The advice being Merlin’s, was of course excellent, and it was immediately followed. Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias were selected for the mission. They crossed the sea in safety, but while making their way to Benwick were assailed by eight of King Claudas’s knights. To Ulfius and Brastias the odds of four to one were not at all alarming: they put their spears in rest and successively overthrew all the eight, leaving them so badly bruised as to be unable to mount their horses. The emissaries then proceeded to Benwick, found there both the kings, delivered their letters, and received a favourable answer. Ban and Bors promised to come over at All-hallowmas with three hundred knights. King Arthur therefore appointed a great tournament for that festival. The kings arrived according to their promise, and were received with much pomp and show. In company with Arthur, they were spectators of the tournament, at which Sir Kay, Sir Lucas, and another distinguished knight of the court, Sir Griflet, did great feats of arms, and gained the prizes. On the following day, a council was held, at which Merlin undertook, on being furnished with tokens of authority from the two kings, to bring over their army to Britain with secrecy and expedition. This he accomplished—transported ten thousand men across the Channel, and conducted them to a concealed camp in the great forest of Bede-graine, which at that time covered most of the country between the rivers Trent and Humber. The enchanter then informed Arthur and his guests of what he had done, and the three kings at once marched northward with twenty thousand men, which was the total strength of the force that Arthur was able to muster. Having effected a junction with the troops of Benwick and Gannes, they waited for the advance of the enemy.
Their patience was not long tried. The confederate princes had got together a formidable host of fifty thousand men, with which they marched towards Bedegraine as soon as they had got definite information of Arthur’s whereabouts. The battle which ensued was one of the most severe and obstinately contested in which the king was ever engaged. The confederate kings had a great advantage in numbers, and some of them, especially King Lot, were generals of proved skill and experience; but all these advantages were more than counterbalanced by the knightly prowess of Arthur and his friends, and by the fact that the craft of Merlin was on Arthur’s side. The fighting lasted for two days. All the leaders on both sides were again and again unhorsed and put in great peril, only to be rescued by the valour of their fellows. The slaughter was appalling; but at last the confederates were fairly beaten off the field. Though their army was reduced to but fifteen thousand, however, they took up a new position, and held it with indomitable courage. Merlin now intervened. He told Arthur that it was time for him to withdraw. He had won the field, and gained great spoils, which he must divide between his own knights and his allies; but if he were to persist in carrying on the struggle, fortune would begin to incline to the side of his opponents. The wizard added that he could undertake that the rebel kings would not molest Arthur for at least three years to come, inasmuch as full employment had been found for them elsewhere, a great army of Saxons having invaded their territories.
The time had not yet come, however, for Arthur to take peaceable possession of his dominions. King Leodegrance of Cameliard, who has already been mentioned as one of the chief and most loyal feudatories of King Uther Pendragon, was at this time sorely pressed by Rience, the Saxon King of North Wales, who was besieging him in his capital, Carohaise. Merlin informed Arthur of his plight, and advised the king, with Ban and Bors and the knights of the household, to go to his relief, while the soldiery of Benwick and Gannes might be sent home to defend their master’s territory against the troublesome Claudas. This advice was followed. Arthur and his companions arrived at Carohaise, and having entered the city without being observed by the besiegers, offered their services to Leodegrance, on condition that no inquiry should be made as to their name or quality. The offer was thankfully accepted, and an opportunity was soon afforded them of proving their efficiency. Rience suddenly attacked the city at the head of a large body of his troops. Arthur and his companions armed themselves and hastened to sally out, headed by Merlin, who carried a wonderful standard—a huge dragon, with barbed tail and gaping jaws, whence there flashed actual sparks of fire. When the little troop of knights, who in all numbered only forty-two, arrived at the gate, they found it locked, and the porter refused to give them egress without an order from King Leodegrance. There was no time for parleying, so Merlin simply stepped forward and lifted the ponderous gate out of its place, with all its locks, bolts, and bars, calmly replacing it when the knights had passed through. He then resumed his position at their head, and they swept down on a detachment of the besiegers who were conducting a convoy to their camp, cut them to pieces, and captured the convoy. Meanwhile Leodegrance, with the bulk of his army, was fighting gallantly in another part of the field; but his troops had not the prowess of Arthur and his companions, nor were they supported by the necromancy of Merlin, so, being wofully outnumbered, it is not surprising that they were defeated. Leodegrance himself was taken prisoner, and was being led off to Rience’s camp by an escort of five hundred knights, when Arthur and his little squadron made their appearance, dispersed the escort, and rescued the king. The battle still continued for some hours, during which Arthur distinguished himself by cleaving in twain, by a single stroke of his sword, a giant fifteen feet high who had ventured to encounter him in single combat. Eventually Rience was utterly routed, and very few of his troops escaped extermination. The immense spoils of his camp were given up, by order of King Leodegrance, to Arthur, who forthwith divided them among the people of Carohaise, and thereby much increased his already great popularity. On his return to the city, Arthur was unarmed by the fair hands of Guenever, the king’s daughter, whose beauty had already made a deep impression on his heart; while the like honour was done to his companions by the ladies of the court.
