not escape him, she rode into a lake that lay in the plain on the edge
of the forest, and, crying out, 'Whatever may befall me, my brother
shall not have the scabbard,' she threw the scabbard far into the
water, and it sank, for it was heavy with gold and jewels. After that
she fled into a valley full of great stones, and turned herself and
her men and her horses into blocks of marble. Scarcely had she done
this when the King rode up, but seeing her nowhere thought some evil
must have befallen her in vengeance for her misdeeds. He then sought
high and low for the scabbard, but could not find it, so he returned
unto the Abbey. When Arthur was gone, Morgan le Fay turned herself and
her horses and her men back into their former shapes and said, 'Now,
Sirs, we may go where we will.' And she departed into the country of
Gore, and made her towns and castles stronger than before, for she
feared King Arthur greatly. Meanwhile King Arthur had rested himself
at the Abbey, and afterwards he rode to Camelot, and was welcomed by
his Queen and all his Knights. And when he told his adventures and
how Morgan le Fay sought his death they longed to burn her for her
treason.

[Illustration: MORGAN LE FAY CASTS AWAY THE SCABBARD]

The next morning there arrived a damsel at the Court with a message
from Morgan le Fay, saying that she had sent the King her brother a
rich mantle for a gift, covered with precious stones, and begged him
to receive it and to forgive her in whatever she might have offended
him. The King answered little, but the mantle pleased him, and he was
about to throw it over his shoulders when the lady of the lake stepped
forward, and begged that she might speak to him in private. 'What is
it?' asked the King. 'Say on here, and fear nothing.' 'Sir,' said the
lady, 'do not put on this mantle, or suffer your Knights to put it on,
till the bringer of it has worn it in your presence.' 'Your words are
wise,' answered the King, 'I will do as you counsel me. Damsel, I
desire you to put on this mantle that you have brought me, so that I
may see it.' 'Sir,' said she, 'it does not become me to wear a King's
garment.' 'By my head,' cried Arthur, 'you shall wear it before I put
it on my back, or on the back of any of my Knights,' and he signed to
them to put it on her, and she fell down dead, burnt to ashes by the
enchanted mantle. Then the King was filled with anger, more than he
was before, that his sister should have dealt so wick