No More Learning

Humph! and mother
thinks I'm still a child! "

_Gareth went in to the queen_ and said: "Mother, if you love me listen
to a story I will tell. Once there was an egg which a great royal eagle
laid high above on the rocks somewhere almost out of sight and there was
a lad which saw the splendor sparkling from it, and the lightnings
playing around it and the little birds crying and clashing in the nest.
The boy thought if he could only reach that egg he would be richer than
a houseful of kings, and he was nearly driven from his sense with his
desire for it. But whenever he reached to clamber up for it some one who
loved him restrained him saying, 'If you love me do not climb, lest
you break your neck. ' So the boy did not climb, mother, and he did not
break his neck, but he broke his heart pining for the glorious egg. How
can you keep me tethered here, Mother? Let me go! "

[Illustration: MOTHER, IF YOU LOVE ME LISTEN TO A STORY I WILL TELL. ]

"Have you no pity for me? " Queen Bellicent asked. "Stay here by your
poor old father and me; chase the deer in our fir trees and marry some
lovely bride I will get for you. You're my best son and so young. "

"Mother, a king once showed his son two brides and told him that he must
either win the beautiful one, or, if he failed, wed the other. The
pretty one was Fame and the other was Shame. Why should I follow the
deer when I can follow the king? Why was I born a man if I cannot do a
man's work? "

"But some of the barons say he isn't the true king. "

"Hasn't he conquered the Romans and driven off the heathen and made all
the people free? Who has a right to be king if not the man who has done
that? He is the true king. "

When Bellicent found that she could not turn Gareth from his purpose,
she said that if he was determined he must do one thing before he asked
the king to make him a knight.

"Anything," cried Gareth. "Give me a hundred proofs. Only be quick. "

The queen looked at him very slowly and said: "You are a prince, Gareth,
but before you are fit to serve the king you must go into Arthur's court
disguised and hire yourself to serve his meats and drink among the
scullions and kitchen knaves. And you must not tell your name to anyone
and you must serve that way for a year and a day. "

The queen made this condition, thinking that Gareth would be too proud
to play the slave. But he thought a moment, then answered: "A slave may
be free in his soul, and I can see the jousts there. You are my mother
so I must obey you and I will be a scullion in King Arthur's kitchen and
keep my name a secret from everyone, even the king. "

So Bellicent grieved and watched Gareth every moment wherever he went,
dreading the time when he should leave. And he waited until one windy
night when she slept, then called two servants and slipped away with
them, all three dressed like poor peasants of the field.

They walked away towards the south and as they came to the plain
stretching to the mountain of Camelot, they saw the royal city upon its
brow. Sometimes its spires and towers flashed in the sunlight; sometimes
only the great gate shone out before their eyes, or again the whole fair
town vanished away. Then the servants said:

"Let us go no further, Lord. It's an enchanted city, and all a vision.
The people say anyway, that Arthur isn't the true king, but only a
changeling from fairyland, and that Merlin won his battles for him with
magic. "

Gareth laughed and replied that he had magic enough in his blood and
hopes to plunge old Merlin into the Arabian sea. And he pushed them on
to the gate. There was no other gate like it under heaven. The Lady of
the Lake stood barefooted on the keystone and held up the cornice. Drops
of water fell from either hand and above were the three queens who were
Arthur's friends, and on each side Arthur's wars were pictured in weird
devices with dragons and elves so intertwined that they made men dizzy
to look at them. The servants cried out, "Lord, the gateway is alive! "
Then a blast of music pealed out of the city, and the three queens
stepped aside while an old man with a long beard came out and asked:

"Who are you, my sons? "

"We are peasants," answered Gareth, "who have come to see the glories of
your king, but the city looked so strange through the morning mist that
my men are wondering whether it is not a fairy city or perhaps no city
at all. So tell us the truth about it. "

"Oh, it's a fairy city," the old man answered, "and a fairy king and
queen came out of the mountain cleft at sunrise with harps in their
hands and built it to music, which means it never was built at all, and
therefore built forever. "

"Why do you mock me so? " Gareth cried angrily.

