us cloth of gold. 
 Return, and meet, and hold him from our eyes, 
 Lest we should lap him up in cloth of lead, 
 Silenced for ever — craven — a man of plots. 
 Craft, poisonous counsels, wayside ambushings — 
 No fault of thine : let Kay the seneschal 
 Look to thy wants, and send thee satisfied — 
 Accursed, who strikes nor lets the hand be seen ! ' 
 
 And many another suppliant crying came 
 With noise of ravage wrought by beast and man. 
 And evermore a knight would ride away. 
 
GARETH AKD LYXETTE. 29 
 
 Last Gareth leaning both hands heavily- 
 Down on the shoulders of the twain, his men, 
 Approach'd between them toward the King, and ask'd, 
 
 * A boon, Sir King (his voice was all ashamed), 
 For see ye not how weak and hungerworn 
 
 I seem — leaning on these ? grant me to serve 
 For meat and drink among thy kitchen-knaves 
 A twelvemonth and a day, nor seek my name. 
 Hereafter I will fight.' 
 
 To him the King, 
 
 * A goodly youth and worth a goodlier boon ! 
 But an thou wilt no goodlier, then must Kay, 
 The master of the meats and drinks, be thine.' 
 
 He rose and past ; then Kay, a man of mien 
 Wan-sallow as the plant that feels itself 
 Koot-bitten by white lichen, 
 
30 GARETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 * Lo ye now ! 
 This fellow hath broken from some Abbey, where, 
 God wot, he had not beef and brewis enow. 
 However that might chance ! but an he work. 
 Like any pigeon will I cram his crop. 
 And sleeker shall he shine than any hog.' 
 
 Then Lancelot standing near, * Sir Seneschal, 
 Sleuth-hound thou knowest, and , gray, and all the 
 
 hounds ; 
 A horse thou knowest, a man thou dost not know : 
 Broad brows and fair, a fluent hair and fine. 
 High nose, a nostril large and fine, and hands 
 Large, fair and fine ! — Some young lad's mystery — 
 But, or from sheepcot or king's hall, the boy 
 Is noble-natured. Treat him with all grace. 
 Lest he should come to shame thy judging of 
 
 him.' 
 
GABETH AKD LYNETTE. 31 
 
 Then Kay, * What murmurest thou of mystery ? 
 Think ye this fellow will poison the Bang's dish ? 
 Nay, for he spake too fool-like : mystery ! 
 Tut, an the lad were nohle, he had ask'd 
 For horse and armour : fair and fine, forsooth I 
 Sir Fine-face, Su' Fair-hands ? but see thou to it 
 That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day 
 Undo thee not — and leave my man to me.' 
 
 So Gareth all for glory underwent 
 The sooty yoke of kitchen vassalage ; 
 Ate with young lads his portion by the door, 
 And couch'd at night with grimy kitchen- knaves. 
 And Lancelot ever spake him pleasantly, 
 But Kay the seneschal who loved him not 
 Would hustle and harry him, and labour him 
 Beyond his comrade of the hearth, and set 
 To turn the broach, draw water, or hew wood, 
 
32 GARETH AI^D LYNETTE. 
 
 Or grosser tasks ; and Gareth bow'd himself 
 
 With all obedience to the King, and wrought 
 
 All kind of service with a noble ease 
 
 That graced the lowliest act in doing it. 
 
 And when the thralls had talk among themselves, 
 
 And one would praise the love that linkt the King 
 
 And Lancelot — how the King had saved his life 
 
 In battle twice, and Lancelot once the King's — 
 
 For Lancelot was the first in Tournament, 
 
 But Arthur mightiest on the battlefield — 
 
 Gareth was glad. Or if some other told. 
 
 How once the wandering forester at dawn, 
 
 Far over the blue tarns and hazy seas, 
 
 On Caer-Eryri's highest found the King, 
 
 A naked babe, of whom the Prophet spake, 
 
 * He passes to the Isle Avilion, 
 
 He passes and is heal'd and cannot die ' — 
 
 Gareth was glad. But if their talk were foul, 
 
GAEETH AND LYNETTE. 33 
 
 Then would lie whistle rapid as any lark, 
 
 Or carol some old roundelay, and so loud 
 
 That first they mock'd, but, after, reverenced Lim. 
 
 Or Gareth telling some prodigious tale 
 
 Of knights, who sliced a red life -bubbling way 
 
 Thro' twenty folds of twisted dragon, held 
 
 All in a gap-mouth'd circle his good mates 
 
 Lying or sitting round him, idle hands, 
 
 Charm'd ; till Sir Kay, the seneschal, would come 
 
 Blustering upon them, like a sudden wind 
 
 Among dead leaves, and drive them all apart. 
 
 Or when the thralls had sport among themselves, 
 
 So there were any trial of mastery, 
 
 He, by two yards in casting bar or stone 
 
 Was counted best ; and if there chanced a joust, 
 
 So that Sir Kay nodded him leave to go, 
 
 Would hurry thither, and when he saw the knights 
 
 Clash like the coming and retiring wave, 
 
o4 GAEETH AXD LYIN^ETTE. 
 
 And the spear spring, and good horse reel, the boy 
 AVas half beyond himself for ecstasy. 
 
 So for a month he wrought among the thralls ; 
 Bat in the weeks that follow'd, the good Queen, 
 Eepentant of the word she made him swear, 
 And saddening in her childless castle, sent. 
 Between the increscent and decrescent moon, 
 Arms for her son, and loosed him from his vow. 
 
 This, Gareth hearing from a squire of Lot 
 "With whom he used to play at tourney once, 
 AVhen both were children, and in lonely haunts 
 Would scratch a ragged oval on the sand. 
 And each at either dash from either end — 
 Shame never made gM redder than Gareth joy. 
 He laugh'd ; he sprang. * Out of the smoke, at onco 
 I leap from Satan's foot to Peter's knee — 
 
GARETII AND LYNETTE. 35 
 
 These news be mine, none other's — nay, the King's — 
 Descend into the city : ' whereon he sought 
 The King alone, and found, and told him all. 
 
 * I have stagger'd thy strong Gawain in a tilt 
 For pastime ; yea, he said it : joust can I. 
 Make me thy knight — in secret ! let my name 
 Be hidd'n, and give me the first quest, I spring 
 Like flame from ashes.' 
 
 Here the King's calm eyo 
 Fell on, and check'd, and made him flush, and bow 
 Lowly, to kiss his hand, who answer'd him, 
 * Son, the good mother let me know thee here, 
 And sent her wish that I would yield thee thine. 
 Make thee my knight ? my knights are sworn to vows 
 Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness. 
 And, loving, utter faithfulness in love, 
 And uttermost obedience to the Kinj?.' 
 
36 • GARETH AND LYNETTE 
 
 -Then Gareth, lightly springing from his knees, 
 
 * My King, for hardihood I can promise thee. 
 For uttermost obedience make demand 
 
 Of whom ye gave me to, the Seneschal, 
 No mellow master of the meats and drinks ! 
 And as for love, God wot, I love not yet. 
 But love I shall, God willing.' 
 
 And the King — 
 
 * Make thee my knight in secret ? yea, but he, 
 Our noblest brother, and our truest man. 
 And one with me in all, he needs must know.' 
 
 * Let Lancelot know, my King, let Lancelot know, 
 Thy noblest and thy truest ! ' 
 
 And the King — ■ 
 
 * But wherefore would ye men should wonder at you ? 
 Nay, rather for the sake of me, their King, 
 
GARETH AXD LYi^ETTE. 37 
 
 And the deed's sake my knighthood do the deed, 
 Than to be noised of.' 
 
 Merrily Gareth ask'd, 
 * Have I not earn'd my cake in baking of it ? 
 Let bo my name until I make my name ! 
 My deeds will speak : it is but for a day.' 
 So \vith a kindly hand on Gareth's arm 
 Smiled the great King, and half- unwillingly 
 Loving his lusty youthhood yielded to him. 
 Then, after summoning Lancelot privily, 
 ' I have given him the first quest : he is not proven. 
 Look therefore when he calls for this in hall. 
 Thou get to horse and follow him fiir aw\ay. 
 Cover the lions on thy shield, and see 
 Far as thou mayest, he be nor ta'en nor slain.' 
 
 Then that same day there past into the hall 
 A damsel of high Imeage, and a brow 
 
38 GAEETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 May-blossom, and a cheek of apple -blossom, 
 Hawk-eyes ; and lightly was her slender nose 
 Tip-tilted like the petal of a flower ; 
 She into hall past with her page and cried, 
 
 * King, for thou hast driven the foe without, 
 See to the foe within ! bridge, ford, beset 
 By bandits, everyone that owns a tower ' 
 
 The Lord for half a league. Why sit ye there ? 
 Kest would I not. Sir King, an I were king, 
 Till ev'n the lonest hold were all as free 
 From cursed bloodshed, as thine altar-cloth 
 From that blest blood it is a sin to spill.' 
 
 ' Comfort thyself,' said Arthur, * I nor mine 
 Best : so my knighthood keep the vows they swore, 
 The wastest moorland of our realm shall be 
 Safe, damsel, as the centre of this hall. 
 What is thy name ? thy need ? ' 
 
GABETH AXD LYXETTE. 39 
 
 * My name ? ' she said — 
 < Lynette my name ; noble ; my need, a knight 
 To combat for my sister, Lyonors, 
 A lady of high lineage, of great lands, 
 And comely, yea, and comelier than myself. 
 She lives in Castle Perilous : a river 
 Runs in three loops about her living-place ; 
 And o'er it are three passings, and three knights 
 Defend the passings, brethren, and a fourth 
 And of that four the mightiest, holds her slay'd 
 In her own castle and so besieges her 
 To break her will, and make her wed with him : 
 And but delays his purport till thou send 
 To do the battle with him, thy chief man 
 - Sir Lancelot whom he trusts to overthrow, 
 Then wed, mth glory ; but she will not wed 
 Save whom she loveth, or a holy life. 
 Now therefore have I come for Lancelot.* 
 
40 GARETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 Then Arthur mindful of Sir Gareth ask'd, 
 ' Damsel, ye know this Order lives to crush 
 All wrongers of the Realm. But say, these four, 
 AVho be they ? What the fashion of the men ? ' 
 
 * They be of foolish fashion, Sir King, 
 The fashion of that old knight-errantry 
 Who ride abroad and do but what they will ; 
 Courteous or bestial from the moment, such 
 As have nor law nor king ; and three of these 
 Proud in their fantasy call themselves the Day, 
 Morning-Star, and Noon-Sun, and Evening-Star, 
 Being strong fools ; and never a whit more wise 
 The fourth, who alway rideth arm'd in black, 
 A huge man-beast of boundless savager3\ 
 He names himself the Night and oftener Death 
 And wears a helmet mounted with a skull. 
 And bears a skeleton figured on his arms, 
 
GARETII AND LYXETTE. 41 
 
 To show that who may slay or scape the three 
 Slain by himself shall enter endless night. 
 And all these four be fools, but mighty men, 
 And therefore am I come for Lancelot.* 
 
 Hereat Sir Gareth call'd from where he rose, 
 A head with kindling eyes above the throng, 
 * A boon, Sir King — this quest ! ' then — for he 
 
 mark'd 
 Kay near him groaning like a wounded bull — 
 ' Yea, King, thou knowest thy kitchen-knave 
 
 am I, 
 And mighty thro' thy meats and drinks am I, 
 And I can topple over a hundred such. 
 Thy promise, Eng,' and Arthur glancing at him. 
 Brought down a momentary brow. * Eough, sudden, 
 And pardonable, worthy to be knight — 
 Go therefore,' and all hearers were amazed. 
 
