MERLIN THE MAGICIAN

BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE

ACCORDING TO DOROTHEA SCHLEGEL

Let scholars quarrel and squabble,

Let teachers too be prudent and strict!
All the wisest men in all the ages
Nod and smile in agreement with me:
Foolish to wait till fools grow wiser!
Children of Wisdom, simply make fools
Of the fools, as is fit!

Old Merlin from his shining grave,

Where I consulted him in my youth,
Gave me a similar answer too:
Foolish to wait till fools grow wiser!
Children of Wisdom, simply make fools
Of the fools, as is fit!

Goethe

CANTO I

(Of the gathering of the devils and how they drove a family to destruction.)

The evil enemy was full of wrath

When Jesus Christ descended to hell
And delivered Adam and Eve from it,
Together with all who were with them in hell.
Who is this man, said the devils in fear,
Who breaks the gates of hell
And whose power we cannot resist?
If we had never believed
That a man born of woman
Should not belong to us,
And this one destroys our kingdom.
How is it that he could be born
Without our sinning against him,
As happens to other men?
Another answered, He was born without sin,
And not of the seed of man,
But according to the will of God
By his Holy Spirit in the womb of a Virgin.
Therefore it would be good
If we could find the means
To form a body in a woman,
Formed in our image, doing our will,
And knowing all things that are done
And all things that are spoken, as we do.
Such a one could be of great use to us.
For we must think how to regain
What the Saviour of the world has robbed us of.
Then all the devils were unanimous and cried out,
Yes, let us find means by which one of us
May produce such a man through the woman.
Then one of them cried out,
I have power over a woman,
So that she obeys me,
And does many things as I will;
Also I have power to take the form of a man.
Now this woman, over whom I have power,
Will certainly provide me with the means
To produce a man with a virgin.
So it was decided among them
That he should begin to carry out the work;
But they charged him beforehand
That he should see to it that the man
He produced became like them
And acted according to their will.

The council of Satan departed again;

But the messenger hastened,
And missed no time in coming to the woman
Over whom he had power.

This was the wife of a very rich man,

Who possessed many goods, much cattle
And other treasures, of which
Many a tale might be told;
He had with this woman three daughters and a son.
Satan found the woman quite willing
To do anything he asked.
He asked if there was any means
Of deceiving her husband,
Or of giving him into his power.
The woman replied that this could only happen
If he angered and deceived him.
She therefore advised him to go
And to kill some of his cattle.
The devil did so immediately.
When the shepherds saw half of the flock slain,
They ran to their master and told him,
And he was very much frightened.
When the evil one realised
That he was already so frightened
About half of his flocks,
He went into the stable and killed
Ten of the best horses in one night.
When the rich man found out about this,
He became furious;
He shouted and raged and cried out:
Since the devil had already taken so much,
He would give him the rest in addition.

When Satan heard this,

He was very pleased and took all the rest.
The man, who suddenly found himself
Deprived of all his treasures,
Was so saddened by this
That he became quite melancholy,
Kept himself quite apart from all his own,
Did not care for them
And did not like to suffer them to be around him,
But lived in solitude all the time.
The devil, who had seen him
Hate people and flee all company,
Was now sure that he had all the power over him
And could do as he pleased in his house.
He immediately went and strangled
The good man's only beautiful son.
The father wanted to die of heartache and sorrow.
The devil then went to the woman,
Whom he found all alone,
And tempted her with the idea of her misfortune
In such a way that she took a rope
And hung herself from it.
Soon afterwards the good man died of grief
At the terrible death of his wife and son.

After the evil one had accomplished this,

He thought about how he could get the virgins,
The young daughters of this rich man,
Into his power; in order to deceive them,
He first had to show himself agreeable to them.
So he fetched a handsome youth,
Whom he had already had in his power
For a long time, and brought him to the virgins.
The youth, with his sweet speeches
And his going back and forth, got so far
That one of the virgins fell in love with him,
Which made Satan very happy.
Now he would not rest until
She had become the young man's very own.
Then he went and revealed it to the whole world,
So that the virgin should be disgraced;
For at that time the law was thus:
If a girl, who was not a public one,
Was convicted of consorting with a man,
She had to die. Satan, by treachery,
Brought her to the knowledge of the judges.
The young man fled, and the virgin
Was brought before the court.
The judges had great compassion on her
Because of her father,
Who had been a very good man.
Wonder! said the judges, how could
The poor girl have suffered so much,
For it was not long ago that her father,
The most pious man in the land, died.
She was condemned and buried alive,
But out of respect for her relatives
It was done at night to avoid a stir.

This is how it is with those

Who have once surrendered to Satan.

CANTO II

Not far from the place where the virgins lived

There lived a hermit
Who led an extremely pious life.
When he heard the wonderful news
That one of the virgins had been buried alive,
He went to the other sisters
To give them his advice.
First he asked them how they had lost
Their father and mother and all their goods.
The Fates, they said, had willed it so;
We are hated by God, and he
Has destined us to such affliction.

God hates no man, said the pious hermit;

Rather, all that you do evil is very near to him;
It is through the influence of the devil
That your sister has been seduced
Into such disgrace. But since
You know nothing of this,
And have hitherto been free from it,
Beware further of bad company
And evil inspirations.
The pious man then gave them
Many more excellent teachings.
He instructed them in the faith,
Taught them the divine commandments
And the virtues of the Saviour.
The eldest daughter liked these teachings very much
And took them to heart.
She also took great pains to learn everything
And to do everything every day
That the pious hermit commanded her to do.

If you, he said to her, always follow the advice,

My daughter, and punctually do as I command you,
You will come to many honours and great good;
So follow my advice. Come to me
Whenever you are in doubt
Or tempted about anything,
So that with God's help I may guide you
Back onto the right path.
Let nothing make you dismayed, but trust in God.
After the pious man had thus strengthened
And instructed the two virgins,
He went back to his hermitage,
But before doing so, he once again
Inculcated in them that they should come to him
And ask him for advice
Whenever they encountered something.

Satan did not like the assurance of the pious man,

He was very much afraid of losing the two virgins;
He also realised that he would never be able
To deceive them, except with the help
Of another woman possessed by him.
He knew one who had often done his will
And of whom he was quite powerful.
He sent her to the virgins;
She immediately turned to the youngest,
For she dared not speak to the oldest
Because she was too pious.
So the woman took the youngest to her side
And asked her how she lived
And what her relationship was with her sister.
My sister, answered the young girl,
Has become so thoughtful
Over the many incidents we have experienced
In succession that she forgets to eat and drink,
And shows neither me nor others a friendly face.
A good, pious man has turned her mind
Entirely to God; she believes
And does nothing but what this man tells her.

What a pity, said the woman,

That such a beautiful girl as you
Should be under such a guardianship;
For you will never be able to enjoy your beauty
With your sister. My sweet little daughter,
She continued, if you knew what joy
And what good life the other women enjoy,
You would regard everything
You have with your sister as nothing.
Dry bread in the company of men
Is more pleasant than all the goods
Of the world with your sister.
How can you bear to be so alone;
A woman who knows no man
And deals with none does not know what joy is.
I tell you, beautiful child,
You will never enjoy the love of a man;
Your sister will enjoy it sooner than you,
For she is the eldest and will marry;
But then she will not care for you at all,
And you will not know the joys
Of your beautiful body.
These words made the young girl quite thoughtful.

How could I possibly do that, she began again,

They would bury me alive, like my sister. -
Your sister, said the hag, was a fool,
And started very badly; if you will follow me,
You shall enjoy all the pleasure of your body,
And no man shall harm you. -
Now I must not speak to you any longer,
Said the young girl, my sister would perceive it;
Depart now, and come again another day.
The woman went away,
And Satan rejoiced at the good beginning.

When the girl was left alone,

She constantly thought about the woman's speeches
And talked about them to herself.
As a result, the lust that the devil had kindled in her
Through those speeches grew in her more and more,
So that when she had taken off her clothes
In the evening, she looked at her beautiful body
And rejoiced in it. In truth, she said,
The wise woman is right, I would be quite lost
Without the pleasure of a man.
She soon had that woman called to her again,
And asked her how she must do to love a man,
And not be betrayed and killed, like her sister.
You need only, said she, give yourself
Publicly to any one. Flee from this house
As if enraged, and say that you can
No longer bear to be with your sister;
Afterwards you may do as you please,
And no one may call you to trial
Or condemn you. Then, when once thou art tired
Of the wild life, thou canst still find
A man to marry thee,
For the sake of thy many riches;
So thou wilt be glad
Of all the pleasures of this world.

The virgin really followed

The cursed woman's pernicious advice,
Fled from her sister's house,
And publicly exposed herself to everyone.

CANTO III

As much as the evil enemy rejoiced

To see this plot succeed,
So much was the girl's sister horrified by it.
It would have taken little
To drive her mad with grief,
And she immediately set out and ran to the hermit.
When he saw her arrive, he went to meet her
And said, Make a cross, my daughter,
And commend yourself to God;
I see you are very low. -
I have good cause to be, said she,
And told him how her sister had escaped,
And, as she was told, had publicly
Exposed herself to disgrace.
The pious man was very grieved at this news,
And said, The wicked enemy is still about thee,
And will not soon cease to persecute thee,
To entrap thee in his snares,
Unless God take thee into his special care.
I beseech thee, therefore, and command thee,
That thou abandon not thyself to anger and sadness,
For over no one has the evil one more power
Than over those who give themselves up
To such passions. Come to me
As soon as an obstacle or something corruptible
Is placed in your path. Every day,
Before you eat or drink anything,
Make the sign of the cross on yourself;
Always keep a light burning where you sleep,
For the evil one shuns the light.

After these teachings of the pious man,

The virgin went home again.
Many people from the town visited her
And advised her to marry,
So that she would not remain so alone
And sunk in sadness.
But she answered them each time,
God will certainly send me nothing
But what is good for me.
For more than two years the virgin stayed
In her father's house
And led a very godly and pious life.
The evil one could not have any power over her,
Neither in thought nor in deed;
He constantly sought to enrage her,
So that in anger she would forget
The commands of the pious man.
To this end he brought her runaway sister
Back to her one night, so that she might be
Enraged at her; and immediately
After the sister he sent a bunch of young boys
Into the house, who ran after her.

When the maiden saw this,

She was very much frightened,
And said to her sister,
As long as you lead such a way of life,
You should not come to my house,
For you are to blame for giving me a bad name.
The latter, when she heard
That her sister blamed her evil reputation,
Became angry and heated and spoke
Like one possessed by the devil;
She threatened her sister
And accused her of loving the pious hermit
With worldly love,
And that she would be executed if people knew.
The virgin was very angry at this accusation
And ordered her to leave the house.
But she replied that she had as much right
To the house as she, and would not go out.
The maiden wanted to push her out
By the shoulders, but she
And the young boys who were with her resisted
And beat the poor, angry maiden.
At last she escaped from them
And shut herself up in her room;
In her clothes she threw herself on the bed,
Wept very much, and in her sorrow forgot
To make the sign of the cross over herself,
As the pious man had commanded her.
The evil one watched beside her,
And when he saw that she had forgotten herself,
He thought: Now it is time for us
To create man in her,
For she is not now in God's care.

Then the devil lay with her

And she conceived, buried in a sound sleep.
Immediately she awoke,
And her first thought was of the pious hermit;
Immediately she made the sign
Of the cross over herself.
Holy Virgin Mary, she prayed,
What has happened to me?
I feel dishonoured!
Blessed Mother of God,
Pray Thy glorious Son for me,
That He may preserve my soul from damnation,
My body from torment,
And protect me against the power of evil.
After she had prayed like this,
She got up from her bed
And looked around at all her acquaintances,
Trying to guess which person might have done her
Such good. She ran and examined the door,
But found it shut tightly,
Just as she herself had shut it
Before she lay down;
She also searched all over her chamber
Without finding anything.
Then she realised that she had been tricked
And dishonoured by the evil enemy;
She immediately threw herself on her knees
And prayed long and fervently to God
To take her into his protection
And save her from disgrace.
When day dawned, the wicked enemy
Led the sister and the young people
Out of the house again;
Then she got up from prayer,
Opened her chamber, and gave herself up
Entirely to her excessive pain.
Then she sent for two respectable women
Through her servant, and accompanied by them
She went straight to her hermit to confess.
And when the pious man saw her
So full of sorrow and questioned her about it,
She told him everything that had happened
To her that night; she also admitted
That in anger she had forgotten his command,
And how she had then felt dishonoured
In her sleep, without knowing a man
Of whom she could suspect this,
Since her door had been firmly locked
And no one had found her in the chamber.
The pious man did not believe her at first
And accused her of lying,
But as she insisted on everything
And showed great sorrow, he imposed
A severe penance on her
Because she had forgotten his command.
She accepted it, weeping,
And promised to keep it for life, namely,
To do the penance only once a day
As long as she lived.
After she had promised to keep this promise,
He blessed her and prayed over her,
Telling her to come to him again
Whenever she needed his comfort.
She went home and the evil spirit
Found himself deceived by her purity and piety,
For although he deceived her in her sleep,
He could not corrupt her soul
And had not the least power over her.

CANTO IV

After some time the child grew

In the Virgin's womb,
And her pregnancy became visible
Before the eyes of all men.
Many people then came to her and asked her,
Since she could not deny her condition,
Who the man was. So God give me joy,
She answered, I do not know
By whom I have the child.
Then they mocked her, saying with laughter,
So you have had dealings
With so many men
That you do not know the father of your child? -
Never, she answered, may I be redeemed
If I have ever known a man,
Or if a man of my will or knowledge
Has had dealings with me!

Then the women present made the sign of the cross.

This is not possible, they said,
This happens to no woman.
Rather, we think you love the man
Who seduced you more than yourself,
And do not want to accuse him.
It is a great pity for you;
If the judges find out, you must die.
The maiden repeated again
That she knew of no man.
The women departed, declared her mad,
And said that her father's riches
Must be a badly acquired possession,
Because now everything would be lost,
And it would be punished on the children.
The virgin was very frightened
And immediately went back to the hermit
And told him everything
That the people had said to her.
When the pious man saw her pregnant,
He could not hide his astonishment
And asked her whether this miracle
Had happened again since then,
And whether she had kept her penance
And the rest of his orders properly.
The first she denied, but to the last
She answered in the affirmative.

The pious hermit, astonished at this miracle,

Wrote down the night and hour
When she first confessed to him.
Now, he said, I will know exactly
Whether you told me lies or not,
For I trust in God and believe
That if you speak the truth,
He will not let you die;
But you will have to endure the fear of death.
For they will say that the punishment
Is yours by right; but in fact
They will gladly kill you for the sake
Of your great wealth. But as soon
As you are put in prison, let me know;
I will come to your aid when possible.

Soon afterwards the maiden was summoned

To appear before the judges,
And immediately she sent for the hermit,
Who set out to meet her. But when he arrived,
She was already on trial. As soon
As the judges saw the pious man,
They told him about the incident
And asked him whether he believed
That a woman could conceive
Without having relations with a man.
I know nothing about this, he answered,
But my advice is that you do not execute her
While she is pregnant, for it is neither right
Nor just that the child should be punished,
Since she has not sinned.
These words the judges decided to follow.
He also advised them to take her
To a locked tower and to give her
Two women with her to help her
In the hour of birth; but no other person
Was to be allowed to see her.
He further advised them to let the mother live
Until the child could speak; then, he said,
You will know the truth and be able
To judge her according to justice.
The judges did everything according to the advice
Of the pious hermit, and gave her
Two women with her into the tower,
The most skilful and understanding midwives
And attendants at the time;
A window was made at the top of the tower,
Through which they could hand them
Everything they needed.

Before the virgin was led in,

The hermit said to her, My daughter,
When you have come down,
Have your child baptised;
And if they want to execute you,
Send for me and let me call you.

Now when the time of birth had come,

She gave birth to a son,
Who was to have the power and will
Of the evil enemy, his begetter;
But Satan had foolishly deceived himself,
Deceiving the virgin in her sleep,
But not deceiving her soul,
Which was all full of the Lord.
As soon as she woke up, she got up,
Prayed devoutly and commended herself
To the Trinity;
Then she ran as fast as she could
To the pious man, confessed,
Called upon God and the holy Church,
And received repentance and absolution;
Since then she had also followed
God's and the Church's commandments
Most faithfully. Hence it came about
That the evil enemy lost again
What he thought he had conquered.

The child of the virgin resembled its creator,

The devil, in that it knew everything
That happened and was spoken
In the present time, but through the piety
Of its mother and by means of the purification
Of baptism and the grace of God,
It received from God the gift of knowing
The future beforehand;
So that the child could give itself
To God or to Satan,
Or give back to God what it had from Him,
And to the devil what it had from the devil.
The devil had only given him the body,
But God had given him the soul and the mind,
And this to this child more than to any other,
Because he was in need of it.

When he was born, the women were afraid of him,

For he was tall and all hairy,
And they had never seen such a child
Come into the world.
They presented him to his mother,
Who made a cross when she saw him.
My son, you frighten me, she said.
We too, said the women, are so frightened
At the sight of him that we can hardly hold him.
The mother ordered him to be lowered
To the window to be baptised.
What shall his name be? asked the women.
Give him the name my father had, she answered,
He was called Merlin.
So it happened; the child was let down
To the window, the people took him,
Had him baptised, and at the request of the women,
By order of the mother,
Gave him the name Merlin,
Which was the name of his grandfather.
Then he was taken back to his mother,
For no other woman would have dared
To put him to her breast and let him suckle,
So much were they all afraid of him.

Until he was eighteen months old,

The women stayed patiently around the mother
And kept her company, but they had
To wonder more and more about the child,
Who at the age of twelve months
Was already as big and strong
As if he were more than two years old.
When he was eighteen months old,
They said to his mother, Madam,
We would like to leave here
And go back to our friends and relatives
Who have not seen us for so long;
It seems to us that we have been with you long enough.
The poor woman began to weep bitterly,
Oh, she said, if you leave me,
They will execute me!
She begged the women, with many tears
And lamentations, not to leave her just yet,
And the women entered a window,
Weeping and regretting their arms.
Ah, my son, said the mother,
Looking at her child on her lap,
Ah, my son, for you I must die,
And yet I do not deserve to die;
No one but I know the truth,
But no one will believe me!
And when she was thus weeping and wailing
Over the child, and calling upon our Saviour
To strengthen her, the child suddenly
Looked upon her with a smile, and said to her,
Fear not, mother, thou shalt not die for my sake.
The mother was so frightened
When she heard him speak
That she sank back in a faint
And dropped the child, who cried out violently
As it fell to the earth.

The two women hurried over

And said that she wanted to kill her child
Out of desperation. Why is the child crying?
They asked. Did you want to kill it?
Why is it lying on the ground? -
I did not think of harming him, said the mother,
When she awoke again from her faintness,
But I let him fall, for my heart and arms
Sank with terror at what he spoke to me. -
And what, they asked, did he tell you
That you were so frightened? -
That I would not die for his sake! -
If he really said this, he will probably say more,
The women replied; they took him in their arms,
Kissed him and hugged him,
And spoke to him in a friendly way
To see if he would answer them.
But he remained completely silent
And did not speak a word.
Then the mother, who only wished him to speak
In the presence of the women,
Took him in her arms and said,
Threaten me once, say I would be burnt for his sake. -
You are very pitiful, they said,
That you should be burned for the sake of the child,
When you would rather never have been born! -
You are lying, said the child;
The mother told you to speak so.
The women were terrified
When they heard him speak thus,
This is no ordinary child, they said,
He is an evil spirit, he knows all
That we have spoken. Thereupon
They asked him many things,
And made many words. Leave me alone,
Said the child. You are foolish women
And greater sinners than my mother. -
This miracle must not be hidden, said the women,
The judges must know it, and the whole world.
They then went to the window,
Called together the people down at the tower,
And told them all that the child had spoken.
The people ran to the judges
And told them about the miracle
And the strange things the child had spoken,
Since he was not yet at the age
When children usually begin to speak.
It is time, said the judges,
To have this woman put to death;
They made it generally known
That after forty days this woman would be judged.

When she heard this, she was very afraid

And immediately told the pious man
That the day of her execution
Had already been fixed.
When the thirty-ninth day dawned
With lamentations and suffering,
The unhappy woman wept greatly
And was grieved in her heart;
But the child looked at her mother,
Was happy and laughed.
Child, child, said the women,
You think little of the sufferings of your poor mother,
Who is to be burned tomorrow for your sake;
Curse the hour in which you were born,
For you are to blame and the cause of her sufferings.

Then the child ran to his mother and said,

Hear me, dear mother; I promise you
That as long as I live, no man shall be so bold,
Nor any court so powerful, as to condemn you to death;
In God's hand alone is your life.
The mother and the two women rejoiced
At these words and had great hope
In the Wisdom of the child,
Who was already comforting his mother.

CANTO V

When the day arrived for her execution,

The judges went to the tower
And brought the mother
And the two women down to them.
The mother carried the child in her arms.
At that moment, the pious hermit hurried up.
When the judges noticed him,
They told the virgin to prepare to die,
For she must die. Allow me, she said,
To speak to this pious man in secret.
The judges allowed her to do so,
And she went with him into a special room,
But she left the child outside with the judges.
They tried all sorts of things to get him to speak,
But he did not care for them
And did not speak a word.

When the mother had confessed

To the pious hermit and prayed with him
In hot tears, he went out again to the judges;
But she took off her clothes
And wrapped herself only in a cloak,
Because she thought she was being led away to death.
Then she went out again; when she opened the door,
The child ran towards her,
She took him in her arms and went to the judges.
Good woman, said the judges, now confess
Who is the father of your child,
And do not think any longer of denying
Or trying to hide anything from us.
To which she replied, Gentlemen,
I know very well that I am already
Condemned to the death penalty,
And so may God not have mercy on me,
Nor show me mercy, if it is not the truth
That I have never attended any man,
Nor lived in any communion with any. -
You are condemned to death, cried the judges,
For, according to the testimony
Of all the other women, this is impossible,
And there is neither reason
Nor truth in your statement.

Then the child Merlin sprang from the arm

Of his frightened mother, and said,
Fear not, mother, thou shalt not die
So long as I live. Then he turned to the chief judge.
You have condemned her to be burned alive,
But from this I will guard her,
For she does not deserve such a thing.

If all the men and women here

Who have secretly sinned
And lived with others than their husbands
And their wives were justified,
They would have to be burned by both parts.
I know their secret deeds as well
As they know them; if I wanted to name them,
They would have to confess themselves guilty
In your presence of all that
Of which you accuse my mother,
Who in truth was never guilty.
This pious man here is also so convinced of it
That he brought her guilt upon himself before God.

Yes, said the hermit, it is true,

She confessed to me,
And I absolved her of her sin.
She herself has confessed to you
How she was deceived in her sleep and without guilt.
Since no such miracle has ever been heard of before,
It is very difficult for me to believe it.

You have, said the child to the hermit, written down

The hour and day on which she came to you
And confessed her case;
Now you may only see whether it agrees
With what she now speaks. -
You speak the truth, replied the hermit,
You know more than the rest of us.
Then the two women who had sat with her
In the tower told the hour and day
When she had been deceived,
As had been pretended, and this coincided exactly
With that which the hermit had written down.
All this does not absolve her, said the judge;
She must name the father of the child,
That we may punish him.

