Uther will well reward me, and be sworn unto me to fulfil my desire,
that shall be his honour and profit more than mine; for I shall cause
him to have all his desire. All this will I undertake, said Ulfius, that
there shall be nothing reasonable but thou shalt have thy desire. Well,
said Merlin, he shall have his intent and desire. And therefore, said
Merlin, ride on your way, for I will not be long behind.

CHAPTER II. How Uther Pendragon made war on the duke of Cornwall, and
how by the mean of Merlin he lay by the duchess and gat Arthur.

THEN Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he came to
King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with Merlin. Where is he?
said the king. Sir, said Ulfius, he will not dwell long. Therewithal
Ulfius was ware where Merlin stood at the porch of the pavilion's door.
And then Merlin was bound to come to the king. When King Uther saw him,
he said he was welcome. Sir, said Merlin, I know all your heart every
deal; so ye will be sworn unto me as ye be a true king anointed, to
fulfil my desire, ye shall have your desire. Then the king was sworn
upon the Four Evangelists. Sir, said Merlin, this is my desire: the
first night that ye shall lie by Igraine ye shall get a child on her,
and when that is born, that it shall be delivered to me for to nourish
there as I will have it; for it shall be your worship, and the child's
avail, as mickle as the child is worth. I will well, said the king, as
thou wilt have it. Now make you ready, said Merlin, this night ye shall
lie with Igraine in the castle of Tintagil; and ye shall be like the
duke her husband, Ulfius shall be like Sir Brastias, a knight of the
duke's, and I will be like a knight that hight Sir Jordanus, a knight
of the duke's. But wait ye make not many questions with her nor her men,
but say ye are diseased, and so hie you to bed, and rise not on the morn
till I come to you, for the castle of Tintagil is but ten miles hence;
so this was done as they devised. But the duke of Tintagil espied how
the king rode from the siege of Terrabil, and therefore that night he
issued out of the castle at a postern for to have distressed the king's
host. And so, through his own issue, the duke himself was slain or ever
the king came at the castle of Tintagil.

So after the death of the duke, King Uther lay with Igraine more than
three hours after his death, and begat on her that night Arthur, and
on day came Merlin to the kin