42 GAEETH AI^D LY^^ETTE. 
 
 But on the damsel's forehead shame, pride, vrrath 
 Slew the May-white : she lifted either arm, 
 * Fie on thee, King ! I ask'd for thy chief knight, 
 And thou hast given me hut a kitchen-knave.* 
 Then ere a man in hall could stay her, turn'd, 
 Fled down the lane of access to the King, 
 Took horse, descended the slope street, and past 
 The weird white gate, and paused without, beside 
 The field of tourney, murmuring * kitchen-knave.* 
 
 Now two great entries open'd from the hall, 
 At one end one, that gave upon a range 
 Of level pavement where the King would pace 
 At sunrise, gazing over plain and wood. 
 And down from this a lordly stairway sloped 
 Till lost in blowing trees and tops of towers. 
 And out by this main doorway past the King. 
 But one was counter to the hearth, and rose 
 
GAEETH AND LYNETTE. , 43 
 
 High that the highest-crested helm could ride 
 
 Therethro' nor graze : and by this entry fled 
 
 The damsel in her wrath, and on to this 
 
 Sir Gareth strode, and saw without the door 
 
 King Arthur's gift, the worth of half a town, 
 
 A warhorse of the best, and near it stood 
 
 The two that out of north had follow 'd him : 
 
 This bare a maiden shield, a casque ; that held 
 
 The horse, the spear ; whereat Sir Gareth loosed 
 
 A cloak that dropt from collar-bone to heel, 
 
 A cloth of roughest web, and cast it down, 
 
 And from it like a fuel-smother'd fire. 
 
 That lookt half-dead, brake bright, and flash'd as those 
 
 Dull- coated things, that making slide apart 
 
 Their dusk wing-cases, all beneath there burns 
 
 A jewell'd harness, ere they pass and fly. 
 
 So Gareth ere he parted flash'd in arms. 
 
 Then while he donn'd the helm, and took the shield 
 
44 GARETH AND LYXETTE. 
 
 And mounted horse and graspt a spear, of grain 
 Storm-strengthen'd on a windy site, and tipt 
 With trenchant steel, around him slowly prest 
 The people, and from out of kitchen came 
 The thralls in throng, and seeing who had work'd 
 Lustier than any, and whom they could but love. 
 Mounted in arms, threw up their caps and cried, 
 * God bless the King, and all his fellowship ! ' 
 And on thro' lanes of shouting Gareth rode 
 Down the slope street, and past without the gate. 
 
 So Gareth past with joy ; but as the cur 
 Pluckt from the cur he fights with, ere his cause 
 Be cool'd by fighting, follows, being named. 
 His owner, but remembers all, and growls 
 Eemembering, so Sir Kay beside the door 
 Mutter'd in scorn of Gareth whom he used 
 To harry and hustle. 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 45 
 
 * Bound upon a quest 
 With horse and arms — the King hath past his time — 
 My scullion knave ! Thralls to your work again, 
 For an your fire be low ye kindle mine ! 
 Will there be dawn in West and eve in East ? 
 Begone ! — my knave ! — belike and like enow 
 Some old head-blow not heeded in his youth 
 So shook his wits they wander in his prime — 
 Crazed ! How the villain lifted up his voice, 
 Nor shamed to bawl himself a kitchen-knave. 
 Tut : ho was tame and meek enow with me. 
 Till peacock'd up with Lancelot's noticing. 
 Well — I will after my loud knave, and learn 
 Whether he know me for his master yet. 
 Out of the smoke he came, and so my lance 
 Hold, by God's grace, he shall into the mire — 
 Thence, if the King awaken from his craze, 
 Into the smoke again.* 
 
46 GARETH Ai^D LYIs'ETTE. 
 
 But Lancelot said, 
 * Kay, -wherefore will ye go against the King, 
 For that did never he whereon ye rail, 
 But ever meekly served the King in thee ? 
 Abide : take counsel ; for this lad is great 
 And lusty, and knowing both of lance and 
 
 sword.' 
 ' Tut, tell not me,' said Kay, * ye are overfine 
 To mar stout knaves with foolish courtesies.* 
 Then mounted, on thro' silent faces rode 
 Down the slope city, and out beyond the gate 
 
 But by the field of tourney lingering yet 
 Mutter'd the damsel, ' Wherefore did the King 
 Scorn me ? for, were Sir Lancelot lackt, at least 
 He might have yielded to me one of those 
 Who tnt for lady's love and glory here, 
 
GAEETH AXD LY^'ETTE. 47 
 
 Eather than — sweet heaven ! fie upon him — 
 His kitchen-knave.' 
 
 To whom Sir Gareth drew 
 (And there were none but few goodlier than he) 
 Shining in arms, * Damsel, the quest is mine. 
 Lead, and I follow.' She thereat, as one 
 That smells a foul-flesh'd agaric in the holt. 
 And deems it carrion of some woodland thing, 
 Or shrew, or weasel, nipt her slender nose 
 With petulant thumb and finger, shrilling, * Hence I 
 Avoid, thou smellest all of kitchen-grease. 
 And look v/ho comes behind,' for there was Kay. 
 
 * Knowest thou not me ? thy master ? I am Kay. 
 We lack thee by the hearth.' 
 
 And Gareth to him, 
 
 * Master no more ! too well I know thee, ay — 
 
48 GAEETH AND LYK'ETTE. 
 
 The most ungentle knight in Arthur's hall.' 
 
 ^ Have at thee then,' said Kay : they shock'd, and Kay 
 
 Fell shoulder-slipt, and Gareth cried again, 
 
 *Lead, and I follow,' and fast away she fled. 
 
 But after sod and shingle ceased to fly 
 Behind her, and the heart of her good horse 
 Was nigh to burst with violence of the beat. 
 Perforce she siay'd, and overtaken spoke. 
 
 * What doest thou, scullion, in my fellowship ? 
 Deem'st thou that I accept thee aught the more 
 Or love thee better, that by some device 
 
 Full cowardly, or by mere unhappiness. 
 Thou hast overthrown and slain thy master — thou ! — 
 Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon ! — to me 
 Thou smellest all of kitchen as before.* 
 
 * Damsel,' Sir Gareth answer'd gently, ' say 
 
GAKETH AXD LYNETTE. 49 
 
 Whate'er yc will, but wliatsoe'er ye say, 
 I leave not till I finish this fair quest, 
 Or die therefore.' 
 
 * Ay, wilt thou finish it ? 
 Sweet lord, how like a noble knight he talks ! 
 The listening rogue hath caught the manner of it. 
 But, knave, anon thou shalt bo met with, knave. 
 And then by such a one that thou for all 
 The kitchen brewis that was ever supt 
 Shalt not once dare to look him in the face.' 
 
 * I shall assay,' said Gareth with a smile 
 That madden'd her, and away she flash'd again 
 Down the long avenues of a boundless wood, 
 And Gareth following was again beknaved. 
 
 * Sir Elitchen -knave, I have miss'd the only way • 
 Where Arthur's men are set along the wood ; 
 
 E 
 
50 GARETH AND LYN'ETTE. 
 
 The wood is nigli as full of thieves as leaves : 
 If both be slain, I am rid of thee ; but yet, 
 Sir Scullion, canst thou use that spit of thine ? 
 Fight, an thou canst : I have miss'd the only way.* 
 
 So till the dusk that follow'd evensong 
 Eode on the two, reviler and reviled ; 
 Then after one long slope was mounted, saw. 
 Bowl-shaped, thro' tops of many thousand pines 
 A gloomy -gladed hollow slowly sink 
 To westward — in the deeps whereof a mere, 
 Kound as the red eye of an Eagle-owl, 
 Under the half-dead sunset glared ; and shouts 
 Ascended, and there brake a servingman 
 Flying from out of the black wood, and crying, 
 * They have bound my lord to cast him in the mere.' 
 Then Gareth, * Bound am I to right the wrong'd, 
 But straitlier bound am I to bide with thee.' 
 
GARETH AKD LYNETTE. 51 
 
 And when the damsel spake contemptuously, 
 
 * Lead and 1 follow,' Gareth cried again, 
 
 * Follow, I lead ! ' so down among the pines 
 
 He plunged ; and there, blackshadow'd nigh llio 
 
 mere, 
 And mid-thigh- deep in bulrushes and reed, 
 Saw six tall men haling a seventh along, 
 A stone about his neck to drown him in it. 
 Three with good blows he quieted, but three 
 Fled thro' the pines ; and Gareth loosed the stone 
 From off his neck, then in the mere beside 
 Tumbled it ; oilily bubbled up the mere. 
 Last, Gareth loosed his bonds and on free feet 
 Set him, a stalwart Baron, Arthur's friend. 
 
 * Well that ye came, or else these caitiff rogues 
 Had wreak'd themselves on me ; good cause is theiis 
 To hate me, for my wont hath ever been 
 
52 GAEETH AXD LYNETTE. 
 
 To catch my thief, and then like vermin here 
 Drown him, and with a stone about his neck ; 
 And under this wan water many of them 
 Lie rotting, but at night let go the stone, 
 And rise, and flickering in a grimly light 
 Dance on the mere. Good now, ye have saved a life 
 Worth somewhat as the cleanser of this wood. 
 And fain would I reward thee worshipfuUy. 
 What guerdon will ye ? * 
 
 Garoth sharply spake, 
 * None ! for the deed's sake have I done the deed, 
 In uttermost obedience to the King. 
 But will ye yield this damsel harbourage ? * 
 
 Whereat the Baron saying, * I well believe 
 Ye be of Arthur's Table,' a light laugh 
 Broke from Lynette, * Ay, truly of a truth. 
 And in a sort, being Arthur's kitchen-knave ! — 
 
GAPwETH AND LYI^^ETTE. 53 
 
 But deem not I accept thee anght the more, 
 
 Scullion, for running sharply with thy spit 
 
 Down on a rout of craven foresters. 
 
 A thresher with his flail had scatter'd them. 
 
 Nay — for thou smallest of the kitchen still. 
 
 But an this lord will yield us harbourage, 
 
 Well.* 
 
 So she spake. A league beyond the wood, 
 All in a full-fair manor and a rich. 
 His towers where that day a feast had been 
 Held in high hall, and many a viand left, 
 And many a costly cate, received the three. 
 And there they placed a peacock in his pride 
 ' Before the damsel, and the Baron set 
 Gareth beside her, but at once she rose. 
 
 * Meseems, that here is much discourtesy, 
 Setting this knave, Lord Baron, at my side. 
 
.54 GARETH AND LY]S^ETTE. 
 
 Hear me — this morn I stood in Arthur's hall, 
 And pray'd the King would grant me Lancelot 
 To fight the brotherhood of Day and Night — 
 The last a monster unsubduable 
 Of any save of him for whom I call'd — 
 Suddenly bawls this frontless kitchen-knave, 
 ** The quest is mine ; thy kitchen-knave am I, 
 And mighty thro' thy meats and drinks am I." 
 Then Arthur all at once gone mad replies, 
 ** Go therefore," and so gives the quest to him — 
 Him — here — a villain fitter to stick swine 
 Than ride abroad redressing women's wrong. 
 Or sit beside a noble gentlewoman.' 
 
 Then half- ashamed and part- amazed, the lord 
 Now look'd at one and now at other, left 
 The damsel by the peacock in his pride, 
 And, seating Gareth at another board, 
 Sat down beside him, ate and then began. 
 
GARETH AITD LYNETTE. O 
 
 * Friend, whether ye be kitchen-knave, or not. 
 Or whether it be the maiden's fantasy, 
 And whether she be mad, or else the King, 
 Or both or neither, or thyself be mad, 
 I ask not : but thou strikest a strong stroke, 
 For strong thou art and goodly therewithal, 
 And saver of my life ; and therefore now, 
 For here be mighty men to joust with, weigh 
 Whether thou wilt not with thy damsel back 
 To crave again Sir Lancelot of the King. 
 Thy pardon ; I but speak for thine avail. 
 The saver of my life.' 
 
