No More Learning

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THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
887
renomed crysten kyng, fyrst and chyef of the thre best crysten and
worthy, kyng Arthur, whyche ought moost to be remembred emonge
us Englysshe men tofore al other crysten kynges. "
Nor did poetic treatment of the theme then cease. Dante, in the
'Divine Comedy,' speaks by name of Arthur, Guinevere, Tristan, and
Launcelot. In that touching interview in the second cycle of the
Inferno between the poet and Francesca da Rimini, which Carlyle
has called "a thing woven out of rainbows on a ground of eternal
black," Francesca replies to Dante, who was bent to know the primal
root whence her love for Paolo gat being:—
"One day
For our delight, we read of Launcelot,
How him love thralled. Alone we were, and no
Suspicion near us. Oft-times by that reading
Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue
Fled from our altered cheek. But at one point
Alone we fell. When of that smile we read,
The wished smile, rapturously kissed
By one so deep in love, then he, who ne'er
From me shall separate, at once my lips
All trembling kissed. The book and writer both
Were love's purveyors. In its leaves that day
We read no more. "
This poetic material was appropriated also by the countrymen of
Dante, Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso, by Hans Sachs in Germany, by
Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton in England. As Sir Walter Scott
has sung:-
"The mightiest chiefs of British song
Scorned not such legends to prolong. "
Roger Ascham, it is true, has, in his 'Scholemaster' (1570 A. D. ),
broken a lance against this body of fiction. "In our forefathers'
tyme," wrote he. "whan Papistrie, as a standyng poole, couered and
ouerflowed all England, fewe bookes were read in our tong, sauyng
certaine bookes of Cheualrie, as they sayd, for pastime and pleasure,
which, as some say, were made in Monasteries, by idle Monkes, or
wanton Chanons; as one for example, Morte Arthure': the whole
pleasure of which booke standeth in two special poyntes, in open
mans slaughter. and bold bawdrye in which booke those be counted
the noblest Knights, that do kill most men without any quarrell,
and commit foulest aduoulteries by sutlest shiftes. "
But Roger's characterization of "the whole pleasure of which
booke" was not just, nor did it destroy interest in the theme. "The
generall end of all the booke. " said Spenser of the 'Faerie Queene,'


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THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
"is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle
discipline;" and for this purpose he therefore "chose the historye of
King Arthure, as most fitte for the excellency of his person, being
made famous by many men's former workes, and also furthest from
the daunger of envie, and suspition of present tyme. "
The plots for Shakespeare's 'King Lear' and 'Cymbeline' came
from Geoffrey's 'Historia Britonum,' as did also the story of 'Gorbo-
duc,' the first tragedy in the English language. Milton intended at
one time that the subject of the great poem for which he was "plum-
ing his wings" should be King Arthur, as may be seen, in his 'Man-
sus' and 'Epitaphium Damonis. ' Indeed, he did touch the lyre upon
this theme,-lightly, it is true, but firmly enough to justify Swin-
burne's lines:-
"Yet Milton's sacred feet have lingered there,
His lips have made august the fabulous air,
His hands have touched and left the wild weeds fair. »
But his duties as Latin Secretary to the Commonwealth diverted him
from poetry for many years, and when the Restoration gave him
leisure once more to court the Muse, he had come to doubt the exist-
ence of the Celtic hero-king; for in 'Paradise Lost' (Book i. , line
579) he refers to
"what resounds
In fable or romance of Uther's son;"
and in his 'History of Britain' (1670 A. D. ) he says explicitly:- "For
who Arthur was, and whether ever any such reign'd in Britan, hath
bin doubted heertofore, and may again with good reason. "
Dryden, who composed the words of an opera on King Arthur,
meditated, according to Sir Walter Scott, a larger treatment of the
theme:-
:-
"And Dryden in immortal strain
Had raised the Table Round again,
But that a ribald King and Court
Bade him toil on to make them sport. »
Sir Walter himself edited the old metrical romance of 'Sir Tristram,·
and where the manuscript was defective, composed a portion after
the manner of the original, the portion in which occur the lines,
"Mi schip do thou take,
With godes that bethe new;
Two seyles do thou make,
Beth different in hewe:


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THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
889
«Ysoude of Britanye,
With the white honde,
The schip she can se,
Seyling to londe;
The white seyl tho marked sche.
"Fairer ladye ere
Did Britannye never spye,
Swiche murning chere,
Making on heighe;
On Tristremes bere,
Doun con she lye;
Rise ogayn did sche nere,
But thare con sche dye
For woe:
Swiche lovers als thei
Never schal be moe. "
Of the poets of the present generation, Tennyson has treated the
Arthurian poetic heritage as a whole. Phases of the Arthurian
theme have been presented also by his contemporaries and suc-
cessors at home and abroad,- by William Wordsworth, Lord Lytton,
Robert Stephen Hawker, Matthew Arnold, William Morris, Algernon
Charles Swinburne, in England; Edgar Quinet in France; Wilhelm
Hertz, L. Schneegans, F. Roeber, in Germany; Richard Hovey in
America. There have been many other approved variations on
Arthurian themes, such as James Russell Lowell's 'Vision of Sir
Launfal,' and Richard Wagner's operas, Lohengrin,' Tristan and
Isolde,' and 'Parsifal. ' Of still later versions, we may mention the
'King Arthur' of J. Comyns Carr, which has been presented on the
stage by Sir Henry Irving; and Under King Constantine,' by Katrina
Trask, whose hero is the king whom tradition names as the successor
of the heroic Arthur, "Imperator, Dux Bellorum. "
This poetic material is manifestly a living force in the literature
of the present day. And we may well remind ourselves of the rule
which should govern our verdict in regard to the new treatments
of the theme as they appear. This century-old Dichterstoff,' this
poetic treasure-store through which speaks the voice of the race, this
great body of accumulated poetic material, is a heritage; and it is
evident that whoever attempts any phase of this theme may not
treat such subject-matter capriciously, nor otherwise than in har-
mony with its inherent nature and spirit. It is recognized that the
stuff whereof great poetry is made is not the arbitrary creation of
the poet, and cannot be manufactured to order. "Genuine poetic
material," it has been said, "is handed down in the imagination of
man from generation to generation, changing its spirit according to


## p. 890 (#312) ############################################

890
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
the spirit of each age, and reaching its full development only when
in the course of time the favorable conditions coincide. " Inasmuch
as the subject-matter of the Arthurian legends is not the creation of
a single poet, nor even of many poets, but is in fact the creation of
the people. -indeed, of many peoples widely separated in time and
space, and is thus in a sense the voice of the race, it resembles
in this respect the Faust legends, which are the basis of Goethe's
world-poem; or the medieval visions of a future state, which found
their supreme and final expression in Dante's 'Divina Commedia,'
which sums up within itself the art, the religion, the politics, the
philosophy, and the view of life of the Middle Ages.
Whether the Arthurian legends as a whole have found their final
and adequate expression in Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King,' or
whether it was alread, too late, when the Laureate wrote, to create
from primitive ideas so simple a poem of the first rank, is not
within the province of this essay to discuss. But manifestly, any
final judgment in regard to the treatment of this theme as a whole,
or any phase of the theme, is inadequate which leaves out of con-
sideration the history of the subject-matter, and its treatment by
other poets; which, in short, ignores its possibilities and its signifi-
cance. With respect to the origin and the early history of the
Arthurian legend, much remains to be established. Whether its
original home was in Wales, or among the neighboring Celts across
the sea in Brittany, whither many of the Celts of Britain fled after
the Anglo-Saxon invasion of their island home, no one knows. But
to some extent, at least, the legend was common to both sides of
the Channel when Geoffrey wrote his book, about 1145. As a matter
of course, this King Arthur, the ideal hero of later ages, was a less
commanding personage in the early forms of the legend than when
it had acquired its splendid distinction by borrowing and assimilating
other mythical tales.
It appears that five great cycles of legend, —(1) the Arthur, Gui-
nevere, and Merlin cycle, (2) the Round Table cycle, (3) the Holy
Grail cycle, (4) the Launcelot cycle, (5) the Tristan cycle, - which at
first developed independently, were, in the latter half of the twelfth
century, merged together into a body of legend whose bond of unity
was the idealized Celtic hero, King Arthur.
This blameless knight, whose transfigured memory has been thus
transmitted to us, was probably a leader of the Celtic tribes of
England in their struggles with the Saxon invaders. His victory at
Mount Badon, described by Sir Launcelot to the household at
Astolat,
"Dull days were those, till our good Arthur broke
The pagan yet once more on Badon Hill,» —