"I am not mocking you so much as you are mocking me and every one who
looks at you, for you are not what you seem, still I know what you truly
are. "

Then the old man turned away and Gareth said to his men: "Our poor
little white lie stands like a ghost at the very beginning of our
enterprise. Blame my mother's love for it and not her nor me. "

So they all laughed and came into the city of Camelot with its shadowy
and stately palaces. Here and there a knight passed in or out, his arms
clashing and the sound was good to Gareth's ears. Or out of a casement
window glanced the pure eyes of lovely women. But Gareth made at once
for the hall of the king where his heart fairly hammered into his ears
as he wondered whether Arthur would turn him aside because of the half
shadow of a lie he had told the old man by the gate about being a
peasant. There were many supplicants coming before the king to tell him
of some hurt done them by marauders or the wild beasts, and each one was
given a knight by the king to help them.

When Gareth's turn came, he rested his arms, one on each servant, and
stepped forward saying: "A boon, Sir King! Do you see how weak I seem,
leaning on these men? Pray let me go into your kitchen and serve there
for a year and a day, and do not ask me my name. After that I will fight
for you. "

"You are a handsome youth," said the king, "and worth something better
from the king, but if that is what you wish, go and serve under the
seneschal, Sir Kay, Master of the Meats and Drinks. "

Sir Kay thought the boy had probably run away from the farm belonging to
some Abbey where he had not had enough to eat, and he promised that if
Gareth would work well he would feed him until he was as plump as a
pigeon.

But Lancelot, the king's favorite, said to Kay: "You don't understand
boys as well as dogs and cattle. Can't you see by this lad's broad fair
forehead and fine hands that he is nobly born? Treat him well or he may
shame you. "

"Fair and fine, forsooth," cried Kay. "If he had been a gentleman he
would have asked for a horse and armor. "

So he hustled and harried Garreth, _set him to draw water_, _hew wood_
and labor harder than any of the grimy and smudgy kitchen knaves. Gareth
did all with a noble sort of ease and graced the lowliest act, and when
the knaves all gathered together of an evening to tell stories about
Arthur on the battlefields or of Lancelot in the tournament, Gareth
listened delightedly or made them all, with gaping mouths, listen
charmed, to some prodigious tale of his own about wonderful knights
cutting their scarlet way through twenty folds of twisted dragons. When
there was a Joust and Sir Kay let him attend it, he went half beside
himself in an ecstasy watching the warriors clash their springing
spears, and the sniffing chargers reel.

At the end of the first month, lonely Queen Bellicent felt sorry for her
poor, dear son, toiling and moiling among pots and pans, so she sent a
servant to Camelot with the beaming armor of a knight and freed him from
his vow. Gareth colored redder than any young girl and went alone in to
the king and told him all.

[Illustration: SET HIM TO DRAW WATER, HEW WOOD. ]

"Make me your knight in secret," he begged Arthur, "and give me the very
next quest from your court! "

"Son," answered the king, "my knights are sworn to vows of utter
hardihood, of utter gentleness, of utter faithfulness in love and of
utter obedience to the king. "

Gareth sprang lightly from his knees: "My king, I can promise you for my
hardihood; respecting my obedience, ask Sir Kay, and as for love I have
not loved yet, but God willing some day I will, and faithfully. "

The reply so pleased the great king, he laid his hand on Gareth's arm
and smiled and knighted him.

A few days later _a noble maiden_ with a brow like a May-blossom and a
saucy nose _passed into the king's hall with her page_ and told Arthur
that her name was Lynette, and that her beautiful sister, the Lady
Lyonors lived in the Castle Perilous which was beset with bandit
knights.

[Illustration: A NOBLE MAIDEN WITH HER PAGE. ]

"A river courses about the castle in three loops," said she, "each loop
has a bridge and every bridge is guarded by a wicked outlaw warrior, Sir
Morning-star, Sir Noon-sun and Sir Evening-star, while a fourth called
Death, a huge man-beast of boundless savageries, is besieging my sister
in her own castle so as to break her will and make her wed with him.
They are four fools," cried the maiden disdainfully, "but they are
mighty men so I have come to ask for Lancelot to ride away with me to
help us. "

Gareth was up in a twinkling with kindled eyes. "A boon, Sir King, this
quest," he cried. "I am only a knave from your kitchen, but I can
topple over a hundred such fellows. Your promise, king. "

"You are rough and sudden and worthy to be a knight. Therefore go," said
Arthur to the great amazement of the court.