Then the child Merlin cried out

In anger and vehemence: Sir,
I know my father better than you know yours;
You do not know who your father is,
But your mother knows more exactly
Who begat you than my mother knows
Who begat me. Then the judge cried angrily,
If you know anything about my mother, speak up! -
Yes, replied the child, if you wish to judge
Your mother as well, for she deserved death
Much sooner than my mother!
If I tell you something about your mother
Which she admits, will you then absolve my mother?
For I tell you again, she is innocent
And does not deserve death;
She really does not know the one who produced me.
The judge, full of anger at seeing his mother
So reviled before all the people, said,
If you can do what you boast of,
Your mother shall be free;
But know that if you say anything about my mother
That is not the truth, and she does not testify to it,
You will be burned with your mother. -
Send, then, and send for thy mother, said Merlin.

The judge sent; mother and child

Were again led into prison and closely guarded,
After five days they were to appear again in court;
The judge himself was among the guards.
Often during this time the child
Was questioned by its mother as well as by others,
And tried to make it speak; but in vain,
It did not speak a single word until the fifth day,
When the judge's mother arrived.
Now here is my mother, said he to the boy Merlin,
Of whom thou hast said so many things;
Now come hither and speak;
She will answer thee all that thou wilt.
Immediately Merlin answered, It is not wise
Of you not to speak first to your mother in secret,
And question her yourself.
Go and shut yourself up first with her,
With your most trusted counsellors:
Even as I will consult my mother's counsellors,
Who are none other than the all-knowing God
And the pious hermit.

All present were startled

When they heard the child speak
With so much Wisdom,
And the judge well saw that he had spoken right.
Then the child asked the judges
And all present once more,
If I save my mother this time
From the threatened punishment and disgrace,
Will she then also be free for ever,
And will no one harm her further? -
She shall go out free, they all answered,
And remain in peace. Then the judge
Went away with his mother,
The councillors and relatives followed him,
And they remained locked in a special room all night.

The next morning, the judge secretly

Summoned Merlin. What do you want from me?
Asked Merlin. Listen, said the judge,
If you will confess that you know nothing
To say of my mother, your mother shall be free;
But to me secretly you must tell all you know. -
If your mother has done nothing wrong, said Merlin,
I shall have nothing to say of her,
For I will not defend my mother
Or anyone else against right and justice.
My mother never deserved the punishment
You have awarded her; I want nothing
But that justice be done to her.
Follow me, release her, and let us never speak
Of this matter again; there shall then be
No more talk of your mother at all. -
You will not get away with it, said the judge;
You must discover to us quite other things,
If you would set your mother free;
And we are gathered here to hear them from you.
Then the child answered and said, I tell you,
My mother knows not who begat me,
Yet I know, and know my father very well.
But you do not know him who begat you,
Although your mother knows him very well.
If she would speak the truth,
She could tell you whose son you really are;
But my mother cannot tell you who begat me,
For she does not know.

Dear mother, said the judge, turning to her,

Am I not the son of your honourable husband
And lord? - O God, my dear son! replied the mother,
Whose son could you possibly be
But that of my dear husband, who has died,
God rest his soul. Whereupon Merlin said,
I will surely keep only to the truth;
If your son will let me and my mother go,
I will not say a word, but if he will not,
I will discover all, both what went before
And what came after. - I will now, cried the judge,
That thou tell all that thou knowest of this matter. -
Think well, said Merlin, what thou doest,
For thy father, whom I will name to thee,
Is yet alive, and shall bear witness
To my testimony himself.
When the councillors heard him thus speak,
They cried wonders, and made a cross
Over themselves. Now, lady, said Merlin
To the judge's mother, confess the truth to your son,
And tell him who his father is,
For I know who he is, and where he is to be found.

You Satan, devil from hell, began the lady,

Have I not told you before? -
You know it well enough
That he is not the son of the man
He has hitherto thought to be his father. -
Well, whose son is he then? asked the lady
In great consternation.
He is your confessor's son,
And you know that very well,
For you yourself told him,
After he had been with you for the first time,
That you were afraid you were pregnant by him.
He then said it could not be,
But wrote down the day and the hour
In which he had attended you,
So that you might not deceive him
And have to do with others,
For at that time your lord and husband
Was dissatisfied with you,
And you lived for a long time at odds with him.
But when you felt pregnant,
You hastened to reconcile with him,
Which the confessor helped you to do.
Is it not so? say no, if you may;
For if you will not confess it,
I will make the confessor confess it himself.

The judge was greatly angered

When he heard Merlin speak thus to his mother,
And asked her if it were true.
The mother was quite frightened, and said,
O God, will you, my dear son,
Believe this hereditary enemy? -
If you will not at once admit the truth, said Merlin,
I will say other things which are also known to you.
The lady was silent, and Merlin began again,
After you had reconciled yourself to your husband
With the help of the confessor,
So that he lived with you again
And could consider your son,
With whom you were pregnant, as his own,
And really considered him so,
As did all the other persons who knew you,
You continued your understanding
With the confessor and your life with him,
And even now, even daily,
You live with him in intimacy.
The very morning before you travelled here,
He embraced you, accompanied you
For a good distance, and at your departure
He said with a laugh, Madam,
Do everything your son desires of you
And whatever he wishes.
For he knows well that he was speaking
For his own son.

The lady was very frightened

When the child told her this,
For she was afraid that she would now be condemned
Instead of the others. Then the judge
Spoke to her and said, Beloved mother,
Whoever my father may be,
I shall always remain your son
And treat you as my mother. -
So have mercy on me for God's sake,
My dear son, cried the lady,
For I can no longer hide the truth from you;
This child knows everything,
And he has told the plain truth. -
He has told me, said the judge,
That he knows my father better than I do;
So I cannot legally condemn his mother,
Because I do not punish mine.
I beseech thee, Merlin, he continued,
In the name of God, and for the honour
Of thyself and thy mother,
Tell me thy father, that I may justify
Thy mother before the people.

I will gladly discover him to you, Merlin answered,

Much rather voluntarily than forced.
Know then that I am the son of the devil,
Who deceived my mother by trickery,
And, while she slept, overcame her,
So that she became pregnant with me by him.
Know also that I possess his power,
His memory and his spirit,
Whereby all things that have happened
And all things that have been spoken
Are known to me, therefore I also know all
That your mother has done.
But because my mother had immediately confessed,
Repented with body and soul,
And received absolution of her sin
From the pious hermit, God,
For my mother's sake, has given me
The gift of knowing the future and the present,
So that I possess more power and higher gifts
Than men otherwise receive from nature.
Thou wilt also be convinced
Beyond a short of all that I have said. -
How so? asked the judge.
Then Merlin took him aside
And said to him secretly,
Your mother will tell the one who produced you
Everything that has happened here;
Then he will flee for fear of you,
And the evil spirit, which still has
Much power over him, will drive him to a river,
Where he will throw himself in and drown himself.
So thou shalt know if I know not all things to come. -
If this be truly done, said the judge,
Thou and thy mother shall be forever free
From all responsibility.

Then Merlin, the judge, his mother,

And all his counsellors came out to the people;
And the judge spoke aloud, and audibly,
So that every one might understand him,
Hear me, men and fellow-citizens,
I had falsely and unjustly condemned
The mother of the boy Merlin;
But by his great Wisdom and science
He has discovered to me the true events
Of his mother, and has thereby freed her
From the penalty of death.
Because of the boy's Wisdom and blamelessness
I have acquitted his mother;
Also I hereby command that the mother
As well as her boy be left in peace for ever,
And forbid, under severe punishment,
Any one of you to harm them
Or to call them to account;
According to my understanding
You will never see a wiser man than this.
The assembled people cried out in unison,
Praise and thanks be to God!
For the mother was beloved by all the people,
And they had greatly lamented her
For her misfortune.

The judge then sent his mother back again

And two women to accompany her,
To whom he secretly gave orders
To pay close attention to everything
And to tell him again what would happen
To his mother. As soon as she had arrived
At her house, she sent for the confessor
And told him word for word
What had happened to her son
And everything Merlin had said.
The confessor was horrified
And could not utter a word.
Without taking leave of her,
He immediately went out of the city
And straight to the river, for he thought,
Blinded by Satan and despairing,
That the judge would have him arrested
And executed in disgrace.
So he preferred to give himself death,
Threw himself into the river and drowned.

When the judge heard this from the two women,

He was astonished and immediately went to Merlin
And told him that he had told the truth.
I never lie, Merlin replied to him,
But I beg you to go to the pious hermit,
Master Blasius, and tell him this news.
The judge did so immediately,
Whereupon Merlin, his mother
And their confessor Master Blasius
Went back to their dwelling in peace.

CANTO VI

Master Blasius was a pious and very learned man

Who served God with all his heart.
It amazed him to hear the child Merlin
Prophesying in such a way
And to perceive such a superhuman spirit in him.
He was grieved in his heart at this strangeness,
And sought in all sorts of ways
To question Merlin about it,
In order to find out the cause of it.
Master Blasius, began Merlin at last, I pray thee,
Take no pains to inquire of me,
For the more thou shalt hear me speak,
The more cause thou wilt find to wonder;
Calm thyself, believe me, and do as I shall bid thee. -
How shall I believe you, replied Blasius;
Did you not yourself say that you were
A child of the devil? If I believe this now,
As I really believe it, must I not fear that
Thou dost deceive and betray me? -
See, said Merlin, it is the power of the habit
Of all evil minds that they believe
And embrace evil rather than good.
The evil one sees nothing but evil,
Just as the good one sees only good.

He then explained to him the secret

Of his generation, and how the devil
Had been deceived by himself,
By generating him in the womb of a virgin
Consecrated to God and pure.
But now, he continued, hear me
And do what I will tell you.
Make a book in which you are to write down
All the things that I will say to you.
To all men who shall read the book in the future
It will be a great boon, for it will amend them
And keep them from sins. -
Very gladly, said Blasius, will I make
The book at thy word, and according to thy word;
But first I swear to thee in the name of God,
The Trinity, and all the saints,
That thou wilt not let me write anything
Contrary to the will and commandments
Of our Lord Jesus Christ. -
I swear to you, said Merlin.
Now then, replied Blasius, I am ready
With all my heart and soul to write
What thou commandest me;
I have also ink and parchment,
And all that is necessary for such a work.

When he had laid all things ready,

Merlin began to recite to him;
First the friendship of Christ and Joseph of Arimathea,
As also of Adalam and de Perron,
And the other companions, as it happened with them,
As also the end of Joseph and all the rest.
After all this, he recited to him the history
And cause of his miraculous generation,
With all the circumstances
As we have them here before us.

Blasius was more and more astonished

At the wonderful things he heard from Merlin;
The words he had to write
All seemed good and wonderful to him,
And he wrote diligently on.
But when they were quite busy with the work,
Merlin said to him one day, Master,
There is great trouble ahead for you in your work,
But even greater for myself. - How is that?
Asked Blasius. They will come for me,
Answered Merlin, to the Occident;
But those who are sent by their lord
To fetch me have promised him with an oath
To slay me and deliver him my blood.
But as soon as they have seen me and heard me speak,
They will have no desire to do me evil;
So I will go with them. But you go away from here
And go to those who possess the vessel
Of the Holy Grail;
But always strive to continue writing the book.

These book will always and at all times

Be gladly read by everyone,
But they will not be believed
Because you are not an apostle of Christ;
For these apostles wrote nothing but what they saw
With their own eyes and heard with their ears,
But you only write what I tell you.
And just as I am now hidden and unknown
To the people against whom I now
Have to justify myself, so too will these book remain,
Only a few people will recognise it
And thank you for it. Also take the book
Of Joseph of Arimathea with you.
When you have completed your work,
This book of Joseph's must also be part of it;
These two books together will make
A beautiful and glorious work.
Those who read and understand it in the future
Will bless us for our efforts.
All the conversations and the actual words
Between Christ and Joseph of Arimathea
I do not tell you, they do not belong here.

CANTO VII

At the same time there reigned a king

Named Constans. We mention nothing of the kings
Who reigned before him;
But he who desires to know their number and their history
Must read the Historia of Bretagna,
Which is called Brutus;
Master Martin of Glocester has translated it
From Latin into the Romance language.

King Constans had three sons,

Whose names were Moines, Uter and Pendragon.
There also lived in his country a man
Named Vortigern, a very valiant and mighty knight
Of great renown. When King Constans died,
The people discussed who they should choose
As successor; the majority of the people,
As well as most of the nobles,
Were in favour of choosing Moines,
The eldest son of the deceased king,
Even though he was still a child;
But the kingdom belonged to him
And to no one else by right;
Vortigern, as the most powerful and intelligent man
In the country, was of the same opinion.
Young Moines was therefore appointed king,
And Vortigern unanimously his seneschal.

At that time the empire was at war

With the heathen; they came from Rome
And from other sides, devastated the country
And warred against the Christians.
But Vortigern ruled the kingdom at his own will,
Without taking care of the young king,
Who was still too ignorant and too childlike
To be able to advise himself.
Now that Vortigern had seized the whole regency,
So that no one was allowed to oppose him
And the whole kingdom depended only on him,
He became arrogant and greedy for money,
Cared neither for the king nor for the country,
For he knew well that no one but he
Could undertake or carry out anything;
He withdrew from everything
And lived only for himself.
The heathen, on receiving this news of the seneschal,
Immediately gathered a great army
And invaded the land of the Christians.
King Moines was greatly dismayed
That his seneschal had left the regiment
As well as the army and had withdrawn;
In his dismay he immediately went to him
And implored him to lead the army again
Against the enemy. Vortigern, however,
Excused himself with his old age,
Which no longer permitted him to go to war
Nor to take much charge of the affairs of government.
Take, said he to the king, another
To your secret council; your people hate me,
Because I have always been too anxious
For your advantage; choose, therefore, one of them,
And give him my office, for I will
Have nothing more to do with it.
Those who were with the king at Vortigern
Decided, when they heard him speak thus,
That the king himself should place himself at their head,
And with him they would march against the enemy.
So an army was hastily gathered together,
And they went into the field,
King Moines at their head;
But he was much too young
And too inexperienced in matters of war,
And besides, the army of the heathen
Was much stronger than theirs,
And their leaders also very brave
And understanding men, so it came to pass
That King Moines' army was defeated and fled;
He himself escaped with them.
Now the people lamented and mourned
For their seneschal. If Vortigern, they cried,
Had led the army, never would he have lost the battle,
Never would the heathen have slain so many Christians!
Many of the great and noble men of the realm
Also grumbled against the king;
He had made enemies of them by careless behaviour
And by all kinds of impositions.
So a great indignation arose among the people,
And the noblest and most powerful among them
Went to Vortigern and called upon him for help.
We are without a chief, they said,
For our king does not do his duty;
We beseech you, for God's sake, take care of us,
Be you our king and our lord;
No man on earth is wiser and braver than you,
So there is none who could hold this office
Better than you, and therefore we demand
None but you. To which Vortigern replied,
As long as your rightful king lives,
I cannot and never will be your king. -
Alas, cried the others, we would rather see him
Dead than alive. - Well, said Vortigern, then kill him,
For as long as he is alive I cannot be your king.
With this speech he stayed, whatever they might say.
So they went away again, consulted,
And held a meeting, to which they drew
Their best friends and nearest kinsmen;
Here they resolved to have King Moines
Actually murdered, in the hope
That if Vortigern became king by their treachery,
He would well reward them for this service,
And through him they would be the proper rulers
Of the country. They chose two of the strongest
And most skilful men among them;
And these went and murdered young King Moines
In a shamefully treacherous manner,
For he was still a weak, defenceless lad,
And had no man about him to guard or defend him.

After the deed was done, the murderers

Hurried to Vortigern and told him
What they had done to raise him to king,
And that they had slain young King Moines.
Vortigern turned himself in extremely frightened
And grieved to death. You have done evil,
He cried, in slaying your lord, your anointed king;
You shall also be punished for it;
If the people learn of your deed, you must die.
Therefore flee, flee, avoid this land and the kingdom,
For if they catch you, you must all die!
Why did you have to come here to me
To bring me such a message! Woe to you!
Go, never come before my eyes again!
The assassins quickly departed,
Thinking that Vortigern was in earnest
Very grieved and enraged at their deed.

CANTO VIII
Vortigern was unanimously elected king
By all the people and by all the nobles,
With the two younger brothers
Of the murdered King Moines left out.
These boys each had a court master,
Wise men who had both served the old King
Constans faithfully for a long time;
The old king had also appointed them
Court masters to the two princes
As a reward for their loyalty.
These two gentlemen were astonished
That the king's sons were excluded from the crown,
And foresaw that Vortigern would certainly
Not refrain from slaying the boys
As soon as they had reached the age
To lay claim to the kingdom which was theirs by right.
They escaped with the two princes
And went to Bourges in Berry;
Here they were safe and here
They brought up the two boys.

As soon as Vortigern had been crowned king

And anointed, the murderers of King Moines
Reported to him; but Vortigern acted
As if he did not know them,
And as if he had never seen them before,
Which made them very angry,
For they had expected a very different reception
From King Vortigern. How, Lord King, they said,
Do you not remember us? You know very well
That you became king only because of us.
Think, if you please, whether you could have been king
If we had not killed King Moines for your sake? -
Hold these murderers, exclaimed the king aloud,
And lead them to prison;
Now that you have confessed your murderous deed,
You shall also pronounce your own sentence.
You have killed your lord and king,
Who gave you the right to do so?
You might as well kill me,
But you shall not do so now. -
Sir King, cried these men, quite astonished
And frightened to hear Vortigern speak thus,
Sir King, we did it for love of you. -
Well, said King Vortigern,
I will show you how to love people.

They were all twelve caught and quartered;

Each was torn into four parts by four horses,
So that not one limb of their bodies
Remained on the other.
But these twelve had many relatives,
And all were of great descent and family;
These relatives gathered together,
Went to the king, and reproached him
For his cruel ingratitude. You have, said they,
Put our kinsmen to death in a shameful manner;
Know, then, that we shall never serve you
With all our hearts. Then Vortigern was enraged,
And said, If you speak much more,
You shall have the same fate as your cousins. -
Threaten as much as you like, King Vortigern,
They said angrily, we do not fear you;
Only know that you will never have peace
And tranquillity with us as long as you live;
Everywhere we want to fight you,
In the open field, in castles and palaces,
Everywhere you shall find war.
We do not recognise you as our king,
For you have usurped the kingdom unlawfully
And against God and the Holy Church;
You shall also die the same death
As you let our relatives die, you may count on it.
After these words they departed
Without waiting for his answer.
King Vortigern was very angry at this,
But he had to put up with the insult
Without being able to do anything about it;
He well saw that it was not time
To do anything against them.

Thus a great strife arose between the barons

Of the realm and the king.
The parties assembled great armies,
And the war continued for a very long time
In the country, in which both the king
And his subjects suffered great harm;
But at last the king was victorious
And chased the rebellious barons out of the country.
When he now had the upper hand
And no longer had anything to fear from anyone,
He became so overconfident
And treated his people so badly
That they could no longer bear it
And rebelled against him.
There was a general uprising against him
And more than half of the kingdom fell away from him.
Vortigern then sent them envoys
And had them make peace proposals,
With which the rebels were well satisfied.
One of them, named Hangius, a brave
And powerful knight, who had always been
At war with Vortigern, was chosen by the people
To be their envoy. Hangius was also
Very kindly received by the king,
And the peace was made firm and sealed for life.

Hangius remained in the king's service for a long time

And finally persuaded him to take his daughter
As his wife; this gave him great power
And influence over his son-in-law, the king,
And over the kingdom,
And he also gradually took over the whole regency.
The people, however, would not tolerate anything
From him because he was not a Christian
But a pagan; they had long been grumbling
About the fact that their king
Had not taken a Christian
But a pagan as his wife.
It was she who first invented the word rabble
And so named the people, saying,
I cannot take the rabble against my father! -
The people were therefore more than ever
Dissatisfied with King Vortigern,
For his wife adhered to the teachings of Mahomet,
And also drew the king himself
And many of his courtiers away
From the religion of Christ.

CANTO IX

King Vortigern, when he considered

How hated he was by his people
And how sooner or later the two younger sons
Of King Constans might come again,
Who were hiding from him in foreign lands,
And how he would then certainly be robbed
Of his kingdom and perhaps of his life,
Decided to have a tower built for his safety,
Where he could retreat in an emergency
If he were attacked.

So he sent for the most excellent builders

Of his kingdom and told them exactly
How the tower was to be built and fortified;
He also provided them with stones, lime, sand
And all other things necessary for the construction.
They immediately began with great diligence;
But when they had finished the foundation,
And had built about three or four feet out of the earth,
The whole work began to shake and totter,
And collapsed so violently
And with such a strong shaking
That even the mountain on which the tower
Had begun threatened to collapse.
The builders were frightened and confused;
What is to be done now, one asked the other.
They agreed that the building had to be started again,
And even more strongly than the first time.
But it collapsed the second time, as it had at first,
And so it did the third time.
The king was furious and mad
About this wonderful event and said
He would never have peace or joy
Until he saw the work completed.
He sent word throughout all his lands
That the wisest and most understanding
Should come to him and consider the matter with him.
When they arrived at his house,
The king showed them the building
He had begun and told them
How it had collapsed three times
When it was three or four feet high.
The newly arrived wise men were astonished
At this tale, but even more so
When they went out and saw the work
And the strength of the wall.
Lord King, they said, we will discuss
This marvellous thing and then tell you
What we think. After considering the matter together
For some time, they agreed that they did not know
And went back to the king to give him their opinion.
We know not, and understand not, O king,
Said the eldest and most understanding of them,
Why your tower will not stand;
But let the wisest and most learned ecclesiastical men
Of your country be called together,
And ask them of it; they will surely give you
Sufficient knowledge of it, because they are learned
And know many things; but we have not studied.

The king did so, he summoned all the learned clergy

And promised a great reward to the one
Who would explain the matter to him.
The ecclesiastics came from all over the country
From all quarters, guessing to and fro,
Knowing it as little as the first men,
But advising the king, who became more
And more heated and furious by this delay,
To summon his astrologers together,
Because they should know for certain,
Reading every thing clearly in the stars.
It was done according to their advice,
And the most famous astrologers, seven in number,
Came to the king and had the matter
Brought before them; he promised
Great honour and high reward to the one
Among them who would bring out the cause.

CANTO X

The seven astrologers studied each

With much diligence and great effort;
But they could find nothing that belonged to their purpose.
There was, of course, something particularly strange
To be seen in the constellation,
And each of them found it,
But this strange thing did not fit
And did not belong to what they were looking for,
And they did not know how to connect it
With it in any way. When they came together
And shared their discoveries,
They were not a little shocked
To find that they had all only seen the same thing
And had not found out anything
About the real reason for the thing.
In addition, the king pressed them very hard
And demanded to know in a hurry what they had found.
Oh, Lord King, one of the astrologers answered him,
We cannot solve such a difficult question for you
As quickly as you think; we need nine more days
For our studies. - You shall have them,
Cried the impatient Vortigern; but beware,
Where at the end of those nine days
You have not explained to me
And traced out the true cause!

