3 books to know King Arthur. Thomas Malory

April) and returned

      Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere.

      To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint,

      Chief of the church in Britain, and before

      The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the King

      That morn was married, while in stainless white,

      The fair beginners of a nobler time,

      And glorying in their vows and him, his knights

      Stood around him, and rejoicing in his joy.

      Far shone the fields of May through open door,

      The sacred altar blossomed white with May,

      The Sun of May descended on their King,

      They gazed on all earth's beauty in their Queen,

      Rolled incense, and there past along the hymns

      A voice as of the waters, while the two

      Sware at the shrine of Christ a deathless love:

      And Arthur said, 'Behold, thy doom is mine.

      Let chance what will, I love thee to the death!'

      To whom the Queen replied with drooping eyes,

      'King and my lord, I love thee to the death!'

      And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake,

      'Reign ye, and live and love, and make the world

      Other, and may thy Queen be one with thee,

      And all this Order of thy Table Round

      Fulfil the boundless purpose of their King!'

      So Dubric said; but when they left the shrine

      Great Lords from Rome before the portal stood,

      In scornful stillness gazing as they past;

      Then while they paced a city all on fire

      With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew,

      And Arthur's knighthood sang before the King:—

      'Blow, trumpet, for the world is white with May;

      Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away!

      Blow through the living world—"Let the King reign."

      'Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur's realm?

      Flash brand and lance, fall battleaxe upon helm,

      Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.

      'Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard

      That God hath told the King a secret word.

      Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.

      'Blow trumpet! he will lift us from the dust.

      Blow trumpet! live the strength and die the lust!

      Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

      'Strike for the King and die! and if thou diest,

      The King is King, and ever wills the highest.

      Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

      'Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May!

      Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day!

      Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.

      'The King will follow Christ, and we the King

      In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing.

      Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.'

      So sang the knighthood, moving to their hall.

      There at the banquet those great Lords from Rome,

      The slowly-fading mistress of the world,

      Strode in, and claimed their tribute as of yore.

      But Arthur spake, 'Behold, for these have sworn

      To wage my wars, and worship me their King;

      The old order changeth, yielding place to new;

      And we that fight for our fair father Christ,

      Seeing that ye be grown too weak and old

      To drive the heathen from your Roman wall,

      No tribute will we pay:' so those great lords

      Drew back in wrath, and Arthur strove with Rome.

      And Arthur and his knighthood for a space

      Were all one will, and through that strength the King

      Drew in the petty princedoms under him,

      Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame

      The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reigned.

      Gareth and Lynette

      THE LAST TALL SON OF Lot and Bellicent,

      And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring

      Stared at the spate. A slender-shafted Pine