The Story of the Champions of the Round Table | Page 5

of King Ban] Therewith a great passion of grief
took hold upon him and shook him like to a leaf, and immediately after
that he felt that something brake within him with a very sharp and bitter
pain, and he wist that it was his heart that had broken. So being all
alone there upon the hilltop, and in the perfect stillness of the night, he
cried out, "My heart! My heart!" And therewith, the shadows of death
coming upon him, he could not sit any longer upon his horse, but fell
down upon the ground. And he knew very well that death was nigh him,

so, having no cross to pray upon, he took two blades of grass and
twisted them into that holy sign, and he kissed it and prayed unto it that
God would forgive him his sins. So he died all alone upon that hilltop.
Meanwhile, Queen Helen and Foliot sat together waiting for him to
return and presently they heard the sound of his horse's hoofs coming
down that rocky path. Then Queen Helen said: "Foliot, methinks my
lord cometh." So in a little came the horse with the empty saddle. When
Foliot beheld that he said: "Lady, here meseems is great trouble come
to us, for methinks something hath befallen my lord, and that he is in
sore travail, for here is his horse without him."
Then it seemed to Queen Helen as though the spirit of life suddenly
went away from her, for she foresaw what had befallen. So she arose
like one in a dream, and, speaking very quietly, she said: "Foliot, take
me whither my lord went awhile since!" To this Foliot said: "Lady,
wait until the morning, which is near at hand, for it is too dark for you
to go thitherward at this present." Whereunto the Lady Helen replied:
"Foliot, I cannot wait, for if I stay here and wait I believe I shall go
mad." Upon this, Foliot did not try to persuade her any more but made
ready to take her whither she would go.
Now the young child Launcelot was then asleep upon the Queen's
knees, wherefore she took her cloak and wrapped the child in it and laid
him very gently upon the ground, so that he did not wake. Then she
mounted upon her palfrey and Foliot led the palfrey up the hill whither
King Ban had gone a short time since.
[Sidenote: The Lady Helen findeth the King] When they came to that
place of open rocks above told of, they found King Ban lying very
quiet and still upon the ground and with a countenance of great peace.
For I believe of a surety that God had forgiven him all his sins, and he
would now suffer no more because of the cares and the troubles of this
life. Thus Queen Helen found him, and finding him she made no moan
or outcry of any kind, only she looked for a long while into his dead
face, which she could see very plainly now, because that the dawn had
already broken. And by and by she said: "Dear Lord, thou art at this
time in a happier case than I." And by and by she said to Foliot: "Go

and bring his horse to this place, that we may bear him hence." "Lady,"
said Foliot, "it is not good for you to be left here alone." "Foliot," said
the Queen, "thou dost not know how much alone I am; thy leaving me
here cannot make me more alone." Therewith she fell to weeping with
great passion.
Then Foliot wept also in great measure and, still weeping like rain, he
went away and left her. When he came again with King Ban's horse the
sun had risen and all the birds were singing with great jubilation and
everything was so blithe and gay that no one could have believed that
care and trouble could dwell in a world that was so beautiful.
[Sidenote: The Lady Helen bringeth her dead down from the Mountain]
So Queen Helen and Foliot lifted the dead king to his horse and then
the Queen said: "Come thou, Foliot, at thine own gait, and I will go
ahead and seek my child, for I have yet Launcelot to be my joy. Haply
he will be needing me at this moment." So the Queen made haste down
the steep hill ahead of Foliot and by and by she came to the margin of
that little lake where they had rested awhile since.
By now the sun had risen very strong and warm so that all the lake, and
the meadows circumadjacent, and the forest that stood around about
that meadow were illumined with the glory of his effulgence.
Now as Queen Helen