"Fie on you, King! " exclaimed Lynette in a fury. "I asked you for your
best knight, Lancelot, and you give me a slave from your kitchen," and
she scampered down the aisle, leaped to her horse and flitted out of the
weird white gate. "A kitchen slave! " she sputtered as she flew. "Why
didn't the king send me a knight that fights for love and glory? "

Gareth in the meantime had strode to the side doorway of the royal hall
where he saw a war-horse awaiting him, the gift of Arthur and worth half
the price of a town. His two servants stood by with his shield and
helmet and spear. Dropping his coarse kitchen cloak to the floor, he
instantly harnessed himself in his armor, leaped to the back of his
beautiful steed and flashed out of the gateway while all his kitchen
mates threw up their caps and cried, "God bless the king and all his
fellowship! "

"Maiden, the quest is mine," he said to Lynette as he overtook her,
"Lead and I follow. "

"Away with you! " she cried, nipping her slender nose. "You smell of
kitchen grease. See there, your master is coming! "

Indeed she told the truth, for Sir Kay, infuriated with Gareth's
boldness in the king's hall was hounding after them. "Don't you know
me? " he shouted.

"Yes, too well," returned Gareth. "I know you to be the most ungentle
knight in Arthur's court. "

"Have at me, then," cried Kay, whereupon Gareth pounced upon him with
his gleaming lance and struck him instantly to the earth, then turned
for Lynette and said again, "Lead and I follow. "

But Lynette had hurried her galloping palfrey away and would not stop
the beast until his heart had nearly burst with its violent throbbing.
Then she turned and eyed Gareth as scornfully as ever. As he pranced to
her side she observed:

"Do you suppose scullion, that I think any more of you now that by some
good luck you have overthrown your master. You dishwasher and
water-carrier, you smell of the kitchen quite as much as before. "

"Maiden," Gareth rejoined gently, "Say what you will, but whatever you
say, I will not leave this quest until it is ended or I have died for
it. "

"O, my, how the knave talks! But you'll soon meet with another knave
whom in spite of all the kitchen concoctions ever brewed, you'll not
dare look in the face. "

"I'll try him," answered Gareth with a smile that maddened Lynette. And
away she darted again far into the strange avenues of the limitless
woods.

Gareth plunged on through the pine trees after her and a serving-man
came breaking through the black forest crying out, "They've bound my
master and are throwing him into the lake! "

"Lead and I follow," cried Gareth to Lynette, and she led, plunging into
the pine trees until they came upon a hollow sinking away into a lake,
where six tall men up to their thighs in reeds and bulrushes were
dragging a seventh man with a stone about his neck toward the water to
drown him.

Gareth sprang upon three and stilled them with his doughty blows, but
three scurried away through the trees; then Gareth loosened the stone
from the gentleman and set him on his feet. He proved to be a baron and
a friend of Arthur and asked Gareth what he could do to show his
gratitude for the saving of his life. Gareth said he would like a
night's shelter for the lady who was with him. So they rode over toward
the graceful manor house where the baron lived, and as they rode he said
to Gareth.

"I believe you are of the Table," meaning that Gareth was a Knight of
the Round Table.

"Yes, he is of the table after his own fashion," Lynette laughed, "for
he serves in Arthur's kitchen. " And turning toward Gareth she added, "Do
not imagine that I admire you the more for having routed these miserable
cowardly foresters; any thresher with his flail could have done that. "

And when they were seated at the baron's table, Gareth by Lynette's
side, she cried out to their host, "It seems dreadfully rude in you,
Lord Baron, to place this knave beside me. Listen to me: I went to King
Arthur's court to ask for Sir Lancelot to come to help my sister, and as
I ended my plea, up bawls this kitchen boy: 'Mine's the quest. ' And
Arthur goes mad and sends me this fellow who was made to kill pigs and
not redress the wrongs of women. "

So Gareth was seated at another table and the baron came to him and
asked him whether it might not be better for him to relinquish his
quest, but the lad replied that the king had given it to him and he
would carry it through. The next morning he said again to proud Lynette,
"Lead and I follow. "

But the maiden responded, "We are almost at the place where one of the
knaves is stationed. Don't you want to go home? He will slay you and
then I'll go back to Arthur and shame him for giving me a knight from
his kitchen cinders. "

"Just let me fight," cried Gareth, "and I'll have as good luck as little
Cinderella who married the prince. "

So they came to the first coil of the river and on the other side saw a
rich white pavilion with a purple dome and a slender crimson flag
fluttering above. The lawless Sir Morning-star paced up and down
outside.