Now the astrologers studied again in the stars;

And when they came together again,
And asked each other what they perceived,
Neither of them spoke anything,
But looked at each other, and were silent.
Will you, began at last the eldest
And most understanding of them,
Rather each tell me particularly and secretly
Your opinion of the matter, so I, in my fidelity,
Will not betray you, and none shall know from me
What the others reveal to me.
They were all satisfied with this,
And each one told the elder secretly what he had seen,
And to his astonishment they all said the same thing,
Namely, that they had found nothing
About the matter of the tower;
But that they had seen another wonderful thing,
Namely, a child now seven years old,
Born of a woman, without an earthly father.
You have seen one and the same thing,
And each of you has discovered the same thing to me,
Said the old man; but there is one thing
Which you all conceal from me,
And which you have seen just as I have,
Namely, that this child, born of a woman,
But produced without an earthly father,
Will be the cause of our ruin
And the cause of our death. Is it not so? -
It is indeed so, said the others, astonished and grieved.
Now hear me, the old man began again,
We would be of little use in our art
If we could not remedy what has been made known to us.
Let us only be united and not contradict each other
In our speeches when we come before the king.
Let us say to him in unison, Know, O king,
That your tower will never stand firm
And can never be finished unless you wet
The foundation with the blood of a child
Born of a woman but not produced by a man.
There is indeed such a child alive;
If you, Lord King, can only find it
And spill its blood on the foundation stone of the tower,
The tower will stand firm and never fall again.
We must also forbid the king, the old man continued,
From asking to see the child himself,
Nor from hearing him speak.
Those whom he sends must, as soon as they find him,
Lead him out and kill him on the foundation stone.
In this way we shall dispose of the child
Whom we have seen in the stars
To be guilty of our death.
In this way the astrologers agreed on every word,
So that they would all speak the same words.

When they were called before King Vortigern,

They each asked his ear,
Which he immediately granted.
Is it possible, he cried, after he had heard them all
And they had all told him the same thing,
Is it possible that such a miracle should live on earth?
A child without a father?
If this is really so, you are very wise and learned men. -
If it is not so, said the astrologers,
Let the king do with us as he pleases;
We are in his hands. - But how can it be possible?
Asked Vortigern again. Never, answered those,
Have we heard such a thing before;
This child is produced without a father,
Is alive, and is now seven years old. -
I will have it sought out, said the king again,
But until it is found you will remain
In the closest custody. - Let it be done
As the Lord our King commands, said they;
But let the King beware of seeing
Or hearing the lad speak;
The messengers who seek him
Must kill him at once when they have found him,
And pour out the blood
On the foundation stone of the tower.

The king then dismissed the astrologers

And kept them in a strong tower,
Where they were given food and drink
And everything else they needed to live.
King Vortigern immediately sent
Twelve messengers and ordered them
To search the whole earth for a boy
Who was seven years old
And had been born of a woman without a father.
They were never to return unless they found him.
He made them take an oath that they would slay him
As soon as they found him.
The messengers divided themselves two by two
And sought the boy Merlin
According to the rule of King Vortigern.
Not far from where Merlin was,
Four messengers met and decided
To make a half-day's journey together.
They had not been riding long
When they saw a bunch of boys playing
And hitting the ball. Merlin was among them,
And knew very well that the messengers
Were coming that day, and also whom
They were looking for; so when he saw them coming,
He took the mallet with which he was beating his ball,
And struck another boy so roughly on the leg with it,
That he began to scream and cry, and scolded Merlin.
You son of a bitch, he shouted,
You don't have a father,
Your mother gave birth to you without a father!
When the messengers heard this, they stood still;
Here he is, they said, now we have found him at last!
Merlin stood among the other boys and laughed
When he saw the messengers asking
The crying boy to show them the one
Who had beaten him. Here is the one you seek,
He said, whose blood you swore
To deliver to King Vortigern. - Who told you this?
Exclaimed the messengers, full of astonishment.
I will tell thee also, began Merlin again,
Why thou shouldst slay me,
And why the tower will not stand;
If thou wilt swear not to harm me,
I will go with thee. Merlin said this
Only to astonish them more and more,
For he knew very well beforehand
That they would not harm him nor kill him.
This child speaks wondrous things,
Said the messengers; indeed,
It would be sinful to kill him. We swear to thee,
They said to Merlin, not to kill thee,
Nor to suffer thee to be killed, but go with us. -
I will, answered Merlin; but first
Come with me to my mother,
That I may ask her leave to journey,
And that she may bless me first;
Also I must yet speak to the pious man
That dwelleth with her.
So he led the messengers to the monastery
Where his mother lived,
Had them well entertained,
And also took care of their horses,
Then he led them in to Master Blasius.

Master, he addressed him, here are those

I told you would come to slay me.
Hear now what I say to them, and write it down.
Then he turned to the messengers,
You are down to a king whose name is Vortigern.
This king Vortigern wants to have a tower built.
And so he told the messengers everything,
How it went about it, what the king said,
And what the wise councillors and astrologers said;
Also how they four, along with eight others,
Had been sent to seek him out
And bring his blood to King Vortigern.
I myself, he continued, wished to be found by you,
Therefore I struck the lad against the legs,
So that he had to cry out
And scold me for betraying you.
Merlin then departed, and Master Blasius
Asked the messengers, Is everything
As the boy here said? - In truth, they answered,
It is all exactly as he says, or our soul
Will never come to God.
Master Blasius crossed himself and said,
He will be a very wise man if he remains alive,
And it would be very sinful and a pity
If you were to kill him. - Rather, replied the messengers,
Would we miss our own lives for eternity
And leave all our possessions to the king.
He, the boy, who knows so much,
Will also know for certain that this is truth. -
You are right, answered Master Blasius,
I will ask him this in your presence.
Now when Merlin came to them again,
Master Blasius said to him, You have said true
In all things, but now answer me another question:
Have these messengers the power
And are they willing to kill you? -
They have the power, answered Merlin, laughing,
And were certainly willing to do so;
But now, thank God, they have lost the desire,
And I may go with them. But swear to me
Beforehand that you will not slay me,
And that you will bring me safe before the king;
When he has heard me speak, I am sure
That he will ask no more of my blood.

The messengers took the oath

That Merlin demanded of them.
Then said Master Blasius: I see now, Merlin,
That you must leave me; but tell me first
What is to become of the book you have begun? -
As soon as I am gone from here,
Merlin answered him, set out
And go to the region and country
Called Northumberland. This land
Is full of great forests, so that the inhabitants themselves
Do not know it well, for there are forests there
Where no man has ever gone. Stay there,
I will know how to find you
And bring you everything that is necessary
For the completion of our work.
Know that this work will cause you much trouble
And work; but be of good courage
And work with patience, you will reap
Great rewards in the end. This work
Will live on from century to century,
And the reward will be like that
Which Joseph of Arimathea received
When he took down the holy body
Of the Lord from the cross.
Know also that in the kingdom where I am now going,
I will bring it about that men and women
And will work for a man of God-loving descent.
But this will only be so with the fourth king.
King Arthur will be his name.
You only go where I told you,
I will often come to you and tell you what to write.
All the biographies of King Arthur,
And of all those who live at the same time as him,
I will have you to write,
As well as everything that happens in his time;
It will be a wonderful work.
But you will then attain the same grace
Which all those from the company
Of the Holy Grail will share.
After our death, this book will be found
And it will be an eternal memorial.

Master Blasius said, I will gladly do

Whatever you command me.
Then Merlin, accompanied by the messengers,
Went to his mother and took leave of her.
I must depart from you with these foreign messengers,
He said; it is in the service of the Lord
That I go with them; Master Blasius also
Must go to another country to this end. -
Be commended to God, my son, said the mother,
I cannot deprive you of your leave,
For all that you begin is wise
And according to the will of God.
But if Master Blasius could remain with me,
It would be of great use to me
In my secluded life consecrated to contemplation. -
It cannot be this time, Mother, replied Merlin,
Taking leave of her, and setting out
Accompanied by the messengers.
Master Blasius, however, went to Northumberland
As he had been ordered.

CANTO XI

Merlin and his companions

Were passing through a town
Where a market was being held;
When they were beyond the town
They met a young man who had bought
A pair of new shoes and a large piece of leather
At the market because he had vowed
To make a long pilgrimage.
Merlin laughed aloud as he passed this man;
The messengers asked the cause of his loud laughter.
Ask the man, said Merlin, what he intends
To do with the leather. He will tell you
That he intends to mend his new shoes with it
When they are torn,
For he has a great journey before him;
But before he wears his shoes home
He will be dead. - We will see,
Said the messengers, if thou speakest the truth;
Two of us will go with thee,
And two shall address the man and go with him.
They did so, but first appointed a place
Where they would meet again.

When the two approached the young man,

They asked him what he intended to do
With the piece of leather, and the man told them
The same words that Merlin had told them before,
At which they were greatly astonished;
But when they had gone some distance with him,
The man fell down before them and was dead.
The two were astonished and frightened
At this occurrence, and immediately set out
To seek Merlin and the other companions.
As they rode, they talked of the wonderful child
And his Wisdom. In truth, they said,
Those who demanded his death are very foolish;
We ourselves would much rather die
Than have him harmed.
Then they met Merlin again, who,
As soon as he saw them, thanked them
For speaking so well of him,
I know every word you have spoken of me. -
Tell us when you know.
Merlin then repeated to them all the words
They had spoken of him, at which
They were only more and more astonished.

When they had come about a day's journey

In the country of King Vortigern,
They met a funeral procession in a town.
A child was buried in the ground,
And men and women followed the corpse
In great sorrow and dressed in mourning clothes,
As did the prior and many clergymen,
Who followed the procession with singing.
Merlin stood still,
And when the procession was over,
He began to laugh again.
The messengers asked him again
What he was laughing about.
I laugh at these strange things, said Merlin;
See how this good man laments and mourns,
And how the prior sings so well!
It should be the other way round,
The prior should mourn,
And the good man could sing;
For the child the man weeps for is not his child,
As he supposes, but the prior is his father. -
How, said the messengers, should this be true? -
Go, replied Merlin, to the man's wife,
And ask her why the man bears such sorrow?
She will answer, because a child
Is being buried for him.
To this you will say boldly, Lady,
The child does not belong to the man,
But to the prior; all the clergy know this very well,
So do not deny it; the prior wrote down
The day and hour when he slept with you.
The messengers arranged everything
As Merlin had instructed them.
When they told the woman this so boldly,
She blushed all over. Have mercy on me,
She begged; it is as you said,
But do not tell my master again, or he will kill me.
The messengers returned to Merlin.
You are, they cried, still laughing at this incident,
The most excellent soothsayer.
But now, Merlin, we are approaching the city
Where we will meet King Vortigern.
Now, according to thy Wisdom, instruct us
How to answer the king;
For thou knowest well that we have taken
An oath to slay thee, and to bring him thy blood. -
You are right, replied Merlin; but follow me,
And no harm shall come to you on my account.
Go to the king and tell him faithfully
What you have heard and seen of me,
And how you found me. Tell him, too,
That I will tell him why his tower does not stand firm;
Only tell him that my opinion is
That he must do to those whom he keeps in prison
As they advise him to do to me.
If you tell him the truth about everything from me,
Then do what he will command you.
Two of the messengers went to the king,
Who was glad when he saw them;
They asked a secret hearing of him,
And told him with faithful truth all
That they had heard and seen of Merlin,
How he had made himself known to them,
Though he well knew that they had come to kill him;
How he had thereupon prophesied so many things,
And how he would also tell the king
Why his tower would not stand.
You must, replied the king, stand with your life
For the truth of what you tell me! -
That we will, Lord King, said the messengers.
Well, then, I will speak to him, said the king.
The messengers went out to fetch Merlin,
But the king was so full of eagerness to see him
That he rode at their heels.

The messengers came to Merlin,

Who cried out to them, I know already
What passed between you and the king;
You have spoken well for me with your life,
But you shall not have to pay for me.
He rode with them, and met King Vortigern
Riding towards them. Merlin saluted him
As soon as he caught sight of him;
The king returned his salutation,
Took him by the hand, and spoke to him
In the presence of the messengers.
Thou wouldst capture me, said Merlin,
To have my blood, that thy tower might stand fast;
Promise me to deal with them
That gave thee this counsel
As they required should be done to me,
And I will show thee in their presence,
And tell thee why thy tower cannot stand. -
By my life, cried the king, I swear to thee,
If thou wilt show me the matter as thou sayest,
Let it be done to them
As they would have it done to thee.

CANTO XII

King Vortigern then went with Merlin

Straight to the place where the tower was to be built,
And summoned the captive astrologers before him.
Merlin had one of the messengers asked
Why the tower kept collapsing.
The astrologers said, We don't know
Why it collapses, but we have told the king
What must be done to make it stand. -
You have, said Merlin, thought the king a fool,
That you charged him to seek a man
Born without a father;
You lords did it for your own sake,
And not for the king's sake.
For so much have you brought out
By your enchantments that you know
Such a man would be the cause of your death.
Therefore you made the king search for this man
And ordered him to pour his blood
On the bottom of the tower, so that,
If he were dead, you might not perish by him.

The astrologers were so startled

When Merlin discovered their secret intentions
That they could not utter a single word.
Now see, my lord king, Merlin continued,
That these men demanded my blood
Merely for their own sake, and not at all
Because it was necessary
For the building of the tower;
Your majesty ask them if I speak truly,
They will not have the impudence to give me the lie.
The astrologers confessed that Merlin spoke the truth,
But asked the king to let them live
Until they saw whether Merlin knew
Why the tower would not stand.
You will not die, said Merlin,
Until you see it with your eyes.

After the astrologers had thanked him for this mercy,

Merlin turned again to King Vortigern,
Now hear why the tower will not stand,
And do as I tell you, and you shall see for yourself.
Not very deep underground, on the spot
Where the building was begun, is a great river.
Under the bed of this river lie two dragons
Which do not see each other,
One is white, the other red;
They lie under two very large wonderful rocks.
Now these dragons felt the weight
Of the building too heavy on them,
So they moved and shook off the weight
That was pressing on them.
Let the king dig, and if not all is found
Word for word as I have said, I will die;
But if it be so, the astrologers must die for me. -
If it be as thou sayest, replied King Vortigern,
Thou art the wisest of men;
But tell me, how must I begin it
To have the earth taken away? -
In chariots and with horses, answered Merlin,
And with the help of many men to carry it far away.
The king then called together all who would work,
Whereupon many people gathered,
All desirous of earning a day's wages,
And they began to clear away the high mountain
On which the building of the tower had begun;
The people thought their king foolish
To believe the words of a child,
But they were not allowed to tell the king
What they thought. After a long time of work
And the earth had been moved far away,
The workers discovered the great river
And immediately reported it to the king.
The king, very pleased, took Merlin out with him,
Where they really found the river
Just as Merlin had said before.
But how shall we begin, King Vortigern asked him,
To see under the river? Merlin at once
Had great ditches and channels made,
And so directed the river far out into the field.
While they were working on it,
Merlin said to the king, You should also know
That as soon as the dragons come out
From under the great stones, they will fight
With each other. Therefore, summon the king
The most respected and honoured of his country
To watch this battle, which is of great importance.
Immediately the king gave orders
That the noblest lords, the most respectable men
And citizens, together with the scholars
And clergy of all orders from his country,
Should be summoned together.
They assembled immediately
And were very surprised and pleased
When the king told them the reason
Why they had been summoned.
This battle will be a very beautiful sight, they said;
But some inquired of the king
Whether Merlin had prophesied
Which of the two dragons would be victorious.
He did not, answered Vortigern.

When the river was diverted

And the two rocks under which the dragons lay were seen,
The king asked Merlin how these enormous stones
Were to be removed. Merlin said, As soon as the dragons
Feel the outer air, they will come out by themselves,
So the king will have the two rocks pierced
So that the outer air can be added.
It happened just as Merlin said;
The rocks were pierced one by one,
And immediately the dragons came out.
They were horrible to look at, terribly large
And of hideous shape, so that all present
Were terrified and disgusted by them.
The king himself was terrified at the sight of them
And asked Merlin which of the two
Would defeat the other. Merlin said,
This I will especially trust to the king
And his secret council; thereupon he went aside with them,
Where he discovered to them the following,
The white dragon will defeat the red one
After a terrible struggle
And after great toil and effort.
This victory is of further great importance,
But you shall not know it until after the battle,
Before which I can tell you nothing more.
Now they went back to the place
Where the nobles and the people were gathered
To watch the battle. The dragons were blind
And did not see each other,
As Merlin had also prophesied;
But as soon as they smelt each other,
They fell upon each other, entwined their bodies
In many rings and knots, and bit each other.
They also had claws, with which they tugged each other,
So that it seemed as if they used sharp iron hooks
And tore each other apart with them.
Never had lions attacked each other harder
And more tearing than these two dragons.
Like ravening beasts, they fought furiously
Throughout the day and the following night.
None of those present moved away,
All watched the mighty fight with great eagerness.
The white dragon seemed weaker to the people
Than the red one, for the latter was giving him
A hard time, and he was suffering a great deal
From the red one, and the people generally thought,
Seeing the white one suffering so
And already very tired, that he would be defeated.
But suddenly flaming fire poured
Out of his throat and nostrils,
So that the red dragon was burnt by it
And lay dead in the square.
Then the victorious white dragon lay down
Beside the red one, and after three days
He died likewise. Now, said Merlin to Vortigern,
Thou mayest have thy tower built,
And be sure that it shall not fall down again,
If it be otherwise arranged according to science,
And well executed. King Vortigern summoned
The most excellent and skilful builders of his country,
And ordered them to erect the tower
As firmly and strongly as they were able to do,
Which the builders also promised to do.
Then the astrologers were brought to receive
Their verdict from Merlin,
As the king had promised him.
You see now, said Merlin, how badly
You understood your art,
You wanted to find the reason why the building collapsed,
And as you could find nothing but my birth
And that you yourself were in danger of death through me,
You falsely stated that my blood must be spilt
On the foundation stone so that the tower
Would remain standing. Then, of course,
Your life would no longer have been in my hands;
But would the building have stood better?
So you, instead of considering the good of the king,
Considered only your own; for this very reason,
Because you had only this in mind
And are great sinners, you could not find the truth
In the stars through science.
You wanted to shed my blood,
And for that your life is now in my hand;
I will give it to you, and you shall go out free,
If you will promise me but one thing.
The astrologers, when they heard
That Merlin wished to give them life,
Promised to do gladly whatever
He would command them. Now, said Merlin,
Promise and swear to me
That you will no longer practise your art,
Against which you have sinned;
Go, repent and do penance all your life,
Reconcile yourselves to God,
So that the soul may still hope for salvation in you,
And thus you are released and may go out free.
The astrologers joyfully swore all
That Merlin asked of them, and departed.
When the king and the nobles of the people
Saw how meekly Merlin had forgiven the astrologers
And what words of Wisdom he had spoken to them,
They got an even higher opinion of him.
He is the wisest, the best man on earth,
They all said unanimously, honouring Merlin
And holding him very high.

CANTO XIII

Now, said Merlin, it is time that I reveal to the king

And his trusted counsellors the meaning
Of these two dragons, their battle,
And the victory of the white over the red.
The king's council and the noble lords
Were immediately assembled, where Merlin then spoke
As follows, Know, lord king,
That the red dragon points to yourself,
And the white one points to the sons of King Constans.
Vortigern was very ashamed of this interpretation,
And Merlin's words caused him great embarrassment.
Merlin perceived this, and said, Vortigern,
If thou wilt, I will rather be silent
Of this matter altogether, lest thou resent me for it,
And be displeased with me. - Nay, answered Vortigern,
I will know all; thou shalt by no means spare me,
For there is not one present here
Who is not of my secret counsel. -
Now then, began Merlin again,
The red colour of the dragon is your evil conscience
And your foolish mind;
His greatness signifies your power.
The children of King Constan, to whom
Thou didst withhold their inheritance,
And who were forced to flee for fear of thee,
That signifies the white dragon;
But both their struggle signifies
Their long banishment and thy injustice.
And the fire with which they burnt the red dragon
Means that they will burn you in one of their castles;
And do not think that the tower you are building
Or anything else can protect you against it,
For this death is destined for you.

Vortigern was frightened when he heard this,

And asked, Where are these children now? -
They are with many people now on the sea,
Answered Merlin, their ships are all well ordered,
And they are on their way hither,
To the land that is theirs; they come
To execute justice upon thee,
For they know that thou hast caused
Their brother to be murdered,
Though after the deed thou didst disavow thy command,
And didst execute the murderers.
From this day three moons hence
They land in the harbour of Winchester. -
Is it then in truth as thou sayest? asked Vortigern,
Full of terror. It will not be otherwise
Than that thou diest in the fire by Constans' children,
As the red dragon was burnt by the white.

Merlin then took leave of King Vortigern,

And went to the forest of Northumberland,
To his master Blasius, and told him all
That he had done, and had it written down
In the book, and remained with him a long time,
Until the time when the sons
Of Constans sent for him.

CANTO XIV

But Vortigern, immediately after Merlin

Had prophesied to him of the coming
Of the sons of Constan,
Sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom,
That all men should stand ready with their arms
For the day of the three moons;
Then he assembled all the armed men,
And sent them to the harbour of Winchester
To defend it; but he did not tell them
Against whom they should defend that harbour,
Nor why they were assembled and in arms;
None knew but those who sat in his council.

King Vortigern himself went with his army

To the harbour, and on the very day
That Merlin had foretold him, he saw
In the sea the flags of the ships
In which the princes were; he immediately gave orders
For every man to arm himself and defend the harbour.
The sons of Constan landed in the harbour,
Not far from a tower, which they then besieged;
But when those who were to guard the harbour
Saw the banners and flags shining in the sun,
And saw the arms of King Constan on them,
They were so astonished at this
That they did not defend themselves,
And so the first ship, in which the sons of Constan were,
Ran happily into the harbour.

And when they came ashore from the ships,

They asked them to whom those ships,
Those banners and those flags belonged.
Pendragon and Uter, the sons of King Constans,
We are, they answered, Aurelius Ambrosius is with us,
We come to take back this land
Which really belongs to us
And which the false traitor Vortigern,
Who had our brother murdered most unjustly,
Holds back from us.
Now we have come to claim our right.

When those in the harbour heard

That it were Constan's sons,
They did not want to fight them, thinking
That it might harm them, for their power
Was much stronger than theirs; they went
To Vortigern and told him. When Vortigern saw
And heard that most of his people had deserted him
And gone over to the princes,
He was overcome with fear and ordered
His most loyal men to occupy the tower,
Which they did. The rest of the ships
Entered the harbour, and the knights and others
On them went ashore. Now when the lords
Of the land saw that it was their princes
Against whom they were to fight, they sighed
In their hearts, nor would they defend
Themselves against them; most of them
Went over to them, and were glad to see them again,
Were also received with joy by Pendragon
And by Uter his brother; and now
They all went together to besiege the tower
In which Vortigern and his faithful followers
Had entrenched themselves. They defended
Themselves with all their might against the attackers,
And did them much harm with frequent lunges
And brave resistance. When at last Aurelius saw
That he could not conquer the tower
With the sword, he set fire to it
And burnt the tower and all who were in it,
Including Vortigern, who had to burn
As Merlin had said before.

Afterwards all came and surrendered

To Pendragon and his brother Uter,
As their rightful lords, and also helped them
To reconquer the whole country,
For Hangius and his heathen still held
Most of the cities and strongholds.
But the people were full of joy
To see their lawful lords, and from every place
They came to meet them, and received them
With great joy and much honour.
Now Aurelius had Pendragon,
The eldest son of King Constans, crowned king,
And all the nobles of the land paid homage to him
And swore allegiance to him, and thus
Aurelius had well guided King Pendragon
And his brother Uter to their goal.

