King Arthur's Knights
'It shall be so,' said the witch, 'if, when the time comes, thou art
strong enough to overcome my power. But if thou failest, Angharad is
mine to do with as I will.'
Then Perceval took leave of the lady of the Castle of Weeds, and of
Angharad. And the lady thanked him with tears for saving their lives,
but the girl was cold and scornful and said no word of thanks. Then
Perceval went with the witches to their Castle of Glaive.
He stayed with them for a year and a day, learning such knowledge of
arms, and gaining such strength, that it was marvel to see the feats
which he performed. And while he lived with them they strove to bend
him to their wills, for they saw how great a knight he would become in
prowess and in knightly deeds. They tempted him every hour and every
day, telling him what earthly power, what riches and what great
dominions would be his, if he would but swear fealty to the chief
witch, Domna, and fight for her against King Arthur and his proud
knights.
Perceval prayed daily for strength to withstand the poison of their
tongues, and evermore he held himself humble and gentle, and thought
much of his widowed mother in her lonely home in the northern wastes,
and of the promise he had made her. Sometimes he thought of Angharad,
how beautiful she was, and how sad it was that she had so cold a heart,
and was so cruel in her words.
Anon the witch Domna came to him, and said that he had now learned all
that she could teach him, and he must go and prove himself against
greater powers than he had ever yet known. If he prevailed not in that
battle, the ladies of the Castle of Weeds would become the prey of the
witches, and greater power of evil would they have in the world than
ever before. Then she gave him a horse and a full suit of black armour.
So Perceval took the horse, and armed himself and rode forth. And anon
he came to a hermit's cell beside a ruined chapel, and he alighted and
went into the chapel, and stripped himself, and laid all his armour,
his lance, and his sword, before the high altar.
Prayerfully he gave his arms to the service of God, and devoted them
one by one to do only knightly and pure deeds, to rescue the oppressed
and the weak, to put down the proud, and to cherish the humble.
And as he ended praying, the armour stirred of itself, and though it
had been black before, now did the darkness fade from it, and it all
became a pure white. While he marvelled, a faint light glowed over
hauberk, helm, shield, sword and lance, and there was an exceeding
sweet savour wafted through the place. And ghostily, as in a silver
mist, he saw above the altar the likeness of a spear, and beside it a
dish or salver. And at the wondrous sight his breath stayed on his
lips. Then slowly the vision faded from his sight.
He arrayed himself in his armour that was now of a dazzling white, and
he rode forth and thought to go towards Camelot, where was the court of
King Arthur. But he felt that some power drew him aside through the
desolate ways of a hoar forest, where all the trees were ancient and
big, and all bearded with long moss.
In a little while he saw a vast castle reared upon a rock in the midst
of the forest. He rode up to it, and marvelled that it was all so
quiet. Then he beat upon the door with the butt of his lance, and the
door opened, and he entered into the wide dark hall. On the pallets
under the wall he saw men lying as if dead. And in the high seat at the
head of the hall sat a king, old and white, but richly clothed, and he
seemed dead like all the rest. All were clad in garments of an ancient
kind, as if they had lived and died a thousand years agone, yet had not
rotted into dust. On the floor, about the wide heap of ashes where the
fire had burned, the hounds still lay as if asleep, and on the posts
the hawks sat stiff upon their perches.
Much did Perceval marvel at this strange sight, but most of all he
marvelled to see where a shaft of light from a narrow window gleamed
across the hall full upon a shield hung on the fire-pillar beside the
high seat in which the king sat like one dead.
Perceval caused his horse to pick its way through the hall, and he
approached the shield. And he saw that it was of shining white, but
whiter than the whiteness of his own, and in the centre thereof was a
heart. As he sat looking thereat, he marvelled to see that the heart
seemed to stir as if it were alive, and began to throb and move as if
it beat. Then the whiteness of the shield began to dazzle like to a
light that mortal eyes could not bear.
He lifted his hand and took the shield by its strap from the peg on
which it hung, and as he did so, a great sigh arose from within the
hall, as if at one time many sleepers awoke. And looking round, he saw
how all the men that had seemed dead were now on their knees, with bent
heads and folded hands as if in prayer.
The king in the high seat stirred and sat upright, and looked at
Perceval with a most sweet smile.
'The blessing of God is upon thee, young White Knight,' said he, 'and
now is my watch and ward all ended, and with these my faithful
companions may I go.'
'Tell me, sir,' said Perceval, 'what means this?'
