King Arthur's Knights
Sir Gawaine fell to the ground, and for some moments lay still as if he
were dead or in a swoon; but he was only dazed, and soon recovering, he
raved and foamed as he lay there, cursing Sir Lancelot for a traitorous
coward and a base knight, and even, in his madness, thrusting towards
him with his sword.
'Wit thou well, base knight,' he cried, 'that I am not slain yet. Come
thou near and lie here with me, and we will fight this battle until we
die.'
'I will do no more than I have done, my lord,' said Sir Lancelot, 'and
when thou art able to stand I will meet thee again. But to smite a
wounded man that may not stand, I will not.'
Then Sir Lancelot withdrew to the town, while Sir Gawaine still raved
and abused him, and men marvelled both at the exceeding madness of the
hatred of Sir Gawaine and the great restraint and nobleness of
Lancelot. Many said that had Sir Gawaine said half as many shameful
things to one of them, they would have instantly rased his evil head
from his shoulders.
For a month Sir Gawaine lay sick, but was always eager to be up and
able again. And at length the leech said that in three days he should
ride, whereat Sir Gawaine was joyful.
'Again,' said he to King Arthur, who sat beside him, 'again shall I
have to do with that base fellow, and ill attend me if I do not end the
matter this time.'
'Ye had ended it long ago, or been ended,' said the king, 'except for
the nobleness of Sir Lancelot that forbore to slay you.'
'Ay, we all know your love of the pestilent fool, uncle,' said Sir
Gawaine, 'but we will stay here until we have made an end of him and
his kingdom, if it take us all our lives.'
Even as he spoke there came the clear call of a trumpet outside in the
camp, and Sir Bedevere came to the door of the king's tent, his grim
old face pale, his grizzled hair unkempt, and every sign of haste and
travel upon his dress.
The king started up. 'Sir Bedevere, ye bring evil tidings from
Britain,' he cried. 'Can it be that more ruin and wrong is to come than
that I suffer now? What is your news?'
'O my king, it is that Mordred your nephew hath rebelled,' said Sir
Bedevere, 'and has gathered much people about him, and hath sent many
letters to all the lords and knights your vassals, promising them
wealth and lands if they make him king. And Gwenevere your queen he
hath imprisoned, saying that he will wed her when ye are slain.'
'Mordred! Mordred!' cried the king, 'him that I thought was a quiet,
strong man--turned so base a traitor!'
'Ay, he was ever the traitor, though brother of mine,' cried Sir
Gawaine in a voice of rage. 'A man that speaks in whispers, haunts dark
corners, and ever sneers with his lips.'
'Hardly with my life have I escaped to tell you this,' went on Sir
Bedevere, 'for he placed men to watch me after I had scorned his evil
offers to myself. But now, my lord, quickly ye must betake yourself and
all your army from this fruitless and wrongful War against Sir
Lancelot, and hasten to beat down the poisonous viper whom ye have
nourished in your bosom.'
Ere the day was done the army of King Arthur had raised the siege of
Sir Lancelot's town and were quickly marching to the sea, there to take
their boats across to Britain to punish the usurper and traitor, Sir
Mordred.
A fair wind carried them across the sea, but long ere they reached the
shallows of the beach at Dover they saw the sunlight flashing from
thousands of headpieces of knights and men-at-arms, set to oppose the
landing of their rightful lord. The king was fiercely angry, and he
commanded the masters of the ships to launch their small boats, and
into these the knights swarmed and were rowed towards the shore.
But the rebels of Mordred also launched boats and great pinnaces filled
with knights, and when the boats of the opposite parties met, then
there was fierce fighting and much slaughter of many good knights and
barons and other brave men. Then King Arthur and his chief knights drew
forth their horses from the holds of the ships, and leaped with them
into the sea, and fiercely did they throw themselves upon Sir Mordred
and his knights, and there was grievous fighting on horseback in the
shallow water, which soon was dyed with the blood of the slain.
So stubborn were the king and his fighting men that the army of Mordred
was forced to retreat towards the land, and then, when the king and
Gawaine had trimmed their own ranks, order was given for one concerted
rush against the enemy. The other side showed little fight now, and
made no stand, but fled inland.
When the battle was over, King Arthur let bury his people that were
dead, so far as they could be discovered in the waves; and the wounded
he caused to be carried into the town of Dover to be cared for.
A squire came to the king as he stood giving orders as to these things.
'My lord king,' said the squire, 'Sir Gawaine lies sore wounded in a
boat, and we know not whether he be alive or dead.'
'Alas!' cried the king, and the knights about him were full of pity at
the sudden grief that came into his voice and his looks, 'is this true?
Then is all my joy of life at an end.'
The squire led him to the boat in which Sir Gawaine lay, who stirred as
the king approached, and feebly smiled.
'My uncle,' said Sir Gawaine, 'wit you well that now is my death-day
come, for I know I shall not last this bout. For I am smitten upon the
wound which Sir Lancelot gave me, and I feel that now I shall die.'
'Alas, my sister's son,' cried the king, taking Sir Gawaine in his arms
and kissing him, while the tears flowed down his cheeks, 'this is the
wofullest day of all my life. For if ye depart, Gawaine, how solitary
am I! Gawaine! Gawaine! in Sir Lancelot and in thee had I most my love
and my joy, and now shall I lose ye both, and all my earthly joy is
gone from me.'