 And Gareth said, 
 ' * Full pardon, but I follow up the quest. 
 Despite of Day and Night and Death and Hell.' 
 
 So when, next morn, the lord whose life he saved 
 Had, some brief space, convey'd them on their way 
 
66 GAEETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 And left them with God- speed, Sir Gareth spake, 
 ' Lead and I follow.' Haughtily she replied, 
 
 * I fly no more : I allow thee for an hour. 
 Lion and stoat have isled together, knave, 
 In time of flood. Nay, furthermore, methinks 
 Some ruth is mine for thee. Back wilt thou, fool ? 
 For hard by here is one will overthrow 
 And slay thee : then will I to court again. 
 And shame the King for only yielding me 
 My champion from the ashes of his hearth.' 
 
 To whom Sir Gareth answer'd courteously, 
 ^ Say thou thy say, and I will do my deed. 
 Allow me for mine hour, and thou wilt find 
 My fortunes all as fair as hers, who lay 
 Among the ashes and wedded the King's son.* 
 
GAEETH AXD LYIs'ETTE. o7 
 
 Then to the shore of one of those long loops 
 Wherethro' the serpent river coil'd, they came. 
 Rough-thicketed were the banks and steep ; the stream 
 Full, narrow ; this a bridge of single arc 
 Took at a leap ; and on the further side 
 Arose a silk pavilion, gay with gold 
 In streaks and rays, and all Lent-lily in hue, 
 Save that the dome was purple, and above, 
 Crimson, a slender banneret fluttering. 
 And therebefore the lawless warrior paced 
 Unarm'd, and calling, * Damsel, is this he. 
 The champion ye have brought from Arthur's hall, 
 For whom we let thee pass ? ' * Nay, nay,' she said, 
 * Sir Morning- Star. The King in utter scorn 
 Of thee and thy much folly hath sent thee here 
 His kitchen-knave : and look thou to thyself: 
 See that he fall not on thee suddenly, 
 And slay thee unarm'd : he is not knight but knave.' 
 
58 GABETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 Then at his call, * daughters of the Dawn, 
 And servants of the Morning- Star, approach, 
 Arm me,' from out the silken curtain -folds 
 Bare-footed and bare-headed three fair girls 
 In gilt and rosy raiment came : their feet 
 In dewy grasses glisten'd ; and the hair 
 All over glanced with dewdrop or with gem 
 Like sparkles in the stone Avanturine. 
 These arm'd him in blue arms, and gave a shield 
 Blue also, and thereon the morning star. 
 And Gareth silent gazed upon the knight. 
 Who stood a moment, ere his horse was brought. 
 Glorying ; and in the stream beneath him, shone, 
 Immingled with Heaven's azure waveringly. 
 The gay pavilion and the naked feet. 
 His arms, the rosy raiment, and the star. 
 
 Then she that watch'd him, * Wherefore stare ye so ? 
 Thou shakest in thy fear : there yet is time : 
 
GAKETH AND LYNETTE. 59 
 
 Flee down the valley before he get to horse. 
 
 Who will cry shame ? Thou art not knight but knave.' 
 
 Said Gareth, ' Damsel, whether knave or knight, 
 Far liefer had I fight a score of times 
 Than hear thee so missay me and revile. 
 Fair words were best for him who fights for thee ; 
 But truly foul arc better, for they send 
 That strength of anger thro' mine arms, I know 
 That I shall overthrow him.* 
 
 And he that bore 
 The star, being mounted, cried from o'er the bridge, 
 * A kitchen-knave, and sent in scorn of me ! 
 ^Such fight not I, but answer scorn with scorn. 
 For this were shame to do him further wrong 
 Than set him on his feet, and take his horse 
 And arms, and so return him to the King. 
 Come, therefore, leave thy lady Hghtly, knave. 
 
(30 GAKETH AND LYKETTE. 
 
 Avoid : for it beseemeth not a knave 
 To ride with such a lady.' 
 
 * Dog, thou liest. 
 I spring from loftier lineage than thine own.* 
 He spake ; and all at fiery speed the two 
 Shock'd on the central bridge, and either spear 
 Bent but not brake, and either knight at once, 
 Hurl'd as a stone from out of a catapult 
 Beyond his horse's crupper and the bridge, 
 Fell, as if dead ; but quickly rose and drew, 
 And Gareth lash'd so fiercely with his brand 
 He drave his enemy backward down the bridge. 
 The damsel crying, * Well-stricken, kitchen-knave ! ' 
 Till Gareth's shield was cloven ; but one stroke 
 Laid him that clove it grovelling on the ground. 
 
 Then cried the fall'n, * Take not my life : I yield.* 
 And Gareth, * So this damsel ask it of me 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 61 
 
 Good — I accord it easily as a grace.' 
 
 She reddening, * Insolent scullion : I of thee ? 
 
 I bound to thee for any favour ask'd ! ' 
 
 * Then shall he die.' And Gareth there unlaced 
 His helmet as to slay him, but she shriek'd, 
 
 * Be not so hardy, scullion, as to slay 
 
 One nobler than thyself.' * Damsel, thy charge 
 
 Is an abounding pleasure to me. Knight, 
 
 Thy life is thine at her command. Arise 
 
 And quickly pass to Arthur's hall, and say 
 
 His kitchen-knave hath sent thee. See thou crave 
 
 His pardon for thy breaking of his laws. 
 
 Myself, when I return, will plead for thee. 
 
 Thy shield is mine — farewell ; and, damsel, thou, 
 
 Lead, and I follow.' 
 
 And fiist away she fled. 
 Then when he came upon her, spake, * Methought, 
 Knave, when I watch'd thee striking on the bridge 
 
62 GARETH AKD LYNETTE. 
 
 The savour of thy kitchen came upon me 
 
 A little faintlier : but the wind hath changed : 
 
 I scent it twentyfold.' And then she sang, 
 
 * '' morning star " (not that tall felon there 
 
 Whom thou by sorcery or unhappiness 
 
 Or some device, hast foully overthrown), 
 
 *' morning star that smilest in the blue, 
 
 star, my morning dream hath proven true, 
 
 Smile sweetly, thou ! my love hath smiled on me." 
 
 * But thou begone, take counsel, and away, 
 For hard by here is one that guards a ford — 
 The second brother in their fool's parable — 
 Will pay thee all thy wages, and to boot. 
 Care not for shame : thou art not knight but knave.' 
 
 To whom Sir Gareth answer' d, laughingly, 
 * Parables ? Hear a parable of the knave. 
 
GAUETH AND LYNETTE. 63 
 
 When I was kitchen-knave among the rest 
 
 Fierce was the hearth, and one of my co-mates 
 
 Own'd a rough dog, to whom he cast his coat, 
 
 ** Guard it," and there was none to meddle with it. 
 
 And such a coat art thou, and thee the King 
 
 Gave me to guard, and such a dog am I, 
 
 To worry, and not to flee — and — knight or knave — 
 
 The knave that doth thee service as full knight 
 
 Is all as good, meseems, as any knight 
 
 Toward thy sister's freeing.' 
 
 * Ay, Sir Kaave ! 
 Ay, knave, because thou strikest as a knight, 
 Being but knave, I hate thee all the more.' 
 
 * Fair damsel, ye should worship me the more, 
 That, being but knave, I throw thine enemies.' 
 
 * Ay, ay,' she said, * but thou shalt meet thy match,' 
 
64 GAEETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 So when they touch'd the second river-loop, 
 Huge on a huge red horse, and all in mail 
 Burnish'd to blinding, shone the Noonday Sun 
 Beyond a raging shallow. As if the flower, 
 That blows a globe of after arrowlets, 
 Ten thousand-fold had grown, flash'd the fierce shield, 
 All sun ; and Gareth's eyes had flying blots 
 Before them when he turn'd from watching him. 
 He from beyond the roaring shallow roar'd, 
 ' What doest thou, brother, in my marches here ? * 
 And she athwart the shalloAV shrill'd again, 
 ' Here is a kitchen-knave from Arthur's hall 
 Hath overthrown thy brother, and hath his arms/ 
 * Ugh ! ' cried the Sun, and vizoring up a red 
 And cipher face of rounded foolishness, 
 Push'd horse across the foamings of the ford. 
 Whom Gareth met midstream : no room was there 
 For lance or tourney- skill : four strokes they struck 
 
CUIETH AXD LYNETTE. 65 
 
 With sword, and these were mighty ; the new knight 
 Had fear he might he shamed ; hut as the Sun 
 Heaved up a ponderous arm to strike the fifth, 
 The hoof of his horse slipt in the stream, the stream 
 Descended, and the Sun was wash'd away. 
 
 Then Gareth laid his lance athwart the ford ; 
 So drew him home ; but he that fought no more, 
 As being all bone-batter'd on the rock, 
 Yielded ; and Gareth sent him to the King. 
 ' Myself when I return will plead for thee. 
 Lead, and I follow.' Quietly she led. 
 
 * Hath not the good wind, damsel, changed again ? ' 
 
 * Nay, not a point : nor art thou victor here. 
 There lies a ridge of slate across the ford ; 
 His horse thereon stumbled— ay, for I saw it. 
 
 * ** Sun " (not this strongfool whom thou, Sir Knave, 
 
<36 GARETH AND LYIS^ETTE. 
 
 Hast overthrown thro' mere imhappiEess), 
 ** Sun, that wakenest all to bliss or pain, 
 moon, that laycst all to sleep again, 
 Shine sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on 
 me." 
 
 * What knowest thou of lovesong or of love ? 
 Nay, nay, God v/ot, so thou wert nobly born. 
 Thou hast a pleasant presence. Yea, perchance, 
 
 * '' dewy flowers that open to the sun, 
 dew^y flowers that close when day is done, 
 VAow sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on me." 
 
 ' What knowest thou of flowers, except, belike. 
 To garnish meats with ? hath not our good King 
 Who lent me thee, the flower of Idtchendom, 
 A foolish love for flowers ? what stick ye round 
 
GAKETH AND LYXETTE. 67 
 
 The pasty ? wherewithal deck the boar's head ? 
 Flowers '? nay, the hoar hath rosemaries and bay. 
 
 * '' birds, that warble to the morning sky, 
 birds that warble as the day goes by, 
 Sing sweetly ; twice my love hath smiled on nic." 
 
 * What knowest thou of birds, lark, mavis, merle, 
 Linnet ? what dream ye when they utter forth 
 May-music growing with the growing light, 
 Their sweet sun-worship ? these be for the snare 
 (So runs thy fancy) these be for the spit, 
 Larding and basting. See thou have not now 
 Larded thy last, except thou turn and fly. 
 There stands the third fool of theii' allegory.' 
 
 For there beyond a bridge of treble bow, 
 All in a rose-red from the west, and all 
 
68 GARETH AXD LYNETTE. 
 
 Naked it secm'd, and glowing in the broad 
 Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight, 
 That named himself the Star of Evening, stood. 
 
 And Gareth, * Wherefore waits the madman there 
 Naked in open dayshine ? ' * Nay,' she cried, 
 
 * Not naked, only wrapt in harden'd skins 
 That fit him like his own ; and so ye cleave 
 His armour off him, these will turn the blade.' 
 
