"Sir," he said to the king, "will you give me a gift?"
"Why should I do so, churl?" asked the king.
"You had better give me a gift from what you have in hand than to lose great riches which are now out of your reach; for here, where the battle was fought, is great treasure hidden in the earth."
"Who told you that, churl?"
"Merlin told me so."
Then was the king abashed, for he now knew that it was Merlin who spoke, and it troubled him that he had not known his best friend.
Afterward, on a day when Arthur had been hunting in the forest, and while he sat in deep thought over a strange dream he had dreamed and some sinful deeds he had done, there came to him a child of fourteen years, and asked him why he was so pensive.
"I may well be so," replied Arthur, "for I have much to make me think."
"I know that well," said the seeming child, "also who thou art and all thy thoughts. I can tell thee who was thy father and how and when thou wert born."
"That is false," rejoined the king. "How should a boy of your years know my father?"