'Alas,' said Sir Gawaine, 'sorrow's on me now that I have caused you
such grief, mine uncle. I see now that I have been mad with rage
against that noble knight, Sir Lancelot, who slew my dear brothers
unwittingly. And now I repent me sorely. I would that I could live to
repair the evil that I have done to you and to Sir Lancelot. But my
time is come. I shall not live till evening.'
They wept together, and the knights that stood about them also wept for
pure grief, to think how much sorrow and ruin was caused by the mad
rage of Sir Gawaine, which had pushed the good king on to make war
against his will.
'I am the causer of this rebellion by my traitor brother,' said Sir
Gawaine, 'and my name shall be cursed for it. Had I not wilfully driven
thee, thou wouldst have accorded with Sir Lancelot, and he and his
brave kinsmen would have held your cankered enemies in subjection, or
else cut them utterly away. Lift me up, my lord, and let me have a
scribe, for I will send a letter to Sir Lancelot ere I die.'
Then Sir Gawaine was set up by the king, and a priest was brought, who
wrote at the dying man's dictation. And the purport of the letter was
in this wise:
'Unto Sir Lancelot, flower of all noble knights that ever I heard of or
saw, and once my dear friend, now do I, Sir Gawaine, King Lot's son of
Orkney and the Lothians, and sister's son to King Arthur, send thee
greeting and let thee know by these writings that I am this day done to
death, having been wounded at the landing against rebellious traitors,
and struck upon the wound which thou didst give me twice, before thy
city. Whereby I have got my death. But I will have thee to wit that I
sought my death of thee, and got that wound deservedly of thee, who
could have slain me twice, but for thy high nobility and great
courtesy. I, Gawaine, beseech of thee forgiveness for my madness, and
crave that thou wilt remember the dear friendly days we have had
together in times long past, and for all the love that was between us.
Come thou over the sea, and with thy knights do thou press to the help
of Arthur, our noble lord, who is beset by a traitorous villain, my
brother Mordred, who hath dared to rebel against his rightful lord, and
hath crowned himself king. Do thou hasten, good Sir Lancelot, when thou
shalt receive this letter, and follow the king. But ere thou goest from
this seashore do thou come to my tomb, and pray some prayer more or
less for my sinful soul, that in its madness did evilly entreat thee.'
Then was Sir Gawaine shriven, and in a little while he swooned, while
all stood uncovered round about him. When the rays of the afternoon sun
cast long shadows of the knights and fighting men who were hurrying up
and down the shore making ready to depart, Sir Gawaine awoke from his
swoon and looked up. For a moment he did not recognise King Arthur;
then he smiled at him very sweetly and said in a low voice:
'Kiss me--and forgive me!'
The king knelt down and kissed the pallid face of Sir Gawaine, and for
very sorrow he felt that the heart in his breast was nigh to bursting.
So in a little while, with the beat of the surf and the cry of the
seagulls upon his ears, the light of the sun in his eyes, and the free
air of heaven all about him, Sir Gawaine died. And his death was as he
had ever craved it to be, under the open sky, after battle, where he
had given good strokes and received them.
Now the letter which Sir Gawaine had written was given unto a young
squire of Sir Gawaine's, by name Tewder, and he was commanded to depart
forthwith back to Brittany, and deliver it into the hands of Sir
Lancelot. But, among the knights that had stood about the dying Sir
Gawaine, was a traitor, who was in the service of Sir Mordred the
rebel, and he knew that if Sir Lancelot should receive that letter, and
come to Britain with all his brave kin and their host, Sir Mordred
would have much ado to conquer King Arthur.
Therefore the traitor knight, whose name was Sir Fergus, did accost
Tewder the squire, and with fair seeming told him that he also was
bidden to go back to Brittany, to bring back certain jewels which the
king in his hasty departure had left in his lodging at the town of Dol.
Tewder, unsuspecting of all evil, went aboard a boat with Sir Fergus,
and together they bargained with the master to take them across when
the tide should rise again at dark. Together they crossed the sea that
night and took the road towards Sir Lancelot's town; and in a dark wood
Sir Fergus set upon the squire, who fought bravely, but was slain at
last, and the letter of Sir Gawaine was taken by the traitor.
Then, returning to the seashore, the wretch went aboard another boat,
and chaffered with the merchant to take him across the sea to the town
of Llongporth, whence he thought to get quickly to Mordred, to receive
from him the reward of his treachery and murder. But at night, as they
sailed over the dark sea, a fifty-oared longship, filled with Saxon
pirates, crept upon them; the pagans poured over the sides, slew men
almost in their sleep, and flung their bodies overboard. And though
Fergus fought well, his head was almost struck from his body by a great
sheering axe-blow. When the pirates had taken all the goods they
desired from the merchant vessel, they stove a hole in its side, and it
sank to the bottom of the sea. So that no man ever again saw the letter
which was meant for Sir Lancelot.
For some weeks Sir Lancelot lay quiet, knowing naught of the death of
Sir Gawaine or of the letter desiring him to go to the help of King
Arthur. Many rumours came to him, through the ship-folk, of the wicked
rebellion of Sir Mordred, and though Sir Lancelot longed to go across
to Britain and fight for King Arthur, his kinsmen would not consent,
but said it would be unseemly, unless the king craved his aid, and sued
for pardon for making war against Sir Lancelot in his own country.