 Then the third brother shouted o'er the bridge, 
 
 * brother-star, why shine ye here so low ? 
 Thy ward is higher up : but have ye slain 
 
 The damsel's champion ? ' and the damsel cried, 
 
 * No star of thine, but shot from Arthur's heaven 
 "With all disaster unto thine and thee ! 
 For both thy younger brethren have gone down 
 
GAllETH AXD LYXETTE. 69 
 
 Before tHs youth ; and so wilt thou, Sir Star ; 
 Art thou not old ? ' 
 
 * Old, damsel, old and hard 
 Old, with the might and breath of twenty boys.' 
 Said Gareth, * Old, and over-bold in brag ! 
 But that same strength which threw the Morning- Star 
 Can throw the Evening.' 
 
 Then that other blew 
 A hard and deadly note upon the horn. 
 * Approach and arm me ! ' With slow steps from out 
 An old storm-beaten, russet, many-stain'd 
 Pavilion, forth a grizzled damsel came. 
 And arm'd him in old arms, and brought a helm 
 With but a drying evergreen for crest, 
 And gave a shield whereon the Star of Even 
 Half- tarnish' d and half-bright, his emblem, shone. 
 
iO GARETH AND LYXETTE. 
 
 But when it glitter'd o'er the saddle-bow, 
 They madly hurl'd together on the bridge ; 
 And Gareth overthrew him, lighted, drew, 
 There met him drawn, and overthrew him again. 
 But up like fire he started : and as oft 
 As Gareth brought him grovelling on his knees, 
 So many a time he vaulted up again ; 
 Till Gareth panted hard, and his great heart, 
 Foredooming all his trouble was in vain, 
 Labour'd within him, for he seem'd as one 
 That all in later, sadder age begins 
 To war against ill uses of a life, 
 But these from all his life arise, and cry, 
 *Thou hast made us lords, and canst not put us dov;n ! ' 
 He half despairs ; so Gareth seem'd to strike 
 Vainly, the damsel clamouring all the while, 
 'Well done, knave-knight, well-stricken, good knight- 
 knave — 
 
GAEEXn AKD LYXETTE. <J 
 
 knave, as noble as any of all the knights — 
 Shame me not, shame me not. I have prophc;^:Icd — 
 Strike, thou art worthy of the Table Round — 
 His arms are old, he trusts the hardened skin — 
 Strike — strike — the wind will never change again.' 
 And Gareth hearing ever stronglier smote, 
 And hew'd great pieces of his armour off him,. 
 But lash'd in vain against the harden'd skin^ 
 And could not wholly bring him under, more 
 Than loud Southwesterns, rolling ridge on ridge^ 
 The buoy that rides at sea, and dips and springs 
 For ever ; till at length Sir Gareth' s brand 
 Clash'd his, and brake it utterly to the hilt, 
 * I have thee now ; * but forth that other sprang. 
 And, all unknightlike, writhed his wiry arms 
 Around him, till he felt, despite his mail. 
 Strangled, but straining ev'n his uttermost 
 Cast, and so hurFd him headlong o'er the bridge 
 
i^ GARETH AXD LYNETTE. 
 
 Down to the river, sink or swim, and cried, 
 * Lead, and I follow\' 
 
 But the damsel said, 
 ^ I lead no longer ; ride thou at my side ; 
 Thou art the kingliest of all kitchen-knaves. 
 
 * " trefoil, sparkling on the rainy plain, 
 rainbow with three colours after rain, 
 
 Shine sweetly : thrice my love hath smiled on me.'* 
 
 * Sir, — and, good faith, I fain had added — Knight, 
 But that I heard thee call thyself a knave, — 
 Shamed am I that I so rebuked, reviled, 
 
 Missaid thee ; noble I am ; and thought the King 
 Scorn'd me and mine ; and now thy pardon, friend, 
 For thou hast ever answer'd courteously, 
 And whollv bold thou art, and meek wdthal 
 
GARETH AND LYXETTE. 73 
 
 As any of Arthur's best, but, being knave. 
 Hast mazed my wit : I marvel what thou art.' 
 
 'Damsel,' be said, * ye be not all to blame, 
 Saving that ye mistrusted our good King 
 "Would handle scorn, or yield thee, asking, ono 
 Not fit to cope thy quest. Ye said your say ; 
 Mine answer was my deed. Good sooth ! I hold 
 He scarce is knight, yea but half-man, nor meet 
 To fight for gentle damsel, he, who lets 
 His heart be stirr'd with any foolish heat 
 At any gentle damsel's waywardness. 
 Shamed ? care not ! thy foul sayings fought for me : 
 And seeing now thy words are fair, methinks. 
 There rides no knight, not Lancelot, his great self. 
 Hath force to quell me.' 
 
 Nigh upon that hour 
 When the lone hern forgets his melancholy. 
 
4 4 GAEETII AXD LYXETTE. 
 
 Lets down his other leg, and stretching^ dreams 
 
 Of goodly supper in the distant pool, 
 
 Then turn'd the nohle damsel smiling at him, 
 
 And told him of a cavern hard at hand, 
 
 ^Yhere hread and haken meats and good red wine 
 
 Of Southland, which the Lady Lyonors 
 
 Had sent her coming champion, waited him. 
 
 Anon they past a narrow comb wherein 
 Were slabs of rock with figures, knights on horse 
 Sculptured, and deckt in slowly- waning hues. 
 * Sir Knave, my knight, a hermit once was here, 
 ^Yhose holy hand hath fiishion'd on the rock 
 The war of Time against the soul of man. 
 And yon four fools have suck'd their allegory 
 From these damp walls, and taken but the form. 
 Know ye not these ? ' and Gareth lookt and read- 
 In letters like to those the vexillary 
 
GARETH AXD Li'KETTE. 75 
 
 Hath left crag-carven o'er the streaming Gelt — 
 
 ' Phosphorus/ then ' Meridies ' — ' Hesperus ' — 
 
 < >«^ox ' — ^ ;]iIoRs/ beneath five figures, armed men» 
 
 Slab after slab, their faces forward all. 
 
 And running down the Soul, a Shape that fled 
 
 "With broken wings, torn raiment and loose hair, 
 
 For help and shelter to the hermit's cave. 
 
 ' Follow the faces, and w^e find it. Look, 
 
 "Who comes behind ? ' 
 
 For one — delay'd at first 
 Thro' helping back the dislocated Kay 
 To Camelot, then by what thereafter chanced, 
 The damsel's headlong error thro' the wood — 
 Sir Lancelot, having swum the river-loops — 
 Kis blue shield-lions cover'd — softly drew 
 Behind the twain, and when he saw^ the star 
 Gleam, on Sir Garcth's turning to him, cried, 
 
76 GAEETII AND LYNETTE. 
 
 ' Stay, felon knight, I avenge me for my friend/ 
 And Garetli crying prick'd against the cry; 
 But when they closed — in a moment — at one touch 
 Of that skill 'd spear, the wonder of the world — 
 Went sliding down so easily, and fell, 
 That when he found the grass within his hands 
 He laugh'd ; the laughter jarr'd upon Lynette : 
 Harshly she ask'd him, ^ Shamed and overthrown, 
 And tumbled back into the kitchen-knave, 
 Why laugh ye ? that ye blew your boast in vain ? * 
 * Nay, noble damsel, but that I, the son 
 Of old King Lot and good Queen Bellicent, 
 And victor of the bridges aud the ford. 
 And knight of Arthur, here lie thrown by whom 
 I know not, all thro' mere unhappiness — 
 Device and sorcery and unhappiness — 
 Out, sword ; we arc thrown ! ' And Lancelot answcr'd, 
 * Prince, 
 
GARETII AND LYXETTE. U 
 
 Garcth — thro' the mere unhappiuess 
 Of one who came to help thee not to harm, 
 Lancelot, and all as glad to find thee whole. 
 As on the day when Arthur knighted him.' 
 
 Then Garcth, • Thou — Lancelot ! — thine the hand 
 That threw me ? An some chance to mar the hoast 
 Thy brethren of thee make — which could not chance — 
 Had sent thee down before a lesser spear, 
 Shamed had I been and sad — Lancelot— thou ! ' 
 
 Whereat the maiden, petulant, * Lancelot, 
 Why came ye not, when call'd ? and wherefore now 
 Come ye, not call'd ? I gloried in my knave, 
 Who being still rebuked, w-ould answer still 
 Courteous as any knight — ^but now, if knight. 
 The marvel dies, and leaves me fool'd and trick'd, 
 And only wondering w^herefore play'd upon : 
 
7S GAEEXn A^^D LYIs^ETTE. 
 
 And doubtful whether I and mine be scorn' J. 
 Where should be truth if not in Arthur's hall, 
 In Arthur's presence ? Knight, knave, prince and fool, 
 I hate thee and for ever.' 
 
 And Lancelot said, 
 ' Blessed be thou, Sir Gareth ! knight art thou 
 To the lung's best wish. damsel, be ye wise 
 To call him shamed, who is but overthrown ? 
 Thrown have I been, nor once, but many a time. 
 Victor from vancjuish'd issues at the last, 
 And overthrower from being overthrown. 
 With sword we have not striven ; and thy good horse 
 And thou are weary ; yet not less I felt 
 Thy manhood thro' that wearied lance of thine. 
 AVell hast thou done ; for all the stream is freed, 
 And thou hast wreak'd his justice on his foes, 
 And when reviled, hast answer'd graciously, 
 
GARETK AXD LYXETTE. 79 
 
 And makest merry, when overthrown. Prince, Knight, 
 Hail, Knight and Prince, and of our Table Hound ! ' 
 
 And then when turning to Lynette he told 
 The tale of Gareth, petulantly she said, 
 
 * Ay well — ay well — for worse than being fool'd 
 Of others, is to fool one's self. A cave, 
 
 Sir Lancelot, is hard by, with meats and drinks 
 
 And forage for the horse, and flint for fire. 
 
 But all about it flies a honeysuckle. 
 
 Seek, till we find.' And when they sought and found, 
 
 Sir Gareth drank and ate, and all his life 
 
 Past into sleep ; on whom the maiden gazed. 
 
 * Sound sleep be thine ! sound cause to sleep hast thou. 
 Wake lusty ! Seem I not as tender to him 
 
 As any mother ? Ay, but such a one 
 As all day long hath rated at her child. 
 And vext his day, but blesses him asleep — 
 
80 GAUETH AND LYNETTE. 
 
 Good lord, how sweetly smells the honeysuckle 
 In the hush'd night, as if the world were one 
 Of utter peace, and love, and gentleness ! 
 Lancelot, Lancelot ' — and she claj^t her hands — 
 
 * Full merry am I to find my goodly knave 
 
 Is knight and noble. See now, sworn have I, 
 Else yon black felon had not let me pass, 
 To bring thee back to do the battle with him. 
 Thus an thou goest, he vfill fight thee first ; 
 Who doubts thee victor ? so will my knight-knave 
 Miss the full flower of this accomplishment.* 
 
 Said Lancelot, ' Peradventure he, ye name, 
 May know my shield. Let Garcth, an he will, 
 Change his for mine, and take my charger, fresh, 
 Not to be spurr'd, loving the battle as well 
 As he that rides him.' * Lancelot-like,' she said, 
 
 * Courteous in this, Lord Lancelot, as in all.' 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 81 
 
 And Gareth, wakening, fiercely clutch'd the shield ; 
 * Eamp ye lance-splintering lions, on whom all spears 
 Are rotten sticks ! ye seem agape to roar ! 
 Yea, ramp and roar at leaving of your lord ! — 
 Care not, good beasts, so well I care for you. 
 noble Lancelot, from my hold on these 
 Streams virtue — fire — thro' one that will not shamo 
 Even the shadow of Lancelot under shield. 
 Hence : let us go.* 
 
 Silent the silent field 
 They traversed. Arthur's harp tho' summer- wan, 
 In counter motion to the clouds, allured 
 The glance of Gareth dreaming on his liege. 
 A star shot : * Lo,' said Gareth, * the foe falls ! ' 
 An owl whoopt : ^ Hark the victor pealing there ! ' 
 Suddenly she that rode upon his left 
 Clung to the shield that Lancelot lent him, crying, 
 
 G 
 
82 GARETH a:s'd ly:n-ette. 
 
 * Yield, yield him this again : 'tis he must fight : 
 
 I curse the tongue that all thro' yesterday 
 
 Eeviled thee, and hath wrought on Lancelot now 
 
 To lend thee horse and shield : wonders ye have done ; 
 
 Miracles ye cannot : hero is glory enow 
 
 In having Hung the three : I see thee maim'd, 
 
 Mangled : I swear thou canst not fling the fourth.' 
 
