The Story of King Arthur and his Knights
wonderful ease, so that the head flew from the body to a great distance
away.
But the trunk of the body of that knight did not fall, but instead of
that it stood, and it walked to where the head lay, and the hands of the
trunk picked up the head and they set the head back upon the body and,
lo! that knight was as sound and whole as ever he had been in all his
life.
Upon this all those of the castle shouted and made great mirth, and they
called upon King Arthur that it was now his turn to try that sport. So
the King prepared himself, laying aside his surcoat and opening his
undergarment at the throat, as the knight of the castle had done. And at
that Boisenard made great lamentation. Then the knight of the castle
said, “Sir, art thou afeared?” And King Arthur said, “No, I am not
afeared, for every man must come to his death some time, and it appears
that my time hath now come, and that I am to lay down my life in this
foolish fashion for no fault of mine own.”
Then the knight of the castle said, “Well, stand thou away a little
distance so that I may not strike thee too close, and so lose the virtue
of my blow.”
[Sidenote: _The knight torments King Arthur._]
So King Arthur stood forth in the midst of the hall, and the knight of
the castle swung his sword several times, but did not strike. Likewise,
he several times laid the blade of the sword upon King Arthur’s neck,
and it was very cold. Then King Arthur cried out in great passion, “Sir,
it is thy right to strike, but I beseech thee not to torment me in this
manner.” “Nay,” said the knight of the castle, “it is my right to strike
when it pleases me, and I will not strike any before that time. For if
it please me I will torment thee for a great while ere I slay thee.” So
he laid his sword several times more upon King Arthur’s neck, and King
Arthur said no more, but bore that torment with a very steadfast spirit.
Then the knight of the castle said, “Thou appearest to be a very
courageous and honorable knight, and I have a mind to make a covenant
with thee.” And King Arthur said, “What is that covenant?” “It is this,”
said the knight of the castle, “I will spare thee thy life for a year
and a day if thou wilt pledge me thy knightly word to return hither at
the end of that time.”
Then King Arthur said, “Very well; it shall be so.” And therewith he
pledged his knightly word to return at the end of that time, swearing to
that pledge upon the cross of the hilt of Excalibur.
[Sidenote: _The knight of the castle sets King Arthur a riddle._]
Then the knight of the castle said, “I will make another covenant with
thee.” “What is it?” said King Arthur. “My second covenant is this,”
quoth the knight of the castle, “I will give to thee a riddle, and if
thou wilt answer that riddle when thou returnest hither, and if thou
makest no mistake in that answer, then will I spare thy life and set
thee free.” And King Arthur said, “What is that riddle?” To which the
knight made reply, “The riddle is this: What is it that a woman desires
most of all in the world?”
“Sir,” said King Arthur, “I will seek to find the answer to that riddle,
and I give thee gramercy for sparing my life for so long a time as thou
hast done, and for giving me the chance to escape my death.” Upon this
the knight of the castle smiled very sourly, and he said, “I do not
offer this to thee because of mercy to thee, but because I find pleasure
in tormenting thee. For what delight canst thou have in living thy life
when thou knowest that thou must, for a surety, die at the end of one
short year? And what pleasure canst thou have in living even that year
when thou shalt be tormented with anxiety to discover the answer to my
riddle?”
Then King Arthur said, “I think thou art very cruel.” And the knight
said, “I am not denying that.”
So that night King Arthur and Boisenard lay at the castle, and the next
day they took their way thence. And King Arthur was very heavy and
troubled in spirit; ne’theless he charged Boisenard that he should say
nothing concerning that which had befallen, but that he should keep it
in secret. And Boisenard did as the King commanded, and said nothing
concerning that adventure.
Now in that year which followed, King Arthur settled his affairs. Also
he sought everywhere to find the answer to that riddle. Many there were
who gave him answers in plenty, for one said that a woman most desired
wealth, and another said she most desired beauty, and one said she
desired power to please, and another said that she most desired fine
raiment; and one said this, and another said that; but no answer
appeared to King Arthur to be good and fitting for his purpose.
So the year passed by, until only a fortnight remained; and then King
Arthur could not abide to stay where he was any longer, for it seemed to
him his time was very near to hand, and he was filled with a very bitter
anxiety of soul, wherefore he was very restless to be away.
So he called Boisenard to him, and he said, “Boisenard, help me to arm,
for I am going away.”
Then Boisenard fell a-weeping in very great measure, and he said, “Lord,
do not go.”
At this King Arthur looked very sternly at his esquire, and said,
“Boisenard, how is this? Wouldst thou tempt me to violate mine honor? It
is not very hard to die, but it would be very bitter to live my life in
dishonor; wherefore tempt me no more, but do my bidding and hold thy
peace. And if I do not return in a month from this time, then mayst thou
tell all that hath befallen. And thou mayst tell Sir Constantine of
Cornwall that he is to search the papers in my cabinet, and that there
he will find all that is to be done should death overtake me.”