While Arthur was thus warring on behalf of King Leode-grance, the confederate kings who had given him so much trouble were carrying on a desperate struggle with the heathen invaders who had descended in swarms upon their territories, and who also carried their ravages into the dominions of Arthur himself. Gawaine, Agravaine, and Gaheris, the sons of King Lot, with Galachin, the son of King Nanters, having learned from their mothers that Arthur was in truth their uncle, and the son of King Uther Pendragon, resolved to throw in their fortunes with his, and join his company of knights. With this design they collected a small force and set out. They were but unproved warriors; but incessantly encountering on their journey great bodies of the persevering enemy who was seeking to overrun Britain, they performed prodigies of valour, and slaughtered thousands of the Saxons. Gawaine especially distinguished himself. His strength, always greater than that of ordinary men, became doubled between the hours of nine o’clock in the morning and noon, and the same phenomenon again took place between three in the afternoon and even-song. He generally contrived to engage in battle at those times of the day when his prowess was greatest, and of course wrought terrible havoc among the heathen, devoting his attention especially to the giants, who were numerous in their ranks, and cutting them to pieces in a fashion which rivalled the exploits of his uncle at Carohaise.
Having at length completely dispersed and overcome all the enemies they could find, the young warriors made their way to London, and thence to Camelot. In the meantime Arthur was engaged in a final struggle with King Rience, who now had the aid of his brother, King Nero, King Lot of Orkney, and others of the confederates. King Rience himself was taken prisoner by some of ‘Arthur’s knights while on a nocturnal expedition; and on the next day another great battle was fought, in which Nero was totally defeated, and King Lot fell by the hand of one of Arthur’s most formidable knights, King Pellinore—an event which laid the foundation of a blood-feud that continued for many years.
In the realm of Britain there was now no longer any one who disputed Arthurs title or supremacy. So he came to Camelot, and set up his court there in great splendour, and many famous knights gathered about him. But Sir Ulfius and others of his older counsellors often urged him to take a wife, so that the realm might have a queen as well as a king. Arthur was not displeased with this counsel, for the love he had felt for Guenever when he first saw her at the court of her father King Leodegrance had rather grown greater than less. So he sought the advice of Merlin, who said he ought to marry, and asked him if there were any lady that he loved. He answered frankly that his heart was set upon Guenever.
“Sir,” answered Merlin, “the lady is one of the fairest that lives; but if you did not love her so well, I would find you a queen of no less beauty and goodness. Since, however, your heart is set upon her, it is bootless to think of any other.”
Merlin said this because he was well aware that the king’s choice would not be for his happiness; and he would have given him some warning, but Arthur’s passion for Guenever was too strong to let him listen. Merlin therefore offered no farther opposition, but went to Cameliard and asked Leodegrance to give Arthur his daughter to wife, letting him know at the same time that the great monarch who now sued for Guenever’s hand was the same unknown champion who had rescued him from the sword of King Rience. Gratitude alone would have made Leodegrance favour the suit of one who had given such decisive proof that he possessed the qualities most esteemed in those troublous times; and he was naturally overjoyed on learning that the knight who had already won his daughter’s heart, and now sought her hand, was none other than his liege lord. Guenever was not less pleased; and when Merlin escorted her to Loudon, where her bridegroom was awaiting her, he took with him also the Round Table, and as many of its knights as still remained, by way of a marriage gift from King Leodegrance. Arthur gave the princess a right royal welcome, and avowed that the Round Table and its gallant company were more welcome to him than any other dower that Leodegrance could have bestowed with his daughter.
The number of “sieges” or seats at the Round Table was a hundred and fifty, but the knights sent by the King of Cameliard only numbered a hundred. Arthur was anxious to have all the seats filled before his marriage, and urged Merlin to collect all the knights worthy of the honour whom he could find. The necromancer obeyed; but though he used his utmost diligence, there were still several vacant seats at the table. Each seat was then solemnly consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the knights all swore the oath of which the terms were set forth in the first chapter of this chronicle. Then Arthur’s nephew, Gawaine, came forward and asked a boon of his uncle.
“Ask,” said the king, “and I will grant it.”