sword from
its hiding-place. He would do the King's will, for he loved him.
But again the beauty of the sword made him pause. 'It is a noble
sword; I will not throw it away,' he murmured, as once more he hid
it among the rushes. Then he went back more slowly, and told the
King that he had done his will.

'What did you see?' asked the King.

'Nothing but the ripples of the waves as they broke on the beach,'
repeated the knight.

'You have betrayed me twice,' said the King sadly, 'and yet you are
a noble knight! Go again to the lake, and do not betray me for a
rich sword.'

Then for the third time Sir Bedivere went to the water's edge, and
drawing the sword from among the rushes, he flung it as far as he
could into the lake.

And as the knight watched, an arm and a hand appeared above the
surface of the lake. He saw the hand seize the sword, and shaking
it three times, disappear again under the water. Then Sir Bedivere
went back quickly to the King, and told him what he had seen.

'Carry me to the lake,' entreated Arthur, 'for I have been here too
long.'

[Illustration: Page 115]

And the knight carried the King on his shoulders down to the
water's side. There they found a barge lying, and seated in it were
three Queens, and each Queen wore a black hood. And when they saw
King Arthur they wept.

'Lay me in the barge,' said the King. And when Sir Bedivere had
laid him there, King Arthur rested his head on the lap of the
fairest Queen. And they rowed from land.

Sir Bedivere, left alone, watched the barge as it drifted out of
sight, and then he went sorrowfully on his way, till he reached a
hermitage. And he lived there as a hermit for the rest of his life.

And the barge was rowed to a vale where the King was healed of his
wound.

And some say that now he is dead, but others say that King Arthur
will come again, and clear the country of its foes.

Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Minor punctuation corrections have been made; however, all
spellings appear as in the original.

Removed a duplicate title page for GERAINT AND ENID.

End of Project Gutenberg's Stories of King Arthur's Knights, by Mary MacGregor

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