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KING ARTHUR'S KNIGHTS

by Henry Gilbert

CHAPTER VI: How Sir Perceval Was Taught Chivalry Part 2

He journeyed southwards two days and two nights along the great straight road, which went through the deep dark forests, over desert places and over the high mountains. And all that time he ate nothing but wild berries, for he had not thought to bring food with him.
While he was yet but a little way from the court of King Arthur, a stranger knight, tall and big, in black armour, had ridden into the hall where sat Gwenevere the queen, with a few of the younger knights and her women. The page of the chamber was serving the queen with wine in a golden goblet richly wrought, which Lancelot had taken from a knight whom he had lately slain.
The stranger knight had alighted before the chair of Gwenevere, and all had seen that full of rage and pride was his look. And he caught sight of the goblet in the hand of Gwenevere, and he snatched it from her, spilling the wine over her dress and dashing it even into her face.
"Now am I well lighted here," he said, "for this is the very goblet which thy robber knight Sir Lancelot reaved from my brother, Sir Wilder. And if any of you knights here desire to wrest this goblet from me, or to avenge the insult I have done your queen, let him come to the meadow beside the ford, and I will slay him, ay, if it be that traitor Sir Lancelot himself."
All the young knights hung their heads as he mounted his horse and insolently rode out ot the hall; for it seemed to them that no one would have done so daring an outrage unless he fought with evil magic, so that the strength and prowess of the mightiest knight would be put to naught.
Then Perceval entered the hall, and at sight of him upon his rough piebald horse, with its uncouth trappings and the old and mouldy jerkin upon the youth, the knights and others broke forth in excessive laughter, as much at the sight as to cover their discomfiture and fear of the knight who had just gone.
But Perceval took no note of their laughter, but rode up the hall to where Sir Kay the seneschal stood, wrathful at the outrage on the queen which he had not dared to avenge instantly. And Perceval looked about and saw a knight more richly dressed than the others, and, turning to Kay, he said:
"Tell me, tall man, is that King Arthur yonder?"
"What wouldst thou with Arthur, knave?" asked Kay angrily.
"My mother told me to seek King Arthur," responded Perceval, "and he will give me the honour of knighthood."
"By my faith, thou farmer's churl," said Kay, "thou art richly-equipped indeed with horse and arms to have that honour."
Thereupon the others shouted with laughter, and commenced to throw sticks at Perceval, or the bones left by the dogs upon the floor.
Then a dwarf pressed forward between the laughing crowd and saluted Perceval. And the lad rejoiced to recognize him. It was Tod, who had been his friend among the trolls of the mountains, and with Tod was his wife. They had come to the court of Arthur, and had craved harbourage there, and the king of his kindness had granted it them. But by reason of the prophecy which the trolls knew of concerning the great renown which Perceval was to gain, they had been dumb of speech since they had last seen the young man.
And now at sight of him their tongues were loosed, and the ran and kissed his feet, and cried together:
"The welcome of Heaven be unto thee, goodly Perceval, son of Earl Evroc! Chief of warriors art thou, and stainless flower of knighthood!"
"Truly," said Kay wrathfully, "thou art an ill-conditioned pair, to remain a year mute at King Arthur's court, and now before the face of goodly knights to acclaim this churl with the mouldy coat chief of warriors and flower of knighthood!"
In his rage he beat Tod the dwarf such a blow, that the poor troll fell senseless to the ground; and the troll-wife he kicked, so that she was dashed among the dogs, who bit her.
"Tall man," said Perceval, and men marvelled to see the high look on his face and the cold scorn in his eyes, "I will have vengeance on thee for the insult and ill-treatment thou hast done these two poor dwarfs. But tell me now which of these knights is Arthur?"
"Away with thee," shouted Cay, enraged. "If thou wouldst see Arthur, go to the knight with the goblet who waits for thee at the ford, and take the goblet from him and slay him. Then when thou comest back clad in his armour, we will speak further with thee."
"I will do so, angry man," said Perceval, and amid the shouts of laughter and the sneers of the crowd he turned his horse's head and rode out of the hall.
Going to the meadow beside the ford, he saw a knight riding up and down, proud of his strength and valour.
"Tell me, fellow," said the knight, who bore on his shield the device of a black tower on a red field, "didst thou see any one coming after me from the court yonder?"
"The tall man that was there," said Perceval, "bade me to come to thee, and I am to overthrow thee and to take from thee the goblet, and as for thy horse and thy arms I am to have them myself."
"Silence, prating fool!" shouted the knight; "go back to the court and tell Arthur to come himself, or to send a champion to fight me, or I will not wait, and great will be his shame."
"By my faith," said Perceval, "whether thou art willing or unwilling, it is I that will have thy horse and arms and the goblet."
And he prepared to throw his javelin sticks.
In a proud rage the knight ran at him with uplifted lance, and struck him a violent blow with the shaft between the neck and the shoulder.