"Damsel, is this the knight you've brought me? " he shouted.

"Not a knight, but a knave. The king scorned you so he sent some one
from his kitchen. "

"Come Daughters of the Dawn and arm me! " cried Sir Morning-star, and
three bare-footed, bare-headed maidens in pink and gold dresses brought
him a blue coat of mail and a blue shield.

"A kitchen knave in scorn of me! " roared the blue knight. "I won't fight
him. Go home, knave! It isn't proper for you to be riding abroad with a
lady. "

"Dog, you lie! I'm sprung from nobler lineage than you," and saying
this, Gareth sprang fiercely at his adversary who met him in the middle
of the bridge. The two spears were hurled so harshly that both knights
were thrown from their horses like two stones but up they leaped
instantly. Gareth drew forth his sword and drove his enemy back down the
bridge and laid him at his feet.

"I yield," Sir Morning-star cried, "don't kill me. "

"Your life is in the hands of this lady," Gareth replied. "If she asks
me to spare you I will. "

"Scullion! " Lynette cried, reddening with shame. "Do you suppose I will
ask a favor of you? "

"Then he dies," and Gareth was about to slay the wounded knight when
Lynette screamed and told him he ought not to think of killing a man of
nobler birth than himself. So Gareth said, "Knight, your life is spared
at this lady's command. Go to King Arthur's court and tell him that his
kitchen knave sent you, and crave his pardon for breaking his laws. "

"I thought the smells of the odors of the kitchen grew fainter while you
were fighting on the bridge," Lynette remarked to Gareth as he took his
place behind her and told her to lead, "but now they are as strong as
ever. "

So they rode on until they arrived at the second loop of the river where
the knight of the Noonday-Sun flared with his burning shield that blazed
so violently that Gareth saw scarlet blots before his eyes as he turned
away from it.

"Here's a kitchen knave from Arthur's hall who has overthrown your
brother," Lynette called across the river to him.

"Ugh! " returned Sir Noonday-Sun, raising his visor to reveal his round
foolish face like a cipher, and with that he pushed his horse into the
foaming stream.

Gareth met him midway and struck him four blows of his sword. As he was
about to deal the fifth stroke the horse of the Noonday-Sun slipped and
the stream washed his dazzling master away. Gareth plucked him out of
the water and sent him back to King Arthur.

"Lead and I follow," he said to Lynette.

"Do not fancy," she rejoined, as she guided him toward the third passing
of the river, "that I thought you bold or brave when you overcame Sir
Noonday-Sun; he just slipped on the river-bed. Here we are at the third
fool in the allegory, Sir Evening-star. You see he looks naked but he is
only wrapped in hardened skins that fit him like his own. They will turn
the blade of your sword. "

"Never mind," Gareth said, "the wind may turn again and the kitchen
odors grow faint. "

Then Lynette called to the Evening-star:

"Both of your brothers have gone down before this youth and so will you.
Aren't you old? "

"Old with the strength of twenty boys," said Sir Evening-star.

"Old in boasting," Gareth cried, "but the same strength that slew your
brothers can slay you. "

Then the Evening-star blew a deadly note upon his horn and a
storm-beaten, russet, grizzly old woman came out and armed him in a
quantity of dingy weapons. The two knights clashed together on the
bridge and Gareth brought the Evening-star groveling in a minute to his
feet on his knees. But the other vaulted up again so quickly that Gareth
panted and half despaired of winning the victory.

Then Lynette cried: "Well done, knave; you are as noble as any knight.
Now do not shame me; I said you would win. Strike! strike! and the wind
will change again. "

Gareth struck harder, he hewed great pieces of armor from the old
knight, but clashed in vain with his sword against the hard skin, until
at last he lashed the Evening-star's sword and broke it at the hilt. "I
have you now! " he shouted, but the cowardly knight of the Evening-star
writhed his arms about the lad till Gareth was almost strangled. Yet
straining himself to the uttermost he finally _tossed his foe headlong
over the side of the bridge_ to sink or to swim as the waves allowed.

"Lead and I follow," Gareth said to Lynette.

