King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
not long, and thou shalt be right welcome to me and all my knights when
thou returnest, and I will repair my neglect and all that I have done
amiss against thee."
"God thank thee, Lord," again said Balin, and made ready to depart.
But meanwhile came into the court a lady upon horseback, full richly
dressed, and saluted King Arthur, and asked him for the gift that he had
promised her when she gave him his sword Excalibur, "for," said she, "I
am the lady of the lake."
"Ask what thou wilt," said the king, "and thou shalt have it, if I have
power to give."
"I ask," said she, "the head of that knight who hath just achieved the
sword, or else the damsel's head who brought it, or else both; for the
knight slew my brother, and the lady caused my father's death."
"Truly," said King Arthur, "I cannot grant thee this desire; it were
against my nature and against my name; but ask whatever else thou wilt,
and I will do it."
"I will demand no other thing," said she.
And as she spake came Balin, on his way to leave the court, and saw her
where she stood, and knew her straightway for his mother's murderess,
whom he had sought in vain three years. And when they told him that she
had asked King Arthur for his head, he went up straight to her and said,
"May evil have thee! Thou desirest my head, therefore shalt thou lose
thine"; and with his sword he lightly smote her head off, in the
presence of the king and all the court.
"Alas, for shame!" cried out King Arthur, rising up in wrath; "why hast
thou done this, shaming both me and my court? I am beholden greatly to
this lady, and under my safe conduct came she here; thy deed is passing
shameful; never shall I forgive thy villainy."
"Lord," cried Sir Balin, "hear me; this lady was the falsest living, and
by her witchcraft hath destroyed many, and caused my mother also to be
burnt to death by her false arts and treachery."
"What cause soever thou mightest have had," said the king, "thou
shouldst have forborne her in my presence. Deceive not thyself, thou
shalt repent this sin, for such a shame was never brought upon my court;
depart now from my face with all the haste thou mayest."
Then Balin took up the head of the lady and carried it to his lodgings,
and rode forth with his squire from out the town. Then said he, "Now
must we part; take ye this head and bear it to my friends in
Northumberland, and tell them how I speed, and that our worst foe is
dead; also tell them that I am free from prison, and of the adventure of
my sword."
"Alas!" said the squire, "ye are greatly to blame to have so displeased
King Arthur."
"As for that," said Sir Balin, "I go now to find King Ryence, and
destroy him or lose my life; for should I take him prisoner, and lead
him to the court, perchance King Arthur would forgive me, and become my
good and gracious lord."
"Where shall I meet thee again?" said the squire.
"In King Arthur's court," said Balin.
V
SIR BALIN FIGHTS WITH HIS BROTHER, SIR BALAN
Now there was a knight at the court more envious than the others of Sir
Balin, for he counted himself one of the best knights in Britain. His
name was Lancear; and going to the king, he begged leave to follow after
Sir Balin and avenge the insult he had put upon the court. "Do thy
best," replied the king, "for I am passing wroth with Balin."
In the meantime came Merlin, and was told of this adventure of the sword
and lady of the lake.
"Now hear me," said he, "when I tell ye that this lady who hath brought
the sword is the falsest damsel living."
"Say not so," they answered, "for she hath a brother a good knight, who
slew another knight this damsel loved; so she, to be revenged upon her
brother, went to the Lady Lile, of Avilion, and besought her help. Then
Lady Lile gave her the sword, and told her that no man should draw it
forth but one, a valiant knight and strong, who should avenge her on her
brother. This, therefore, was the reason why the damsel came here."
"I know it all as well as ye do," answered Merlin; "and would to God
she had never come hither, for never came she into any company but to do
harm; and that good knight who hath achieved the sword shall be himself
slain by it, which shall be great harm and loss, for a better knight
there liveth not; and he shall do unto my lord the king great honor and
service."
Then Sir Lancear, having armed himself at all points, mounted, and rode
after Sir Balin, as fast as he could go, and overtaking him, he cried
aloud, "Abide, Sir knight! wait yet awhile, or I shall make thee do so."
Hearing him cry, Sir Balin fiercely turned his horse, and said, "Fair
knight, what wilt thou with me? wilt thou joust?"
"Yea," said Sir Lancear, "it is for that I have pursued thee."
"Peradventure," answered Balin, "thou hadst best have stayed at home,
for many a man who thinketh himself already victor, endeth by his own
downfall. Of what court art thou?"
"Of King Arthur's court," cried Lancear, "and I am come to revenge the
insult thou hast put on it this day."
"Well," said Sir Balin, "I see that I must fight thee, and I repent to
be obliged to grieve King Arthur or his knights; and thy quarrel seemeth
full foolish to me, for the damsel that is dead worked endless evils
through the land, or else I had been loth as any knight that liveth to
have slain a lady."
"Make thee ready," shouted Lancear, "for one of us shall rest forever in
this field."
But at their first encounter Sir Lancear's spear flew into splinters
from Sir Balin's shield, and Sir Balin's lance pierced with such might
through Sir Lancear's shield, that it rove the hauberk also, and passed
through the knight's body and the horse's crupper. And Sir Balin turning
fiercely round again, drew out his sword, and knew not that he had
already slain him; and then he saw him lie a corpse upon the ground.
