LITMIR.BIZ

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maid:

      Beaten I had been for a little fault

      Whereof I was not guilty; and out I ran

      And flung myself down on a bank of heath,

      And hated this fair world and all therein,

      And wept, and wished that I were dead; and he—

      I know not whether of himself he came,

      Or brought by Merlin, who, they say, can walk

      Unseen at pleasure—he was at my side,

      And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart,

      And dried my tears, being a child with me.

      And many a time he came, and evermore

      As I grew greater grew with me; and sad

      At times he seemed, and sad with him was I,

      Stern too at times, and then I loved him not,

      But sweet again, and then I loved him well.

      And now of late I see him less and less,

      But those first days had golden hours for me,

      For then I surely thought he would be king.

      'But let me tell thee now another tale:

      For Bleys, our Merlin's master, as they say,

      Died but of late, and sent his cry to me,

      To hear him speak before he left his life.

      Shrunk like a fairy changeling lay the mage;

      And when I entered told me that himself

      And Merlin ever served about the King,

      Uther, before he died; and on the night

      When Uther in Tintagil past away

      Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two

      Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe,

      Then from the castle gateway by the chasm

      Descending through the dismal night—a night

      In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost—

      Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps

      It seemed in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof

      A dragon winged, and all from stern to stern

      Bright with a shining people on the decks,

      And gone as soon as seen. And then the two

      Dropt to the cove, and watched the great sea fall,

      Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,

      Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep

      And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged

      Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame:

      And down the wave and in the flame was borne

      A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet,

      Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried "The King!

      Here is an heir for Uther!" And the fringe

      Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand,

      Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word,

      And all at once all round him rose in fire,

      So that the child and he were clothed in fire.

      And presently thereafter followed calm,

      Free sky and stars: "And this the same child," he said,

      "Is he who reigns; nor could I part in peace

      Till this were told." And saying this the seer

      Went through the strait and dreadful pass of death,

      Not ever to be questioned any more

      Save on the further side; but when I met

      Merlin, and asked him if these things were truth—

      The shining dragon and the naked child

      Descending in the glory of the seas—

      He laughed as is his wont, and answered me

      In riddling triplets of old time, and said:

      '"Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky!

      A young man will be wiser by and by;

      An old man's wit may wander ere he die.

      Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea!

      And truth is this to me, and that to thee;

      And truth or clothed or naked let it be.

      Rain, sun, and rain! and the free blossom blows:

      Sun, rain, and sun! and where is he who knows?

      From the great deep to the great deep he goes."

      'So Merlin riddling angered me; but thou

      Fear not to give this King thy only child,

      Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing

      Hereafter; and dark sayings from of old

      Ranging and ringing through the minds of men,

      And echoed by old folk beside their fires

      For comfort after their wage-work is done,

      Speak of the King; and Merlin in our time

      Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn

      Though men may wound him that he will not die,

      But pass, again to come; and then or now

      Utterly smite the heathen underfoot,

      Till these and all men hail him for their king.'

      She spake and King Leodogran rejoiced,

      But musing, 'Shall I answer yea or nay?'

      Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw,

      Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew,

      Field after field, up to a height, the peak

      Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king,

      Now looming, and now lost; and on the slope

      The sword rose, the hind fell, the herd was driven,

      Fire glimpsed; and all the land from roof and rick,

      In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind,

      Streamed to the peak, and mingled with the haze

      And made it thicker; while the phantom king

      Sent out at times a voice; and here or there

      Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest

      Slew on and burnt, crying, 'No king of ours,

      No son of Uther, and no king of ours;'

      Till with a wink his dream was changed, the haze

      Descended, and the solid earth became

      As nothing, but the King stood out in heaven,

      Crowned. And Leodogran awoke, and sent

      Ulfius, and Brastias and Bedivere,

      Back to the court of Arthur answering yea.

      Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved

      And honoured

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