## p. 891 (#313) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
891
this victory is mentioned by Gildas, who wrote in the sixth century.
Gildas, however, though he mentions the occasion, does not give the
name of the leader. But Nennius, who wrote in the latter part of the
eighth century, or early in the ninth, makes Arthur the chieftain,
and adds an account of his great personal prowess. Thus the Arthur
legend has already begun to grow. For the desperate struggle with
the Saxons was vain. As the highly gifted, imaginative Celt saw
his people overwhelmed by the kinsmen of the conquerors of Rome,
he found solace in song for the hard facts of life. In the fields of
imagination he won the victories denied him on the field of battle,
and he clustered these triumphs against the enemies of his race
about the name and the person of the magnanimous Arthur. When
the descendants of the Saxons were in their turn overcome by Nor-
man conquerors, the heart of the Celtic world was profoundly stirred.
Ancient memories awoke, and, yearning for the restoration of British
greatness, men rehearsed the deeds of him who had been king, and
of whom it was prophesied that he should be king hereafter.
this moment of newly awakened hope, Geoffrey's Historia' appeared.
His book was not in reality a history. Possibly it was not even
very largely founded on existing legends. But in any case the
chronicle of Geoffrey was a work of genius and of imagination.
"The figure of Arthur," says Ten Brink, "now stood forth in brill-
iant light, a chivalrous king and hero, endowed and guarded by
supernatural powers, surrounded by brave warriors and a splendid
court, a man of marvelous life and a tragic death. "
At
Geoffrey's book was immediately translated into French by Robert
Wace, who incorporated with the legend of Arthur the Round Table
legend. In his 'Brut,' the English poet-priest Layamon reproduced
this feature of the legend with additional details. His chronicle is
largely a free translation of the 'Brut d'Engleterre' of Wace, earlier
known as 'Geste des Bretons. ' Thus as Wace had reproduced Geof-
frey with additions and modifications, Layamon reproduced Wace. So
the story grew.
In the mean time, other poets in other lands had
taken up the theme, connecting with it other cycles of legend already
in existence. In 1205, when Layamon wrote his 'Brut,' unnumbered
versions of the history of King Arthur, with which had been woven
the legend of the Holy Grail, had already appeared among the
principal nations of Europe. Of the early Arthurian poets, two of
the more illustrious and important are Chrestien de Troyes, in France,
of highest poetic repute, who opened the way for Tennyson, and
Wolfram von Eschenbach, in Germany, with his 'Parzival,' later the
theme of Wagner's greatest opera. The names of Robert de Borron
in France, Walter Map in England, and Heinrich von dem Türlin in
Germany, may also be mentioned.


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892
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
In divers lands, innumerable poets with diverse tastes set them-
selves to make new versions of the legend. Characteristics of the
Arthurian tale were grafted upon an entirely different stock, as was
done by Boiardo in Italy, making confusion worse confounded to the
modern Arthurian scholar. Boiardo expressly says in the 'Orlando
Innamorato' that his intention is to graft the characteristics of the
Arthurian cycle upon the Carlovingian French national epic stock.
He wished to please the courts, whose ideal was not the paladins,
but Arthur's knights. The "peers" of the Charlemagne legend are
thus transformed into knights-errant, who fight for ladies and for
honor. The result of this interpenetration of the two cycles is a
splendid world of love and cortesia, whose constituent elements it
defies the Arthurian scholar to trace. Truly, as Dr. Sommer has
said in his erudite edition of Malory's 'La Morte d'Arthur,' "The
origin and relationship to one another of these branches of romance,
whether in prose or in verse, are involved in great obscurity. " He
adds that it would almost seem as though several generations of
scholars were required for the gigantic task of finding a sure path-
way through this intricate maze. And M. Gaston Paris, one of the
foremost of living Arthurian scholars, has written in his 'Romania':
"Some time ago I undertook a methodical exploration in the grand
poetical domain which is called the cycle of the Round Table, the
cycle of Arthur, or the Breton cycle. I advance, groping along, and
very often retracing my steps twenty times over, I become aware
that I am lost in a pathless maze. »
There is a question, moreover, whether Geoffrey's book is based
mainly upon inherited poetical material, or is largely the product of
Geoffrey's individual imagination. The elder Paris, M. Paulin Paris
inclined to the view that Nennius, with hints from local tales, sup-
plied all the bases that Geoffrey had. But his son, Professor Gaston
Paris, in his 'Littérature Française au Moyen Age,' emphasizes the
importance of the "Celtic" contribution, as does also Mr. Alfred
Nutt in his 'Studies in the Arthurian Legend. ' The former view
emphasizes the individual importance of Geoffrey; the latter view
places the emphasis on the legendary heritage. Referring to this
so-called national poetry, Ten Brink says:—
"But herein lies the essential difference between that age and our own:
the result of poetical activity was not the property and not the production of
a single person, but of the community. . The work of the individual singer
endured only as long as its delivery lasted. He gained personal distinction
only as a virtuoso. The permanent elements of what he presented, the
material, the ideas, even the style and metre, already existed. The work of
the singer was only a ripple in the stream of national poetry. Who can say
how much the individual contributed to it, or where in his poetical recitation


