r Bedivere knew that King Arthur lay buried in that chapel, and
he prayed the hermit that he might abide with him still there. So
there abode Sir Bedivere with the hermit, that was tofore Bishop of
Canterbury, and there Sir Bedivere put on poor clothes, and served the
hermit full lowly in fasting and in prayers.

Thus of Arthur I find never more written in books that be authorised,
nor more of the certainty of his death heard I tell, but that he was
thus led away in a ship wherein were three queens. The hermit that
some time was Bishop of Canterbury bare witness that ladies brought a
knight to his burial in the chapel, but the hermit knew not in certain
that it was verily the body of King Arthur;--for this tale Sir
Bedivere, knight of the Round Table, made to be written.

Some men still say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not
dead, but tarried by the will of our Lord Jesu in another place. And
men say that he shall come again, and shall win the holy cross. I will
not say it shall be so, but rather I will say, here in this world he
changed his life. But many men say that there is written upon his tomb
these words: "_Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rex que futurus_": "_Here
lies Arthur, King that was and King that shall be._"

CHAPTER XLII

OF THE END OF THIS BOOK

When Queen Guenever understood that King Arthur was slain, and all the
noble knights, Sir Mordred and all the remnant, then she stole away,
and five ladies with her, and so she went to Almesbury, and there she
let make herself a nun, and lived in fasting, prayers, and alms-deeds,
that all manner of people marvelled how virtuously she was changed.
And there she was abbess and ruler, as reason would.

When Sir Launcelot of the Lake heard in his country that Sir Mordred
was crowned king, and made war against his uncle, then he made all
haste with ships and galleys to go unto England. So he passed over the
sea till he came to Dover. There the people told him how that King
Arthur was slain, and Sir Mordred, and an hundred thousand died on a
day, and how Sir Mordred gave King Arthur there the first battle at his
landing, and how there was good Sir Gawaine slain. And then certain
people of the town brought him unto the castle of Dover, and showed him
the tomb. And he made a dole for Sir Gawaine, and all the priests and
clerks that might be gotten in the country were there and sang mass of
requiem.

Two nights Sir Launcelot lay on Sir