rt with it; but now that he
was dying, he told his friend to take the sword and throw it back into
the lake where he had found it, and see what would happen. And his
friend took it, and went away over the rocks till he came to the edge of
the lake, and then he took the sword out of its case and swung it above
his head that he might throw it far into the water; but as he lifted it
up the precious stones in the handle shone so splendidly in the
moonlight that he could not make up his mind to throw it into the water,
it seemed such a pity. So he hid it away among the rushes by the water
side, and went back to the king. And the king said, 'What did you see by
the lake?'

"And the knight said, 'I saw nothing except the water, and the
mountains, and the rushes.'

"And the king said, 'Oh, unkind friend! Why will you not do as I ask
you, now that I am dying and can do nothing for myself? Go back and
throw the sword into the lake, as I told you.'

"And the knight went back, and once more he lifted the sword to throw it
into the water but it looked so beautiful that he _could_ not throw it
away. There would be nothing left, he thought, to remember the king by
when he was dead if he threw away the sword; so again he hid it among
the rushes, and then he went back to the king. And again the king asked,
'What did you see by the lake?' and again the knight answered, 'I saw
nothing except the water and the mountains.'

"'Oh, unkind, false friend!' cried the king, 'you are crueller to me
than those who gave me this wound. Go back and throw the sword into the
water, or, weak as I am, I will rise up and kill you.'

"Back went the knight, and this time he seized the sword without looking
at it, so that he should not see how beautiful it was, and then he swung
it once, twice, thrice, round his head, and away it went into the lake.
And as it fell, up rose a hand and arm in a long white sleeve out of the
water, and the hand caught the sword and drew it down under the water.
And then for a moment, all round the lake, the knight fancied he heard a
sound of sobbing and weeping, and he thought in his heart that it must
be the water-fairies weeping for the king's death.

"'What did you see by the lake?' asked the king again, when he came
back, and the knight told him. Then the king told him to lift him up and
carry him on his back down to the edge of the lake, and when they got
there, what do you think they saw?"

But the children could no