Now Merlin knew well ere she spoke what was in her mind, and he sighed and shook his head.
“Wherefore do you sigh?” she asked innocently.
“I sigh because my fate is strong upon me,” replied the sage. “For it was foreseen in the long ago that a lady should lead me captive and that I should become her prisoner for all time. Neither have I the power to deny you what you ask of me.”
Vivien embraced him rapturously.
“Ah, Merlin, beloved, is it not that you should always be with me?” she asked passionately. “For your sake have I not given up father and mother, and are not all my thoughts and desires toward you?”
Merlin, carried away by her amorous eloquence, could only answer: “It is yours to ask what you will.”
Vivien then revealed to him her wish. She longed to learn from his lips an enchantment which would keep him ever near her, which would so bind him to her in 69 the chains of love that nothing in the world could part him from her. Hearkening to her plea, he taught her such enchantment as would render him love’s prisoner for ever.
Evening was shrouding the forest in soft shadows when Merlin sank to rest. Vivien, waiting until his deep and regular breathing told her that he was asleep, walked nine times around him, waving her cloak over his head, and muttering the mysterious words he had taught her. When the sage awoke he found himself in the Joyous Garden with Vivien by his side.
“You are mine for ever,” she murmured. “You can never leave me now.”
“My delight will be ever to stay with you,” he replied, enraptured. “And oh, beloved, never leave me, I pray you, for I am bespelled so as to love you throughout eternity!”