Hangius, however, still held many strong places

With his heathens and did much harm to the country.
Then King Pendragon assembled the secret council
And the nobles of the land, and asked them
How they might rid themselves of these pagans.
Some of the councillors remembered Merlin,
And how he had advised Vortigern with such Wisdom,
And had said all things beforehand;
So they told King Pendragon the wonders
Which they had seen Merlin perform,
And told him that if he could ask him,
He would certainly receive the best and wisest answer
To his question; for Merlin, they said,
Was certainly the wisest man in the world.
And where shall I send for him? asked Pendragon.
He must still be in the country, they said,
For it is not long since he left Vortigern.
The king immediately sent messengers
Throughout the land with orders
Not to return until they found Merlin.
Let it be known that Merlin, as soon as the king
Gave this command, knew it at once,
And said to Master Blasius, that he must go
At once to a city not far off. He did not tell him
The cause of this, but knew very well
That there he would meet the messengers
Of King Pendragon, who were going out
To look for him. On the way he took
The form of an old shepherd, with a large club
Round his neck, no shoes on his feet,
An old, torn dress hanging round him,
And a long, shaggy beard. So he came
Into the town and into the inn
Where the messengers were sitting;
He found them just at lunch. The messengers,
When they saw him come in, said,
Look, this is a wild man. But Merlin looked at them
And said, You gentlemen envoys
Are not very anxious to deliver your message;
You spend your time very well in eating and drinking,
But do not seek Merlin. If it were my duty to seek him,
As it is yours, I should know better how to find him.

Then the messengers rose from their seats,

Addressed him, and asked him
If he knew where Merlin was,
And if he had seen him. Yes, indeed I know him,
And where he is hiding. He himself told me
That you had come to fetch him,
But that he would not go with you
Even if you really found him, but that you
Should tell the king that he would never take
The castles so long as Hangius lived.
Know also that of those who advised the king
To send for Merlin, only one is still
In the king's camp. There are only three
Of the king's great council still alive,
And you may tell them and the king himself
That if they want to come themselves
To seek Merlin, they will find him
In the field tending the cattle.
If the king does not come himself,
He will not be found at all.

The messengers looked at each other in amazement

And did not know what to say;
When they looked round again and sought the man
With their eyes to talk to him further,
He was no longer there, and they did not know
Where he had gone. Let us go, they said,
And tell the king this strange story.

CANTO XV

The messengers returned to the king,

Told him all that they had encountered,
And to their great astonishment
Found all those of the great council dead
Of whom the old shepherd had foretold this.
Now all who were present cried out
That it could be none other than Merlin himself,
Who had come to them in the guise of an old shepherd.
King Pendragon left his kingdom
Under the care of his brother Uter,
Took his retinue with him, and rode
To Northumberland, where, as the messengers said,
He should find Merlin. He asked all over
Northumberland about Merlin, but no one
Knew anything about him, for he had not revealed
Himself anywhere. At last the king delved
Into the woods and sent some of his nobles
Ahead into the forest. One of them
Came across a large herd of cattle
And a very misshapen ugly man tending them.
The nobleman asked him to whom the cattle belonged.
It belong, answered he, to a respectable
Very wise man of Northumberland;
He told me King Pendragon would come
And seek him here, can you tell me if it be so? -
Yea verily, said the nobleman, it is so;
Canst thou tell me the place
Where I may find the wise man? -
To thee I will never tell, but to the king,
If he were here, I would well discover it. -
Well, then, go with me to the king. -
Why, I could ill tend my flock there,
Nor have I any need to see the king;
When he comes to me, I will tell him
Where he will find what he seeks. -
Now, I pray thee, wait for me here,
And I will bring the king to thee.

When the nobleman told him this,

The king immediately rode with him
To the shepherd in the forest.
It was Merlin himself again,
Who appeared in the form of a shepherd.
He said to the king, You want to fetch Merlin,
But if you knew where he was,
He would not go with you until it pleased him;
If you want to follow my advice,
Go to the next town; as soon as you are there,
Merlin will be with you. - How shall I know,
Asked the king, whether what you say is true? -
If you will not believe me, answered the shepherd,
Do not do what I tell you; for it would be folly
To follow advice that is not trusted. -
I will not mistrust thee, said the king,
And will follow thy counsel,
And thereupon rode back again,
And went into the next town;
Here he stopped at an inn.
No sooner had he dismounted than
A very handsome, well-dressed man
On a fine horse arrived and asked for the king.
It was Merlin himself.
When he came before the king, he said,
Lord King, Merlin sends me to tell you
That it was he whom you found in the forest
As a shepherd. He had promised you to come to you,
But he tells you that you no longer need him. -
Certainly, my friend, replied the king,
I shall always need him. - He sends you
Good tidings through me: namely,
Hangius is dead, your brother Uter has slain him. -
Thou sayest astonishing things!
Exclaimed the king, most astonished;
Is it then certain as thou sayest? -
If thou dost doubt, send and inquire the truth.

King Pendragon immediately mounted two of his men

And sent them to his brother Uter;
But they had not ridden far
When they met two messengers from Uter,
Who went to see King Pendragon to tell him
That Uter had slain Hangius.
All four of them now returned to the city,
Where King Pendragon still awaited Merlin.
He was astonished to see the death of Hangius
As it had been foretold to him
By the transformed Merlin,
Whom he did not recognise.
He forbade them, on pain of death,
To tell anyone how Hangius had been slain;
He wanted to see whether Merlin
Would also know this when he came.

At last Merlin showed himself to the king

In his true form, so that all who had seen him before
Recognised him. He took the king aside
And said to him, From now on I am all yours
And will assist you in whatever you need.
I am Merlin, whom you have been seeking for so long;
I was the shepherd who spoke to you in the forest;
I was also the same who was here with you as an envoy;
I also advised your brother to fence with Hangius.
Among the various guises I have assumed,
Your councillors who once knew me
Could not recognise me; for these people
Know nothing about me but my outside,
But they will never recognise my inner being.
As I now stand here before you, I am known to them;
But I can, if I will, always hide myself from them.
But to you, Lord King, I am entirely devoted.
The king was as glad to have Merlin
As if the whole world had been given to him.
He sent for his counsellors, who immediately
Recognised Merlin and were astonished
When they heard that he had already spoken
To the king in so many different guises.
Now, Merlin, began Pendragon, tell me,
How did Hangius die? - As soon as he learned,
Said Merlin, that the king had gone out of the camp
To seek me, he resolved in his bold courage
To arm himself by night, and to penetrate
Into the tent of your brother Uter.
I knew his intention at once, so I went
To your brother and warned him
That he was on his guard, because Hangius wanted
To come to his tent in the city to assassinate him;
I also told him much about Hangius' boldness,
Strength and bravery. Thanks be to God
And to his own! he believed my words.
When night came, Hangius crept into your brother's tent
With his sword drawn; but he was not in it,
As I had taught him, which made Hangius very angry.
As he was going back from the tent,
Your brother watched him and attacked him;
They fought until Uter was victorious
And slew Hangius. - Under what guise
Did you appear to my brother? asked the king.
In the guise of a very old man. -
Did you tell him who you were? -
No, I did not tell him, nor will he know
Until you discover it to him. - Will you not go with me?
For I see what Wisdom you are full of,
And will always be in need of your advice. -
The longer I stay with you, the more
Your councillors are vexed, because
There is nothing for them to do
When I give you good advice;
But for twelve days you shall see me again
At your brother Uter, in the same guise
In which I appeared to him; but I pray you,
Lord King, tell no man of this,
Or I will never tell you again. - Certainly,
Said the king, I will not say a word of it to any man.

So they made an agreement that Merlin

Should come to Pendragon's and Uter's camp
On the twelfth day, and then they parted.
Merlin went back into the forest to Master Blasius
And made him write down all these events
As we find them here in his book;
But Pendragon went back to the camp
To his brother Uter. The two brothers
Were very happy when they saw each other again.
Pendragon immediately took his brother
In particular, and told him with the smallest circumstances
How he had slain Hangius, among many other things,
At which Uter was greatly astonished.
No one, he said, can know this whole affair
But God, and a brave old man
Who secretly told me that I should be
On my guard against Hangius,
Because he wanted to slay me in the night.
For God's sake, then, who can have told you
These things? - Thou seest then, my brother,
Answered the king, that I know it very well.
But who was the man that warned thee?
For had he not warned thee, I think
Thou wouldst now be slain by Hangius. -
Upon my life, said Uter, I know him not,
Neither had I ever seen him before;
But he seemed to me a righteous respectable man,
Therefore I trusted his words. -
Would you, asked Pendragon, recognise the man
If you saw him before you? - Certainly I think
I would recognise him. - After eleven days
He will be here with you, so do not go away
From me at that time, so that I too may see
And know him. - Uter promised to wait
With him the day he wanted to appear.
Merlin knew very well what the brothers
Had arranged together, and how Pendragon meant
To put him to the test in every way;
He also told Master Blasius everything again
And had him write it down.
What are you going to do with them now?
Asked Master Blasius. Pendragon
And his brother Uter, answered Merlin,
Are beautiful, amiable, noble princes;
I will serve them with love and loyalty,
With word and deed; I will also make them laugh
At the odd joke. Uter loves a beautiful lady
Of high nobility, I will take the form
Of this lady's little page
And bring him a letter from her;
So he will believe what I tell him,
And since I now know very well all
That he has secretly spoken to this lady,
I will tell him, at which he will be very astonished;
And this shall happen just on the eleventh day
On which he expects me. - He took leave
Of Master Blasius and arrived at the king's camp
On the appointed day. In the guise
Of the little page he was brought before Uter,
Who was very glad to receive a message
From his lady. He took the letter
Which the page handed to him in her name,
Vomited it up with a heart trembling with joy,
And found the loveliest words in it;
It also said that he might believe everything
The page told him. Merlin then gave him
The happiest news, told him things
Which he knew would give Uter much pleasure,
And entertained him with such pleasant things
Until evening. Uter was exceedingly pleased,
And presented the page with ample gifts.
Pendragon, who was expecting Merlin's appearance
That day, was greatly dismayed
When evening came and he still did not come.
Uter, too, was waiting for him,
And while he was talking to the page,
The latter withdrew for a moment,
Took the form of the old man
As he had appeared to him for the first time,
And showed himself to him in the courtyard
Of the castle, where he had walked up and down
With him before. Uter recognised him immediately,
Went to meet him and said, Friend, I beg you,
Wait for me here a little while
Until I have spoken to my brother Pendragon.
He agreed to wait for him, and Uter went to the king.
Brother, he cried, the man has arrived. -
Do you know for certain, asked Pendragon,
That he is the same who warned you of Hangius? -
Yes, it is he, I know him well. -
Go out to him again and see if it is the same man,
And if you are sure, come and call me.

Uter obeyed his brother and went out again

Into the courtyard, where he found the man
Still as he had left him before. It is you, he said,
Who warned me of Hangius; I know you well,
And you are very welcome to me.
But I must wonder that my brother Pendragon
Knows all things exactly, and told me
What you told me then, and also knew all things
Exactly what I did when you were no longer with me;
So he also knew that you would come here to-day;
I must wonder who may have revealed all this to him. -
Go, fetch your brother, said Merlin;
Let him tell us through whom he learned it.
Uter went in to Pendragon and said,
Now come, my brother, for it is indeed the same man.
Pendragon, knowing well that it was Merlin,
And that he would play various other good tricks
On his brother, commanded the gatekeepers
To let no man either out or in,
And when they both went to where Uter left the man,
They found none but the little page.
Now, brother, asked Pendragon, where is the man?
And Uter stood dismayed, and knew nothing to say,
At which Pendragon was much amused,
For he well perceived that Merlin was only jesting.
He continued to play this game for some time,
Until at last he showed himself to Uter
And Pendragon in his true form,
And explained everything to them,
At which they both still joked much about it
And were merry.

See, my brother, said Pendragon, it is he

Who protected you from Hangius;
It is he whom I went out to seek;
It is he who has power to know all that happens
And all that is said, both in the present
And in the future. Let us ask him, then,
To be always with us, and to assist us
With his counsel and help,
That we may do nothing without him,
And that he may guide us in all things.
So both brothers asked him to remain with them,
Consulting everything with him,
And to govern only under his direction.
Gladly, answered Merlin, I will advise you,
Only you must believe in me,
Which both brothers also promised to do,
Because they still found everything true
That he had told them; both also repeated again
Their requests that he should not leave them.

My lords, replied Merlin, you alone shall know about me,

And you especially shall always recognise my nature;
But now I must necessarily dispose of myself
To Great Britain, I am compelled and forced to do so.
But by God I swear to you
That wherever I may be, I will always consider
And attend to your affairs first and foremost.
Do not be annoyed and do not be offended
If I leave you, for I can be with you
At any hour of the day if necessary,
And wherever you are in embarrassment or danger,
You will see me with you, my help
And my advice shall never be lacking
As soon as you need it. When I now come to you again,
Your people will report me to you,
Act before them as if you were seeing me
For the first time and rejoice in my presence
As if it came to you quite unexpectedly.
They will then advise you to ask me
About all things and will praise me greatly;
Then you can follow my advice and my suggestions
In complete safety,
As if it were the opinion of others.

CANTO XVI

Merlin then took leave of King Pendragon

And his brother Uter and went to Britain,
Where he stayed for a long time before returning.
Meanwhile Pendragon and Uter waged constant war
Against the heathen, who had multiplied greatly
In the land, but found no means of driving them out
Until, after four months, Merlin returned.
The old counsellors of King Vortigern
Were very glad of this and reported him
To King Pendragon; they did not know
That the latter, like Uter, already knew Merlin.
Merlin, they cried to the king, has come,
This is the wisest of all living men,
And what he advises you to do you may safely do,
For the most hidden things are known to him.
Pendragon did as Merlin advised,
Rejoiced at this news, but pretended not yet to know him,
And said he would go to meet the wise man.
On the way the counsellors told him all
That Merlin had prophesied to Vortigern,
And what he had wrought with him;
And the king listened to these tales of the dragons
And all these prophecies with delight,
Until Merlin met him.
The councillors presented him to him,
And he showed him all honour and courtesy,
As if he were seeing him for the first time,
And then led him into his palace,
Where the old councillors secretly said to the king,
Lord King, now that you have Merlin,
Only let him advise you how you may end the war
Happily and carry off victory over your enemies;
What he tells you, you may safely follow.
They then left the king,
And he remained alone with Merlin.

After he had feasted with him for three days,

And given him all honour and pleasure,
He called a great council, and went thither
In Merlin's company. He addressed Merlin,
And told him all that the old counsellors
Had told him of his Wisdom, and asked him
Also to advise him how he might drive
The heathen out of the land. Know, answered Merlin,
Since Hangius their leader is dead,
They desire nothing so much
As only to be out of the country.
My opinion is, you send them messengers,
With orders to desire a truce of three weeks from them.
They will reply that this kingdom belongs to them,
That they demand it back from you,
And will not grant you a truce. Let them know
That if they do not immediately surrender
The castles and strongholds, you will kill them all.

The king immediately sent the knight Ulsin,

A very wise man, together with two other knights
As envoys to the pagans, with the order
As Merlin had prescribed for him.
The envoys came before the chief leaders
And captains of the heathen, who sat
In one of the strongest castles in the land.
They received the king's messengers with honour,
And the knight Ulsin told them the king's request,
Namely that they should allow him
A truce of three weeks. The pagans demanded
To consult until the next day, whereupon
The knight Ulsin and his companions departed.
The pagans now consulted all night and considered:
First, how they had suffered great loss
Through Hangius' death, then how they lacked
All food in their strong castles and palaces
And how the people of the country
Did not like to see them; but they also considered again
That, since the king had asked for a truce,
He must be in a weak position.
Although they only wished to save their lives
And their baggage, because it is not good
To stay in a country where one has nothing to eat,
They nevertheless sent the following answer
To the king, The king will leave us the land,
The cities and the strong castles in peace,
And in return we will give him every year
Thirty well-armed and well-mounted knights,
Together with ten maidens, ten ladies and ten damsels,
Together with the servants and attendants
Belonging to them, as well as a hundred hawks,
A hundred steeds, and a hundred palfreys.

The envoys came back to King Pendragon

With this decision and told him everything
In the assembled council what had happened to them
Among the heathens and what decision they had given.
King Pendragon turned to Merlin and asked him
What he had to do now.
If you allow them to do this, Merlin replied,
You will do great harm to the kingdom in the future.
Let them be told that they shall immediately vacate
The land without delay, and you shall see
That they are quite happy to do so,
For they have no more food and are dying of hunger;
Give them their lives, they will ask for nothing more.
It was done as Merlin asked,
And the king ordered them the next day
By the same messengers to depart at once.
The heathen were glad to hear this command,
They gathered together at once
And departed all together, the king gave them ships,
And they all went over the sea out of the country.

Thus, by Merlin's advice, the land

Was freed from the pagans,
Which brought him great honour and prestige
Among the people. King Pendragon reigned in peace
For a long time, and his people loved
And honoured him exceedingly. Nor did he oppress
His people in any way or do them any kind
Of coercion. Merlin was always with him,
And he did nothing without Merlin's consent;
No other advice was valid with him but his own.

CANTO XVII

There lived in the kingdom a very rich noble lord,

Of high birth and one of the most powerful in the land
After the king; but he was of a hateful malicious disposition,
Full of envy and ill will. The latter was envious of Merlin,
So that he could bear it no longer, and so he went
To the king and said, O king, I wonder very much
How you can give Merlin such unlimited credence,
Since everything he knows comes from the evil enemy
And he is full of his arts. Will you permit me,
I will put him to the test in your presence,
And you shall see that it is all lies and deceit.
The king gave him permission, on condition
That he should in no way offend Merlin;
I promise, said the lord, that I will not harm him,
Nor come near his body.

Now when Merlin was once conversing with the king,

That noble lord came, accompanied by twenty others,
And pretended to be very ill. Behold, said he to the king,
Here is the wise Merlin, who foretold
To King Vortigern his manner of death, namely,
How you would burn him; so it will please you,
O king, to ask him to tell me what disease I have,
And what death I shall die.
Now the king and the noble lord's companions
Approached Merlin with entreaties that he might do so.
Merlin knew very well what this man wanted,
Knew also his hatred and envy quite well.
Know, my lord, he said, that you are not ill at the moment.
But you will fall from your horse and break your neck,
And that will be the end of you. -
God will save me from that, said the lord, laughing,
As if to mock Merlin's speech,
And thereupon said secretly to the king, Remember well,
My king, Merlin's speech, for I will test him
In this way under another guise in your presence,
And thereupon took leave of the king
And travelled to his estates. After two or three months
He returned, disguised in such a way
That he was not recognised, and pretending to be ill;
He secretly begged the king to let him come to him
With Merlin, but he was not to tell Merlin that it was he.
The king let him know that he would bring Merlin to him,
And through him he should certainly learn nothing.

Will you come with me, asked the king of Merlin,

To a sick man here in the city? - I am well pleased,
Answered the latter; the sick man must be
A very intimate friend of the king,
Since he will go to visit him? - Yes, replied the king,
I will go to him alone with you. - It befits no king,
Said Merlin again, to visit a sick man
Without a strong retinue of at least thirty men.
The king chose thirty men for his retinue,
Whom Merlin chose, and whom he loved,
And so accompanied they went together to the sick man.
When the latter saw the king and Merlin, he cried out,
Sire, I pray you, ask Merlin whether
I shall be healed again or not. - He will not, said Merlin,
Die of this disease, nor at all in his bed. -
Ah Merlin, said the sick man, will you tell me
What death I shall die. - On the day, said Merlin,
On which thou shalt die, thou shalt be found hanged.

Thereupon he pretended to be very angry, and went out.

Now, my lord king, said the sick man, you can see
How this man lies, for you will remember
That the first time he prophesied my death
Quite differently. But if it pleases you, I will put him
To the test a third time. Tomorrow I will go to an abbey,
There I will pretend to be ill as a monk
And send the abbot to fetch you to me;
He will tell you that I am one of his closest relatives
And that I am sick to death,
And he will also ask you to take Merlin with you
So that he can say whether I will be restored
Or have to die. But this shall be the last trial.
The king promised him and went home,
But the sick man travelled to the abbey
And sent for him the next day, as they had agreed together.
The king took Merlin with him
And they rode together to the abbey,
Where they first heard mass. After mass
The abbot came, with about twenty of the nuns,
And asked the king to take Merlin at once
To his relative, who had been ill for six months,
So that he might tell him the cause of his illness and death.
Will you go with me to the sick man? asked the king.
Very willingly, said Merlin; but first I wish
To tell the king and his brother Uter
Something in secret. - The three went aside,
And Merlin said to the king and his brother,
The more I get to know you, the more foolish I find you.
Do you think then that I do not know what death
The fool will die who intends to test me?
I will make him know it once more in your presence,
So that you may wonder. - How then, asked the king,
Can it be that he will have two deaths? -
More than this, answered Merlin,
And if it come not to pass so, you shall never believe me;
I give you my word not to depart from you
Till we see with eyes what I prophesy to him.
Then they went together
Into the room to the sick man.

When the abbot showed the sick man to the king

And asked him to ask Merlin
Whether he would recover
And what death he would die,
Merlin pretended to be very angry
And said to the abbot, Abbot, your sick man
May only get up, for he feels no evil.
Not only are the two kinds of death destined for him,
Which I have already mentioned to him,
But a third one as well: on the day of his death
He will break his neck, he will hang, and he will drown.
Whoever is then alive will find these three things confirmed.
My lord, he continued, turning to the sick man,
My lord, disguise yourself no longer;
I know your evil disposition, your falsehood,
And your evil thoughts.

Then the sick man sat upright in bed and said,

Sire, now you may see his folly,
How could I possibly break my neck, and hang, and drown?
That can happen neither to me nor to anyone else.
Now see how wisely you act,
To trust such a man. - I cannot decide it sooner,
Answered the king, until experience teaches it.

Those present were all astonished at Merlin's speeches,

And very eager to learn how they would prove.
After some time, this distinguished man,
Accompanied by many others, rode across a river
On a wooden bridge. The horse on which he was riding
Became timid in the middle of the bridge
And jumped over the railing; the rider fell,
Broke his neck on the railing and fell over,
But caught his dress on one of the posts,
So that his legs were high up, but his head
And shoulders were under the water.
Among the companions were two
Who were present when Merlin prophesied
To their lord his threefold manner of death;
These fell into such terror at seeing it fulfilled
So punctually that they raised a horrible shout.
The rest also began to shout and scream
So that it was heard in the nearby village,
Where the villagers hurried to see
What was happening on the bridge.
They immediately pulled the gentleman
Out of the water and brought him up;
But the two men of his retinue called out,
Let us see at once whether his neck is really broken?
Now that it was so, they were full of terror
And astonishment at Merlin's power.
He would be foolish, they said,
Who would not believe Merlin's words,
For they are the plain truth.
Then they took up the corpse and buried it
In the earth in a manner befitting its dignity.

Merlin went straightway to Uter,

And told him the man's death, and how it all happened;
Go, said he, tell it the king your brother.
Uter obeyed, and when Pendragon heard it from him,
He said, Go to Merlin and ask him when this happened. -
It is now four days, answered Merlin,
Since it happened to him, and after six days
His servants will come to tell the king.
But because they will ask me many questions,
And I will answer them to nothing, I will go away.
Know also that I will no more answer thus at all
Before the people to all that they ask me;
But my answers shall be dark,
So that they understand them no sooner
Than after they are fulfilled.

Merlin departed, and Uter told his brother

All that he had said. The king thought
Merlin was angry against him,
And was much distressed at his going away.
Where has he gone? he asked Uter.
That I know not, answered the latter;
But he said he would now stay here no longer.