"No, it is lead no longer," the maiden replied. "Ride beside me the
knightliest of all kitchen knaves. Sir I am ashamed that I have treated
you so. Pardon me. I do wonder who you are, you knave. "

"You are not to blame for anything," Gareth said, "except for your
mistrusting of the king when he sent you some one to defend you. You
said what you thought and I answered by my actions.
"

At that moment he heard the hoofs of a horse clattering in the road
behind him. "Stay! " cried a knight with a veiled shield, "I have come to
avenge my friend, Sir Kay. "

Gareth turned, and in a thrice had closed in upon the stranger, but when
he felt the touch of the stranger knight's magical spear, which was the
wonder of the world he fell to the earth. As he felt the grass in his
hands he burst into laughter.

[Illustration: TOSSED HIS FOE OVER THE SIDE OF THE BRIDGE. ]

"Why do you laugh? " asked Lynette.

"Because here am I, the son of old King Lot and good Queen Bellicent,
the victor of the three bridges, and a knight of Arthur's thrown by no
one knows whom. "

"I have come to help you and not harm you," said the strange knight,
revealing himself. It was Lancelot, whom King Arthur had sent to keep a
guardian eye upon young Gareth in this his first quest, to prevent him
from being killed or taken away.

"And why did you refuse to come when I wanted you, and now come just in
time to shame my poor defender just when I was beginning to feel proud
of him? " asked Lynette.

"But he isn't shamed," Lancelot answered. "What knight is not overthrown
sometimes? By being defeated we learn to overcome, so hail Prince and
Knight of our Round Table! " "You did well Gareth, only you and your
horse were a little weary. "

[Illustration: SHE TENDED HIM AS GENTLY AS A MOTHER. ]

Lynette led them into a glen and a cave where they found pleasant drinks
and meat, and where Gareth fell asleep.

"You have good reason to feel sleepy," cried Lynette. "Sleep soundly and
wake strong. " _And she tended him as gently as a mother_, and watched
over him carefully as he slept.

When Gareth woke Lancelot gave him his own horse and shield to use in
fighting the last awful outlaw, but as they drew near Lynette clutched
at the shield and pleaded with him: "Give it back to Lancelot," said
she. "O curse my tongue that was reviling you so today. He must do the
fighting now. You have done wonders, but you cannot do miracles. You
have thrown three men today and that is glory enough. You will get all
maimed and mangled if you go on now when you are tired. There, I vow you
must not try the fourth. "

But Gareth told her that her sharp words during the day had just spurred
him on to do his best and he said he must not now leave his quest until
he had finished. So Lancelot advised him how best to manage his horse
and his lance, his sword and his shield when meeting a foe that was
stouter than himself, winning with fineness and skill where he lacked in
strength.

But Gareth replied that he knew but one rule in fighting and that was to
dash against his foe and overcome him.

"Heaven help you," cried Lynette, and she made her palfrey halt.
"There! " They were facing the camp of the Knight of Death.

There was a huge black pavilion, a black banner and a black horn. Gareth
blew the horn and heard hollow tramplings to and fro and muffled voices.
Then on a night-black horse, in night-black arms rode forth the dread
warrior. A white breast-bone showed in front. He spoke not a word which
made him the more fearful.

"Fool! " shouted Gareth sturdily. "People say that you have the strength
of ten men; can't you trust to it without depending on these toggeries
and tricks? "

But the Knight of Death said nothing. Lady Lyonors at her castle window
wept, and one of her maids fainted away, and Gareth felt his head
prickling beneath his helmet and Lancelot felt his blood turning cold.
Every one stood aghast.

Then the chargers bounded forward and Gareth struck Death to the ground.
Drawing out his sword he split apart the vast skull; one half of it fell
to the right and one half to the left. Then he was about to strike at
the helmet when out of it peeped the face of a blooming young boy, as
fresh as a flower.

"O Knight! " cried the laddie. "Do not kill me. My three brothers made me
do it to make a horror all about the castle. They never dreamed that
anyone could pass the bridges. "

Then Lady Lyonors with all her house had a great party of dancing and
revelry and song and making merry because the hideous Knight of Death
that had terrified them so was only a pretty little boy. And there was
mirth over Gareth's victorious quest.

And some people say that Gareth married Lynette, but others who tell the
story later say he wedded with Lyonors.




THE MARRIAGE OF GERAINT.