"Haha! lad," said Perceval, and laughed, "that was as shrewd a blow as any the trolls gave me when they taught me their staff play; but now I will play with thee in my own way."
Thereupon he threw one of the pointed sticks at the knight, with such force and with such sureness of aim that it went in between the bars of his vizor and pierced the eye, and entered into the brain of the knight. Whereupon he fell from his horse lifeless.
And it befell that a little while after Percevel had left the court, Sir Owen came in, and was told of the shameful wrong put upon the queen by the unknown knight, and how Sir Kay had sent a mad boy after the knight to slay him.
"Now, by my troth," said Owen to Kay, "thou wert a fool to send that foolish lad after the strong knight. For either he will be overthrown, and the knight will think he is truly the champion sent on behalf of the queen, whom the knight so evilly treated, and so an eternal disgrace will light on Arthur and all of us; or, if he is slain, the disgrace will be the same, and the mad young man's life will be thrown away."
Thereupon Sir Owen made all haste, and rode swiftly to the meadow, armed; but when he reached the place, he found a youth in a mouldy old jerkin pulling a knight in rich armour up and down the grass.
"By'r Lady's name!" cried Sir Owen, "what do you there, tall youth?"
"This iron coat," said Perceval, stopping as he spoke, "will never come off him."
Owen alighted marvelling, and went to the knight and found that he was dead, and saw the manner of his death, and marvelled the more. He unloosed the knight's armour and gave it to Perceval.
"Here, good soul " he said, "are horse and armour for thee. And well hast thou merited them, since thou unarmed hast slain so powerful a knight as this."
He helped Perceval put on his armour, and when he was fully dressed Owen marvelled to see how nobly he bore himself.
"Now come you with me," he said, "and we will go to King Arthur, and you shall have the honour of knighthood from the good king himself."
"Nay, that will I not," said Perceval, and mounted the dead knight's horse. "But take thou this goblet to the queen, and tell the king that wherever I be, I will be his man, to slay all oppressors, to succour the weak and the wronged, and to aid him in whatever knightly enterprise he may desire my aid. But I will not enter his court until I have encountered the tall man there who sent me hither, to revenge upon him the wrong he did to my friends, Tod the dwarf and his wife." And with this Perceval said farewell and rode off. Sir Owen went back to the court, and told Arthur and the queen all these things. Men marvelled who the strange young man could be, and many sought Tod and his wife to question them, but nowhere could they be found.
Greater still was their marvelling when, as the weeks passed, knights came and yielded themselves to King Arthur, saying that Perceval had overcome them in knightly combat, and had given them their lives on condition that they went to King Arthur's court and yielded themselves up to him and his mercy. The king and all his court reproved Kay for his churlish manner, and for his having driven so splendid a youth from the court.
And Perceval rode ever forward. He came one day towards the gloaming to a lonely wood in the fenlands, where the wind shivered like the breath of ghosts among the leaves, and there was not a track or trace of man or beast, and no birds piped. And soon, as the wind shrilled, and the rain began to beat down like thin grey spears, he saw a vast castle rise before him, and when he made his way towards the gate, he found the way so overgrown with weeds that hardly could he push his horse between them. And on the very threshold the grass grew thick and high, as if the door had not been opened for a hundred winters.
He battered on the door with the butt of his lance; and long he waited, while the cold rain drove and the wind snarled.
After a little while a voice came from above the gateway, and glancing up he saw a damsel looking through an opening in the battlements.
"Choose thou, chieftain," said she, "whether I shall open unto thee without announcing thee, or whether I shall tell her that rules here that thou wishest to enter."
"Say that I am here," said Perceval. "And if she will not house me for the night, then will I go forward."
Soon the maiden came back and opened the door for him, and his horse she led into the stable, where she fed it; and Perceval she brought into the hall. When he came into the light and looked at the girl, he thought he had never seen another of so fair an aspect.
She had an old garment of satin upon her, which had once been rich, but was now frayed and tattered: and fairer was her skin than the bloom of the rose, and her hair and eyebrows were like the sloe for blackness, and on her cheeks was the redness of poppies. Her eyes were like deep pools in a dark wood. And he thought that, though she was very beautiful, there was great arrogance in her look and cruelty in her lips.
When Perceval went towards the dais of the hall he saw a tall and stately lady in the high seat, old of years and reverend of aspect, though sorrowful. Several handmaids sat beside her, sad of face and tattered of dress. All welcomed him right kindly. Then they sat at meat, and gave the young man the best cheer that they had.
When it was time to go to rest, the lady said:
"It were well for you, chieftain, that you sleep not in this castle."
"Wherefore," said Perceval, "seeing that the storm beats wildly without and there is room here for many?"
"For this reason," said the lady, "that I would not that so handsome and kindly a youth as you seem should suffer the doom which must light upon this my castle at dawn."
"Tell me," said Perceval, "what is this castle, and what is the doom you speak of?"