After six days the servants of that lord came

And solemnly announced to the king
The whole incident of how their lord had met his death.
The king, and all who lived at that time,
Said that there had never been a wiser man
Than Merlin, and honoured him greatly.
The king, his brother Uter,
And Ambrosius Aurelius also decided,
Out of great reverence for Merlin,
To write down everything they would hear him say.

This is the origin of Merlin's prophecies,

Namely, what he prophesied
Of the kings of England,
And of many other things about which he spoke.
In this book of prophecies
There is no mention of what or who Merlin was,
But only of the things he said.
Merlin, knowing that Pendragon
Had his speeches written down,
Told Master Blasius. Will they, asked the latter,
Make a book similar to mine? - Not that,
Replied Merlin, they can only have written down
What they see and hear, for they know nothing else.

He then took leave of Master Blasius

And went back to Pendragon's court.
The joy and honours were very great
When they saw him arrive, and the king
Was very glad of his arrival.

CANTO XVIII

Because the people heard his speeches all over again,

And every man thought to put him to the test,
Merlin resolved not to speak so openly now;
All his sayings and words now became darker,
And they were understood only after they had come to pass.
So one day Merlin came to Pendragon and Uter,
With a very downcast face, You will remember,
He said, the Hangius who met his death at Uter's hands.
This Hangius was of the noblest and greatest family
Of the heathen country; his numerous kinsmen
Have sworn to avenge his death,
And not to hold their peace
Till they have conquered this land.
They have gathered their people from all sides,
And many dukes and princes of their country
Have joined them with their men.
They will not now stay away long,
But will come in mighty multitudes,
And will not let up until they have subjugated
The whole land.

King Pendragon and Uter, his brother,

Were startled at these words of Merlin.
Are then, they asked, the kinsmen of Hangius
So powerful that we should not be able to resist them? -
For one contending man whom you provide,
They have two; and unless you use great prudence,
They will conquer and destroy your kingdom. -
We do nothing without your consent, Merlin;
Only tell us when will they arrive? -
In the month of June they will be on the river
By the flats of Salisbury. You must now
Have as many armed men as possible
To defend your country. - How, cried the king,
I should let them come into the country? -
Yes, you must, if you believe me.
Let them first be far from the river
Before you strike against them with all your might,
And you must arrange it so that one of you
With a strong force cuts them off from the river,
That they may lack provisions for their mouths
And all the necessaries of war.
Thus you must press them for two days,
And only on the third must you let it come to battle;
If you will follow my instruction exactly,
The victory will be yours. - Tell us in the name of God,
Said the two brothers, if it please thee,
Whether any of us shall fall in this battle?
Merlin answered and said, All earthly things
Have taken a beginning, must therefore also take an end.
Let no man be dismayed at another's death,
For he too must die; let each therefore accept his death,
For no man is immortal.

Merlin, Pendragon began, when thou didst so certainly

Foretell the manner of death to him
That would try thee, thou saidst to me
That thou knewest my death as well as his;
Therefore I beseech thee, discover it to me.
Merlin said, Let the holy relics be brought,
And swear both of you that you will do
What I command you for your advantage
And your honour. Afterwards I can more surely
Discover to you what I want.
The relics were brought, and the king and his brother
Swore to each other, according to Merlin's precept,
Allegiance and mutual aid in battle, even unto death.
Now, said Merlin, you have taken an oath
To support each other bravely, and to help each other
Faithfully in battle, even unto death;
So if you are faithful one to another,
You are faithful against God. Confess,
And receive the body of our Saviour,
And call upon the Lord for help,
And pray to him for strength in the battle
Against your enemies. For you are to protect
Christendom against the heathen,
Therefore God will bless your work.
He who falls in the battle for the faith is blessed;
So do not fear death in this battle,
Which will be greater and bloodier than ever before.
One of you will find death in it,
So both of you do your duty as you have sworn.
Whichever of you remains will fight a battle
And build a burial place by my help,
Richer and more beautiful than ever was one.
All Christendom will talk of the things I will do there.
Now put on your garments of honour,
Go to confession, and receive the Lord's Supper,
Then be of good cheer, and rejoice before your peoples,
That they may keep themselves valiant
To the glory of God.

So Merlin ended his speech,

And the brothers did everything as he commanded them.
When all their men of war were assembled,
The king distributed among them much gold and gifts,
As well as many horses, and made a speech to them,
How he expected them to defend the country
With all their might and strength.
They all promised him their help,
Assembled in great multitude, and, as soon
As the king commanded them,
Were on the banks of the Thames
In the last week of June. On the feast of Pentecost
The king held open court on the banks of the Thames,
And gave great presents to each of his men of war,
That they might do their duty in defence of the country
The more willingly. They thereupon divided themselves
Into two camps, the one, which Uter led,
Encamped on the site of Salisbury, and the other,
Pendragon at its head, drew off about two miles.

The pagans arrived on the appointed day,

And Uter sent out a proclamation throughout his camp
That each one should go to confession,
And that one might forgive the other for any offence.
And so it was done. The pagans went ashore
And rested for eight days, during which time Uter
Sent to Pendragon to let him know
That they had arrived and that their number
Could not be counted. Pendragon asked Merlin
What he must do now. Let Uter know,
Replied the latter, that he is hiding, and let them pass,
Deeper into the land; then he must follow them
With all his might, until they are shut in
And surrounded between thee and him.

Uter did punctually what Pendragon commanded him,

And let the heathen pass, and followed them
Hard on their heels with such power
And with such swift horses that the heathen,
Suspecting no ambush, stopped in fright;
Now Pendragon drew nearer to them from his side,
So that at once they found themselves surrounded.
Two days stand thus, said Merlin to Pendragon;
On the third day, which shall rise fair and bright,
Thou shalt see a dragon flying in the air;
By this emblem, which refers to thy name,
Thou mayest fight safely, and thine also,
And the victory shall be yours.
Of this sign of the dragon no one in the camp knew
Save Merlin and the king; who sent word to his brother
Uter, who was very glad.
Now Merlin said to the king, I must leave you now,
I beseech you, remember all that I have told you,
Be brave and courageous, as befits a noble knight.
Then he took leave of him and went to Uter in the camp.
Merlin told him the same thing he had told Pendragon,
Hold thyself brave and chivalrous,
In this battle thou shalt not fall.
Uter was glad at heart when he heard this;
Then Merlin took leave of him
And went to Northumberland to Master Blasius
To have all this written down.

On the third day, rising bright and clear,

Pendragon ordered his army into battle array.
The pagans, who were terrified to find themselves
Surrounded by both armies and realised their predicament,
Also put themselves in order, because they
Could not help but defend themselves
As long as possible. Now the dragon appeared in the air,
Which Merlin had prophesied to the king.
He was marvellous to behold,
And fire poured out of his nose and mouth,
So that all who saw him were terrified.
The king immediately sounded the trumpets
And called for the enemy to be attacked
And for everything to be cut down without mercy.
Uter had the same thing done in his camp,
And so they both fell at the same time
With their armies upon the enemy.
Uter and his men fought so bravely
That at last the heathen were defeated.
King Pendragon, however, was slain,
Along with many other lords of the realm.
No one could say which of the two was more valiant,
Uter or Pendragon; but we find that Uter
And his army slew all the heathen,
That he kept the field, and that day
Won the most complete victory.

CANTO XIX

After the battle was over

And King Pendragon died,
The kingdom rightly fell to his brother Uter.
He had all the Christians
Who remained on the battlefield
Gathered together in one place
And laid out a burial ground there;
A tomb was erected on each one
With the name of the one who lay beneath it.
He had his brother Pendragon laid in the midst of them
And had a higher tomb erected for him
Than for the rest, but he did not have
His name written on it, for, said he,
He would have to be very foolish
Who did not see at once by the size of the tomb
That here is buried the lord of all the rest.
After each had buried his kinsman or friend,
Uter went to London, where the bishops
And prelates anointed him,
And put the crown upon his head;
After which he accepted the fealty
And homage of all his subjects.

Sixteen days later Merlin came to Uter's court,

And he received him with joy and great honour.
Some time later Merlin told the king
That the dragon on the day of the battle
Had meant Pendragon's death
And Uter's preservation, and asked the king
That he might henceforth call himself Uterpendragon
In memory of this event and for the sake of his brother.
The king agreed and was henceforth called Uterpendragon.
Merlin had a dragon's banner made for him,
Which emitted fire, and demanded of the king
That he carry it before him in all future battles.

After Uter had long reigned in peace

And lived with Merlin in one of his cities,
Merlin once asked him if he would have nothing more
Done at the burial place where his brother was resting?
What do you want me to have done?
Say it, and it shall be done. -
Send ten or twelve of thy ships to Ireland,
And let some of the stones there be shipped to Salisbury,
And I will fulfil what I promised thy brother,
And so build the sepulchre;
I will also go thither with thy men,
And show them the stones which they shall take.
The ships were prepared and Merlin was sent
With the people to show them the stones
They were to take. When the people saw
The great stones they were to take away,
They looked at each other in wonder.
All the world, they said, does not bring such a stone
From the place; Merlin must be mad
To ask us to take these stones on ship.
They then returned with their ships,
And left Merlin in Ireland.

When the ships came again to King Uterpendragon,

And they told him why they had brought
Neither the stones nor Merlin back again,
The king sent another ship to Ireland
And sent for him. Thy people, said Merlin,
When he came before the king,
Have not done what thou didst bid them;
But I will keep my word,
And get the stones to Salisbury.
Then by his art he brought it about
That in the morning the whole graveyard
Lay full of the dreadfully large stones,
That it was to be seen like a tremendous mountain.

When the king and his people saw these stones,

They were all filled with the greatest astonishment,
For everyone had to realise
That all the men in the world would not be able
To move one of these stones from its place;
Nor did anyone know how Merlin had begun
To bring them together. Merlin said to the king,
Sire, as the stones lie here, they serve no purpose;
They must be arranged and set one above the other. -
Sire, who shall do this, replied the king;
God alone can accomplish such a work. -
Well, then, depart, said Merlin, and I will finish this work
As I have undertaken it. Merlin now began the work
That will never be forgotten. These stones are still
As Merlin arranged them, and they will remain so
Ss long as the world will stand.
It was an excellent work of art,
Which astonished the whole world.

Uterpendragon loved Merlin for this work

Even more than usual, kept him at his court
For a long time and did nothing without his advice.

CANTO XX

One day Merlin came to the king and said,

My king, know that after the crucifixion of our Saviour,
A pious knight, named Joseph of Arimathea, came
And bought the body of Christ from Pilate
And had it buried. This knight loved Christ
So much that the Jews persecuted him for it
And did him much harm. After Christ was resurrected,
Joseph of Arimathea went to a desert,
Together with most of his family
And several other people.
There they suffered much famine,
So that many of them died of hunger.
Then they grumbled against the knight
Who was their master. The knight saw
The distress of his people and prayed fervently
To our Lord Christ that it might please him
To put an end to this famine.
Our Lord then commanded him to set up a table
Like the one at which he partook of the Lord's Supper
With the apostles. He was to decorate this table
And cover it with fine white cloths;
On it he was to place a golden chalice
Which he himself had sent him;
And he was to cover this vessel well
And take care of it. Know also, my king,
That this cup, sent by God,
Signifies the communion of the good and the bad;
But the good who were admitted to this table
Received the fulfilment of all their desires.
One place always remained empty at this table,
Which signified Judas, who betrayed our Lord
And sat down to supper with the apostles.
And when our Saviour said, Verily I say unto you,
One of you shall betray me;
He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish,
The same shall betray me,
Judas arose from the table,
Was ashamed, and went out.
And the place at the table remained empty
Until Christ had another seated, named Matthias.
So also a place was left empty
At Joseph of Arimathea's table.

This table was held in great honour

By all those who were allowed to sit at it,
And they called it the Grail.
After it another similar tablet was erected;
If thou wilt follow me, my king,
Erect the third in the name of the Trinity.
I will help thee in this work;
It will be a work for which thou wilt obtain
The grace of God,
And all those who sit at the table
Thou wilt make part of it.
But that vessel and its guardians
Have gone towards the Occident;
But the guardians themselves now no longer know
Where it has actually gone, they have only followed it
Into that region. But you do as I said,
You will enjoy it one day.

Uterpendragon replied, I will gladly do

What you advise me, for your words are Wisdom;
But I myself am not able to arrange such work,
But to you, Merlin, I entrust the matter,
Arrange everything in my name as it must be. -
And where, asked Merlin, do you command
That this third table be erected? -
Where it pleases thee, and where the Lord God wills
That it should be set up. - Now then, I will set it up
At Carduel in Wales. Let your people assemble there
For the feast of Pentecost
And then hold open court there,
But I will go ahead and erect the table beforehand.
Give me people to do what I tell them,
And if you ask, I will give place
To those who are to sit at it.

On the feast of Pentecost,

When the king and all his barons
And the noble ladies and damsels
Of his kingdom came to Cardueil,
They found Merlin's table already erected.
The king held open court for all the nobles and knights
And all his people, then he asked Merlin
Who should now sit at this table.
Tomorrow, Merlin replied, I will choose
Fifty knights to sit at it; they will never
Want to go back to their land or their house.
The next day fifty knights were chosen
And Merlin asked them to sit at the table,
To eat and drink and be merry, which they gladly did.
One place was left empty,
But no one but Merlin knew why.
After they had sat at this table for eight days,
And had been merry and of good cheer
With food and drink, and the king had given
Rich presents to the noble ambassadors,
Together with all the ladies and damsels,
He asked the worthy knights of the table
How they were, and how they felt.
Sire, they said, we can never leave this place,
And this table shall never be without at least three of us.
We will send for our wives and children,
And live here according to the Lord's will. -
Is this the will of you all? asked the king;
And they answered in the affirmative.
We are, they added, all ourselves astonished
How this may come to pass, for never before
Have we seen or known each other,
And yet now we love each other
As father and son love each other;
Never can we part from each other
Unless death do us part.

The king and all who were present and heard this
Were filled with astonishment at this miracle;
The king also then commanded
That all honour be done to them,
And that they be obeyed
And served as the king himself.

So this table was set up by Uterpendragon

According to the will and advice of Merlin.

You have told me the truth, said the king to Merlin,

And I now see that it is God's will
To erect this tablet. But now I ask thee
To tell me who shall come to the empty place? -
I tell you that it will not be filled in your lifetime,
Replied Merlin, but he is not yet born
Who will sit in that place. In the time of the king
Who will reign after thee it shall be filled;
As yet his maker knows nothing
Of having produced him. Now I beseech thee,
As long as thou livest, to celebrate
All thy great festivals in this place,
And also to hold open court here three times a year.
When the king swore to him to keep this,
Merlin said, Now I must leave thee,
Thou wilt not see me again for a long time. -
And why are you going away? asked the king,
Where will you go? will you not be here
Every time I hold court? - No, I shall not be present,
For I want the people to believe in what they shall see,
And not that I shall do the things that are to happen.

Merlin commended himself to the king

And went to Master Blasius in Northumberland,
To whom he told all that had happened,
Who then wrote it down in this book.
Merlin stayed with Master Blasius for two years
Without Uterpendragon hearing anything from him.

CANTO XXI

Once, when the king and his court were at Cardueil,

And the knights were sitting at the table,
One of the great men of the realm,
Who in his heart wished Merlin ill,
Came to the king. Sire, he began,
I am justly surprised that you do not let
The empty place at the table be filled,
That it may be complete. - Merlin told me,
Answered the king, that this place cannot be filled
During my lifetime, but that he shall yet be born
Who shall sit upon it. - Then the false treacherous man
Began to laugh, and said, Sire, do you think
There will be people after you
Who are worth more than you? - I know not,
Said the king; but Merlin hath told me this. -
Sire, never will a man be worth more
Than what he is worth; you are bold enough to try. -
Nay, I will certainly not try it;
I fear Merlin will be enraged at it. -
Sire, then, if you think Merlin knows all,
He certainly knows what we speak of him now,
And then he will surely come, if he lives,
To the future feast. But if he does not come,
Then I ask you, sire, for permission
To occupy the place, in order to convince you
Of the lie he has told you. You will then see
That I fill that place as well as another. -
I would gladly allow you to do so,
If I were not afraid of angering Merlin. -
If Merlin lives, he will surely come
Before I attempt it; but if he does not come,
I pray you give me leave to do so.
The king gave it to him, and the knight thought
He had achieved something great with this permission.

When the feast of Pentecost came,

The king went again to Cardueil
With all the nobles, knights and people.
Merlin knew very well what was going on
And told Master Blasius, I will not go to the court,
He said, but let them try what they will,
That they may themselves realise
The importance and dignity
Of the empty place and of my words.
For what they do not see, they do not believe,
And if I come there, they think they are
Disturbed by me and believe that I am to blame
For what will happen. But fifteen days
After the feast of Pentecost I will go to the king.

The knight, who wanted to try to sit down

On the empty seat, started a rumour
That Merlin was dead,
That a peasant had slain him in the forest
Because he thought he was a savage.
At last the king believed the rumour
Because Merlin had been absent for so long;
The others also thought that he must be dead
Because otherwise such tests should not be made.

The fifty knights were now seated round the table,

In the presence of a great multitude of lords,
Ladies, and damsels,
When the knight came to sit down on the empty seat,
And cried with boldness, Gentlemen,
I come to keep you company!
The knights at the table did not answer him,
But humbly and silently each looked down before him;
Nor did the king say anything to him,
But all were expectant of what would happen.
The knight sat down and stretched out both legs
Under the table; at that moment he sank
Under the earth, like a piece of lead
That falls into the water and does not come up again.
The king and all the people were horrified
To see this miracle! They searched every spot
Under the table, but not the slightest trace was found,
Neither of the knight nor of the way he sank.
The court and all the people were terrified,
And the king in particular was sunk in grief
That he had admitted such a trial
And had allowed himself to be seduced into it,
When Merlin had told him
That he had not yet been born
To whom this place had been appointed.

On the fifteenth day after Pentecost

Merlin came to court,
And the king went to meet him.
Merlin reproached him for what he had let happen.
He has deceived me, the king replied.
Many people are like that, Merlin replied,
They think they have deceived others,
And most of all they deceive themselves.
Now you see that you are deceived
Because you see it; but why did you believe him?
For that you were justly punished.
Beware of making this attempt again,
Or having it made, for I tell you,
Much evil would result from it.
For this place at the table is of great importance;
It is a worthy place and a high good
For the whole kingdom.

The king asked him afterwards

If he could tell him what had become
Of the knight and where he had gone.
Don't worry about that, Merlin replied,
It's none of your business,
And you won't be any better if you know.
Let it only be thy care to honour
And uphold those who sit at the table,
As well as to celebrate the four feasts there yearly,
And to keep everything as I have appointed,
And change nothing. - The king promised him
That from now on everything would remain unchanged
Until his death. Then Merlin took leave of him again
And went back to Master Blasius.

CANTO XXII

The king had many beautiful houses

Built around Cardueil, then let it be known
Throughout his kingdom how he would always be
In Cardueil with his court for the four festivals,
Namely Christmas, Easter, Whitsun and All Saints' Day.
Everyone was also to be there at that time,
And for his sake every baron and every lord
Was to bring his wife and his ladies to Cardueil,
Where the king would give them feasts every time.

On the next Christmas, the wives, ladies and damsels

Came with the knights and barons.
Those who came without their wives
Were not well respected, and so those
Who were not married
Brought their sweethearts with them.
There were so many of them that it is impossible to say
How great their number was; and we can only speak
Preferably of those who stood out the most.
This was a duke of Tintagel and his wife,
Named Igerne. After the Blessed Virgin Mary,
No Christian woman was ever born
Bore blessed and beautiful than Igerne.
When the king first saw her,
He was so enraptured by her beauty
That he lost all composure;
The lady noticed this, but pretended not to see it.
But when she became aware that the king
Was always looking at her
And did not take his eyes off her,
She withdrew and avoided the king's presence,
For she was a very virtuous and honourable lady
And also preserved her husband's honour
And was faithful to him.
The king sent all the ladies present
Beautiful rich gifts of jewels and jewels,
And did it for Igerne's sake,
Sso as to be able to send her a sign
That she should not refuse,
Because all the ladies had been given gifts by him.
He gave her a jewel, of which he knew well
That she desired it; she was obliged to accept it,
Though she well understood
That this was done only for her sake;
But she did not let this be known.
When the court was about to leave Cardueil again
And the Christmas feast was over,
The king asked his barons and princes
Of the country to bring their ladies to the next feast,
Which they all agreed to do.
He was so enraptured with love for the Lady Igerne
That he was hardly capable of his senses any more;
When she came to take leave of him with her husband,
The Duke of Tintayol, he gave them an escort
And showed them both much honour.
He took a moment to say to her softly,
Dame Igerne, you take my heart with you,
If I were to carry yours in mine!
Dame Igerne, however, did not pretend to have heard this,
And left with her husband, without replying,
For the Duke's country.

The king endured great torment in his heart

Until the Easter feast approached,
When all gathered again at Cardueil,
And he saw her again. God knows
How great his delight was then;
He let her and the duke, her husband, eat at his table
And sat between them; but to all the words
He whispered to her, and however much
He swore his love to her, she never gave him
An answer, although she understood
All his words very well, but went away
Again with her husband.

At last the king could no longer

Conceal his anguish of love,
But discovered it to two of his favourites,
And asked their advice how he should begin
To enjoy Igerne and lament his love to her,
For otherwise he must perish with grief.
The king, they said, was giving a great feast
At Cardueil, and was letting it be known
That everyone should go there,
Because it was a great feast
And the king would wear his crown
And sit on the throne; also that everyone
Should provide himself with all the necessities
For a month or six weeks, because the feast
Was to last so long: In this way you will have time
To be with the beautiful Igerne
As much as you please.
The advice pleased the king well, and he did so.
On the appointed day all came together in Cardueil,
And each of the lords came with his ladies
And retinue, also the Duke of Tintayol
With Lady Igerne, at which the king rejoiced
In his heart, became merry again, ate and drank.
After some days he became sad again,
And at last said to one of his confidants, named Ulsius,
Love kills me, I die for Igerne,
It is no life for me if I see her not;
And if she hears me not, I must die. -
Sire, replied Ulsius, will you give up life
For the sake of a woman? I never heard
That a woman could resist gifts;
I am but a poor nobleman, yet I do not think
I must die for love of a woman.
And you, so powerful a king,
How can you have so pusillanimous a heart,
And not dare to woo a lady? -
I suppose you are very right, said the king;
You know better than I how to behave;
Help me, I beseech you, and do in my stead
All that is to be done. Take from my treasury
All that thou wilt, make her presents,
Give also to all her people that surround her,
Seek to please every one,
Only make that I may speak with her. -
I will do so, said Ulsius.

The court had now lasted eight days

In great joy and beautiful delight.
The Duke of Tintayol had to be always with the king,
And he gave him and his companions
Beautiful and rich presents. Meanwhile Ulsius
Sought to speak to the Lady Igerne,
To flatter her with sweet words of love,
And brought her gifts, one always richer
And more splendid than the other;
But she refused all, and accepted none of them.