King Arthur had come to the old city of Caerleon on the River Usk to
hold his court, and was sitting high in his royal hall when a woodman,
all bedraggled with the mists of the forests came tripping up in haste
before his throne.

"O noble King," he cried, "today I saw a wonderful deer, a hart all
milky white running through among the trees, and, nothing like it has
ever been seen here before. "

The king, who loved the chase, was very pleased and immediately gave
orders that the royal horns should be blown for all the court to go a
hunting after the beautiful white deer the following morning. Queen
Guinevere wished to go with them to watch the hounds and huntsmen and
dancing horses in the chase. She slept late, however, the next day with
her pleasant dreams, and Arthur with his Knights of the Round Table had
sped gloriously away on their snorting chargers when she arose, called
one of her maids to come with her, mounted her palfrey and forded the
River Usk to pass over by the forest.

[Illustration: A WOODMAN ALL BEDRAGGLED CAME IN HASTE BEFORE HIS
THRONE. ]

There they climbed up on a little knoll and stood listening for the
hounds, but instead of the barking of the king's dogs they heard the
sound of a horse's hoofs trampling behind them. It was Prince Geraint's
charger as he flashed over the shallow ford of the river, then galloped
up the banks of the knoll to her side. He carried not a single weapon
except his golden-hilted sword and wore, not his hunting-dress, but gay
holiday silks with a purple scarf about him swinging an apple of gold at
either end and glancing like a dragon-fly. He bowed low to the sweet,
stately queen.

"You're late, very late, Sir Prince," said she, "later even than we. "

"Yes, noble queen," replied Geraint, "I'm so late that I'm not going to
the hunt; I've come like you just to watch it. "

"Then stay with me," the queen said, "for here on this little knoll, if
anywhere, you will have a good chance to see the hounds, often they dash
by at its very feet. "

So Geraint stood by the queen, thinking he would catch particularly the
baying of Cavall, Arthur's loudest dog, which would tell him that the
hunters were coming. As they waited however, along the base of the
knoll, came a knight, a lady and a dwarf riding slowly by on their
horses. The knight wore his visor up showing his imperious and very
haughty young face. The dwarf lagged behind.

"That knight doesn't belong to the Round Table, does he? " asked the
queen. "I don't know him. "

"No, nor I," replied Geraint.

So the queen sent her maid over to the dwarf to find out the name of his
master. But the dwarf was old and crotchety and would not tell her.

"Then I'll ask your master himself," cried the maid.

"No, indeed, you shall not! " cried the dwarf, "you are not fit even to
speak of him," and as the girl turned her horse to approach the proud
young knight, the misshapen little dwarf of a servant struck at her with
his whip, and she came scampering back indignantly to the queen.

[Illustration: HE STRUCK OUT HIS WHIP AND CUT THE PRINCE'S CHEEK. ]

"I'll learn his name for you," Geraint exclaimed, and he rode off
sharply.

But the impudent dwarf answered just as before and when Prince Geraint
moved on toward his master he struck out his whip and cut the prince's
cheek so that the blood streamed upon the purple scarf dyeing it red.
Instantly Geraint reached for the hilt of his sword to strike down the
vicious little midget but then remembering that he was a prince and
disdaining to fight with a dwarf, he did not even say a word, but
cantered back to Queen Guinevere's side.

"Noble Queen," he cried fiercely. "I am going to avenge this insult that
has been done you. I'll track these vermin to the earth. For even
although I am riding unarmed just now, as we go along I will come to
some place where I can borrow weapons or hire them. And then when I have
my man I'll fight him, and on the third day from today I'll be back
again unless I die in the fight. So good-bye, farewell. "

"Farewell, handsome prince," the queen answered. "Good fortune in your
quest and may you live to marry your first love whoever that may be. But
whether she will be a princess or a beggar from the hedgerows, before
you wed with her bring her back to me and I will robe her for her
wedding day. "

Prince Geraint bowed and with that he was off. One minute he thought he
heard the noble milk-white deer brought to bay by the dogs, the next he
thought he heard the hunter's horn far away and felt a little vexed to
think he must be following this stupid dwarf while all the others were
at the chase. But he had determined to avenge the queen and up and down
the grassy glades and valleys pursued the three enemies until at last at
sundown they emerged from the forest, climbed up on the ridge of a hill
where they looked like shadows against the dark sky, then sank again on
the other side.

