geese in his hands. This was on the morning after Candlemass Day, and King Arthur did not recognize him.
“Sir,” said Merlin, “will you give me a gift?”
“Why,” said King Arthur, “should I give you a gift, churl?”
“Sir,” said Merlin, “it would be better for you to promise me a gift that you do not currently possess than it is to lose the chance of great riches. For here in the same place where the battle was, there is great treasure hidden in the earth.”
“Who told you so, churl?”
“Sir, Merlin told me so,” he said.
Then Ulphius and Brastias recognized him and smiled. “Sir,” the two knights said, “it is Merlin who is speaking to you!” Then King Arthur was greatly abashed and marveled at Merlin, as did King Ban and King Bors. So they were greatly amused by him.
In the meantime, a damsel who was an earl’s daughter came to court. His name was Sanam and her name was Lionors, and she was a beautiful damsel. She came thither to do homage to Arthur—as did other lords—after that great battle. King Arthur set his love greatly upon her, as she did him, and so the king had ado with her and conceived on her a child. His name was Borre, and later he was a good knight of the Round Table.
Then came word that King Rience of North Wales was attacking King Leodegranz of Camelard, which made King Arthur angry, for he loved Leodegranz well and hated King Rience, for he was always opposed to him.
So by command of the three kings and out of fear of King Claudas, all who would go were sent home to Benwick. The knights Phariaunce, Anthemes, Graciens, and Lionses of Payarne led those who went to keep the two kings’ lands safe.
Then King Arthur, King Ban, and King Bors departed with a fellowship of twenty thousand and within seven days came to the country of Camelard. There they rescued King Leodegranz and slew many of King Rience’s people—as many as ten thousand—and the rest they put to flight. These three kings had great cheer of King Leodegranz, and he thanked them for their great goodness in helping him to be avenged upon his enemies.
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It was there that Arthur had his first sight of Queen Guenevere, the daughter of the king of Camelard; he loved her ever after and later they were married, as the book says.
So to bring this story to a conclusion: King Ban and King Bors took their leave of Arthur to go into their own countries, for King Claudas was causing great destruction in their lands. Then Arthur said, “I will go with you.”
“Nay,” said the kings, “you shall not at this time, for you have much to do yet in this land. Therefore we will depart. With the great wealth that we have gotten in this land as gifts from you we shall be able to pay good knights and thus withstand the malice of King Claudas; if we have need, by the grace of God we will send a request to you for help. And if you have need, send for us, and we will not delay, by the faith of our bodies.”
“It will not be necessary,” said Merlin, “for these two kings to come again as companions in war. But I know well that King Arthur will not be long separated from you, for within a year or two you shall have great need of him, and he will help you take vengeance on your enemies as you have helped him with his. These eleven kings shall all die on the same day by the great might and prowess of two valiant knights.” Our story tells of this later; their names were Balin le Savage and Balan, his brother, who were as marvelous knights as any that were living at that time.
Now we turn to the eleven kings who had returned after the battle to a city called Surhaute, which was within King Uriens’ land. There they rested as well as they were able, and treated their wounds with leeches and sorrowed greatly for the death of their people.
Soon a messenger came and told them how their lands were overrun with lawless people—including forty thousand Saracens—and these people burned and killed without mercy all the people they came upon, and had laid siege to Wandesborow Castle.
“Alas!” said the eleven kings, “here is sorrow upon sorrow! If we had not made war against King Arthur as we have done, he would have avenged us against our enemies. As for King Leodegranz—he loves Arthur better than he loves us. And King Rience is busy with King Leodegranz, for he has laid siege to his lands.”
So they plotted to protect the borders of Cornwall, Wales, and the North. First they installed King Idres in the city of Nantes in Brittany with four thousand men of arms to watch over both the water and the land. They also had more than eight thousand other men of war fortify all the fortresses along the borders of Cornwall. They also placed some of the kings along the borders of Wales and Scotland with many good men of arms; they stayed in their positions for three years and always worked to ally themselves with mighty kings and dukes.
They were joined by King Rience of North Wales, who was a mighty king with many men, and by Nero, who was a mighty man of men. All this time they supplied and fortified themselves with good men of arms and food supplies and munitions which were necessary for war, for they wished to have vengeance for the battle of Bedgrayne, as it is described in the book of adventures.
3 How Mordred was Born and King Arthur Learned of his Parentage
Then after King Ban and King Bors departed, Arthur rode to the city of Caerleon. And thither came the wife of King Lot of Orkney as a messenger from her husband; but she was really sent there to spy on the court of King Arthur. She came richly arrayed with her four sons accompanying her—Gawain, Gaheris, Aggravain, and Gareth—along with many other knights and ladies.
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She was a beautiful woman and the king developed a great love for her and desired to lie by her. They were agreed on this, and he conceived on her Sir Mordred. She was Arthur’s half-sister through their mother Igraine. She stayed there a month, and then departed.
Then the king dreamed a marvelous dream that made him very afraid. (At this time he did not know that King Lot’s wife was his sister.) This was Arthur’s dream: it seemed to him as if griffins and serpents came into his land and burned and killed all his people. He fought with them, and they did him great harm and wounded him seriously, but in the end he destroyed them. When the king awoke, he was disturbed by his dream, but tried to put it out of his mind as he prepared to go hunting with many knights.
As soon as he was in the forest, he saw a great hart before him. “I will chase this hart,” said King Arthur. So he spurred his horse and rode after the hart for a long time, and through his superior skill he often came close to striking the hart. But the king chased the hart so long that his horse was exhausted and fell down dead; then a yeoman went to fetch the king another horse.
When the king saw that the hart had escaped into a thicket and his own horse was dead, he sat down by a fountain, and there fell into deep thought. And as he was sitting there, he thought he heard a noise similar to that made by thirty hounds; then he saw coming toward him the strangest beast that he had ever seen or heard of. This creature went to the well and drank and there was a great noise in the beast’s belly. Then the creature departed, making great noise, which caused the king to marvel. He was deep in thought, and soon thereafter fell asleep.
Then a knight on foot came up to Arthur and said, “Thoughtful and sleepy knight, tell me if you saw any strange beast pass this way.”
“I saw such a strange beast,” said King Arthur, “that is probably two miles away by now. What do you want with that creature?”
“Sir, I have followed that beast for so long that it has killed my horse; I wish to God that I might have another so that I could continue my quest. “ At that moment a servant arrived with a horse for the king. When the knight saw this, he asked the king to give him his horse. “For I have followed this quest for a year, and I am determined to achieve it or else die trying.” The knight who followed the Questing Beast at this time was named King Pellinore; after his death, Sir Palomides took up the quest.
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“Sir knight,” said the king, “leave that quest