 * And wherefore, damsel ? tell me all ye knov/. 
 Ye cannot scare me ; nor rough face, or voice, 
 Brute hulk of limh, or boundless savagery 
 Appal me from the quest.' 
 
 'Nay, Prince,' she cried, 
 ' God w^ot, I never look'd upon the face, 
 Seeing he never rides abroad by day ; 
 But watch' d him have I like a phantom pass 
 Chillinf]: the ni^ht : nor have I heard the voice. 
 
GARETII AN1> LY^sETTE. 83 
 
 Always he made Lis mouthpiece of a page 
 "Who came and went, and still reported him 
 As closing in himself the strength of ten, 
 And when his anger tare him, massacring 
 Man, w^oman, lad and girl — yea, the soft babe ! 
 Some hold that he hath swallow'd infant flesh, 
 Monster ! prince, I went for Lancelot first, 
 The quest is Lancelot's : give him back the shield.' 
 
 Said Gareth laughing, ' An he fight for this, 
 Belike he wins it as the better man : 
 Thus- — and not else ? ' 
 
 But Lancelot on him urged 
 All the devisings of their chivaliy 
 Where one might meet a mightier than himself ; 
 How best to manage horse, lance, sword and shield. 
 And so fill up the gap where force might fail 
 "With skill and fineness. Instant were his words. 
 
84 GAEETH A^^D LYNETTE. 
 
 Then Garetb, ' Here be rules. I know but one— 
 To dash against mine enemy and to win. 
 Yet have I watcb'd tbee victor in the joust, 
 And seen tby way.' * Heaven help thee,' sigh'J 
 Lynette. 
 
 Then for a space, and under cloud that grew 
 To thunder-gloom palling all stars, they rode 
 In converse till she made her palfrey halt, 
 Lifted an arm, and softly whisper'd, * There/ 
 And all the three were silent seeing, pitch'd 
 Beside the Castle Perilous on flat field, 
 A huge pavilion like a mountain peak 
 Sunder the glooming crimson on the marge, 
 Black, with black banner, and a long black horn 
 Beside it hanging ; which Sir Gareth graspt, 
 And so, before the tv/o could hinder him, 
 Sent all liis heart and breath thro' all the horn. 
 
GARETH AND LYNETTE. 85 
 
 Echo'd the walls ; a light twinkled ; anon 
 
 Came lights and lights, and once again he hlcw ; 
 
 "Whereon were hollow tramplings up and down 
 
 And muffled voices heard, and shadows past ; 
 
 Till high above him, circled with her maids, 
 
 The Lady Lyonors at a window stood. 
 
 Beautiful among lights, and waving to him 
 
 White hands, and courtesy ; but when the Prince 
 
 Three times had blown — after long hush — at last — 
 
 The huge pavilion slowly yielded up, 
 
 Thro' those black foldings, that which housed 
 
 therein. 
 High on a nightblack horse, in nightblack arms. 
 With white breast-bone, and barren ribs of Death, 
 And crown'd with fieshless laughter — some ten 
 
 steps — 
 In the half-light — thro' the dim dawn — advanced 
 The monster, and then paused, and spake no word. 
 
86 GARETH AJSD LYNETTE. 
 
 But Gareth spake and all indignantly, 
 * Fool, for thou iiast, men say, the strength of ten, 
 Canst thcu not trust the limbs thy God hath given, 
 But must, to malio the terror of thee more, 
 Trick thyself out in ghastly im.ageries 
 Of that which Life hath done with, and the clod, 
 Less dull than thou, will hide with mantling flowers 
 As if for pity ? ' But he spake no word ; 
 Which set the horror higher : a maiden swoon' d ; 
 The Lady Lyonors wrung her hands and wept, 
 As doom'd to be the bride of Night and Death ; 
 Sir Gareth's head prickled beneath his helm : 
 And cv'n Sir Lancelot thro' his warm blood felt 
 Ice strike, and all that mark'd him were aghast. 
 
 At once Sir Lancelot's charger fiercely neigh'd — 
 At once the black horse bounded forward with him. 
 Then those that did not blink the terror, saw 
 
GAEETII AND LYNETTE. 87 
 
 That Death was cast to ground, and slowly rose. 
 
 But with one stroke Sir Gareth split the skull. 
 
 Half fell to right and half to left and lay. 
 
 Then with a stronger buffet he clove the helm 
 
 As throughly as the skull ; and out from this 
 
 Issued the bright face of a blooming boy 
 
 Fresh as a flower new-born, and crying, * Knight, 
 
 Slay me not : my three brethren bad me do it, 
 
 To make a horror all about the house, 
 
 And stay the world from Lady Lyonors. 
 
 They never dream'd the passes would be past.* 
 
 Answer'd Sir Gareth graciously to one 
 
 Not many a moon his younger, ^ My fair child, 
 
 What madness made thee challenge the chief knight 
 
 Of Arthur's hall ? ' * Fair Sir, they bad me do it. 
 
 They hate the King, and Lancelot, the King's friend, 
 
 They hoped to slay him somewhere on the stream, 
 
 They never dream'd the passes could be past.* 
 
88 GAP.ETH AXD LYNEITE. 
 
 Then sprang the happier day from underground ] 
 And Lady Lyonors and her house, Tvdth dance 
 And revel and song, made merry over Death, 
 As being after all their foolish fears 
 And horrors only proven a blooming boy. 
 ^^0 large mirth lived and Gareth won the quest. 
 
 And he that told the tale in older times 
 Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors, 
 But he, that told it later, says Lynette. 
 
THE LAST TOURNAMENT. 
 
THE LAST TOTJENAMENT. 
 
 ^AGONET, the fool, ^vliom Gawaln in his mood 
 Had made mock-knight of Arthur's Tahle Round, 
 At Camelot, high ahove the yellowing woods. 
 Danced like a wither* d leaf before the hall. 
 And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand, 
 And from the crown thereof a carcanet 
 Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize 
 Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterday, 
 Came Tristram, saying, * Why skip ye so, Sk Fool ? ' 
 
 For Arthur and Sii' Lancelot riding once 
 Far down beneath a winding? wall of rock 
 
92 THE LAST TOTJRNAMEXT, 
 
 Heard a child wail. A stump of oak half-dead, 
 From roots like some black coil of carven snakes 
 Clutch'd at the crag, and started thro' mid air 
 Beaiing an eagle's nest : and thro' the tree 
 Rush'd ever a rainy wind, and thro' the wind 
 Pierced ever a child's cry : and crag and tree 
 Scaling, Sir Lancelot from the perilous nest, 
 This ruby necklace thrice around her neck, 
 And all unscarr'd from beak or talon, brought 
 A maiden babe ; which Arthur pitying took, 
 Then gave it to his Queen to rear : the Queen 
 But coldly acquiescing, in her white arms 
 Received, and after loved it tenderly, 
 And named it Nestling ; so forgot herself 
 A moment, and her cares ; till that young life 
 Being smitten in mid heaven with mortal cold 
 Past from her ; and in time the carcanet 
 Vext her with plaintive memories of the child : 
 
THE LAST TOURNAMEXT. 93 
 
 So she, delivering it to Ai'thur, said, 
 
 * Take thou the jewels of this dead innocence, 
 And make them, an thou wilt, a tourney-prize.* 
 
 To whom the King, * Peace to thine eagle-borne 
 Dead nestling, and this honour after death, 
 Following thy will ! but, my Queen, I muse 
 Why ye not wear on arm, or neck, or zone 
 Those diamonds that I rescued from the tarn, 
 And Lancelot won, methought, for thee to wear.' 
 
 * Would rather ye had let them fall,' she cried, 
 
 * Plunge and be lost — ill-fated as they were, 
 A bitterness to me ! — ye look amazed. 
 
 Not knowing they were lost as soon as given — 
 Slid from my hands, when I was leaning out 
 Above the river — that unhappy child 
 Past in her barge : but rosier luck will go 
 
9.4 THE LAST TOUEXAMEXT. 
 
 AVith these rich jewels, seeing that tlicy carno 
 
 Not from the skeleton of a Lrother- slayer. 
 
 But the sweet body of a maiden babe. 
 
 Perchance — who knows ? — the purest of thy knights 
 
 May win them for the purest of my maids.' 
 
 She ended, and the cry of a great jousts 
 With trumpet-blowings ran on all the Vv^aj's 
 From Camelot in among the faded fields 
 To furthest toY/ers ; and everywhere the knights 
 Arm'd for a day of glory before the King. 
 
 But on the hither side of that loud morn 
 Into the hall stagger'd, his visage ribb'd 
 From ear to ear with dogwhip- weals, his noso 
 Bridge-broken, one eye out, and one hand off, 
 And one with shatter'd fingers dangling lame, 
 A churl, to whom indignantly the King, 
 
THE LAST TOUllXAZylEXT. 95 
 
 ' My clnirl, for whom Christ died, wliat evil beast 
 Hath drawn his claws athwart thy face ? or fiend ? 
 Man Y/as it v/ho marr'd heaven's image in thee thus ? ' 
 
 Then, sputtering thro' the hedge of spHnter'd teeth 
 Yet strangers to the tongue, and with bkint stump 
 Pitch-Llacken'd sawing the air, said the maim'd churl, 
 
 * Ho took them and he dravo them to his tower — 
 Some hold he Avas a table-knight of thine — 
 A hundred goodly ones — the Red Knight, he- 
 Lord, I was tending swine, and the Eed Knight 
 Brake in upon me and drave them to his tower ; 
 And when I call'd upon thy name as one 
 That doest right by gentle and by churl, 
 Maim'd me and maulM, and would outright have slain, 
 Save that he sware me to a message, saying, 
 *' Tell thou the King and all his liars, that I 
 Have founded my Round Table in the North, 
 
96 THE LAST TOURXAMEXT. 
 
 And whatsoever his own knights have sworn 
 
 My knights have sworn the counter to it — and say 
 
 My tower is full of harlots, like his court, 
 
 But mine are worthier, seeing they profess 
 
 To be none other than themselves— and say 
 
 My knights are all adulterers like his own, 
 
 But mine are truer, seeing they profess 
 
 To be none other ; and say his hour is come, 
 
 The heathen are upon him, his long lance 
 
 Broken, and his Excalibur a straw." ' 
 
 Then Arthur turn'd to Kay the seneschal, 
 * Take thou my churl, and tend him curiously 
 Like a king's heir, till all his hurts be whole. 
 The heathen — but that ever-climbing wave, 
 Hurl'd back again so often in empty foam. 
 Hath lain for years at rest — and renegades, 
 Thieves, bandits, leavings of confusion, whom 
 
THE LAST TOURIs^AMENT. 97 
 
 The wholesome realm is purged of otherwhere, — 
 Friends, thro' your manhood and your fealty, — now 
 Make their last head like Satan in the North. 
 My younger knights, new-made, in whom your 
 
 flower 
 Waits to be solid fruit of golden deeds, 
 Move with me toward their quelling, which achieved. 
 The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shore. 
 But thou. Sir Lancelot, sitting in my place 
 Enchair'd to-morrow, arbitrate the field ; 
 For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle "^^ith it, 
 Only to yield my Queen her own again ? 
 Speak, Lancelot, thou art silent : is it well ? ' 
 
 Thereto Sir Lancelot answer'd, * It is well : 
 Yet better if the King abide, and leave 
 The leading of his younger knights to me. 
 Else, for the King has will'd it, it is well.' 
 
