King Arthur's Knights
who wrought evil by wizardry, and he and his brother went their
different ways seeking adventure. Sir Balin returned to King Arthur and
became one of his most valiant knights.
It happened on a day that King Arthur journeyed with his knights from
Camelot to London, and he lay in his pavilion in the heat of the day.
As he rested he heard the noise of a horse, and looking out of the flap
of his tent, he saw a strange knight passing, making great complaint
and sorrowing, and with him was a damsel.
'Abide, fair sir,' said Arthur, 'and tell me wherefore you are
troubled.'
'Ye may little amend it,' answered the knight, and passed on.
Later came Sir Balin and saluted the king, who told him of the strange
knight sorrowing as he rode, and the king bade him follow and bring
back the knight to him, 'for,' said he, 'the sorrows of that knight
were so piercing that I would fain know his grief.'
Sir Balin took horse and lance and rode many miles through the forest,
and by evening he came upon the knight and the lady.
'Sir knight,' said Balin, 'ye must come with me unto my lord, King
Arthur, for to tell him the cause of your sorrow.'
'That will I not,' answered the knight, 'for it would do me none
avail.'
'Sir, make ready,' replied Balin, 'for ye must needs go with me, or
else I will fight with you and take you by force.'
'No heart have I to fight, for all joy of life is dead with me,' said
the knight, 'but I am on a fierce quest, and ye must be my warrant if I
go with you that I be not kept from my quest.'
'I will gladly warrant you,' said Balin, and together with the lady
they turned back.
'I fear not to tell you my sorrow,' said the knight as they rode. 'I
but lately returned from fighting the pagans in the north, and when I
came to my father's hall, men told me that the lady that I loved most
tenderly had been robbed away by a villain knight. And as I sorrowed
and went forth to seek the knight to slay him, lo, there I saw my lady,
who had escaped unscathed from his evil hold. And much joy we made of
each other, for we loved each other tenderly. But even as we kissed,
there came an arrow through the air and pierced my dear lady to the
heart, so that she fell dead in my arms. And there was none to see who
shot the arrow, but men said it was the felon knight who had taken my
lady, and he had killed her by black magic. So now with this damsel, my
dear sister, who was her friend, do I go through the world seeking the
invisible knight. And when I find him, with God's help I will surely
slay him.'
The good knight Balin was much moved by the sad story.
'Ah!' said he, 'it is the same fell knight whose death I seek by this
good sword. And we will fare together, you and I, and take his evil
life when God leads us to him.'
Even as Sir Balin spoke, out of a dark glade by their side came a lance
hurtling, as if held in rest by an invisible rider, and while they
turned their heads at the sound of its hissing through the air, it
pierced the side of the sorrowing knight and stood deep in the wound.
'Alas!' cried the knight, falling from his horse, 'I am slain by the
traitorous and wizard knight. His punishment is not for me, sir knight,
but I charge you, seek him out and slay him for my sake, and for the
sake of my dead lady.'
'That will I do,' said Balin, sorrowing, 'and thereof I make a vow to
you and this damsel by my knighthood.'
When Balin had told all to his lord, King Arthur, the king made the
knight to be buried in a rich tomb, and on it engraved his sad story,
together with his name, Sir Herlew, and that of his lady love,
Gwenellen.
Balin and the damsel rode forward the next day and for many days, and
ever the lady bore the truncheon of the spear with her by which Sir
Herlew had been slain.
Then on a day they lodged at the house of a rich knight named Sir
Gwydion, an old grey gentleman, of a sad aspect. When night came, Sir
Balin lay sleeping in the hall beside the fire, and suddenly he awoke
at the sound of one sorrowing quietly near him. He rose up and went to
the pallet and saw it was his host, and he asked him why he mourned in
the dark.
'I will tell you,' said the old sad knight, 'and the telling will
comfort me. I was but late at a jousting, and there I jousted with a
knight that is brother to good King Pellam. And a full evil kinsman is
this knight of so good a king. I smote the evil man from his horse
twice, and he was full of rage that I, an old man, should overcome him.
Therefore by treachery he assailed my son, a young and untried knight,
and slew him. And I cannot avenge my dear son, for the evil man goeth
invisible. But I pray that I may meet him in a little while.'
'Is not his name Garlon?' asked Balin.
'Ye say right,' said Sir Gwydion.
'Ah, I know him,' replied Balin, 'and I had rather meet with him than
have all the gold of this realm.'
'That shall we both do,' said his host. 'For King Pellam, his brother,
king of the land of Holy Hallows, hath made a cry in all this country,
of a great feast that shall be in twenty days, and that evil knight,
your enemy and mine, shall we see there.'
On the morrow they rode all three towards the town of King Pellam, and
when they came within the country of Holy Hallows, Sir Balin saw how
fair and happy was the land and its joyful people. Their meadows were
rich with grass, the cattle were thriving and sleek, the trees were
loaded with fruit and the cornfields full with rich ripe corn.
'Why doth it seem,' asked Balin, 'that this country is the fairest and
happiest that ever I saw?'
'It is for this,' said Sir Gwydion, 'that in the Castle of Holy
Hallows, whither we wend, King Pellam hath some holy relics of a
passing marvellous power, and while he keepeth these his land is rich
and happy, and plagues cannot enter it nor murrain, nor can pestilence
waste the people.'