One day, when he was still more to her,

And offered her an exceedingly splendid jewel,
She took him aside, and said, Ulsius,
Why and to what end dost thou offer me
All these rich jewels? - Lady, for the sake
Of your great beauty and high qualities!
Know, all the wealth of the kingdom is your property,
And men are only there to obey your commands! -
Yea, how may this be? - Yes, for you possess
The heart of him to whom the kingdom belongs,
The heart of the king. - So the king's heart
Is a treacherous and false heart,
Because it shows so much love and friendship
To my lord and husband, while it seeks
To corrupt and dishonour me! I tell you,
Ulsius, beware, as dear as your life is to you,
Of ever saying another word to me
About these things, if I am not to bring it all back
To the Duke my husband. You will know well
That he would not let you live
If he knew such things; but be sure
That this is the last time
I shall conceal such things from him.

If I died for the king, replied Ulsius,

It would do me great honour!
Have mercy on the king, Dame Igerne,
Why would you not have him be your friend,
Since he loves you more than his life itself;
Be kind to him, or he dies for love of you. -
You mock me, Ulsius. - For God's sake,
Have pity on the king and on yourself;
If you are not favourable to him,
You have yourself to blame for all the misfortune
That will come of it, for neither you
Nor your spouse can resist his will. -
I would well resist him, she said, weeping painfully;
For never, when this feast is ended,
Will I find myself again at the king's court,
Nor go into his presence;
Though he may give orders as he pleases,
I shall certainly come no more.
With these words she left Ulsius standing there
And moved away. Ulsius went to the king
And told him all her words. I knew, said the king,
That she would answer thee thus,
For thus must every virtuous, decent woman speak;
Yet, Ulsius, do not leave it yet,
But bring her my entreaties again and again,
For no lady is so easily conquered.
One day the king sat at the table,
And the Duke of Tintayol beside him;
Before the king stood his rich golden cup,
From which he drank; then Ulsius
Knelt down before him, and said to him softly,
So that the duke could not hear, Sire,
Tell the duke that he will drink from the cup
For your love, and then send it to his wife,
That she too may drink from it in your honour,
And keep it. - The king took the cup,
Drank from it to the duke's health,
Then handed it to the duke and said,
Drink, sire, to the health of your wive,
Lady Igerne, and then send it to her for my love. -
I thank you, sire, said the duke,
Who thought no evil of it, she will accept it
With pleasure. - Then calling one of his knights,
Whom he loved, he gave him the cup,
That he might bring it to his wife Igerne,
And that he might tell her, as he did so,
That the king sent her the cup,
And that she should drink of it for his love.
When Lady Igerne heard this, she blushed for shame,
But could not refuse the cup,
Because her husband drank from it to her.
So she drank, and when she wanted to send it back,
The Duke said, Dame Igerne, it is the King's will
That you keep it. - So she had to keep the cup.
The knight went back and saluted the king
On her behalf, but she had not told him to do so.
After the meal the king said to Ulsius,
Go to the Lady Igerne in the room
And hear what she speaks.
Ulsius found her grieving and thoughtful,
And when she saw him coming she said,
Your king hath sent me his cup
In a treacherous way, and I was forced
To accept it; but of that he shall have no profit,
For to his shame I will tell my husband
The duke with what treachery you
And your king do me. - You will not be so foolish,
Said Ulsius, as to tell him such things. -
Let her die a shameful death, cried Igerne,
Who refuses to do so.

Ulsius went away, but when the duke returned

From the king to his wife in the evening,
He found her weeping and in great distress.
He was frightened, took her in his arms,
And affectionately asked her what was wrong.
I wish I were dead, cried Igerne tearfully.
Why this, my beloved spouse? -
Because the king has me pursued with love by Ulsius.
All these festivities, he said,
And these court entertainments,
To which he had the ladies of the land invited,
Were only for my sake, that I might have to come,
And that he might have me in his power.
But I would rather die than be unfaithful to you,
My husband, for I love you,
Although you have angered me by forcing me
To accept his golden cup.
Until then I had resisted all his gifts
And accepted nothing, but at your command
I now had to accept the cup,
And this makes my life bitter.
This cannot last any longer, another misfortune
Will surely come of it; therefore I beg you,
My lord and husband, let me go back to Tintayol,
For I cannot possibly endure it here any longer.

The duke was frightened when he heard his wife,

Whom he loved above all things, speak in this way;
For a long time he could not utter a word,
For anger and sorrow.
When he had finally recovered,
He summoned all his knights
Who were with him in the city.
When they gathered around him,
He told them that they should immediately
And quietly get ready to follow him,
Because he wanted to leave;
But no one in the city should know anything about it,
Leave your baggage and box behind,
The servants can lead them after us tomorrow,
Take nothing but your weapons
And follow me quietly.
Thereupon he had his horse brought forward,
Mounted, Dame Igerne sat behind him,
And so he rode with her out of the city to Tintayol;
The knights followed him singly,
And so that same evening the king
Heard nothing of their departure.
CANTO XXIII

The next morning there was no other talk

Of anything else in the whole city;
At last the rumour of this flight reached the king.
The king was furious when he heard
That the duke had left without taking leave,
But he was even more offended
That he had taken the Lady Igerne with him.
He summoned his councillors and told them
Of the Duke's injustice in leaving him so suddenly,
Without cause and without taking leave,
In a disgraceful manner, since he
Had always been so kind to him,
And had also honoured him so much
With beautiful gifts of jewels.
The councillors were astonished
At the Duke's behaviour;
It seemed to them to be quite foolish
And not at all excusable.
But they did not know the true cause of his departure;
Because the king had shown him honour
And friendship above all others,
They believed that he could all the less
Make amends for his offence,
And that it was a crime of insulted majesty.

They decided and advised the king

That he must send two ambassadors to Tintayol
And have them tell the duke
That he must give the king satisfaction
For the insult he had caused him by leaving court
Without the king's consent
And without taking leave of him.
The king therefore demanded
That he return to court just as he had left it,
In order to beg the king's mercy.

The king was immediately satisfied with this

And sent two brave knights as envoys to Tintayol.
When these came before the duke
And he had heard their order from the king
And that he was to bring his wife back to court with him,
Because the order was that he must return there
Just as he had ridden away, then he became very angry
And said to the envoys, I will by no means
Go back to his court, for he has transgressed
So much against me and against my own
That I can no longer love him
Or be obedient to him.
That is all I will say to you now.
When the envoys could obtain no other answer
Than this from the duke, they departed again
And rode to Cardueil. But the duke
Summoned all his knights and the wise counsellors
Of his country and told them what treachery
The king had committed against him
And how badly he had treated him;
Therefore, he added, I suddenly rode away from Cardueil
Without taking leave of him;
But now he had sent me word
That I was guilty of the crime of insulted majesty,
And must therefore come again to his court
To ask his pardon for it; just as I had to come again
As I left the court: that is, I must not come
Without my wife Igerne. - You have done well,
Said his knights and councillors, that you have not done so,
For it is your duty to take care of your honour.
Evil hath the king done to commit
Such treason against his liege. - Now, answered the duke,
I beseech and entreat you, for my honour's sake and yours,
To give me your assistance and lend me help
Against the king when he begins war and strife with me;
That you will help protect my country
And come to my aid in all things.
The knights and councillors promised him
And swore that they would help and serve him,
Even if it cost their lives;
For which the duke thanked them very much.
After hearing the report of the returning ambassadors,
The king was greatly enraged,
And offered all his barons and princes
To help avenge him on the Duke of Tintayol,
And they all pledged their aid to him.
Before doing so, he had the peace
Recited to the duke, as in lawful war,
And proclaimed to him that if he did not
Do honourable satisfaction to the king,
He must stand ready to defend himself
After forty days, because the king
Would award him in full arms.
When the duke heard this summons,
He answered the messengers that he intended
To defend himself wherever possible;
And thereupon he also ordered his knights
And men-at-arms to be sent and prepared
For the defence of the country.
I possess only two strong castles, he told his knights,
Which are capable of holding out against the king,
But he shall certainly not have these two
As long as I live. My wife shall remain here at Tintayol,
Together with ten of the bravest and boldest knights
For her protection, who are well able to defend the castle;
But I will go with the rest to the other castle.

CANTO XXIV

The king went with his army into the country

Of the duke of Tintayol, and took all the towns,
villages, and castles where he passed through
Without resistance. Here he learned
That Dame Igerne had remained at Tintayol,
But that the Duke had gone away
To defend another castle;
So he assembled his council and asked
Whether it would be better for him
First to conquer Tintayol and then the other castle,
Or whether he should first besiege the Duke there.
His councillors were all of the opinion
That he should first besiege the duke
In his stronghold; once he had him in his power,
Everything else would come of itself.
The king had to give in to these reasons,
Marched with his army to the fortress
And besieged the duke. Now, as he lay
Before the castle, he said secretly to Ulsius,
What will become of me if I do not see Igerne? -
Sire, replied Ulsius, you must now have patience:
Think of conquering the duke,
And then all your wishes will be fulfilled.
You would have betrayed your sentiments too soon
If you had gone first to Tintayol
Without first besieging the duke;
So take hold, and be of good cheer.

The siege was carried on with great heat,

And many an assault was made on the strong castle;
But the duke defended himself bravely,
So that the siege lasted a very long time,
At which the king was very displeased,
For he was quite sick with longing for Igerne.

One day, as he sat sadly in his tent,

He was overcome with such melancholy
That he began to weep violently;
And when his people saw him weeping thus,
They went away from his tent, frightened,
And left him alone with Ulsius.
Why is my king weeping? the latter asked him
Compassionately. Ah! Ulsius, said the king,
I am dying of longing for Igerne!
Yes, death is certain for me,
I have already lost my appetite for food and drink,
And at night I find no more rest,
Because sleep flees me; and no remedy do I see
How I may be cured! - Take courage, my king,
You will not die for love of a woman!
If only you could have Merlin, he continued,
Let him see you, perhaps he will give you good advice. -
Merlin certainly knows what I suffer, said the king,
But I angered him when I tried the empty place
At the round table, and now he will not hear of it;
Also I think he thinks it is well done of me
That I have fallen in love with Dame Igerne,
For I ought not to covet the wife
Of my subject, my liegeman. It is sin,
I know it well; and yet I must desire her,
I am not to blame for it, yet I cannot help it.

I am sure, said Ulsius, Merlin loves you so well

That he will not fail to come,
If he knows your sorrow and your grief,
But will surely come and bring comfort to you.
Take courage, my king, have patience,
Be a little more cheerful, try to fortify yourself
With good food and drink, let your barons
Be around you often and pass the time
In their company in a pleasurable way,
So that you may forget your sorrow! -
I will gladly do what you tell me, the king replied,
But I will not be able to forget
My love or my suffering.

CANTO XXV

When the king came to his tent after mass

A few days later, he found Merlin there.
His joy was great when he saw him,
He rushed towards him with open arms,
Clasped him to his heart and kissed him.
Merlin, he began, I tell thee nothing of my affairs,
Thou knowest them better than I do myself;
But I beseech thee, for God's sake,
Help me from my heartache,
Which is so well known to thee. -
Let Ulsius come first, said Merlin,
And then I will answer thee.

Ulsius was immediately summoned,

And when he came and the king said to him,
Behold, here is Merlin! he became merry,
Greeted him, and said to the king,
Now you must weep no more,
For surely he will bring you comfort and help. -
Ah, said the king, if he could procure Igerne's favour for me,
There is nothing I would not do for him,
If it were but in my power. - If thou dare, said Merlin,
To promise me what I shall ask of thee,
I will seek to procure Igerne for thee,
That thou mayest sleep with her
In her chamber and in her bed.

Ulsius laughed when he heard this, and said,

Now we shall see what a king's heart is worth. -
Demand what you will, cried the king,
There is nothing I would not give you in return,
Only demand! - I will be sure of it, replied Merlin;
You and Ulsius must both swear an oath to me
Upon the holy relics, that I shall get from you
What I shall demand of you the morning
After you have spent the night with Igerne.
Will you swear with the king, Ulsius? -
It will be a long time before I swear, he replied.
Then the king had the most holy relics
Brought before him, and he and Ulsius
Laid their hands on them, and so both swore
That the king must give to Merlin
What Merlin would require of him
On the morrow after the night he had spent with Igerne.

Afterwards Merlin opened to them the way

In which he would procure Igerne's favour for the king.
You, he said to the king, must do this with much wisdom
And very wisely, for Igerne is a very virtuous lady
Who has always been faithful to God
And her husband. But I will give you by my art
The form of the duke, so that she must take you
For her husband. The Duke also has two knights,
His and Lady Igerne's trusted friends,
Named Bretiaux and Jourdains.
I will take the form of the first,
You, Ulsius, shall have that of Jourdains.
When darkness falls, we will ride in this transformation
To the castle of Tintayol; the guards
Will not deny us entrance, since they regard us
As their own. Only in the morning
We must leave early again, for we will hear
Wonderful things. In the meantime,
Let your camp be well guarded,
And that your people tell no one where you have gone.
Forget nothing of all that I tell you here,
And be ready between here and tomorrow,
When I come for you.

The king awaited Merlin with the greatest impatience;

At last he came again and said, Now all is ready,
Now to horse. - They rode to a little half mile
From Tintayol; here we must tarry a little, said Merlin,
Dismount from your horses and wait for me here.
They all dismounted, Merlin went down a little way,
Picked off some herbs, rubbed the king's face
And hands with them, then Ulsius' and himself,
And immediately they all three changed;
The king looked perfectly like the Duke of Tintayol,
As Merlin and Ulsius resembled Bretiaux and Jourdains,
So that they looked at each other
And really thought they did for a long time.
As night fell, they arrived at the castle gate of Tintayol,
Were admitted without difficulty,
And gave orders to the guard
Not to let anyone know that the Duke was at Tintayol.
The duchess was already in bed
When the three entered her bedroom,
The knights helped their lord to undress
And climb into bed with the Lady Igerne,
And then departed. That night she became pregnant
With a son, who was afterwards called
The good King Arthur.
The king enjoyed great joy and love all night from Igerne,
For she embraced him and met him with warm kindness
As she embraced her faithful husband.

At daybreak Merlin and Ulsius,

Who had already risen,
Heard the rumour in the city that the duke
Had been slain and his seneschals captured.
So they ran straight to their master's bedroom
And shouted, Duke, get up
And go to your other castle,
For news has come that your people
Believe you to be dead.
Her lord rose at once, took tender leave
Of the Lady Igerne, entrusted her
To the protection of God,
Kissed her and rode off with the two companions.
No one in the castle knew that the Duke
Had spent the night with his wife,
Except her chambermaids and the gatekeepers.

When they had happily come out again,

Rejoiced at the successful plot,
And talked merrily, Merlin began
And said to the king, I have, I think,
Kept my word to thee, now think thou also
To keep thine oath. - Thou hast given me,
Answered the king, more joy
And done a far greater service than ever man
Did to another, and I am ready to keep thee
My promise; now declare what thou askest. -
Know, said Merlin, that Igerne hath this night
Conceived with a child of the male sex;
This child I demand of thee.

The king was horrified,

But could not go back on his word.
I have taken an oath, said he,
To give thee what thou wouldst require;
Let it therefore be given thee at thy pleasure.

CANTO XXVI

Then all three of them washed in a river,

Where they had to cross,
And regained their natural shape.
When they reached the camp,
They all came to meet them with the news
That the duke had been slain.
The king was much grieved at this news,
For he had not sought his death.
And how did this happen? he asked his people.
Now he heard that the duke,
Noticing that the king was not in camp,
Had quietly armed his men in the night,
And had made a charge upon the besiegers.
The latter, awakened by the noise,
Quickly armed themselves
And drove them back into their castle;
But when they tried to force their way
Into the gate with them, the duke
Was overpowered and killed by the infantry,
Who did not know him. Those in the castle
Did not defend themselves any longer
When they learned of the death of their lord,
But immediately surrendered with the castle.

The king summoned his councillors

And laid the matter before them,
That they might advise him
How to make satisfaction for the duke's death,
For he was greatly grieved at this accident.
He had not hated the duke,
And had not desired his death;
Therefore, said he, I will sufficiently
Make satisfaction to his relations,
As you shall advise me.

Ulsius sat with them in the king's council,

And as the councillors demanded
That he should speak first, he said to them,
He who would advise the king
And the realm for the best, let him demand
That the king should tell the friends
And kinsmen of the Duchess Igerne
How they are all to assemble at Tintayol,
There to deliberate on their matter,
And then all together to go to Cardueil,
Where the king would give them satisfaction
And make peace with them.

While Ulsius was saying this

To the king's counsellors, and they
Understood his opinion, and relied upon him,
Because he was the king's most intimate friend,
And must well know what was most agreeable
To the king to hear, they also promised Ulsius
Not to tell the king that this counsel
Came from him alone, but that they all
Resolved such things.

Merlin came into the king's tent

And said to him, Ulsius speaketh and thinketh well
Wnd wisely concerning thy matter,
Also he is faithful unto thee;
Thou mayest therefore safely trust him,
And do exactly all that he shall ask of thee;
For it is for thy good what he shall ask,
And all shall stand well by his counsel.
Follow, therefore, the faithful
And understanding Ulsius,
I must now part from thee;
When Igerne, to whom thou shalt now betroth thyself,
Hath born the babe with which she hath been
Pregnant by thee, then will I come again
And fetch it, for thou knowest it is mine
According to thy oath. Nor will I speak
To thee then, but only to Ulsius,
To whom I will tell in what manner
He must deliver me the child.
The king was extremely grieved
That Merlin wished to go from him,
But he was glad again when Merlin
Gave him the assurance
That he could rely on Ulsius;
And that Igerne was to be his wife
Filled his heart with great delight.

Beware, however, added Merlin,

By the life of the lady Igerne,
That you never discover to her the secret,
How the child she bears under her heart
Is not of her husband the duke, but of you,
And that you slept with her
Before she was married to you;
For she is of great virtue and piety,
And if you should thus shame her,
You might well lose her love.
He then took leave of the king
And went to Master Blasius,
Where he had him write down
Everything as we read it here.

CANTO XXVII

The king's ambassadors came to Tintayol,

Where they found Dame Igerne
And all her relatives and friends assembled.
They greeted the Duchess
When they were let before her,
And presented to her that the Duke
Had been slain by his own fault
And by his insult done to the King.
The king, they said, is greatly grieved by his death,
And bids you make peace with him
According to your own desire.
He is quite willing to give you
And your friends and the duke's kinsmen
Any satisfaction you may together
Desire of him. - We will, answered the lady
And her kinsmen to the ambassadors,
We will confer about it.

After they had pondered and consulted

Among themselves, they told the Lady Igerne
That their opinion was that peace
Should be made with the King.
Since the duke was killed by his own fault,
They said, the king cannot help it,
Also is he very sorry; let us also consider
That we are but weak against him,
And will not be able to defend ourselves
Well against him. So we think
We will listen to the proposals he lets us make;
They may be such as we cannot refuse,
And so one must choose the least of two evils.
The lady gave her friends authority
To do anything they pleased;
She would consent to anything
They might decide among themselves.

The ambassadors were again called before her

And asked what satisfaction
The king intended to give them.
We know no further of the king's will,
They answered, than that he has resolved
To proceed in this matter entirely
According to the will of his barons
And his councillors. - Thereupon they agreed
That after fifteen days the Duchess
Would go to Cardueil with all her relatives
And friends, for which purpose
The King must send them a safe escort;
That also, if his offers of satisfaction
Were not agreeable to the Duchess
And her party, the King must send them
All back to Tintayol at his own expense.
After this arrangement, the ambassadors
Recommended themselves to the lady,
As well as to the rest, and rode back
To the king in Cardueil. He was very eager
To hear what answer they would bring him
From the lady, and full of joy
When he heard how they intended
To come to Cardueil.

After a fortnight he sent a safe escort

To meet the Lady Igerne,
Who arrived at Cardueil in deep mourning,
As did her friends and relatives.
Immediately the king sent his councillors
To her assembly, and they were asked by them
In the king's name what satisfaction
They demanded for the duke's death.
The counsellors of the lady answered,
The duchess has not come here to demand,
But to hear what the king is willing to do for her.
The king thought the lady's counsellors
Were very understanding men,
Because of this answer. Ulsius now went
Into the assembly of barons and lords
To confer with them, because the king
Had given them all authority to do
And advise what seemed best
To them according to their wisdom,
And most advisable for the good
Of the realm and its subjects. I go,
Said Ulsius to the king, as he took leave of him,
To do what you command me; but remember,
My king, that a prince cannot treat his people
Well enough, nor humble himself enough before them.

Ulsius and the other councillors immediately

Went to Dame Igerne, introduced themselves to her
As those to whom the king had given authority
To dispense justice in this matter,
And asked her if she was satisfied with this
And would submit to their verdict.
Dame Igerne answered them,
The king could offer her nothing greater
Than that he would have his barons judge for him;
Whereupon the king's departed again,
And assembled specially to finish the matter.

After consulting among themselves

What was best to be done, they all
Summoned Ulsius to speak his mind first.
You know well, began Ulsius, that the duke
Perished through the king's fault,
And that he did not deserve to die;
His wife's children remained a burden,
And the king devastated her country by war.
The duke's relatives and friends have also
Lost a great deal through his death;
It is therefore fair and right
That they should be reimbursed
According to their dignities
For what they have lost,
So that the king may remain certain
Of their loyalty and love.
On the other hand, the king is unmarried,
And it is time that he chose a wife;
Since, as you know, Dame Igerne
Is one of the most virtuous women in the world,
I think the king could not give a more fitting
Satisfaction than by choosing her as his wife.
Methinks this would be a great boon
To the whole country as well as to you,
And every one will find this kind
Of satisfaction praiseworthy.
I also advise that he give the Duke's
Eldest daughter to the King of Orcania,
Who is here present, as his wife;
And so do to all the rest that they love
And honour him for their gracious
And magnanimous King.

The story goes that when Ulsius had thus

Spoken his mind, he called upon
The other councillors to speak theirs likewise.
Ulsius, they answered him altogether,
You have given the best advice,
And the very loftiest that ever man dared to think;
If you repeat the same, as you now did before us,
Before the king, and we see that he consents,
We will gladly consent also. - That is not enough,
Said Ulsius, you must yet give your consent to it
Before the king; here presently is
King Loth of Orcania, on whom the peace
Now partly depends, he may first give his opinion.
And the King of Orcania answered,
I would not for the world
That the peace should fail for my sake.

When the others heard this, they all agreed

With Ulius' opinion, and all went to the king,
Where Dame Igerne and hers were also present.
The whole assembly sat down, except Ulsius,
Who stood before them and recited
The advice of the barons and princes,
And then asked the king if he agreed
With the advice of these men.
I assent to it, answered the king, if Dame Igerne
And her party consent otherwise,
And if King Loth of Orcania will marry
Dhe duke's eldest daughter. - Sire, said King Loth,
There is nothing I am not resolved
To do for love of you, and for the sake of peace.
Ulsius now turned to the lady's party
And asked them how they were satisfied,
And whether they wished
To make peace on these terms.

When he thus addressed them, expecting

That he who had been commissioned
To speak in the name of the Duchess
Would now answer, they all began to weep
With great emotion, so that tears
As big as peas fell from their eyes;
So too did he who had been commissioned to speak
Weep with joy and emotion,
So that he could not utter a word.
At last he said, No, I never heard such speeches,
Nor saw such honourable satisfaction
As that which the king now gives
To one of his lieges! and then asked the lady
And the rest of the relatives
If they were satisfied with these conditions.
Dame Igerne wept, but could not speak;
The others spoke for her, and were unanimous
In the opinion that they could not ask
For a more honourable satisfaction,
Nor make a more beautiful peace.