 H 
 
98 THE LAST T0UR]S'AME:N'T. 
 
 Then Arthur rose and Lancelot follow'd him, 
 And while they stood without the doors, the King 
 Turn'd to him saying, * Is it then so well ? 
 Or mine the hlame that oft I seem as he 
 Of whom was written, *' A sound is in his ears " — 
 The foot that loiters, bidden go, — the glance 
 That only seems half-loyal to command, — 
 xi manner somewhat fall'n from reverence — 
 Or have I dream'd the bearing of our knights 
 Tells of a manhood ever less and lower ? 
 Or whence the fear lest this my realm, uprear'd. 
 By noble deeds at one with noble vows. 
 From flat confusion and brute violences, 
 Eeel back into the beast, and be no more ? ' 
 
 He spoke, and taking all his younger knights, 
 Down the slope city rode, and sharply turn'd 
 North by the gate. In her high bower the Queen, 
 
THE LAST TOUIIXAMEXT. 99 
 
 Working a tapestry, lifted up her head, 
 
 Watch'd her lord pass, and knew not that she 
 
 sigh'd. 
 Then ran across her memory the strange rhyme 
 Of bygone Merlin, * Where is he who knows ? 
 From the great deep to the great deep he goes.' 
 
 But when the morning of a tournament, 
 By these in earnest those in mockery call'd 
 The Tournament of the Dead Innocence, 
 Brake with a wet wind blowing, Lancelot, 
 Round whose sick head all night, like birds of prey. 
 The words of Arthur flying shriek'd, arose, 
 And down a streetway hung -vvith folds of pure 
 White samite, and by fountains running wine. 
 Where children sat in white with cups of gold, 
 Moved to the lists, and there, with slow sad steps 
 Ascending, fill'd his double-dragon 'd chair. 
 
100 THE LAST TOUHNAMENTt 
 
 He glanced and saw the stately galleries, 
 Dame, damsel, each thro' worship of their Queen 
 White-rohed in honour of the stainless child, 
 And some with scatter'd jewels, like a bank 
 Of maiden snow mingled with sparks of fire. 
 He look'd but once, and vail'd his eyes again. 
 
 The sudden trumpet sounded as in a dream 
 To ears but half- awaked, then one low roll 
 Of Autumn thunder, and the jousts began : 
 And ever the wind blew, and yellowing leaf 
 And gloom and gleam, and shower and shorn plume 
 Went down it. Sighing weariedly, as one 
 Who sits and gazes on a faded fire, 
 When all the goodlier guests are past away. 
 Sat their great umpire, looking o'er the lists. 
 He saw the laws that ruled the tournament 
 Broken, but spake not ; once, a knight cast down 
 
THE LAST TOURNAMENT. 101 
 
 Before his throne of arbitration cursed 
 
 The dead babe and the follies of the Iving ; 
 
 And once the laces of a helmet crack'd, 
 
 And show'd him, like a vermin in its hole, 
 
 Modred, a narrow face : anon he heard 
 
 The voice that billow'd round the barriers roar 
 
 An ocean-sounding welcome to one knight, 
 
 But newly-enter'd, taller than the rest, 
 
 And armour'd all in forest green, whereon 
 
 There tript a hundred tiny silver deer. 
 
 And wearing but a holly-spray for crest. 
 
 With ever- scattering berries, and on shield 
 
 A spear, a harp, a bugle — Tristram — late 
 
 From overseas in Brittany return' d, 
 
 And marriage with a princess of that realm, 
 
 Isolt the "White — Sir Tristram of the Woods — 
 
 Whom Lancelot knew, had held sometime with pain 
 
 Eis own against him, and now yearn' d to shake 
 
102 THE LAST TOUEIs^AMEXT. 
 
 The burtlien off his heart in one full 'shock 
 With Tristram ev'n to death : his strong hands gript 
 And dinted the gilt dragons right and left, 
 Until he groan'd for wrath— so many of those, 
 That ware their ladies' colours on the casque, 
 Drew from before Sir Tristram to the bounds. 
 And there with gibes and flickering mockeries 
 Stood, while he mutter'd, ^ Craven crests ! shame 
 Y/hat faith have these in whom they sware to love ? 
 The glory of our Round Table is no more.' 
 
 So Tristram won, and Lancelot gave, the gems, 
 Not speaking other word than * Hast thou won ? 
 Art thou the purest, brother ? See, the hand 
 Wherewith thou takest this, is red ! ' to whom 
 Tristram, half plagued by Lancelot's languorous 
 
 mood. 
 Made answer, * Ay, but wherefore toss me this 
 
TEE LAST TOniXA?,lEXT. 103 
 
 Like a dry bone cast to some hungry bound ? 
 
 Let be thy fair Queen's fantasy. Strength of heart 
 
 And might of limb, but mainly use and skill, 
 
 Are winners in this pastime of our King. 
 
 My hand — belike the lance hath dript upon it — 
 
 No blood of mine, I trow ; but chief knight, 
 
 Right arm of Arthur in the battlefield, 
 
 Great brother, thou nor I have made the world ; 
 
 Be happy in thy fair Queen as I in mine.' 
 
 And Tristram round the gallery made his horse 
 Caracole ; then bow'd his homage, bluntly saying, 
 
 * Fair damsels, each to him who worships each 
 Sole Queen of Beauty and of love, behold 
 This day my Queen of Beauty is not here.' 
 And most of these were mute, some anger'd, one 
 Murmuring, ' All courtesy is dead,' and one, 
 
 * The glory of our Bound Table is no more.' 
 
104 THE LAST TOrE:XAME^^T. 
 
 Then fell thick rain, plume droopt and mantle clung, 
 And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day- 
 Went glooming down in wet and weariness : 
 But under her black brows a sAvarthy one 
 Laugh'd shrilly, crying, * Praise the patient saints. 
 Our one white day of Innocence hath past, 
 Tho' somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it. 
 The snowdrop only, flowering thro' the year. 
 Would make the world as blank as winter-tide. 
 Come — let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's 
 And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity 
 With all the kindlier colours of the field.' 
 
 So dame and damsel glitter'd at the feast 
 Variously gay : for he that tells the tale 
 Liken'd them, saying, as when an hour of cold 
 Falls on the mountain in midsummer snows, 
 And all the purple slopes of mountain flowers 
 
THE LAST TOURNAMENT. 105 
 
 Pass under white, till the warm hour returns 
 With veer of wind, and all are flowers again ; 
 So dame and damsel cast the simple white, 
 And glowing in all colours, the live grass, 
 Rose-campion, bluebell, kingcup, poppy, glanced 
 About the revels, and with mirth so loud 
 Beyond all use, that, half-amazed, the Queen, 
 And wroth at Tristram and the lawless jousts. 
 Brake up their sports, then slowly to her bower 
 Parted, and in her bosom pain was lord. 
 
 And little Dagonet on the morrow morn, 
 High over all the yellowing Autumn-tide, 
 Danced like a wither'd leaf before the hall. 
 Then Tristram saying, * Why skip ye so, Sir Fool ? * 
 Wheel'd round on either heel, Dagonet replied, 
 * Belike for lack of wiser company ; 
 Or being fool, and seeing too much wit 
 
106 THE LAST TOUEXAMENT. 
 
 Makes the world rotten, why, belike I skip 
 
 To know myself the wisest knight of all.' 
 
 ' Ay, fool,' said Tristram, * but 'tis eating dry 
 
 To dance without a catch, a roundelay 
 
 To dance to.' Then he twangled on his harp, 
 
 And while he twangled little Dagonet stood, 
 
 Quiet as any water- sodden log 
 
 Stay'd in the wandering warble of a brook ; 
 
 But when the twangling ended, skipt again ; 
 
 Then being ask'd, ' Why skipt ye not, Sir Fool ? ' 
 
 Made answer, * I had liefer twenty years 
 
 Skip to the broken music of my brains 
 
 Than any broken music ye can make.' 
 
 Then Tristram, waiting for the quip to come, 
 
 * Good now, what music have I broken, fool ? ' 
 
 And little Dagonet, skipping, * Arthur, the king's ; 
 
 For Yv^hen thou playest that air with Queen Isolt, 
 
 Thou makest broken music vrith thy bride, 
 
THE LAST TOURI^'AMENT. 10 7 
 
 Her daintier namesake down in Brittany — 
 
 xind so thou breakest Arthur's music too.' 
 
 * Save for that broken music in thy brains, 
 
 Sir Fool,' said Tristram, ' I would break thy head. 
 
 Fool, I came late, the heathen wars were o'er, 
 
 The life had flown, we sware but by the shell — 
 
 I am but a fool to reason with a fool — 
 
 Come, thou art crabb'd and sour : but lean me down, 
 
 Sir Dagonet, one of thy long asses' ears, 
 
 And harken if my music be not true. 
 
 * '* Free love — free field — we love but while we may : 
 The woods are hush'd, their music is no more : 
 The leaf is dead, the yearning past away : 
 New leaf, new life — the days of frost are o'er : 
 New life, new love, to suit the newer day : 
 New loves are sweet as those that went before : 
 Free love — free field — we love but while we may." 
 
108 THE LAST tour:n^ament. 
 
 'Ye might have moved slow-measure to my tuno, 
 Not stood stockstill. I made it in the woods, 
 And heard it ring as true as tested gold.' 
 
 But Dagonet with one foot poised in his hand, 
 * Friend, did ye mark that fountain yesterday 
 Made to run wine ? — hut this had run itself 
 All out like a long life to a sour end — 
 And them that round it sat with golden cups 
 To hand the wine to whosoever came — 
 The twelve small damosels white as Innocence, 
 In honour of poor Innocence the habe. 
 Who left the gems which Innocence the Queen 
 Lent to the King, and Innocence the Eng 
 Gave for a prize — and one of those white slips 
 Handed her cup and piped, the pretty one, 
 *' Drink, drink. Sir Fool," and thereupon I drank. 
 Spat — pish — the cup was gold, the draught was mud. 
 
THE LAST TOURNAMENT. 109 
 
 And Tristram, ' Was it muddier than tliy gibes ? 
 Is all the laughter gone dead out of thee ? — 
 Not marking how the knighthood mock thee, fool — 
 ** Fear God : honour the king — his one true knight- 
 Sole follower of the vows " — for here be they 
 Who knew thee swine enow before I came, 
 Smuttier than blasted grain : but when the King 
 Had made thee fool, thy vanity so shot up 
 It frighted all free fool from out thy heart ; 
 Which left thee less than fool, and less than swine, 
 A naked aught — yet swine I hold thee still, 
 For I have flung thee pearls and find thee swine.' 
 
 And little Dagonet mincing with his feet, 
 * Knight, an ye fling those rubies round my neck 
 In lieu of hers, I'll hold thou hast some touch 
 Of music, since I care not for thy pearls. 
 Swine ? I have wallow'd, I have wash'd — the world 
 
no THE LAST TOURK-AMEXT. 
 
 Is flesh and shadow — I have had my day. 
 
 The dirty nurse, Experience, in her kind 
 
 Hath foul'd me — an I wallow'd, then I wash'd — 
 
 I have had my day and my philosophies — 
 
 And thank the Lord I am King Arthur's fool. 
 