At that same moment came a damsel riding towards him as fast as her
horse could gallop, who, when she saw Sir Lancear dead, wept and
sorrowed out of measure, crying, "O, Sir Balin, two bodies hast thou
slain, and one heart; and two hearts in one body; and two souls also
hast thou lost."
Therewith she took the sword from her dead lover's side--for she was Sir
Lancear's lady-love--and setting the pommel of it on the ground, ran
herself through the body with the blade.
When Sir Balin saw her dead he was sorely hurt and grieved in spirit,
and repented the death of Lancear, which had also caused so fair a
lady's death. And being unable to look on their bodies for sorrow, he
turned aside into a forest, where presently as he rode, he saw the arms
of his brother, Sir Balan. And when they were met they put off their
helms, and embraced each other, kissing, and weeping for joy and pity.
Then Sir Balin told Sir Balan all his late adventures, and that he was
on his way to King Ryence, who at that time was besieging Castle
Terrabil. "I will be with thee," answered Sir Balan, "and we will help
each other, as brethren ought to do."
Anon by chance, as they were talking, came King Mark, of Cornwall, by
that way, and when he saw the two dead bodies of Sir Lancear and his
lady lying there, and heard the story of their death, he vowed to build
a tomb to them before he left that place. So pitching his pavilion
there, he sought through all the country round to find a monument, and
found at last a rich and fair one in a church, which he took and raised
above the dead knight and his damsel, writing on it--"Here lieth
Lancear, son of the King of Ireland, who, at his own request, was slain
by Balin; and here beside him also lieth his lady Colombe, who slew
herself with her lover's sword for grief and sorrow."
Then as Sir Balin and Sir Balan rode away, Merlin met with them, and
said to Balin, "Thou hast done thyself great harm not to have saved that
lady's life who slew herself; and because of it, thou shalt strike the
most Dolorous Stroke that ever man struck, save he that smote our Lord.
For thou shalt smite the truest and most worshipful of living knights,
who shall not be recovered from his wounds for many years, and through
that stroke three kingdoms shall be overwhelmed in poverty and misery."
"If I believed," said Balin, "what thou sayest, I would slay myself to
make thee a liar."
At that Merlin vanished suddenly away; but afterwards he met them in
disguise towards night, and told them he could lead them to King
Ryence, whom they sought. "For this night he is to ride with sixty
lances only through a wood hard by."
So Sir Balin and Sir Balan hid themselves within the wood, and at
midnight came out from their ambush among the leaves by the highway, and
waited for the king, whom presently they heard approaching with his
company. Then did they suddenly leap forth and smote at him and
overthrew him and laid him on the ground, and turning on his company
wounded and slew forty of them, and put the rest to flight. And
returning to King Ryence they would have slain him there, but he craved
mercy, and yielded to their grace, crying, "Knights full of prowess,
slay me not; for by my life ye may win something--but my death can avail
ye nought."
"Ye say truth," said the two knights, and put him in a horse-litter, and
went swiftly through all the night, till at cock-crow they came to King
Arthur's palace. There they delivered him to the warders and porters, to
be brought before the king, with this message--"That he was sent to King
Arthur by the knight of the two swords" (for so was Balin known by name,
since his adventure with the damsel) "and by his brother." And so they
rode away again ere sunrise.
Within a month or two thereafter, King Arthur being somewhat sick, went
forth outside the town, and had his pavilion pitched in a meadow, and
there abode, and laid him down on a pallet to sleep, but could get no
rest. And as he lay he heard the sound of a great horse, and looking
out of the tent door, saw a knight ride by, making great lamentation.
"Abide, fair sir," said King Arthur, "and tell me wherefore thou makest
this sorrow."
"Ye may little amend it," said the knight, and so passed on.
Presently after Sir Balin, rode, by chance, past that meadow, and when
he saw the king he alighted and came to him on foot, and kneeled and
saluted him.
"By my head," said King Arthur, "ye be welcome, Sir Balin;" and then he
thanked him heartily for revenging him upon King Ryence, and for sending
him so speedily a prisoner to his castle, and told him how King Nero,
Ryence's brother, had attacked him afterwards to deliver Ryence from
prison; and how he had defeated him and slain him, and also King Lot, of
Orkney, who was joined with Nero, and whom King Pellinore had killed in
the battle. Then when they had thus talked, King Arthur told Sir Balin
of the sullen knight that had just passed his tent, and desired him to
pursue him and to bring him back.
So Sir Balin rode and overtook the knight in a forest with a damsel, and
said, "Sir knight, thou must come back with me unto my lord, King
Arthur, to tell him the cause of thy sorrow, which thou hast refused
even now to do."
"That will I not," replied the knight, "for it would harm me much, and
do him no advantage."
"Sir," said Sir Balin, "I pray thee make ready, for thou must needs go
with me--or else I must fight with thee and take thee by force."
"Wilt thou be warrant for safe conduct, if I go with thee?" inquired the
knight.
"Yea, surely," answered Balin, "I will die else."
So the knight made ready to go with Sir Balin, and left the damsel in
the wood.
But as they went, there came one invisible, and smote the knight through
the body with a spear. "Alas," cried Sir Herleus (for so was he named),
"I am slain under thy guard and conduct, by that traitor knight called