Two days later, the marriage of the king

To Igerne was celebrated,
And at the same time that of King Loth of Orcania
To the duke's eldest daughter.
Dame Igerne had another daughter,
Called Morgante, who was sent to a convent
To be educated there. She attained so far
In all sciences that it was a miracle;
She also understood astronomy
To such a high degree
That no one was allowed to be seen
Beside her in this art; she was afterwards
Called Morgante, the Fairy.
The other daughter, who was married
To the King of Orcania, gave birth to three sons,
All three of them very brave knights,
Who later sat at the Round Table.
The other children of the duchess
Were also well cared for by the king,
And he loved their friends and relatives
And held them in high esteem.

CANTO XXVIII

On the day when the king married

The beautiful Igerne,
It was just twenty days since he had slept with her
In the guise of the duke
And she had become pregnant by him.
The wedding was celebrated very happily
And in great splendour;
The festivities lasted for fifteen days,
Where everyone who came was entertained
In the most splendid manner.
The king was full of joy
At having attained what he so longed for,
And for a long time he wanted to hear of nothing
But celebrations and displays of joy.
One night, as he lay with his wife,
And she was heavily pregnant,
He asked her by whom she was pregnant,
For he did not believe that it could be his,
Nor could it be the Duke's,
Since he had not been with her
For a long time before his death.

Queen Igerne began to weep

When she heard these words of the king,
And said with many tears, My king,
I cannot in any way tell you an untruth;
It is only too true that I cannot be pregnant by you,
But for God's mercy have mercy on me!
What I want to tell you is very wonderful,
But it is no less the truth for that;
I therefore beg you to promise me
Before I speak that you will not repudiate me,
Nor will you reproach me. -
You may freely tell me all, answered the king,
For I promise you, whatever it may be,
I will not change my conduct
Towards you on that account.

Then Igerne was reassured, and told the king faithfully

All that had happened to her that night,
When she had thought to see the duke her husband
With his two trusted knights, how she had then
Spent the night with her supposed husband,
But the next day, when he had already
Parted from her again, had received the news
That he had perished on the battlefield
The night before, instead of being with her;
And so, she added, I do not know to whom
The child belongs. - Sweet friend,
Answered the king hereupon, I beseech you
Give this child to him that shall come to fetch it,
Or to whom I may give it,
That we may never hear of him spoken of. -
Sire, replied Igerne, with me, as with all that is mine,
Do as you please.

The next morning the king told Ulsius

What had been said between him
And his wife during the night.
Now you may be sure, said Ulsius, that the queen
Is a very pious, wise, and faithful lady,
Because she told you no untruth
In this matter of such importance,
But dared to speak quite the truth.

After six months Merlin came to Ulsius,

Showed him his satisfaction
With all that had happened;
Then sent him to the king, who came at once,
And was very glad to see Merlin again.
Then Merlin said to the king, Not far from here
Lives a noble gentleman, named Anthor,
Whose wife is the most sensible
And God-fearing woman in the whole country;
She is of irreproachable manners,
Very well instructed in all good things
And of excellent disposition.
This woman has recently come to live with a son,
But the honest Anthor is not one of the richest.
I advise you to send to him, call him to you,
And give him money and goods sufficient
For him to live decently; but ask him afterwards
To bring up a child which would be brought to him
At his wife's breast, and let him feed on her milk;
Then let him take a sacred oath
That he will keep this sure,
To give his son to another to bring up,
And in his stead to bring up and keep the son
Which would be brought to him as his own. -
I will, said the king, perform everything punctually
As you have prescribed.

Merlin went back to Master Blasius,

And the king summoned the good Anthor to him.
Anthor came at once, and was not a little surprised
When the king received him with special kindness
And showed him much honour,
But could not understand why this should happen.
My friend, began the king, I will discover
A secret to you, but beware for your life
That you tell no one; you are my subject
And my liegeman; you owe it therefore to God
And to me to keep my secret firmly,
And to help me to carry out what I shall tell you. -
Sire, answered Anthor, you can command me
Nothing that I am not willing to do with pleasure;
but should I be unable to do it,
Your secret is at all events safely kept with me.

Hear, then, my friend, what a vision

Appeared to me the other day as I slept.
I saw a man before me who told me that you,
Anthor, were one of the most upright
And honourable men in the world; you,
He continued, have produced a child,
Whom your wife is at this hour
Feeding with her milk. This man bade me
Tell you that for my sake you will give this child
Of yours to another to feed and bring up,
And in return you will let your wife
Drink a child at her breast,
Which a strange man will deliver to you,
And that you will bring up
And keep this strange child as your own. -
Sire, resumed Anthor, it is a great thing
That you ask of me, that I should give my own child
To suckle to a strange woman,
And adopt a strange one for it;
Yet, as for me, I will obey you,
In case it please my wife;
But I promise you that I will entreat her
To consent to it. Tell me now, my king,
If the child be yet born,
And when I am to receive it. - I know not,
Answered the king; but he gave him
A great sum of gold, and many riches and goods,
Whereat the honest Anthor was much pleased.
Then he went home to his wife
And told her what had happened
Between him and the king,
But it seemed very strange to her.

How can I, she said, give away my own child

To nurse another's? - There is nothing, said Anthor,
That we do not owe to our sovereign.
Thou seest that he hath already given me much,
And hath promised to do still more,
So that we shall never have to fear poverty;
We must therefore also do all that he requires of us.
My will, if it please thee, is
That thou shouldst nurse and bring up the child
That is brought to us, like ours. -
I belong to you, said the woman, and my child
Also belongs to you; do to us as you please.
The brave Anthor was very pleased
With his wife's answer.

CANTO XXIX

The day before the queen's birth

Merlin came to Ulsius and said, I am pleased
With the arrangements the king has made.
Go, tell him to prepare the queen,
She would be delivered tomorrow after midnight;
And how immediately after her delivery
She must give the child to the man
Whom she would see going out of her room.
Ulsius asked him if he would not speak
To the king himself, but he said, No, not at this hour.

Ulsius ordered the king to do all

That Merlin bade him do,
And the king went straightway to the queen.
Tomorrow after midnight, he told her,
Thou shalt be delivered; but I beseech thee,
And expressly require it, that immediately
After the birth thou shalt give the child
To thy most trusted chambermaid,
With express orders to give it to the man
Who will demand it from her
As she goes out of the room.
You must also forbid all those who will be present
At the birth, on their lives, to tell anyone
That you have come down, because
Many might believe that the child is not mine;
Nor can it in truth be mine. - I told you,
Replied the queen, that I do not know
Who is the father of this child; I will do with him
As you ask. - But she was so ashamed
That she could not look at the king,
But cast down her eyes.

At the appointed hour she came down,

And was greatly astonished that the king
Had foretold the hour of her delivery.
Everything happened as the king had ordered.
My dear friend, she said to the chambermaid,
Take the child and give it to the man
Who will demand it of you at the door of the room;
But be very careful who that man is.

The chambermaid wrapped the child

In rich swaddling clothes and carried it out;
When she opened the door, a very old, feeble man
Came to meet her. What are you waiting for here?
She asked. For what you bring, replied the old man. -
Who are you? what shall I tell my mistress
To whom I have given it? - Do not worry about it,
Do what you are ordered to do and what you must do.
Then she handed him the child, he took it,
And at the same moment he disappeared with it,
So that the chambermaid did not know
Where he had gone. When she came back
Into the queen's room and told her
How she had had to give the child
To a strange, very old man,
Who had disappeared with it the moment
He received it, the queen began to weep bitterly.

The old man went out with the child

To take it to the pious Anthor,
But met him in the alley
Just as he was about to go to mass.
Anthor, he said to him, I have brought you a child,
Which you are to bring up and feed like your own.
If you do this faithfully, the good
That will come to you and yours
Will be immeasurable and hardly believable to you.
The King, as well as every noble man and woman,
Ask you to keep it good. I, too, ask you to do so;
My request must be as much to you
As that of the richest man. - Anthor took the child,
Looked at it, and found it well-built
And of great beauty. Is it baptised?
He asked the old man. No, said the old man,
You may have it baptised at once in the church
Where you intended to go to mass. -
What name shall I give it? - Call it Arthur.
You will soon realise what a great good
You are getting with him, for you and your wife,
You will love this boy very much
And will not know him from your own.
And hereby commended to God.

They parted from each other;

Anthor had the child baptised,
Gave it the name Arthur,
And afterwards brought it to his wife,
Who welcomed it kindly, kissed it,
Put it to her breast and watered it with her milk,
While she gave her own son to feed
To a strange woman whom she had previously adopted.

CANTO XXX

After Uterpendragon had ruled his kingdom

In peace for a long time,
He fell into a serious illness;
For he had gout in his hands,
So that he could not use them.
The pagans invaded his kingdom again
And devastated it during his illness;
The princes and barons went into battle
Against them on various occasions,
But were always defeated, while the pagans
Became more and more powerful in the land.
Merlin came to Uterpendragon and told him
That with his help he would drive out
The enemies again, but that he would not live
Long afterwards; Queen Igerne
Had already died before.
Merlin therefore advised him,
As soon as he was victorious,
To distribute all his treasures and riches
Among the poor; he should do as much good
As possible during his lifetime,
Because he would have to leave the kingdom
Without heirs. The king asked him
About the child he had given him.
You have no care for him, he replied,
But I may tell you that he is handsome,
Tall and well-bred. When Merlin then took leave
Of the king, reminding him once more
That he had not long to live, the king asked him,
Weeping: Ah woe, Merlin, shall I never see thee again? -
Once more shalt thou see me, replied Merlin,
But no more often.

Uterpendragon gathered his army,

Had himself carried before him in a litter,
And gave the orders to attack with such sagacity
And with such great courage
That he thereby raised the courage of the army
And of the other leaders, defeated the enemies,
And drove them completely out of the country.
He then returned to London,
And distributed all his treasures,
All that he possessed, between the poor
And the churches, so that he now more than ever
Won the love of all the people; but afterwards
Fell again into his sickness,
So that the physicians gave up his life.
When he was now worse and worse,
And at last lost his speech,
So that in three days he did not speak a single word,
Merlin arrived again in London.
The lords of the court and the people,
When they saw him coming,
Went to meet him weeping, and crying,
Our king is dead! - He is not yet dead,
Answered Merlin; lead me to him,
You shall hear him speak once more.

When he was led into the room

Where the king lay ill on his bed,
Merlin had all the windows opened and came in.
The courtiers approached the king
And said to him, Here is Merlin,
Whom the king loved at all times.
Then the king turned to him,
And straightway recognised him,
And it was perceived by his countenance
How glad he was to see him.
Merlin bowed and said softly in his ear,
Know that your son Arthur will be king after you,
And will make complete the Round Table
Which you have founded!
Then the king raised his voice, Tell him to pray
For me to Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now Merlin turned to those around and said,
These were the king's last words;
No one will hear him speak any more.

Then Merlin departed,

And the others were left in amazement,
Both at the fact that the king was still talking to him,
And at the words he spoke,
Of which they could not find the meaning,
For they had not heard what Merlin spoke
In the king's ear. The same night
Uterpendragon died, and the kingdom was left
Without a successor. The lords and barons
Gathered to elect a king from among themselves,
But they could not agree. At last
They decided to ask Merlin,
The wisest of men, for advice.

Merlin was called into the council

And the question was put to him
In the name of all the princes
As to whom they should choose as king
In place of Uterpendragon. Then Merlin stood up
And said, I have always loved this kingdom,
As well as its inhabitants; so if you will follow
My opinion, let it depend on God's decree
Who shall be king.

All cried in unison, Say what we shall do;

We believe thee, and will do all
That thou thinkest right. - Fourteen days it is,
Began Merlin, since the king died,
It was on St. Martin's Day;
Wait yet till Christmas night, which is not far off.
Our Saviour, the King of kings,
Was born on that day. I am sure of you all,
That if you spend this day in devout prayer
To our Lord, he will give you a sign
According to which you may choose a king.
All of you, princes and people,
And you bishops and clergy, pray to him
That he may enlighten you
And make his will known to you by a sign
And show you the one who will be found worthy
To rule this kingdom. I tell you in truth,
If you pray to him with fervour and true devotion,
The sign will appear to you
By which you shall know the king,
And so you will then be sure to have chosen
According to the will of God our Lord.
The whole assembly was well satisfied
With this advice of Merlin,
And it was unanimously resolved to act accordingly.
Merlin now took leave of the princes.
When they asked him to come back at Christmas
To see if everything was happening
As he had advised them, he said
He would not return until everything was complete,
And left the council to go to his master Blasius
And tell him what had happened,
Which is how we now know it.
The barons, for their part, summoned
All the princes, lords and knights of the land
To London at Christmas, to unite in prayer,
And to see by what miracle God would choose
One of them to be king. So it came to pass,
And there was not one who did not present himself
In London at Christmas. The good knight Anthor
Also came, together with his foster-son Arthur,
Who was a boy of wonderful beauty,
And in all things very good and well-bred;
Anthor also brought his own son with him
To London; he was a year older than Arthur,
And became a knight on All Saints' Day.
Anthor, however, did not love his own son
More than the foster son.

On the eve of Christmas,

All the princes and knights and many of the people
Gathered in the church, prayed
And listened to the midnight mass with great devotion;
But when the midnight mass was over
And no sign was yet to be seen,
Many began to doubt and thought
That they were right fools to wait for such a sign.
Then a very learned spiritual gentleman
Ascended the pulpit and gave them
An excellent sermon, in which he rebuked them
For their unbelief and impatience
And exhorted them not to let their zeal in prayer slacken
And to trust firmly in God;
He also reminded them of their duty,
That they were not gathered together
In the church at this present hour
For the sole purpose of choosing a king
From among themselves, but also
For the salvation of their souls,
And to pray to the King of kings,
Who was born to them this night.
The sermon was so powerful and excellent
That the princes, moved by it,
Renewed their devotion and waited in fervent prayer
For the early mass. But when this too had been heard
And the bright day began to shine into the church,
Many of them went out; and behold,
In the square before the church door
Rose three broad steps of a strange peculiar stone,
Some said it was marble. An iron anvil
Stood at the top of the steps, and in this anvil
Was fixed a sword, so that it stood upright on the anvil.

Those who had come out of the church ran back,

Astonished and frightened, and announced
The miracle to Archbishop Brice,
Who was saying mass. When he had finished,
He went out and all the people and princes followed him;
The archbishop went up the steps,
Looked at the sword and read aloud to the people
The inscription which was engraved on both sides
Of the sword in gold letters. It read,
He among you who draws this sword from the anvil
Shall be king of this land
By the admonition of Jesus Christ.

All the people were astonished at this miraculous sign;

The raised anvil and the sword were handed over
To ten brave men of understanding to guard;
Five of them were secular, but five were spiritual.
Then they all went back into the church
And sang prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord
For this sign which he had graciously sent them,
And solemnly sang a Te Deum.
Afterwards the experiments with the sword began;
First came the princes, the barons,
All the great lords and knights,
Each tried to pull the sword out of the anvil,
But none was able to do it.
The archbishop gave orders to the ten men
Who guarded the sword to let anyone approach
Who wanted to make the attempt,
Regardless of his rank; but if anyone should pull it out,
They would have to be careful
Who it was in order to recognise him.
During the eight days until New Year's Day,
Everyone in the whole country tried,
For they came from far and wide to make the attempt;
But no one could pull the sword out of the anvil,
Although many hundreds of the bravest knights tried.

CANTO XXXI

On New Year's Day, after the meal,

The lords and barons held fine jousting and races
In a beautiful square outside the town.
When the knights and the other people
In the town heard this, everyone got ready
To go out too to be at the games.
When the men who were guarding the sword
Saw that everyone in the town was running out,
They went with them, thus leaving the sword unguarded.
The good knight Anthor was just outside the city
When the games began, with his son,
Who had become a knight on All Saints' Day
And was called Lreux; with Arthur, his foster son,
Who believed as everyone did
That he was Lreux's real brother,
And also loved and honoured him as his elder brother.
When the games began, Lreux ordered his brother Arthur
To hurry home and fetch his sword,
Which he had left there. Arthur rode off in haste
To carry out his brother's order,
But when he arrived at the inn
Where they were staying, he found everything locked
And no one to open the door,
Because all the household had also gone out
To watch the games. Arthur rode back quickly,
Full of annoyance and weeping with anger,
And when he crossed the square in front of the church
And looked around everywhere to see
If he could spot anyone from the house,
He saw the anvil on the marble steps;
He had never heard of this miracle
And now saw it for the first time.
Full of joy, he saw the sword on it,
Which no one was guarding, rode out on it,
Pulled it out of the anvil with such ease
As if it had not been fastened at all,
And rode out to Lreux as fast as his horse would run,
Gave him the sword, and told him why
He did not bring him his own, and where he had got it.

Lreux immediately recognised the sword,

Hurriedly sought his father, the knight Anthor,
Showed it to him, and said, I am to be king,
I have drawn out the sword.
Knight Anthor was most astonished,
But did not believe his son;
You lie, he cried, come with me at once to the anvil.
He rode thither with him,
Arthur and the servants accompanying them.
When they came to the square,
And the knight saw that the sword
Was really no longer in the anvil,
He turned to the Lreux, Beloved son, said he,
I beseech thee, speak the truth,
How comest thou to this sword?
Never could I love thee as my son
If thou wouldst lie to me,
And I shall know very well whether
What thou speakest is truth or not.

Lreux was ashamed to hear his father speak thus,

And said, My father, I lie not;
My brother Arthur brought me this sword
Instead of mine, but I know not how he came by it. -
Give it me, said Anthor; thou hast no right to it,
But he from whom thou hast received it.
Lreux gave him the sword,
And as Anthor looked round,
He saw Arthur afar off among the servants,
And called him hither. Dear son, he said to him,
Take this sword and put it back where you took it from.
Arthur did so immediately,
And it was as firmly fixed in the anvil as before,
So that no one was able to pull it out except Arthur.

Then the old man went into the church

With the two sons; here he said to Lreux,
I knew well that you could not have drawn the sword
From the anvil; but Arthur he took in his arms
And said to him, Dear, beloved lord,
If I were to help you to become king,
What favour would you show me? -
How could I, replied Arthur, acquire this estate,
Or any other, over which you would not have charge
As my lord and father? - I am only your foster-father,
But I know not your father, who begat you.
When Arthur heard this, he was almost beside himself
With grief and sadness, for he had loved
And honoured Anthor as his father,
And it was very painful and extremely sad for him
Not to have a father. All disconsolate he cried out,
O my God, what good is this estate
Or any other to me, since I have no father! -
You must have had a father, said Anthor,
But now, dear Sir, tell me what favour
You will assure me, in case this great estate
Is destined for you by the Lord,
And I help you to it. - Oh, anything you will,
Cried Arthur, weeping.

Now Anthor told him all that he had done for him,
How his wife had given her own son
To strangers to bring up,
And how she had adopted him in her son's stead,
And watered him with her milk,
And how in this way he owed him,
As well as his wife and his son Lreux,
The greatest gratitude, for never was a child brought up
With more love than he was by them all.
Father, replied Arthur, keep me as your son hence,
Though I be not your child,
For how shall I take a step, or the grace
Which God may bestow upon me,
And which you will help me to obtain,
How shall I prove worthy of it
Without your counsel and fatherly assistance;
Be sure, then, that I am ready to do all
That you shall command me. - Now then, I beseech you,
Resumed Anthor, when you shall be king,
Make my son Lreux your seneschal,
And in such a manner that he can never lose
His seneschalship as long as he lives,
Even if he should be guilty of any crime
Against your person or against any other
In your kingdom. If he should be a traitor,
Or speak evil, I beseech you, suffer a little of him;
For to bring you up better, the mother
Gave him into strange hands,
So that he is quite degenerate thereby,
So you must also put up with more from him
Than from any other; I beseech you, therefore,
Grant me this request. - Now when Arthur assured him
Of the grant, Anthor took him by the hand
And led him to the altar,
Before the image of the holy glorious Virgin Mary,
And here he made him swear upon the holy relics
That he would keep his promise against Lreux.
After this they went out of the church,
Where they met the princes, barons, and knights,
Who were returning from the games,
And now wished to go to vespers.
Anthor called those among them who were his friends,
And went with them and his sons to the archbishop,
And said, Lord archbishop, my son here,
Who is not yet a knight, requires to try the sword,
And asks your permission to do so.

The archbishop immediately went out

With all those present, and they stood round the steps.
My son, said Anthor, go up, take the sword,
And bring it to the Lord Archbishop.
Arthur did without delay as his father commanded him,
Climbed the steps bravely, drew the sword from the anvil
Without any effort, and handed it to the Archbishop;
He embraced the lad, and sang Te Deum Laudamus
In a loud voice. The princes and the lords went back
Into the church with Arthur. One of them said to the other,
How can it be that such a boy will become our king
And rule over us? When the archbishop heard
These speeches, he was enraged;
He and Anthor were on Arthur's side;
Nut the barons and also the people were against Arthur.

Then the archbishop spoke the bold word,

And if the whole world were against this choice,
And the Lord God has decreed it, he shall be king!
Go, Arthur, he continued, put the sword
Where you took it. Arthur obeyed,
And the sword was as firm as before.
Now go, the Archbishop began again,
You princes, you dukes, you rich and powerful,
Now go and see if there is one among you
Who will pull it out. - They all tried again,
One after the other, but none of them succeeded.
Ye fools, cried the archbishop, will ye contend
Against the will of God? - We will not, said the princes,
But should it not grieve us and hurt us
That such a fellow should rule over us? -
He who chose him, said the Archbishop,
Knows him better than you know him. -
We beseech you, Lord Archbishop, said the princes,
Let the sword remain in place until Candlemas,
That others may make the attempt.

This was granted them,

And now princes, dukes, nobles and knights
Came from all lands, and from far and wide,
Every day new ones came, went to the anvil,
Drew the sword with all their strength;
But none of them could pull it out.
On the day of the Mass of Light all assembled again;
Then Arthur, at the command of the Archbishop,
Ascended the steps, drew the sword with ease
From the anvil, and presented it to the Archbishop;
Who, as well as all the clergy present,
Wept for joy and melancholy
When they saw this miracle.

Is there any among you, cried the archbishop,

Who doubts the divine election? -
Nevertheless, Archbishop, said the princes,
Let it wait until Easter,
And if there is no one able to do it before then,
We will be subject to him. - Will you,
Asked the Archbishop, gladly be obedient
If I wait until Easter? - Yes, Archbishop, we will. -
Now then, go, Arthur, put the sword back in its place;
If it please God, it will yet remain yours.
Arthur obeyed, the sword stuck fast again as before,
And ten men guarded it.

On the feast of Easter, after mass,

Arthur was led up the steps,
Where he again drew the sword from the anvil.
Then the princes arose and saluted him as their lord;
But asked him that he might once more
Put the sword on the anvil,
And first speak a little to them.
Very willingly, answered Arthur politely,
As anything that pleases you I do.
Thereupon they went all together into the church
To converse with Arthur, and to put him to the test;
For the archbishop had before made much praise
To the princes of Arthur's understanding
And good decency; so now they wished
To test whether it was so.
Sire, they said to him, we now see that it is God's will
That you should reign over us;
What God wills must be done;
We therefore recognise you as our king and lord
And now wish to receive from you our fiefs and gifts;
But we ask you most obediently
To leave your coronation until the feast of Pentecost,
You shall nevertheless remain our king and lord.
Of this now tell us your opinion,
Whether you are so content?
King Arthur replied on the spot,
That I should grant you gifts and fiefs
Cannot happen until I first receive mine,
I cannot grant anyone what I do not possess myself;
So I cannot be called and considered your king
Until I have been anointed and crowned king
And the kingdom has been handed over to me.
But the respite which you ask of me I gladly give you;
For I am far from asking for the coronation
Or the kingdom, nor pursuing it,
Unless it be God's will and yours.