 Swine, say ye ? swine, goats, asses, rams and geese 
 
 Troop' d round a Paynim harper once, who thrumm'd 
 
 On such a wire as musically as thou 
 
 Some such fine song — ^but never a king's fool.' 
 
 And Tristram, * Then were swine, goats, asses, geese 
 The wiser fools, seeing thy Paynim bard 
 Had such a mastery of his mystery 
 That he could harp his wife up out of hell.' 
 
 Then Dagonet, turning on the ball of his foot, 
 * And whither harp'st thou thine ? down ! and thycelf 
 Down ! and two more : a helpful harper thou. 
 
TnE LAST TOUI^^'■AME^'T. 111 
 
 That harpcst dowmvard ! Dost thou kno-w the star 
 We call the harp of Arthur up in heaven ? ' 
 
 And Tristram, * Ay, Sir Fool, for when our King 
 Was victor wellnigh day by day, the knights. 
 Glorying in each new glory, set his name 
 High on all hills, and in the signs of heaven.' 
 
 And Dagonet answer'd, * Ay, and when the land 
 Was freed, and the Queen false, ye set yourself 
 To babble about him, all to show your wit — 
 And whether he were king by courtesy, 
 Or king by right — and so went harping down 
 The black king's highway, got so far, and grew 
 So witty that ye play'd at ducks and drakes 
 With Arthur's vows on the great lake of lire. 
 Tuwhoo ! do ye see it ? do ye see the star ? ' 
 
 * Nay, fool,' said Tristram, * not in open day.' 
 
112 THE LAST TOUEIs^AMENT. 
 
 And Dagonet, * Nay, nor will : I see it and hear. 
 It makes a silent music up in heaven, 
 And I, and Arthur and the angels hear, 
 And then we skip.' * Lo, fool,* he said, * ye talk 
 Fool's treason : is the King thy brother fool ? ' 
 Then little Dagonet clapt his hands and shrill'd, 
 * Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools 1 
 Conceits himself as God that he can make 
 Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk 
 From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs. 
 And men from beasts — Long live the king of fools ! ' 
 
 And down the city Dagonet danced away. 
 But thro' the slowly-mellowing avenues 
 And solitary passes of the wood 
 Rode Tristram toward Lyonesse and the west. 
 Before him fled the face of Queen Isolt 
 With ruby-circled neck, but evermore 
 
THE LAST TOUIl]N"AMENT. 113 
 
 Past, as a rustle or twitter in the wood 
 
 Made dull his inner, keen his outer eye 
 
 For all that walk'd, or crept, or perch'd, or flew. 
 
 Anon the face, as, when a gust hath blown, 
 
 Unruffling waters re-collect the shape 
 
 Of one that in them sees himself, return' d ; 
 
 But at the slot or fewmets of a deer, 
 
 Or ev'n a fall'n feather, vanish'd again. 
 
 So on for all that day from lawn to lawn 
 Thro' many a league-long bower he rode. At length 
 A lodge of intertwisted beechen-boughs 
 Furze-cramm'd, and bracken-rooft, the which himself 
 Built for a summer day with Queen Isolt 
 Against a shower, dark in the golden grove 
 Appearing, sent his fancy back to where 
 She lived a moon in that low lodge with him : 
 Till Mark her lord had past, the Cornish king, 
 
 I 
 
114 THE LAST TOURNAMENT. 
 
 With six or seven, when Tristram was away, 
 
 And snatch'd her thence; yet dreading worse than 
 
 shame 
 Her w^arrior Tristram, spake not any word. 
 But bode his hour, devising wretchedness. 
 
 And now that desert lodge to Tristram lookt 
 So sweet, that halting, in he past, and sank 
 Down on a drift of foliage random-blown ; 
 But could not rest for musing how to smooth 
 And sleek his marriage over to the Queen. 
 Perchance in lone Tintagil far from all 
 The tonguesters of the court she had not heard. 
 But then what folly had sent him overseas 
 After she left him lonely here ? a name ? 
 Was it the name of one in Brittany, 
 Isolt, the daughter of the I^ng ? * Isolt 
 Of the white hands ' they calFd her : the sweet name 
 
THE LAST TOTJR:NrAMEXT. t H^ 
 
 All ured him first, and then the maid herself, 
 
 Who served him well with those white hands of hers, 
 
 And loved him well, until himself had thought 
 
 He loved her also, wedded easily, 
 
 Eut left her all as easily, and return' d. 
 
 The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes 
 
 Had drawn him home — what marvel ? then he laid 
 
 His brows upon the drifted leaf and dream'd. 
 
 He seem'd to pace the strand of Brittany 
 Between Isolt of Britain and his bride, 
 And show'd them both the ruby- chain, and both 
 Began to struggle for it, till his Queen 
 •Graspt it so hard, that all her hand was red. 
 Then cried the Breton, * Look, her hand is red ! 
 These be no rubies, this is frozen blood, 
 And melts within her hand — her hand is hot 
 With ill desires, but this I gave thee, look. 
 
116 ^ THE LAST TOUEls^AMENT. 
 
 Is all as cool and white as any flower.' 
 Follow' d a rush of eagle's wings, and then 
 A whimpering of the spirit of the child, 
 Because the twain had spoil' d her carcanet. 
 
 He dream'd ; but Arthur with a hundred spears 
 Kode far, till o'er the illimitable reed, 
 And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle, 
 The wide-wing'd sunset of the misty marsh 
 Glared on a huge machicolated tower 
 That stood with open doors, whereout was roU'd 
 A roar of riot, as from men secure 
 Amid their marshes, ruffians at their ease 
 Among their harlot-brides, an evil song. 
 ' Lo there,' said one of Arthur's youth, for there. 
 High en a grim dead tree before the tower, 
 A goodly brother of the Table Bound 
 Swung by the neck : and on the boughs a shield 
 
THE LAST TOTJENAMENT. Il7 
 
 Showing a shower of blood in a field noir, 
 
 And therebeside a horn, inflamed the knights 
 
 At that dishonour done the gilded spur, 
 
 Till each would clash the shield, and blow the horn. 
 
 But Arthur waved them back. Alone ho rode. 
 
 Then at the dry harsh roar of the great horn. 
 
 That sent the face of all the marsh aloft 
 
 An ever upward-rushing storm and cloud 
 
 Of shriek and plume, the Eed Knight heard, and all, 
 
 Even to tipmost lance and topmost helm. 
 
 In blood-red armour sallying, howl'd to the King, 
 
 * The teeth of Hell flay bare and gnash thee flat ! 
 Lo ! art thou not that eunuch-hearted lung 
 ^ Who fain had dipt free manhood from the world — 
 The woman-worshipper ? Yea, God's curse, and IJ 
 Slain was the brother of my paramour 
 By a knight of thine, and I that heard her whine 
 And snivel, being eunuch-hearted too, 
 
118 THE LAST TOTJEN"AMEIs^T. 
 
 Sware by the scorpion-worm that twists in hell, 
 
 And stings itself to everlasting death, 
 
 To hang whatever knight of thine I fought 
 
 And tumbled. Art thou lung ? — Look to thy life ! 
 
 He ended : Arthur knew the voice ; the face 
 Wellnigh was helmet-hidden, and the name 
 Went wandering somewhere darkling in his mind. 
 And Arthur deign'd not use of word or sword, 
 But let the drunkard, as he stretch'd from horse 
 To strike him, overbalancing his bulk, 
 Down from the causeway heavily to the swamp 
 Fall, as the crest of some slow- arching wave. 
 Heard in dead night along that table-shore. 
 Drops flat, and after the great waters break 
 Whitening for half a league, and thin themselves, 
 Far over sands marbled with moon and cloud. 
 From less and less to nothing ; thus he fell 
 
THE LAST TOURNAME^'T. 119 
 
 Heftd-heavy, while the knights, v/ho watch'd him, 
 
 roar'd 
 And shouted and leapt down upon the fall'n ; 
 There trampled out his face from being known, 
 And sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves : 
 Nor heard the King for their own cries, but sprang 
 Thro' open doors, and swording right and left 
 Men, women, on their sodden faces, hurl'd 
 The tables over and the wines, and slew 
 Till all the rafters rang with woman-yells. 
 And all the pavement stream'd with massacre : 
 Then, yell with yell echoing, they fired the towxr, 
 "Which half that autumn night, like the live North, 
 Eed-pulsing up thro' Alioth and Alcor, 
 Made all above it, and a hundred meres 
 About it, as the water Moab saw 
 Gome round by the East, and out beyond them flush'd 
 The long low dune, and lazy-plunging sea. 
 
120 THE LAST TOUENAMENT. 
 
 So all the ways were safe from shore to shore, 
 But in the heart of Arthur pain was lord. 
 
 Then, out of Tristram waking, the red dream 
 Fled with a shout, and that low lodge return \1, 
 Mid-forest, and the wind among the boughs. 
 He whistled his good warhorse leffc to graze 
 Among the forest greens, vaulted upon him, 
 And rode beneath an ever- showering leaf. 
 Till one lone woman, weeping near a cross, 
 Stay'd him. * "Why weep ye ? ' * Lord,' she said, 'my 
 
 man 
 Hath left me or is dead ; ' whereon he thought — 
 
 * What, an she hate me now ? I would not this. 
 What, an she love me still ? I would not that. 
 
 I know not what I would ' — but said to her, 
 
 * Yet weep not thou, lest, if thy mate return. 
 
 He find thy favour changed and love thee not ' — 
 
THE LAST TOURNAMENT. 121 
 
 Then pressing day by day thro' Lyonesse 
 
 Last in a roky hollow, belling, heard 
 
 The hounds of Mark, and felt the goodly hounds 
 
 Yelp at his heart, but turning, past and gam'd 
 
 Tintagil, half in sea, and high on land, 
 
 A crown of towers. 
 
 Down in a casement sat, 
 A low sea-sunset glorying round her hair 
 And glossy-throated grace, Isolt the Queen. 
 And when she heard the feet of Tristram grind 
 The spiring stone that scaled about her tower, 
 Flush'd, started, met him at the doors, and there 
 Belted his body with her white embrace 
 Crying aloud, * Not Mark — not Mark, my soul ! 
 The footstep flutter'd me at first : not he : 
 Catlike thro' his own castle steals my Mark, 
 But warrior-wise thou stridest thro' his halls 
 
122 THE LAST TOTni:N"AMEIfT. 
 
 Who hates thee, as I him — ev'n to the death. 
 My soul, I felt my hatred for my Mark 
 Quicken within me, and knew that thou wert nigh.' 
 To whom Sir Tristram smiling, < I am here. 
 Let be thy Mark, seeing he is not thine.' 
 
 And drawing somewhat backward she rephed, 
 * Can he be wrong'd who is not ev'n his own. 
 But save for dread of thee had beaten me, 
 Scratch'd, bitten, blinded, marr'd me somehow- 
 
 Mark? 
 "What rights are his that dare not strike for them ? 
 Not lift a hand — not, tho' he found me thus ! 
 But harken ! have ye met him ? hence he went 
 To-day for three days' hunting — as he said — 
 And so returns belike within an hour. 
 Mark's way, my soul ! — but eat not thou with Mark, 
 Because he hates thee even more than fears ; 
 
^^ THE LAST TOniXAMEXT. 123 
 
 Nor drink : and when thou passest any wood 
 Close vizor, lest an arrow from the bush 
 Should leave mc all alone with Mark and hell. 
 My God, the measure of my hate for Mark, 
 Is as the measure of my love for thee.' 
 
