So that night in the second hour after midnight, Sir Gawaine drew his last breath and died. And King Arthur was there at that passing, and several knights companions of the Round Table were there, so that Sir Gawaine did not die in loneliness. And after he had passed, King Arthur wept and he said as follows:
THE LAMENT OF KING ARTHUR
King Arthur’s lament.
“So passeth this dear and faithful friend. There is not of all those who are left anyone whom I love so well as I loved him. For though he was passionate in his angers and his indignations, yet to me he was always loving and full of dutifulness and kindliness. He was the right hand and support of my throne and its chiefest prop in all of its weaknesses, and I had hoped that he would have occupied that throne after I had departed from this earth.
“But now this is past and gone and he is taken who was, next to Sir Launcelot of the Lake, the brightest and most glorious figure of all my Round Table.
“He was the companion of my youth. For when I had fought my battles and come to my throne, he was among the first who came and laid his hands between my palms. Also he was one of the first of all those knights-elect of the Round Table to take his seat at that table.
“But now he is gone and I am left alone, like the tree in the forest that hath been struck by lightning. Yea, like that tree my foliage is withered and now I stand stark and bare against the sky. For my Queen, who was the lover of my youth, is estranged from me, and I shall never behold her more. My Round Table, that was otherwise the chiefest glory of my reign, is broken and scattered and many of those who were one time dearest to me in love are now my foes. Where are now the defenders of my throne? They are gone; and that throne itself totters to its fall.
“All these are sad and woful happenings, but the saddest and most woful of all is that this good worthy knight hath died. Would that I had died in his stead and that he had not died, but that I had died for him. What worse hath Fate in store for me than this that he is dead?”
So in words such as these or in words like to them, King Arthur mourned for Sir Gawaine; for it seemed that no worse blow could befall him than this; to wit, the death of Sir Gawaine.
News cometh to the King of Sir Mordred.