The princes were well pleased with his answer,

And all who were present said, This lad,
If he remained alive, would become very understanding.
Then the princes turned again on Arthur, and said,
Sire, methinks it good that you should not be crowned
With the royal crown until the feast of Pentecost;
But until then we will obey you
By the archbishop's command.

When this had been decided, and the princes at last

Resolved to regard Arthur as their king,
Every one brought him rich gifts;
Some brought costly armour, others excellent steeds,
Still others golden necklaces and precious gems;
And so every one brought him what they thought
Arthur would desire. Arthur received these gifts
Very honourably, and was very obliging to them
In return, but distributed them all again
Among those who were nearest to him,
And whom he held in honour.
To each he gave what must please him most,
According to his rank, merit, office and temper.
To the knights he gave horses and armour;
To the vain he gave gold and silk;
To the lovers he gave gold and silver
To give to their beloved,
And to the wise he gave what might please them;
Just as he honoured the wise men
Who came from foreign lands
With that which was most esteemed in their country,
So he spent much time in their company,
And listened to their admonitions and their advice.
Thus he gave away all that was given him,
And won the love of all those who dealt with him.
The lords and barons also said to one another,
He must truly be of high birth,
For there is no covetousness in him.

Since they could find no fault with him,

No matter how many times they examined him,
All the princes, great men, nobles and knights
From all over England gathered in London
On the day before the feast of Pentecost.
Here every one tried once more to draw out the sword,
But it was in vain. The Archbishop,
Who had put everything in readiness
For the coronation on the following day,
Knighted Arthur at the request of all the princes,
And he kept watch all night in the church
By his weapons. The next morning
The archbishop gave a fine speech to the princes
And at the end of it asked if anyone
Had any objection to this election
And the coronation of the king, let him say so now.
But all of them shouted unanimously
That he should be crowned.
Then they all knelt down before Arthur
And begged his pardon for having been
So against him at the beginning,
And for having so often delayed his coronation;
On their knees they begged him for mercy.
Arthur also kneeled down against them,
And cried, I forgive you, and so God forgive you!
Then they arose, took Arthur, and carried him
In their arms to where the royal garments lay,
And clothed him therewith.

Then the archbishop said to Arthur

That he must now go and fetch
The sword of righteousness,
Wherewith he should protect the church
And Christendom as soon as it should be in need of him,
For our Saviour, when he brought righteousness
Upon earth, had put it in a sword.
Then all of them, the archbishop, the whole clergy,
Arthur, the princes, dukes, barons and the noble knights
Went in procession to the anvil with the sword.

But before Arthur went up, the archbishop said

He must first take the oath. All that you command,
Replied Arthur. Swear, then, the Archbishop began again,
By God the Almighty Creator, by the Virgin Mary,
By St. Peter, and by all the saints,
That you will be faithful to our holy Mother Church,
Uphold her in all things, and assist her in distresses,
Show her constant due reverence, and keep her peace;
That Thou wilt protect and shield Thy people,
And defend them against all; that Thou wilt,
As long as Thou livest, keep faithfulness
And probity to every one, as to all together;
That Thou wilt interfere with no one in his right,
And preserve peace and liberty;
Also that Thou wilt, according to Thy power,
Maintain justice, as is due to every one.

When the young king heard this solemn address,

He had to weep, and all the bystanders wept with him;
Then he regained his composure
And said in a composed voice,
As truly as I believe in God, the Lord of heaven and earth,
And the Father of us all, I swear
That to the best of my ability I will do everything
You put before me. - Now, then, take the sword!
Said the Archbishop. Arthur knelt down,
Seized the sword, drew it out with great ease,
As the former times, and, followed by all
Who were with him, carried it to the great altar
In the church; here he laid it down.
Now he was anointed
And the royal crown was put on him,
Observing all the usual customs.
Now the archbishop said mass,
And when they went out of the church
They found neither the steps nor the anvil any more,
At which all were in the greatest astonishment.

Thus Arthur became king in London,

Where he lived in peace for a very long time,
Until the princes revolted against him.

CANTO XXXII

The story goes that after a long time

King Arthur once wanted to hold court.
He summoned the lords and barons of the land,
Who also arrived with great company.
First came King Loth of Orcania,
Which had the land of Leonnois,
With five hundred knights, all in good armour
And well mounted; then came King Urien
Of the land of Gorre, a young knight
Well skilled in arms, accompanied
By four hundred knights of great worth.
Then King Uter of Gallot, who had a sister
Of King Arthur for his wife,
With seven hundred knights;
Then King Lrarados of Brebas,
A very great and strong lord,
He ruled Estrangegore,
And was one of the knights of the Round Table.
Then came the fair young King Aguiseaulx of Scotland,
With five hundred knights; lastly King Idiers,
With four hundred young knights,
Valiant and well trained in arms.

King Arthur was most pleased to see

Such an excellent and noble knighthood
Assembled with him in London,
And received them all with many honours
And great festivity. Meanwhile King Arthur
Had also become a very handsome lord
And excellent knight, so that it was a pleasure
To look at him, and he was very generous
With his goods. He presented each of the princes
And each knight with precious jewels
And with all kinds of rich gifts,
And with such noble liberal decency,
As one who does not lack such treasures
And who is accustomed to give them away.
Some of the princes accepted the gifts with joy,
And thought very well of their king because of them;
But others were full of envy,
And from that time the greatest and noblest
Bore a deadly hatred against the king in their hearts.
Is it not folly, they said among themselves,
That we have left such power and the best kingdom
To a fellow of such lowly birth,
That he can gather such treasures
And give them away with pride?
Henceforth we will no longer admit it.

So they rejected the king's gifts

And sent them back to him, telling him
That he should know that they no longer regarded him
As their king, that he should therefore leave his kingdom
And the whole country as quickly as possible,
And that he should be careful not to be seen there again,
Or they would try to kill him in every way.

King Arthur was very angry at these threats,

But as he did not expect anything good from them,
He went away in silence and locked himself
In a strong tower in the city of London,
Where he hid himself for fifteen days,
Because he already knew the treachery of the princes.
Then Merlin arrived and showed himself publicly
To all the people. When they recognised Merlin,
Their joy was so great, and the demonstrations of joy
And the tumult so loud around him,
That one would probably not have heard the thunder,
So much did they clamour. Merlin has come!
Merlin is here! So they shouted to each other
In all the streets. The princes also went to meet him,
Paid him much homage, and led him into the palace,
Into a hall, the windows of which looked out over the city
On to an airy green meadow; through this meadow
A beautiful bright river could be seen flowing,
Which one could follow very far
Until it surrounded the walls of the strong castle
Of Clarion. Here the princes sat down with Merlin
And called him to account, asking him
What he thought of the new king
Whom Archbishop Brice had crowned
Without their permission and against their will,
As well as against the will of the people.

He has done well, replied Merlin,

You may know that he could not have chosen
Another more skilful to do it. - How so, Merlin?
Explain yourself; for methinks there are many
Among us who, both by valour and birth,
Would have deserved this honour more
Than such a fellow, of whom it is not known who he is? -
He is of higher birth than one of you, said Merlin,
For he is neither Anthor's son nor Lreux's brother! -
Merlin, you make us more and more confused;
Who is he then? what are we to think? -
Send for King Arthur, that he may appear here before us,
And promise him safety; let his foster-father Anthor
Also come at the same time, and Ulsius,
King Uterpendragon's counsellor,
With the archbishops Brice of London,
In whose presence you shall hear who Arthur is,
And your doubts shall be solved.

Immediately one was sent from among them

To summon King Arthur in the name of Merlin
And the assembled princes, so also the archbishop,
And the other two. When they heard
That Merlin was present, they were of good cheer,
And went straightway; but Arthur put on a coat of mail
Under his skirt, for he never trusted
The treacherous princes. When they came
Into the hall before the assembled lords,
Where there was also a great multitude of people
To hear the matter, they all sat down,
But Merlin stood up, and told the whole course
Of King Arthur's birth with all the circumstances
And with great clearness, whereupon Ulsius
And Anthor took the oath before the bishops
That all had happened as Merlin told it.
You see, Merlin continued, that King Uterpendragon,
His father, did not want to declare him
As his son and heir, out of great conscientiousness,
Because he had handed over his son to me
Even before he knew that he would produce him,
So he did not want to break his oath in any way.
But the Lord God, seeing his piety
And the virtue of his wife Igerne, decided
That for the sake of the parents the son
Should nevertheless come to his rightful inheritance,
And sent the miracle with the sword,
So that you may all know how God himself chose him,
And that he should be your king.

All the people wept for joy

When they heard this marvellous story,
And that Arthur was a son of the much beloved
King Uterpendragon, and cursed in their hearts those
Who began this destruction and would not
That Arthur should be king.

But the princes declared aloud

That they would not have a king
That was not begotten in lawful wedlock,
And thereupon uttered very foul speeches,
Which I will not set down; among other things,
They said he was a bastard, and a bastard
They had no need to keep the peace,
Or to let him reign in a realm like London.
Thereupon they all went away in great wrath and fury;
But the archbishops, the clergy, and all the people
Were on Arthur's side. The knights armed themselves
In their inns, and had peace recited to King Arthur.
He went back to his strong tower
And prepared to defend himself
With as many men as he could get hold of.
When his whole party was assembled,
It was found that he had about seven thousand men,
Counting the clergy. But he had only a very small number
Of knights, about three hundred and fifty in number;
The king gave them arms and horses,
And they promised to remain faithful to him
Even unto death, and to help him.

Merlin went to the princes, who were preparing

To attack the king, and made representations to them
On account of their wicked enterprise.
But the princes mocked Merlin,
Called him black artist,
And bade him be silent.
Merlin said that they would regret this behaviour
Soon enough, went away from them
And went to King Arthur in his strong castle.

Be not dismayed, Sire, said he,

Thou must not fear thine enemies,
For I will help thee against them;
There is not one of them so bold
That he should not wish to be at home,
Though quite naked, before nightfall.
Arthur thereupon besought him in very gentle
And humble words that he would not leave him,
And that he would love him as he loved
His father Uterpendragon; that he would,
Like the latter, obey him in all things,
And do his will punctually. Be of good cheer,
King Arthur, replied Merlin, you must fear nothing;
But listen carefully to what I am about to tell you.
As soon as you have got rid of these barons,
Which should not take long at all,
Do what I advise you to do here.
As you know, after the death of your pious father,
Whose soul is now with God,
The knights of the Round Table, when they saw
What deceit and falsehood had arisen here in the land,
Departed from here and left the Table.
Now you must know, there reigns a king
Named Leodagan in Thamelide,
His wife is dead,
He is already fifty years old
And has only one daughter, named Genevra,
Who is the only heiress of his kingdom.
This King Leodagan is engaged in a severe war
Against Rion, King of the Giant Country
And the Shepherd Country, which no one can inhabit,
For there are such wonderful and strange things
Going on there that no man can find rest
Either by day or by night. King Rion is very powerful,
Both in land and in bold, brave men;
Yet he is a very cruel man. He has already conquered
About twenty crowned kings
And cruelly cut off their beards,
From which he had a mantle made;
One of his knights must always present
This mantle to him at his court;
Since something is still missing from this mantle,
He has sworn not to rest until he has conquered
Thirty kings and completed his mantle
With their beards. Now he is making war
On King Leodagan, and has already done
Infinite harm to his country.

But you must know that when he has conquered

His country, you will also lose yours against him;
And if King Leodagan were not supported
By the knights of the Round Table,
Who have all gathered with him,
He would already have lost his kingdom,
For he is already old. So go to this King Leodagan
And serve him for a time; he will give you
His daughter Genevra in marriage,
And you will become heir to his kingdom.
His daughter is a young and very beautiful lady,
And one of the most intelligent in the world.
Do not worry about your country,
Nothing will happen to it, for the barons
Who now want to make war with you
Will have so much to do that they cannot think
Of making war on your country,
Except that they will attack you in passing
When you are on your way to the mainland;
But even there they shall find no advantage.
But before thou goest, provide thy capitals
And strongholds with food, with men of war,
And with all that is necessary for resistance.
And charge the archbishop Brice
That he excommunicate all those
Who harm the country in any way
Or are enemies, and that he begin
This very evening to impose this excommunication
On the princes and barons, and so the clergy
Must repeat it in every city and in every place,
Every day. You shall see that even
The most insolent of your enemies
Will be frightened by this and deterred from war.
Also, I will be at your aid at all times
And on all occasions, and will never leave you
Wherever you may be.

King Arthur thanked Merlin very much

After he had listened attentively to all the words.
Merlin then presented him with a flag
Of great significance; it contained a dragon
Of iron that seemed to spit out bright fire;
Its tail, also of brass, was immensely long
And thick and curved in many bends.
No one knew where Merlin had got this flag.
Arthur accepted the kite and presented it to Lreux,
His seneschal, that he might present it to him himself,
With the understanding that he would be
Standard-bearer in the kingdom of London for life.
Lreux was a brave knight, and well honoured by all,
And kept himself brave and valiant
In all feuds and battles, except that he had the fault
Of speaking very peevishly and dull;
And because of this fault all the knights
Fled his company, and mocked him.
Those who knew him did not mind his foolish speeches,
Because in his heart he really meant no one
Any harm or sought to do harm, but he spoke
Foolishly merely out of habit;
So that when he began to speak,
He did not quite know what he really wanted to say,
But spoke all sorts of things
Until some wrong word escaped him,
They laughed at him, and left him standing.
Except for this strange fault,
He was of the best manners;
He certainly did not get it from his mother,
The kindest and most sensible woman in the world,
But from the nurse to whom he was left in order
To educate Arthur the better.
Since from here on Merlin is of no further importance
Than that he constantly helps Arthur
To victory in all battles, we shall pass over
The greater part of the original all the more,
Since all this takes place better
And in greater detail in the novel of King Arthur.

CANTO XXXIII

In a valley surrounded by mountains,

Near the forest of Briogne,
There was a beautiful house built with great splendour;
This house was inhabited by a maiden of great beauty;
She was the daughter of a noble lord,
An feudal man of very high birth,
Whose name was Dionas.
He received this name from the Syrene of Sicily,
Diana, who was his godmother,
And so he was called Dionas
Because of her name Diana.
Before she parted from her godchild,
She endowed him with many goods and riches
And with many happy gifts, for she was
The GODDESS of the sea
And was very powerful,
Also keeping to Dionas all the days of his life
All that she promised him. At her request,
The gods decreed that his first child,
A daughter, should be endowed with all grace
And beauty and be loved by the wisest
Of men in her time; that he should live
In the time of Vortigern, king of Lower Brittany,
And that this man's love for her should be eternal
And never end; wherever he might be,
The memory of this maiden
Should always accompany him.
He should also learn her the art of magic
And many other secret sciences,
For he could never deny her any request or desire:
What she asked of him, that he would do.

When Dionas grew up

And was of marvellous beauty,
And also a brave knight, well trained in arms,
He went into the service of the Duchess of Burgundy.
She was so pleased with his conduct
And honoured him so highly for his deeds
And his noble manners that she gave him
One of her nieces as a wife; a young,
Very beautiful and very well-bred lady.
He also received, along with many beautiful
And rich estates, half of the forest of Briogne
From the Duke of Burgundy.
The other half of the forest belonged
To King Ban of Benoic, who,
In addition to King Beors, accompanied King Arthur
On his march to King Leodagan
And assisted him in all battles and wars.
Of all the lands and possessions,
This forest of Briogne pleased Dionas most of all,
For he loved exceedingly the hunt
And the pleasure in the forest,
As well as the fishing and the amusement
On the water. Now in the forest
There was an abundance of all kinds of game,
Deer, stags and hares, there was also no lack
Of wild pigs; likewise there was a large lake
In this forest, in which there were a lot
Of the most beautiful fish. At this lake,
Right in the middle of the forest,
Dionas had a very beautiful, rich
And comfortable house built and lived there
With his beautiful wife, surrounded
By all his favourite delicacies.
But he also often went to the court of King Ban
And was always ready to serve him,
Together with ten armed knights
Who were honourably in his retinue.
King Ban as well as King Beors held Dionas
In high esteem and honoured him
For his bravery and chivalrous conduct,
And also because he had already done them
Good service and stood by them very bravely
In their feud against King Klaudas
As well as in other feuds. To prove
Their gratitude to him, King Ban gave him
The other half of the beloved forest;
King Beors also gave him rich gifts of lands,
Good towns, strong castles and villages;
Gave him gifts in general and loved him so much
That he became one of the most powerful
In the kingdom and, as long as he lived,
Lacked nothing that a man could wish
For his pleasure and enjoyment.

His wife came down with a daughter

Who received the name Nynianne in baptism.
This is a Chaldean name, which in our language
Means something like: I do not do that.
The meaning of this name went to Merlin,
As we will learn in the course of this story,
For she was so wise and understanding
That she knew well how to guard against deceit.

Nynianne was twenty-two years old

When Merlin came through the forest of Briogne;
He had on that way the form
Of a young handsome nobleman.
Now, as he passed through the forest,
He came to a very beautiful spring,
Which trickled so clear over the fine white sand,
That it seemed as if the bottom were
Of the finest silver. Every day Nynianne came
To this beautiful clear spring,
For her amusement and pleasant pastime.
Merlin found her sitting at the edge of the spring,
And she seemed to him to be of such divine beauty
That he stood quite affected and could not go on;
He looked at her steadfastly, and it was always
As if he had something to say to her.
He thought to himself that he should not lose his senses
For the sake of a woman's beauty
And that he should not desire any pleasure
Of this kind, nor should he have any desire
For a woman's body, lest he incur the wrath of God;
He told himself all this, but he could not refrain
From greeting her politely. The lady greeted him
Again in a well-mannered fine way, and said,
You have long been mindful of something
I do not know, but God grant you the will
To do everything for your good.
Now when Merlin heard her speak so kindly,
He could not help it; he had to sit down by her
At the edge of the spring and ask her name.
I am the daughter of a nobleman near here, she said;
But who are you? - I am a travelling nobleman,
Answered Merlin; I seek my master,
Who taught me a very estimable art. -
What art is this? asked the maiden.
Ah, he taught me, where it pleased me,
To make a castle rise at once,
With many men-at-arms within,
And such from without besieging it.
Also I can walk on water without wetting my soles;
Can make a river arise, in a place where never was one. -
Well sure, said the maiden, I would give much of mine
To understand a part of these games. - Several more,
Far more beautiful ones I know, very delightful
To any noble person. You would think of no one
Whose form I could not at once assume. -
I pray you, sir, if it please you not to let me see
Some of these games, in return I will be your friend
And confidant as long as I live,
In all breeding and honour, and without evil thoughts. -
You are, replied Merlin, so gentle,
And of such good heart, that to win your love
I will gladly teach you some of the beautiful games,
But you must give me your love,
For I ask no other reward. - But in all honour,
Said the maiden, and think no evil of it,
And nothing that will do me harm.
Then Merlin stood up, moved about
A bow-shot away from her, broke off a rod,
And made a circle around himself with it.
Then he went back and sat down beside the maiden.

After a little while she caught sight of the place

Where he had made the circle, and behold,
Ladies, knights, damsels and noblewomen
Came walking along, holding each other by the hands
And singing in such sweet voices
And such beautiful melodies
As one had never heard before.
They were preceded by minstrels
With various instruments,
Who made such wonderful music together
With the singing that one thought
One could hear the harmony of the angels in heaven.
In the circle that Merlin had drawn, they stood still,
And now some began to dance with lovely gestures
And graceful movements, while the others
Continued the wonderful music.

No man's or woman's heart was ever so awake

That it did not fall asleep at the sound
Of this wondrous music. Nor must it be asked
Whether they were as beautiful to look at
As they were lovely to hear;
They were all of rare beauty of form
And blooming face, and were all adorned
With splendid garments and exquisite jewellery,
Of pearls, precious stones, gold and silver,
So richly and in such a new strange way
That the eyes were dazzled by it
When one looked at them. No mouth can tell
But the fourth part of their glorious form,
And of the wondrous sweet music, and of the dance;
One could not weary of watching and listening to them.

The place where Merlin drew the circle

Was without shade, and a mere piece of land;
But as the sun rose higher, a thick leafy copse
Sprang up above and around the singers,
And so many flowers and fragrant herbs sprang up
Under their feet that the air far around
Was scented with them. Nynianne never tired
Of listening to the music and forgot to eat and drink,
But she could not understand what they were singing,
Although she listened very attentively,
She only understood the refrain, which was,
Love begins with sweet joys,
But ends in bitter suffering.

The song was so loud that it was heard

In Diona's house, whereupon all the people
Gathered there and were not a little surprised
To see this beautiful company
And the sweet-smelling bushes,
The dancing and the music,
Where nothing of the kind had ever been seen before.
When they were tired, they all sat down together
In the fresh green grass, picked sweet-smelling flowers,
Made wreaths and bouquets, and joked
With lovely gestures and smiles,
So that it was a delight to watch them.

Merlin took Nynianne by the hand.

What do you think of this? he began.
You have done so much that I am all yours, she said.
Now, fair lady, you must also keep the contract. -
Truly I will, but you must teach me to play your games. -
I am content, I will teach them to you,
That you may know something else
Besides reading and writing. - How? You know
That I can read and write? - Yes, fair lady,
For my master taught me to know all things
That have happened. - This is the most beautiful
Of all your games, and I would like to understand it.
But do you also know the things
That are to happen in the future? - Yes, my lady
And beloved friend, for the most part
I know them, thank God. -
Well, why do you wish to learn anything further,
With these high sciences methinks,
Might well be enough for you,
And you need explore no further.

While Merlin and the maiden were thus engaged

In gentle, tender conversation,
The singers and dancers went into the woods
Whence they had first been seen coming,
Disappearing one by one, and vanishing
Into thin air towards the woods,
So that it was not known where they went.
But the beautiful bush and the lovely flowers
On the fresh lawn remained standing,
Because the young lady begged Merlin very much
That it should remain standing,
And she called the place: Delight and comfort.

When they had talked for some time, Merlin said,

Fair maiden, I must go now, my presence
Is needed elsewhere. - How? Will you not teach me
Your games first? - Do not be in such a hurry, maiden,
You will learn them all too soon. But I must go away,
And you have not yet given me any proof of your love. -
What proof shall I give you? Say what you wish,
And I will do it. - Now then, pledge me your love
And your person that you are my own.
The maiden considered for a while, then she said,
Well, I trust you and am all yours,
And my love is all for you,
But on condition that you teach me
Some of the arts at once.

After Merlin had received her fidelity,

Her love and herself,
And she had pledged herself to him
And given herself completely to him,
He taught her all kinds of arts for her delight,
Which she also practised very much afterwards,
Such as the art of making a river come out
And then let it disappear again at will,
And other beautiful arts more,
Which she wrote down very neatly
On parchment and kept. Then Merlin took
Very tender leave of Nynianne.
When will I see you again? she asked him.
Merlin promised to be with her
On the eve of St John's Day.
Then he went away, and turned to Tharoaise in Thamelide,
Where King Arthur and the kings Ban and Beors
Wwaited him and received him joyfully.

Here the story ceases to speak of Merlin.