"This castle is named the Castle of Weeds," replied the lady, "and the lands about it for many miles belonged to my husband, the Earl Mador. And he was a bold and very valiant man; and he slew Maelond, the eldest son of Domna, the great witch of Glaive, and ever thereafter things were not well with him. For she and her eight evil sisters laid a curse upon him. And that in spite of this, that he slew Maelond in fair fight, for all that he was a false and powerful wizard. And Domna came to my husband, when he was worn with a strange sickness, and as he lay on his deathbed. And she said she should revenge herself upon his daughter and mine, this maiden here, when she shall be full twice nine years of age. And she will be of that age ere dawn tomorrow morn, and at the hour will the fierce Domna and her fearful sisters come, and with tortures slay all that are herein, and take my dear daughter Angharad, and use her cruelly."
The maiden who had opened to Perceval was that daughter, and she laughed harshly as her mother spoke.
"Fear not for me, mother," she cried. "They will deck me in rich robes, and I shall not pine for fair raiment, as I have pined these ten years with thee."
The lady looked sadly upon her as she heard her words.
"I fear not, my daughter, that they will take thy life," she said, "but I dread this - that they will destroy thy soul!"
And Angharad laughed and said:
"What matter, so it be that I live richly while I live!"
"Nay, nay," said Perceval, and in his voice was a great scorn, "it is evil to speak thus, and it belies your beauty, fair maiden. Rather a life of poverty than one of shamefulness and dishonour. Thus is it with all good knights and noble dames, and thus was it with our dear Lord."
Then turning to the lady, he said:
"Lady, I think these evil witches will not hurt thee. For the little help that I may give to thee, I will stay this night with thee."
After he had prayed at the altar in the ruined chapel of the castle, they led him to a bed in the hall, where he slept.
And just before the break of day there came a dreadful outcry, with groans and shrieks and terrible screams and moanings, as if all the evil that could be done was being done upon poor wretches out in the dark.
Perceval leapt from his couch, and with naught upon him but his vest and doublet, he went with his sword in hand to the gate, and there he saw two poor serving-men struggling with a hag dressed all in armour. Behind her came eight others. And their eyes, from between the bars of their helms, shone with a horrible red fire, and from each point of their armour sparks flashed, and the swords in their grisly hands gleamed with a blue flame, so fierce and so terrible that it scorched the eyes to look upon them.
But Perceval dashed upon the foremost witch, and with his sword beat her with so great a stroke that she fell to the ground, and the helm on her head was flattened to the likeness of a dish.
When she fell, the light of her eyes and her sword went out, and the armour all seemed to wither away, and she was nothing but an old ugly woman in rags. And she cried out:
"Thy mercy, good Perceval, son of Evroc, and the mercy of Heaven!"
"How knowest thou, hag," said he, " that I am Perceval?"
"By the destiny spun by the powers of the Underworld," she said, " and the foreknowledge that I should suffer harm from thee. And I knew not that thou wert here, or I and my sisters would have avoided thee. But it is fated," she went on, "that thou come with us to learn all that may be learned of the use of arms. For there are none in Britain to compare with us for the knowledge of warfare."
Then Perceval remembered what he had heard the trolls - the people of the Underworld - say, though he had not understood their meaning. The stainless knight," they said, "shall gain from evil greater strength, and with it he may confound all evil."
"If it be thus fated", he said, "I will go with thee. But first thou shalt swear that no evil shall happen to the lady of this castle nor to her daughter, nor to any that belong to them.
"It shall be so," said the witch, "if, when the time comes, thou art strong enough to overcome my power. But if thou failest, Angharad is mine to do with as I will."
Then Perceval took leave of the lady of the Castle of Weeds, and of Angharad. And the lady thanked him with tears for saving their lives, but the girl was cold and scornful and said no word of thanks. Then Perceval went with the witches to their Castle of Glaive.
He stayed with them for a year and a day, learning such knowledge of arms, and gaining such strength, that it was marvel to see the feats which he performed. And while he lived with them they strove to bend him to their wills, for they saw how great a knight he would become in prowess and in knightly deeds. They tempted him every hour and every day, telling him what earthly power, what riches and what great dominions would be his, if he would but swear fealty to the chief witch, Domna, and fight for her against King Arthur and his proud knights.
Perceval prayed daily for strength to withstand the poison of their tongues, and evermore he held himself humble and gentle, and thought much of his widowed mother in her lonely home in the northern wastes, and of the promise he had made her. Sometimes he thought of Angharad, how beautiful she was, and how sad it was that she had so cold a heart, and was so cruel in her words.
Anon the witch Domna came to him, and said that he had now learned all that she could teach him, and he must go and prove himself against greater powers than he had ever yet known. If he prevailed not in that battle, the ladies of the Castle of Weeds would become the prey of the witches, and greater power of evil would they have in the world than ever before. Then she gave him a horse and a full suit of black armour.

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