When they reached the castle they found a great throng of lords and
ladies, and because Sir Gwydion had no lady with him he could not sit
at the feast. But Balin was well received and brought to a chamber, and
they unarmed him. The squires brought him a festal robe to his
pleasure, but he would not suffer them to take his sword.
'Nay,' said he, 'it is my vow that never shall I and my sword be
parted, and that vow will I keep or depart as I came.'
So they suffered him to wear it under his robe, and he was set in the
hall with his lady beside him. Anon, when the meal was ended and the
mead horns were set, Sir Balin asked his neighbour whether there was a
knight at that court named Garlon.
'Yonder he goeth,' said the knight; 'he with that dark face and
piercing eye. He is the most marvellous knight that is now living, and
though King Pellam loveth him dearly, because he is his brother, yet he
suffers bitterly the evil magic of Sir Garlon. For that knight rideth
invisible, and slays so that none may know how they get their death.'
Sir Balin's heart rose at these words, and he trembled with his great
anger.
'Ah, well,' said the good knight. 'And that is he?'
He considered long within himself what he should do.
'If I slay him here in this crowded hall,' he said, 'I shall surely not
escape, and if I leave him now, peradventure I shall never meet with
him again, and much evil will he do if he be let to live.'
He could not remove his eyes from Sir Garlon where he walked between
the tables, proudly talking and laughing with those he knew, and making
soft speeches to ladies, though many showed fear of him, and crossed
their fingers while he spoke to them, to fend off the evil of his eyes.
Very soon Sir Garlon noticed the fixed, stern look of Sir Balin, and
came across to him and flicked his gauntlet across his face.
'This shall make thee remember me when next thou seest me, knight,' he
said. 'But thou hadst better do what thou camest for, and fill thyself
with mead.'
'Thou sayest sooth,' said Balin, and clutched the sword under his robe.
'Too long hast thou done evil and despite, and now will I do that for
which I came.'
Rising, he drew his sword fiercely and swiftly, and cleaved the head of
Garlon to the shoulders.
'Give me the truncheon wherewith he slew thy brother!' said Balin to
the damsel beside him.
From beneath her robe the lady brought forth the broken truncheon, and
striding to the slain man, Sir Balin thrust it fiercely into his body.
'Now,' cried he aloud, 'with this lance thou didst treacherously slay a
good knight, and for that and all thy other cruel murders have I slain
thee.'
With that arose a great outcry, and men ran from the tables towards Sir
Balin to slay him, and the foremost of them was King Pellam, who rushed
towards him, crying:
'Thou hast slain my brother when he bore no sword, and thou shalt
surely die.'
'Well,' said Balin, 'come and do it thyself.'
'I shall do it,' said Pellam, 'and no man shall touch thee but me, for
the love of my brother.'
Pellam snatched an axe from the hands of one standing by, and smote
eagerly at Balin; but Balin put his sword between his head and the
stroke, and the sword was struck from his hand.
Then, weaponless, Balin dashed through the circle of guests towards a
door, looking for a weapon while he ran, but none could he find. King
Pellam followed closely behind him, and so they ran from chamber to
chamber, and up the narrow stair within the wall, until at the last
Balin found that he was near the top of the tower, and thought that now
he must surely be slain, for no weapon had he found.
Suddenly he came upon a door, and bursting it open he found himself in
a large room marvellously bright and richly dight, and with a bed
arrayed with cloth of gold, and one old and white and reverend lying
therein. And by the side of the bed was a table of virgin gold on
pillars of pure silver, and on it stood a spear, strangely wrought.
Balin seized the spear, and turned upon King Pellam, who stood still in
the doorway with terror in his eyes. But, marking naught of this, Balin
thrust at him with the spear, and struck it in his side, and King
Pellam with a great cry fell to the ground.
With that stroke the walls of the castle drove together and fell in
ruins to the ground, and a great cry of lamentation beat to and fro
from far and near, and Balin lay under the stones as one dead.
After three days Merlin came and drew out Balin from the ruins, and
nourished and healed him. He also recovered his sword and got him a
good horse, for his own was slain. Then he bade him ride out of that
country without delay.
'And never more shall you have ease,' said Merlin. 'For by the stroke
of that spear with intent to slay King Pellam thou hast done such a
dolorous deed that not for many years shall its evil cease to work.'
'What have I done?' said Balin.
'Thou wouldst have slain a man with the very spear that Longius the
Roman thrust into the side of our Lord Jesus when He suffered on the
Rood; and by that thou hast defiled it, and caused such ill that never
shall its tale be ended until a stainless knight shall come, one of
those who shall achieve the Holy Graal.'
'It repents me,' said Balin heavily, 'but the adventure was forced upon
me.'
As he rode through the land, he saw how it seemed that a dire
pestilence had swept over it; for where he had seen the golden corn
waving in miles of smiling fields, he saw it now blackened along the
ground; the trees were stripped of their leaves and fruit, the cattle
lay dead in the meads, and the fish rotted in the streams, while in the
villages lay the people dead or dying in shattered or roofless
cottages.
As he passed, those that were alive cursed him, and called down upon
him the wrath of Heaven.
'See, see,' they cried, 'thou murderous knight, how the evil stroke