[Sidenote: _King Arthur set forth to return to the castle of the evil
knight._]
So Boisenard put a plain suit of armor upon King Arthur, though he could
hardly see what he was about for the tears that flowed down out of his
eyes in great abundance. And he laced upon the armor of the King a
surcoat without device, and he gave the King a shield without device.
Thereupon King Arthur rode away without considering whither his way took
him. And of everyone whom he met he inquired what that thing was that a
woman most desired, and no one could give him an answer that appeared to
him to be what it should be, wherefore he was in great doubt and torment
of spirit.
[Sidenote: _King Arthur cometh to the hut of an old woman._]
Now the day before King Arthur was to keep his covenant at that castle,
he was wandering through the adjacent forest in great travail of soul,
for he wist not what he should do to save his life. As he wandered so,
he came of a sudden upon a small hut built up under an overhanging
oak-tree so that it was very hard to tell where the oak-tree ended and
the hut began. And there were a great many large rocks all about covered
with moss, so that the King might very easily have passed by the hut
only that he beheld a smoke to arise therefrom as from a fire that
burned within. So he went to the hut and opened the door and entered. At
first he thought there was no one there, but when he looked again he
beheld an old woman sitting bent over a small fire that burned upon the
hearth. And King Arthur had never beheld such an ugly beldame as that
one who sat there bending over that fire, for her ears were very huge
and flapped, and her hair hung down over her head like to snakes, and
her face was covered all over with wrinkles so that there were not any
places at all where there was not a wrinkle; and her eyes were bleared
and covered over with a film, and the eyelids were red as with the
continual weeping of her eyes, and she had but one tooth in her mouth,
and her hands, which she spread out to the fire, were like claws of
bone.
Then King Arthur gave her greeting and she gave the King greeting, and
she said to him, “My lord King, whence come ye? and why do ye come to
this place?”
Then King Arthur was greatly astonished that that old woman should know
him, who he was, and he said, “Who are you that appeareth to know me?”
“No matter,” said she, “I am one who meaneth you well; so tell me what
is the trouble that brings you here at this time.” So the King confessed
all his trouble to that old woman, and he asked her if she knew the
answer to that riddle, “What is it that a woman most desires?” “Yea,”
said the old woman, “I know the answer to that riddle very well, but I
will not tell it to thee unless thou wilt promise me something in
return.”
At this King Arthur was filled with very great joy that the old woman
should know the answer to that riddle, and he was filled with doubt of
what she would demand of him, wherefore he said, “What is it thou must
have in return for that answer?”
Then the old woman said, “If I aid thee to guess thy riddle aright, thou
must promise that I shall become wife unto one of the knights of thy
Court, whom I may choose when thou returnest homeward again.”
“Ha!” said King Arthur, “how may I promise that upon the behalf of
anyone?” Upon this the old woman said, “Are not the knights of thy Court
of such nobility that they will do that to save thee from death?” “I
believe they are,” said King Arthur. And with that he meditated a long
while, saying unto himself, “What will my kingdom do if I die at this
time? I have no right to die.” So he said to the old woman, “Very well,
I will make that promise.”
[Sidenote: _The old woman telleth King Arthur to answer the riddle._]
Then she said unto the King, “This is the answer to that riddle: That
which a woman most desires is to have her will.” And the answer seemed
to King Arthur to be altogether right.
Then the old woman said, “My lord King, thou hast been played upon by
that knight who hath led thee into this trouble, for he is a great
conjurer and a magician of a very evil sort. He carrieth his life not
within his body, but in a crystal globe which he weareth in a locket
hanging about his neck; wherefore it was that when thou didst cut the
head from off his body, his life remained in that locket and he did not
die. But if thou hadst destroyed that locket, then he would immediately
have died.”
“I will mind me of that,” said King Arthur.
So King Arthur abided with that old woman for that night, and she
refreshed him with meat and drink and served him very well. And the next
morning he set forth unto that castle where he had made his covenant,
and his heart was more cheerful than it had been for a whole year.
[Illustration] Chapter Third.
_How King Arthur Overcame the Knight-Enchanter, and How Sir Gawaine
Manifested the High Nobility of His Knighthood._
[Sidenote: _King Arthur returneth to the castle of the evil knight._]
Now, when King Arthur came to the castle, the gateway thereof was
immediately opened to him and he entered. And when he had entered,
sundry attendants came and conducted him into the hall where he had
aforetime been. There he beheld the knight of that castle and a great
many people who had come to witness the conclusion of the adventure. And
when the knight beheld King Arthur he said to him, “Sir, hast thou come
to redeem thy pledge?” “Yea,” said King Arthur, “for so I made my vow to
thee.” Then the knight of the castle said, “Sir, hast thou guessed that
riddle?” And King Arthur said, “I believe that I have.” The knight of
the castle said, “Then let me hear thy answer thereto. But if thou
makest any mistake, or if thou dost not guess aright, then is thy life
forfeit.” “Very well,” said King Arthur, “let it be that way. Now this
is the answer to thy riddle: That which a woman most desires is to have
her will.”
Now when the lord of the castle heard King Arthur guess aright he wist