Below on the other side of the ridge ran the long street of a clamoring
little town in a long valley, on one side a new white fortress and on
the other, across a ravine and a bridge, a fallen old castle in decay.
The knight, the lady and the dwarf rode on to the white fortress, then
vanished within its walls.

"There! " cried Geraint, "now I have him! I have tracked him to his hole,
and tomorrow when I'm rested I'll fight him. "

Then he turned wearily down the long street of the noisy village to look
for his night's lodging, but he found every inn and tavern crowded, and
everywhere horses in the stables were being shod and young fellows were
busy burnishing their master's armor.

"What does all this hubbub mean? " asked Geraint of one of these youths.

The lad did not stop his work one instant, but went on scouring and
replied, "It's the sparrow-hawk. "

As Prince Geraint did not know what was meant by the sparrow-hawk he
trotted a little farther along the street until he came to a quiet old
man trudging by with a sack of corn on his back.

"Why is your town so noisy and busy to-night, good old fellow? " he
cried.

"Ugh! the sparrow-hawk! " the old fellow said gruffly.

So the prince rode his horse yet a little farther until he saw an
armor-maker's shop. The armor-maker sat inside with his back turned, all
doubled over a helmet which he was riveting together upon his knee.

"Armorer," cried Geraint, "what is going on? Why is there such a din? "

The man did not pause in his riveting even to turn about and face the
stranger, but said quickly as if to finish speaking as rapidly as he
could, "Friend, the people who are working for the sparrow-hawk have no
time for idle questions. "

At this Geraint flashed up angrily.

"A fig for your sparrow-hawk! I wish all the bits of birds of the air
would peck him dead. You imagine that this little cackle in your baby
town is all the noise and murmur of the great world. What do I care
about it? It is nothing to me. Listen to me, now, if you are not gone
hawk-mad like the rest, where can I get a lodging for the night, and
more than that, where can I get some arms, arms, arms, to fight my
enemy? Tell me. "

The hurrying armor-maker looked about in amazement to see this gorgeous
cavalier in purple silks standing before his bit of a shop.

"O pardon me, stranger knight," said he very politely. "We are holding a
great tournament here tomorrow morning and there is hardly any time to
do one-half the work that has to be finished before then. Arms, did you
say? Indeed I cannot tell you where to get any; all that there are in
this town are needed for to-morrow in the lists. And as for lodging, I
don't know unless perhaps at Earl Yniol's in the old castle across the
bridge. " Then he again picked up his helmet and turned his back to the
prince.

So Geraint, still a wee mite vexed, rode over the bridge that spanned
the ravine, to go to the ruined castle. There upon the farther side sat
the hoary-headed Earl Yniol, dressed in some magnificent shabby old
clothes which had been fit for a king's parties when they were new.

"Where are you going, son? " he queried of Geraint, waking from his
reveries and dreaminess.

"O friend, I'm looking for some shelter for the night," Geraint replied.

"Come in then," Yniol said, "and accept of my hospitality. Our house was
rich once and now it is poor, but it always keeps its door open to the
stranger. "

"Oh, anything will do for me," cried Geraint. "If only you won't serve
me sparrow-hawks for my supper I'll eat with all the passion of a whole
day's fast. "

The old earl smiled and sighed as he rejoined, "I have more serious
reason than you to curse this sparrow-hawk. But go in and we will not
have a word about him even jokingly unless you wish it. "

Whereupon Geraint passed into the desolate castle court, where the
stones of the pavement were all broken and overgrown with wild plants,
and the turrets and walls were shattered. As he stood awaiting the Earl
Yniol, the voice of a young girl singing like a nightingale rang out
from one of the open castle windows.

It was the voice of Enid, Earl Yniol's daughter as she sang the song of
Fortune and her Wheel:

"Turn, Fortune, thy wheel with smile or frown,
With that wild wheel we go not up or down;
Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. "

"The song of that little bird describes the nest she lives in," cried
Earl Yniol approaching. "Enter. "

Geraint alighted from his charger and stepped within the large dusky
cobwebbed hall, where an aged lady sat, with Enid moving about her, like
a little flower in a wilted sheath of a faded silk gown.

