t champion opposed to
a liar, the issue of the combat could not long remain doubtful. Soon
Frederick of Telramund lay in the dust and confessed his guilt, while the
people hailed the Swan Knight as victor. Else, touched by his prompt
response to her appeal, and won by his passionate wooing, then consented to
become his wife, without even knowing his name. Their nuptials were
celebrated at Antwerp, whither the emperor went with them and witnessed
their marriage.

Lohengrin had cautioned Else that she must never ask his name; but she
wished to show that he was above the people who, envying his lot, sought to
injure him by circulating malicious rumors, so she finally asked the fatal
question. Regretfully Lohengrin led her into the great hall, where, in the
presence of the assembled knights, he told her that he was Lohengrin, son
of Parzival, the guardian of the Holy Grail. Then, embracing her tenderly,
he told her that "love cannot live without faith," and that he must now
leave her and return to the holy mountain. When he had thrice blown his
magic horn, the sound of faint music again heralded the approach of the
swan; Lohengrin sprang into the boat, and soon vanished, leaving Else
alone.

Some versions of the story relate that she did not long survive his
departure, but that her released spirit followed him to Montsalvatch, where
they dwelt happy forever. Other accounts, however, aver that when Lohengrin
vanished Else's brother returned to champion her cause and prevent her ever
being molested again.

CHAPTER XII.

MERLIN.

As Saintsbury so ably expressed it, "The origin of the legends of King
Arthur, of the Round Table, of the Holy Grail, and of all the adventures
and traditions connected with these centers, is one of the most intricate
questions in the history of mediaeval literature." Owing to the loss of
many ancient manuscripts, the real origin of all these tales may never be
discovered; and whether the legends owe their birth to Celtic, Breton, or
Welsh poetry we may never know, as the authorities fail to agree. These
tales, apparently almost unknown before the twelfth century, soon became so
popular that in the course of the next two centuries they had given birth
to more than a dozen poems and prose romances, whence Malory drew the
materials for his version of the story of King Arthur. Nennius, Geoffrey of
Monmouth, Walter Map, Chrestien de Troyes, Robert de Borron, Gottfried von
Strassburg, Wol