 So, pluck'd one way by hate and one by love^ 
 Drain'd of her force, again she sat, and spake 
 To Tristram, as he knelt before her, saying, 
 * hunter, and blower of the horn. 
 Harper, and thou hast been a rover too, 
 For, ere I mated with my shambling king. 
 Ye twain had fallen out about the bride 
 Of one — his name is out of me — the prize. 
 If prize she were — (what marvel — she could see) — 
 Thine, friend ; and ever since my craven seeks 
 To wreck thee villainously : but, Sir Knight, 
 What dame or damsel have ye kneel'd to last ?* 
 
124 THE LAST TOURNAMEI^T. 
 
 And Tristram, * Last to my Queen Paramount, 
 Here now to my Queen Paramount of love 
 And loveliness — ay, lovelier than when first 
 Her light feet fell on our rough Lyonesse, 
 Sailing from Ireland.' 
 
 Softly laugh'd Isolt, 
 
 * Flatter me not, for hath not our great Queen 
 My dole of beauty trebled ? ' and he said, 
 
 * Her beauty is her beauty, and thine thine, 
 And thine is more to me — soft, gracious, kind — 
 Save when thy Mark is kindled on thy lips 
 Most gracious ; but she, haughty, ev'n to him, 
 Lancelot ; for I have seen him wan enow 
 
 To make one doubt if ever the great Quecu 
 Have yielded him her love.' 
 
 To whom Isolt, 
 ' Ah then, Msq hunter and false harper, thou 
 
THE LAST TOUKN-AMENT. 125 
 
 Who brakest tliro* the scruple of my bond, 
 Calling me thy white hind, and saying to me 
 That Guinevere had sinn'd against the highest, 
 And I — misyoked with such a want of man — 
 That I could hardly sin against the lowest.' 
 
 He answer'd, ' my soul, be comforted ! 
 If this be sweet, to sin in leading-strings. 
 If here be comfort, and if ours be sin, 
 Crown'd warrant had we for the crowning sin 
 That made us happy : but how ye greet me — fear 
 And fault and doubt — no word of that fond tale — 
 Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories 
 Of Tristram in that year he was away.' 
 
 And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt, 
 * I had forgotten all in my strong joy 
 To see theo — yearnings ? — ay ! for, hour by hour, 
 
126 THE LAST TOUENAMET^-T. 
 
 Here in the never-ended afternoon, 
 
 O sweeter than all memories of tliee, 
 
 Deeper than any yearnings after thee 
 
 Seem'd those far-rolling, westward- smiling seas, 
 
 Watch'd from this tower. Isolt of Britain dash'd 
 
 Before Isolt of Brittany on the strand, 
 
 Would that have chill'd her bride-kiss? Wedded 
 
 her? 
 Pought in her father's battles ? wounded there ? 
 The King was all fulfill' d with gratefulness, 
 And she, my namesake of the hands, that heal'd 
 Thy hurt and heart with unguent and caress — 
 Well — can I wish her any huger wrong 
 Than having known thee ? her too hast thou 
 
 left 
 To pine and waste in those sweet memories. 
 O were I not my Mark's, by whom all men 
 Are noble, I should hate thee more than love.' 
 
THE LAST TOUEXAMEXT. 127 
 
 And Tristram, fondling her light hands, replied, 
 * Grace, Queen, for being loved : she loved me well. 
 Did I love her ? the name at least I loved. 
 Isolt ? — I fought his battles, for Isolt ! 
 The night was dark ; the true star set. Isolt I 
 
 The name was ruler of the dark Isolt ? 
 
 Care not for her ! patient, and prayerful, meek. 
 Pale-blooded, she will yield herself to God.* 
 
 And Isolt answer'd, * Yea, and why not I ? 
 Mine is the larger need, who am not meek, 
 Pale-blooded, prayerful. Let me toll thee now. 
 Here one black, mute midsummer night I sat, 
 Lonely, but musing on thee, wondering where, 
 Murmuring a light song I had heard thee sing, 
 And once or twice I spake thy name aloud. 
 Then flash'd a levin-brand ; and near me stood, 
 In fuming sulphur blue and green, a fiend — 
 
128 THE LAST TOUEXAMEXT. 
 
 Mark's way to steal behind one in the dark — 
 
 For there was Mark : ** He has wedded her," he said, 
 
 Not said, but hiss'd it : then this crown of towers 
 
 So shook to such a roar of all the sky, 
 
 That here in utter dark I swoon' d away, 
 
 And woke again in utter dark, and cried, 
 
 '' I will flee hence and give myself to God " — 
 
 And thou wert lying in thy new leman's arms.* 
 
 Then Tristram, ever dallying with her hand, 
 
 * May God be with thee, sweet, when old and gray, 
 And past desire ! ' a saying that anger'd her. 
 
 * *' May God be v/ith thee, sweet, when thou art old, 
 And sweet no more to me ! " I need Him now. 
 For when had Lancelot utter'd aught so gross 
 Ev'n to the swineherd's malkin in the mast ? 
 
 The greater man, the greater courtesy. 
 
 But thou, thro' ever harrying thy wild beasts — 
 
THE LAST TOUENAMENT. 129 
 
 Save that to touch a harp tilt with a lance 
 
 Becomes thee well — art grown wild beast thyself. 
 
 How darest thou, if lover, push me even 
 
 In fancy from thy side, and set me liir 
 
 In the gray distance, half a life away, 
 
 Her to be loved no more ? Unsay it, unswear ! 
 
 Flatter me rather, seeing me so weak, 
 
 Broken with Mark and hate and solitude, 
 
 Thy marriage and mine own, that I should suck 
 
 Lies like sweet wines : lie to me : I believe. 
 
 Will ye not lie ? not swear, as there ye kneel. 
 
 And solemnly as when ye sware to him, 
 
 The man of men, our King — My God, the power 
 
 Was once in vows when men believed the King ! 
 
 They lied not then, who sware, and thro' their vows 
 
 The King prevailing made his realm : — I say. 
 
 Swear to me thou wilt love me ev'n when old, 
 
 Gray-hair'd, and past desire, and in despair.' 
 
 K 
 
130 THE LAST TOURN'AMEIS'T. 
 
 Then Tristram, pacing moodily up and down, 
 * Vows ! did ye keep the vow ye made to Mark 
 More than I mine ? Lied, say ye ? Nay, but learnt, 
 The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself — 
 My knighthood taught me this — ay, being snapt — 
 ¥/e run more counter to the soul thereof 
 Than had we never sworn. I swear no more. 
 I swore to the great King, and am forsworn. 
 For once — ev'n to the height — I honour' d him. 
 *' Man, is he man at all ? " methought, when first 
 I rode from our rough Lyonesse, and beheld 
 That victor of the Pagan throned in hall — 
 His hair, a sun that ray'd from off a brow 
 Like hillsnow high in heaven, the steel-blue eyes, 
 The golden beard that clothed his lips with light — 
 Moreover, that weird legend of his birth. 
 With Merlin's mystic babble about his end 
 Amazed me ; then, his foot was on a stool 
 
THE LAST TOimi^AMENT. 131 
 
 Shaped as a dragon ; he secm'd to me no man, 
 
 But Michael trampling Satan ; so I sware, 
 
 Being amazed : but this went by — The vows ! 
 
 ay — the wholesome madness of an hour — 
 
 They served their use, their time ; for every knight 
 
 Believed himself a greater than himself, 
 
 And every follower eyed him as a God ; 
 
 Till he, being lifted up beyond himself, 
 
 Did mightier deeds than elsewise he had done, 
 
 And so the realm was made ; but then their vows — 
 
 First mainly thro' that sullying of our Queen — 
 
 Began to gall the knighthood, asking whence 
 
 Had Arthur right to bind them to himself ? 
 
 Dropt down from heaven ? wash'd up from out the 
 
 deep ? 
 They fail'd to trace him thro' the flesh and blood 
 Of our old Kings : whence then ? a doubtful lOrd 
 To bind them by inviolable vows, 
 
132 THE LAST TOUENAMENT. 
 
 YVhicli flesh and blood perforce would violate} • 
 
 For feel this arm of mine — the tide within 
 
 Bed with free chase and heather-scented air, 
 
 Pulsing full man ; can Arthur make me pure 
 
 As any maiden child ? lock up my tongue 
 
 From uttering freely what I freely hear ? 
 
 Bind me to one ? The wide world laughs at it. 
 
 And worldling of the world am I, and know 
 
 The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour 
 
 Woos his own end ; we are not angels here 
 
 Nor shall be : vows — I am woodman of the woods, 
 
 And hear the garnet-headed yaffingale 
 
 Mock them : my soul, we love but while we may ; 
 
 And therefore is my love so large for thee, 
 
 Seeing it is not bounded save by love.' 
 
 Here ending, he moved toward her, and she said, 
 * Good : an I turn'd away my love for thee 
 
THE LAST TOrRXAMEXT. 133 
 
 To some one thrice as courteous as thj'self — 
 
 For courtesy wins woman all as well 
 
 As valour may, but be that closes both 
 
 Is perfect, be is Lancelot — taller indeed, 
 
 Rosier, and comelier, thou — but say I loved 
 
 This knigbtliest of all knights, and cast thee back 
 
 Thine own small saw, *' We love but while we 
 
 may," 
 Well then, what answer ? ' 
 
 He that while she spake, 
 Mindful of what he brought to adorn her with. 
 The jewels, had let one finger lightly touch 
 The warm white apple of her throat, replied, 
 * Press this a little closer, sweet, until — 
 Come, T am hunger'd and half-anger' d — meat, 
 Y/ine, wine — and I will love thee to the death. 
 And out beyond into the dream to come/ 
 
134 THE LAST TOURTv^AMEKT. 
 
 So then, when both were brought to full accord, 
 She rose, and set before him all he will'd ; 
 And after these had comforted the blood 
 With meats and wines, and satiated their hearts — 
 Now talking of their woodland paradise. 
 The deer, the dews, the fern, the founts, the lawns ; 
 Now mocking at the much ungainliness, 
 And craven shifts, and long crane legs of Mark — 
 Then Tristram laughing caught the harp, and sang : 
 
 * Ay, ay, ay — the winds that bend the brier ! 
 A star in heaven, a star within the mere ! 
 .^y, ay, ay — a star was my desire, 
 And one was far apart, and one was near : 
 Ay, ay, ay — the winds that bow the grass ! 
 And one was water and one star was fire, 
 And one will ever shine and one will pass. 
 Ay, ay, ay — the winds that move the mere.' 
 
THE LAST TOTniNAME^''T. 335 
 
 Then in the light's last glimmer Tristram show'd 
 And swung the ruby carcanet. She cried, 
 * The collar of some Order, which our King 
 Hath newly founded, all for thee, my soul, 
 For thee, to yield thee grace beyond thy peer;;.' 
 
 * Not so, my Queen,' he said, * but the red fruit 
 Grown on a magic oak-tree in mid-heaven. 
 And won by Tristram as a tourney-prize. 
 And hither brought by Tristram for his last 
 Love-offering and peace-offering unto thee.' 
 
 He rose, he turn'd, then, flinging round her neck, 
 Claspt it, and cried ' Thine Order, my Queen ! ' 
 But, while he bow'd to kiss the jewell'd throat, 
 Out of the dark, just as the lips had touch'd. 
 Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek — 
 < Mark's way,' said Mark, and clove him thro' the 
 brain. 
 
136 THE LAST TOTJENAMENT. 
 
 That night came Arthur heme, and while he climb'd, 
 All in a death-dumb autumn- dripping gloom 
 The stairway to the hall, and look'd and saw 
 The great Queen's bower was dark, — about his feet 
 A voice clung sobbing till he question'd it, 
 * What art thou ? ' and the voice about his feet 
 Sent up an answer, sobbing, ' I am thy fool. 
 And I shall never make thee smile again.' 
 
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