"Enid, the good knight's horse is standing in the court," cried the
earl. "Take him to the stall and give him some corn, then go to town and
buy us some meat and wine. "

[Illustration: GERAINT STEPPED WITHIN THE DUSKY COBWEBBED HALL. ]

Geraint wished that he might do this servant's work instead of this
pretty young lady, but as he started to follow her the old gray earl
stopped him.

"We're old and poor," he said, "but not so poor and old as to let our
guests wait upon themselves. "

So Enid fetched the wine and the meat and the cakes and the bread; and
she served at the table while her mother, father and Geraint sat around.
Geraint wished that he might stoop to kiss her tender little thumb as it
held the platter when she laid it down.

[Illustration: ENID FETCHED THE WINE AND THE MEAT AND THE CAKES. ]

"Fair host and Earl," he said after his refreshing supper, "who is this
sparrow-hawk that everybody in the town is talking about? And yet I do
not wish you to give me his name, for perhaps he is the knight I saw
riding into the new fortress the other side of the bridge at the other
end of the town. His name I am going to have from his own lips, for I
am Geraint of Devon. This morning when the queen sent her maid to find
out his name he struck at the girl with his whip, and I've sworn
vengeance for such a great insult done our queen, and have followed him
to his hold, and as soon as I can get arms I will fight him. "

"And are you the renowned Geraint? " cried Earl Yniol beaming. "Well, as
soon as I saw you coming toward me on the bridge I knew that you were no
ordinary man. By the state and presence of your bearing I might have
guessed you to be one of Arthur's Knights of the Round Table at Camelot.
Pray do not suppose that I am flattering you foolishly. This dear child
of mine has often heard me telling glorious stories of all the famous
things you have done for the king and the people. And she has asked me
to repeat them again and again.

"Poor thing, there never has lived a woman with such miserable lovers as
she has had. The first was Limours, who did nothing but drink and brawl,
even when he was making love to her. And the second was the
'sparrow-hawk,' my nephew, my curse. I will not let his name slip from
me if I can help it. When I told him that he could not marry my daughter
he spread a false rumour all round here among the people that his father
had left him a great sum of money in my keeping and that I had never
passed it over to him but had retained it for myself. He bribed all my
servants with large promises and stirred up this whole little old town
of mine against me, my own town. That was the night of Enid's birthday
nearly three years ago. They sacked my house, ousted me from my earldom,
threw us into this dilapidated, dingy old place and built up that grand
new white fort. He would kill me if he did not despise me too much to
do so; and sometimes I believe I despise myself for letting him have his
way. I scarcely know whether I am very wise or very silly, very manly or
very base to suffer it all so patiently. "

"Well said," cried Geraint eagerly. "But the arms, the arms, where can I
get arms for myself? Then if the sparrow-hawk will fight tomorrow in the
tourney I may be able to bring down his terrible pride a little. "

"I have arms," said Yniol, "although they are old and rusty, Prince
Geraint, and you would be welcome to have them for the asking. But in
this tournament of tomorrow no knight is allowed to tilt unless the lady
he loves best come there too. The forks are fastened into the meadow
ground and over them is placed a silver wand, above that a golden
sparrow-hawk, the prize of beauty for the fairest woman there. And
whoever wins in the tourney presents this to the lady-love whom he has
brought with him. Since my nephew is a man of very large bone and is
clever with his lance he has always won it for his lady. That is how he
has earned his title of sparrow-hawk. But you have no lady so you will
not be able to fight. "

Then Geraint leaned forward toward the earl.

"With your leave, noble Earl Yniol," he replied, "I will do battle for
your daughter. For although I have seen all the beauties of the day
never have I come upon anything so wonderfully lovely as she. If it
should happen that I prove victor, as true as heaven, I will make her my
wife! "

Yniol's heart danced in his bosom for joy, and he turned about for Enid,
but she had fluttered away as soon as her name had been mentioned, so
he tenderly grasped the hands of her mother in his own and said:

"Mother, young girls are shy little things and best understood by their
own mothers. Before you go to rest to night, find out what Enid will
think about this. "

So the earl's wife passed out to speak with Enid, and Enid became so
glad and excited that she could not sleep the entire happy night long.
But very early the next morning, as soon as the pale sky began to redden
with the sun she arose, then called her mother, and hand in hand,
tripped over with her to the place of the tournament. There they awaited
for Yniol and Geraint. Geraint came wearing the Earl's rusty, worn old
arms, yet in spite of them looked stately and princely.