第43章 BOOK IV(6)

When the Damosel of the Lake beheld Arthur,how full of prowess his body was,and the false treason that was wrought for him to have had him slain,she had great pity that so good a knight and such a man of worship should so be destroyed.And at the next stroke Sir Accolon struck him such a stroke that by the damosel's enchantment the sword Excalibur fell out of Accolon's hand to the earth.And therewithal Sir Arthur lightly leapt to it,and gat it in his hand,and forthwithal he knew that it was his sword Excalibur,and said,Thou hast been from me all too long,and much damage hast thou done me;and therewith he espied the scabbard hanging by his side,and suddenly he sterte to him and pulled the scabbard from him,and threw it from him as far as he might throw it.O knight,said Arthur,this day hast thou done me great damage with this sword;now are ye come unto your death,for I shall not warrant you but ye shall as well be rewarded with this sword,or ever we depart,as thou hast rewarded me;for much pain have ye made me to endure,and much blood have I lost.And therewith Sir Arthur rushed on him with all his might and pulled him to the earth,and then rushed off his helm,and gave him such a buffet on the head that the blood came out at his ears,his nose,and his mouth.Now will I slay thee,said Arthur.

Slay me ye may well,said Accolon,an it please you,for ye are the best knight that ever I found,and I see well that God is with you.But for I promised to do this battle,said Accolon,to the uttermost,and never to be recreant while I lived,therefore shall I never yield me with my mouth,but God do with my body what he will.Then Sir Arthur remembered him,and thought he should have seen this knight.Now tell me,said Arthur,or Iwill slay thee,of what country art thou,and of what court?Sir Knight,said Sir Accolon,I am of the court of King Arthur,and my name is Accolon of Gaul.Then was Arthur more dismayed than he was beforehand;for then he remembered him of his sister Morgan le Fay,and of the enchantment of the ship.O sir knight,said he,I pray you tell me who gave you this sword,and by whom ye had it.

CHAPTER XI

How Accolon confessed the treason of Morgan le Fay,King Arthur's sister,and how she would have done slay him.

THEN Sir Accolon bethought him,and said,Woe worth this sword,for by it have I got my death.It may well be,said the king.

Now,sir,said Accolon,I will tell you;this sword hath been in my keeping the most part of this twelvemonth;and Morgan le Fay,King Uriens'wife,sent it me yesterday by a dwarf,to this intent,that I should slay King Arthur,her brother.For ye shall understand King Arthur is the man in the world that she most hateth,because he is most of worship and of prowess of any of her blood;also she loveth me out of measure as paramour,and I her again;and if she might bring about to slay Arthur by her crafts,she would slay her husband King Uriens lightly,and then had she me devised to be king in this land,and so to reign,and she to be my queen;but that is now done,said Accolon,for Iam sure of my death.Well,said Sir Arthur,I feel by you ye would have been king in this land.It had been great damage to have destroyed your lord,said Arthur.It is truth,said Accolon,but now I have told you truth,wherefore I pray you tell me of whence ye are,and of what court?O Accolon,said King Arthur,now I let thee wit that I am King Arthur,to whom thou hast done great damage.When Accolon heard that he cried aloud,Fair,sweet lord,have mercy on me,for I knew not you.O Sir Accolon,said King Arthur,mercy shalt thou have,because I feel by thy words at this time thou knewest not my person;but Iunderstand well by thy words that thou hast agreed to the death of my person,and therefore thou art a traitor;but I wite thee the less,for my sister Morgan le Fay by her false crafts made thee to agree and consent to her false lusts,but I shall be sore avenged upon her an I live,that all Christendom shall speak of it;God knoweth I have honoured her and worshipped her more than all my kin,and more have I trusted her than mine own wife and all my kin after.

Then Sir Arthur called the keepers of the field,and said,Sirs,come hither,for here are we two knights that have fought unto a great damage unto us both,and like each one of us to have slain other,if it had happed so;and had any of us known other,here had been no battle,nor stroke stricken.Then all aloud cried Accolon unto all the knights and men that were then there gathered together,and said to them in this manner,O lords,this noble knight that I have fought withal,the which me sore repenteth,is the most man of prowess,of manhood,and of worship in the world,for it is himself King Arthur,our alther liege lord,and with mishap and with misadventure have I done this battle with the king and lord that I am holden withal.

CHAPTER XII

How Arthur accorded the two brethren,and delivered the twenty knights,and how Sir Accolon died.