From that day Sir Lancelot ate so little food that he [dwined] away, and for the most part was found kneeling by the tomb of King Arthur and Queen Guenevere. None could comfort him, and after six weeks he was too weak to rise from his bed. Then he sent for the hermit and to his fellows, and asked in a weary voice that they would give him the last rites of the Church; and begged that when he was dead his body might be taken to Joyous Gard, which some say is Alnwick and others Bamborough. That night the hermit had a vision that he saw Sir Lancelot being carried up to heaven by the angels, and he waked Sir Bors and bade him go and see if anything ailed Sir Lancelot. So Sir Bors went and Sir Lancelot lay on his bed, stark dead, and he smiled as he lay there. Then was there great weeping and wringing of hands, more than had been made for any man; but they placed him on the horse bier that had carried Queen Guenevere, and lit a hundred torches, and in fifteen days they reached Joyous Gard. There his body was laid in the choir, with his face uncovered, and many prayers were said over him. And there, in the midst of their praying, came Sir Ector de Maris, who for seven years had sought Sir Lancelot through all the land.
“Ah, Lancelot,” he said, when he stood looking beside his dead body, “thou wert head of all Christian Knights. Thou wert the courtliest Knight that ever drew sword, and the faithfulest friend that ever bestrode a horse. Thou wert the goodliest Knight that ever man has seen, and the truest lover that ever loved a woman.”
NOTES
[Page 2, l. 16.] tourney, tournament; a fight in which many knights joined.
[Page 3, l. 31.] Arthur’s parentage. Uther Pendragon was King Arthur’s father. In Malory’s “Morte d’Arthur,” it is explained how he, when King of all England, marched into Cornwall against the powerful Duke of Tintagil. In the siege that followed the Duke of Tintagil was killed, and his lady, the dame Igraine, afterwards became the wife of King Uthur. It is also explained how, on the advice of Merlin, their son Arthur was fostered by the wife of a certain Sir Ector, and brought up with his son Kay. Uther Pendragon died two years after this, and on his deathbed Merlin asked if Arthur should not be proclaimed his successor. To this Uther Pendragon replied, “I give him my blessing, and righteously may he claim the crown on forfeiture of my blessing.” Merlin had to provide some other means therefore to enable Arthur to succeed to his heritage, and this we have in the tale of the “Drawing of the Sword.”
[Page 3, l. 32.] Merlin. A magician. One of the chief characters in the earlier tales.
[Page 5, l. 7.] seneschal, steward.
[Page 5, l. 13.] Twelfth Day, twelve days after Christmas.
[Page 5, l. 18.] Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, called Candlemas on account of the number of lighted candles used.
[Page 6, l. 29.] barge here means pleasure-boat.