'I am Marius,' said the king, 'and I was that Roman soldier who took
pity of the gentle Saviour dying in His agony upon the rood. And I
helped to take Him from the cross. For my pity did God, whom till then
I had not known, deal with me in marvellous wise. And this shield was
mine, and a holy hermit in a desert of Syria did bless it, and prophesy
concerning it and me. I came to this land of Britain when it was full
of evil men, warring fiercely together, and all in heathen darkness. I
preached the Word of Christ, I and my fellows that came with me, until
the heathens rose up and would slay me. And by that time I was wearied
and very old, and wished to die. Yet I sorrowed, wondering whether God
would do naught to rescue these people from this slavery to the old
evil law. Then a man of God came to me at night, a man of marvel, and
he caused this castle to be builded in this ancient wood, and he put my
shield upon the post, and bade me and my dear friends sleep. 'For,'
said he, 'thou hast earned thy sleep, and others shall carry on thy
work and reveal the mercy of God and his Christ to these poor heathens,
and they shall turn to God wholly. And no evil shall be able to break
in upon thy repose. But when, in the distant future, men's hearts are
turning to evil again, one that is of the three white knights shall
come and take this shield, to ward him in the great battle against
evil, and then thou and all that are with thee shall have the
restfulness of death thou hast merited. Go then, thou good knight,'
went on King Marius, 'fight the good fight against that thing of evil
whom the good man spoke of, and may my shield encompass thee and ever
guard thee.'
Perceval took the shield and left his own. Turning, he rode back
between lines of silent forms bent in prayer. He went forth into the
forest some little way, and heard from the castle the singing of a
joyful hymn. And, looking back, he saw that the castle had vanished.
But still above him and about him was the sound of singing, of a
sweetness indescribable, as if they sang who had gained all that they
desired.
Then Perceval rode forward till it was night; but never could he get
sight of castle or knight's hold or hermit's cell where he could be
houselled for the night. So he abode in the forest that night, and when
he had prayed he slept beside his good horse until it was day.
Just before the dawn he awoke to the sound of a great rushing wind all
about him. Yet marvel it was to see that the trees in that hoar wood
did not wave their branches, but all were still.
Then he was aware of a sweet savour which surrounded him, and anon a
gentle voice spoke out of the darkness.
'Fair White Knight,' said the voice, 'it is ordained of thee that thou
goest to the lands of the King Pellam in the north, where an evil power
seeks to turn men from the New Law which Christ brought, and to make
them cleave to the Old Law with its cruelty and evil tortures. And
there at the Castle of the Circlet thou shalt fight a battle for the
Saviour of the world. And whether thou shalt win through all, none know
as yet. But in thy purity, thy humility, is thy strength. Fare thee
well!'
Much moved at these words, Perceval knelt and prayed, and then, as the
dawn filtered through the trees, he mounted his horse and began his
long journey to the north.
On the seventh day he crossed a plain, and saw far in the north where
the smoke as of fires rose into the clouds, and here and there he saw
the fierce red gleam of flames. And he passed through a ford, and then
he entered a land all black and desolate, with the bodies of the dead
beside the way, unburied, and the houses all broken or burned. In other
places the grass and weeds grew over the hearths of desolated homes,
and wild beasts made their lairs where homely folk seemed lately to
have lived their simple happy lives.
No man or child could be seen anywhere to ask what all this might mean.
But one day, as he walked his horse beside a brook, over the long
grass, he came upon a poor half-starved peasant who had not strength to
run. And the man knelt before him, and bared his breast, and said,
'Strike, sir knight, and end my misery!'
But Perceval raised him in his arms and kissed him, and gave him bread
and wine from his scrip, and when the poor man was revived, Perceval
asked him what his words meant.
'Ah, Sir White Knight!' said the man, whose tears fell as he spoke,
'surely thou art an angel of heaven, not of the pit, such as have
ravened and slaughtered throughout this fair land since good King
Pellam was struck by the Dolorous Stroke that Balin made. For of that
stroke came all our misery. The sacred relics of the Crucifixion fled
our land, our king sickened of a malady that naught could heal, our
crops rotted, and our cattle died. Yet did some among us strive to live
and do as brave men should in all adversity. But into the land came an
evil and a pagan knight, the knight of the Dragon, and he willed that
all should scorn and despise the good Christ, and should turn to the
old gods of the standing stones and the oaken groves. And those that
would not he slew, and their folk he trampled underfoot, and their
herds and fields he destroyed and desolated. And I, fair lord, have
lost my dear wife and my wee bairns, and I wonder why I fled and kept
my life, remembering all I have lost.'
'Take heart,' said Perceval, 'and remember that it is God His mercy
that chastiseth, and that while thou hast life thou hast hope. It is a
man's duty, a man's nobility, to bear sorrows bravely, and still to
work, to do all and to achieve. I think God will not long let this evil
knight oppress and slay. In His good time He will cut him down.'
'Fair sir,' said the peasant, 'I thank thee for thy cheer, and I will
take heart and trust in God's good time.'
And Perceval rode forward through the blackened land and found the
forests burning and the fields wasted. Anon he came to the edge of a
plain, and saw a great castle in the distance. And there came to him a
damsel, weeping, and when he craved of her to tell him why she mourned,
she stayed, and looked at him as if astounded. Then she cried with a
great cry of joy.
'Oh, tell me, fair sir, who art thou? Thou hast the white armour which
it was foretold the spotless knight should wear, and on thy shield is
the Heart as of Him that bled to save the world.'
'I know not what you say,' replied Perceval, 'but my name is Perceval,
son of Evroc, and I seek the wicked knight that doeth all this evil.'
'Then thou art the White Knight,' said the damsel, 'and now I pray that