Idylls of the King | Page 7

the strand,

Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word,
And all at once all
round him rose in fire,
So that the child and he were clothed in fire.

And presently thereafter followed calm,
Free sky and stars: "And this
the same child," he said,
"Is he who reigns; nor could I part in peace

Till this were told." And saying this the seer
Went through the
strait and dreadful pass of death,
Not ever to be questioned any more

Save on the further side; but when I met
Merlin, and asked him if
these things were truth--
The shining dragon and the naked child

Descending in the glory of the seas--
He laughed as is his wont, and
answered me
In riddling triplets of old time, and said:
'"Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky!
A young man will be
wiser by and by;
An old man's wit may wander ere he die.
Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea!
And truth is this to me, and
that to thee;
And truth or clothed or naked let it be.
Rain, sun, and rain! and the free blossom blows:
Sun, rain, and sun!
and where is he who knows?
From the great deep to the great deep he
goes."
'So Merlin riddling angered me; but thou
Fear not to give this King
thy only child,
Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing
Hereafter;
and dark sayings from of old
Ranging and ringing through the minds

of men,
And echoed by old folk beside their fires
For comfort after
their wage-work is done,
Speak of the King; and Merlin in our time

Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn
Though men may wound
him that he will not die,
But pass, again to come; and then or now

Utterly smite the heathen underfoot,
Till these and all men hail him
for their king.'
She spake and King Leodogran rejoiced,
But musing, 'Shall I answer
yea or nay?'
Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw,

Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew,
Field after field, up to a
height, the peak
Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king,
Now
looming, and now lost; and on the slope
The sword rose, the hind fell,
the herd was driven,
Fire glimpsed; and all the land from roof and
rick,
In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind,
Streamed to the peak,
and mingled with the haze
And made it thicker; while the phantom
king
Sent out at times a voice; and here or there
Stood one who
pointed toward the voice, the rest
Slew on and burnt, crying, 'No king
of ours,
No son of Uther, and no king of ours;'
Till with a wink his
dream was changed, the haze
Descended, and the solid earth became

As nothing, but the King stood out in heaven,
Crowned. And
Leodogran awoke, and sent
Ulfius, and Brastias and Bedivere,
Back
to the court of Arthur answering yea.
Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved
And honoured most,
Sir Lancelot, to ride forth
And bring the Queen;--and watched him
from the gates:
And Lancelot past away among the flowers,
(For
then was latter April) and returned
Among the flowers, in May, with
Guinevere.
To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint,
Chief of the
church in Britain, and before
The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the
King
That morn was married, while in stainless white,

The fair
beginners of a nobler time,
And glorying in their vows and him, his
knights
Stood around him, and rejoicing in his joy.
Far shone the
fields of May through open door,
The sacred altar blossomed white

with May,
The Sun of May descended on their King,
They gazed on
all earth's beauty in their Queen,
Rolled incense, and there past along
the hymns
A voice as of the waters, while the two
Sware at the
shrine of Christ a deathless love:
And Arthur said, 'Behold, thy doom
is mine.
Let chance what will, I love thee to the death!'
To whom
the Queen replied with drooping eyes,
'King and my lord, I love thee
to the death!'
And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake,
'Reign
ye, and live and love, and make the world
Other, and may thy Queen
be one with thee,
And all this Order of thy Table Round
Fulfil the
boundless purpose of their King!'
So Dubric said; but when they left the shrine
Great Lords from Rome
before the portal stood,
In scornful stillness gazing as they past;

Then while they paced a city all on fire
With sun and cloth of gold,
the trumpets blew,
And Arthur's knighthood sang before the King:--
'Blow, trumpet, for the world is white with May;
Blow trumpet, the
long night hath rolled away!
Blow through the living world--"Let the
King reign."
'Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur's realm?
Flash brand and lance,
fall battleaxe upon helm,
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King
reign.
'Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard
That God hath
told the King a secret word.
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the
King reign.
'Blow trumpet! he will lift us from the dust.
Blow trumpet! live the
strength and die the lust!
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the
King reign.
'Strike for the King and