## p. 893 (#315) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
893
memory ceased and creative impulse began! In any case the work of the
individual lived on only as the ideal possession of the aggregate body of the
people, and it soon lost the stamp of originality. "
When Geoffrey wrote, this period of national poetry was drawing
to a close; but was not yet closed. Alfred Nutt, in his 'Studies in
the Legend of the Holy Grail,' speaking of Wolfram von Eschenbach,
who wrote his 'Parzival' about the time that the 'Nibelungenlied'
was given its present form (i. e. , about a half-century after Geoffrey),
says:-"Compared with the unknown poets who gave their present
shape to the Nibelungenlied' or to the 'Chanson de Roland,' he is
an individual writer; but he is far from deserving this epithet even
in the sense that Chaucer deserves it. " Professor Rhys says, in his
'Studies in the Arthurian Legend':- "Leaving aside for a while the
man Arthur, and assuming the existence of a god of that name, let
us see what could be made of him. Mythologically speaking, he
would probably have to be regarded as a Culture Hero," etc.
To summarize this discussion of the difficulties of the theme, there
are now existing, scattered throughout the libraries and the monas-
teries of Europe, unnumbered versions of the Arthurian legends.
Some of these are early versions, some are late, and some are inter-
mediate. What is the relation of all these versions to one another?
Which are the oldest, and which are copies, and of what versions
are they copies? What is the land of their origin, and what is the
significance of their symbolism? These problems, weighty in tracing
the growth of mediæval ideals,-i. e. , in tracing the development of
the realities of the present from the ideals of the past, — are still
under investigation by the specialists. The study of the Arthurian
legends is in itself a distinct branch of learning, which demands the
lifelong labors of scholarly devotees.
-
There now remains to consider the extraordinary spread of the
legend in the closing decades of the twelfth century and in the
century following. Though Tennyson has worthily celebrated as the
morning star of English song —
"Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath
Preluded those melodious bursts that fill
The spacious times of great Elizabeth
With sounds that echo still,"
yet the centuries before Chaucer, far from being barren of literature,
were periods of rich poetical activity both in England and on the
Continent. Eleanor of Aquitaine, formerly Queen of France,-who
had herself gone on a crusade to the Holy Land, and who, on return-
ing, married in 1152 Henry of Anjou, who became in 1155 Henry II.


## p. 894 (#316) ############################################

894
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
of England,—was an ardent patroness of the art of poetry, and per-
sonally aroused the zeal of poets. The famous troubadour Bernard de
Ventadorn-"with whom," says Ten Brink, "the Provençal art-poesy
entered upon the period of its florescence"- followed her to England,
and addressed to her his impassioned verse. Wace, the Norman-
French trouvere, dedicated to her his 'Brut. ' The ruling classes of
England at this time were truly cosmopolitan, familiar with the
poetic material of many lands. Jusserand, in his English Novel in
the Time of Shakespeare,' discussing a poem of the following cen-
tury written in French by a Norman monk of Westminster and dedi-
cated to Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III. , says:-"Rarely
was the like seen in any literature: here is a poem dedicated to a
Frenchwoman by a Norman of England, which begins with the praise
of a Briton, a Saxon, and a Dane. "
But the ruling classes of England were not the only cosmopoli-
tans, nor the only possessors of fresh poetic material. Throughout
Europe in general, the conditions were favorable for poetic produc-
tion. The Crusades had brought home a larger knowledge of the
world, and the stimulus of new experiences. Western princes re-
turned with princesses of the East as their brides, and these were
accompanied by splendid trains, including minstrels and poets. Thus
Europe gathered in new poetic material, which stimulated and devel-
oped the poetical activity of the age. Furthermore, the Crusades
had aroused an intense idealism, which, as always, demanded and
found poetic expression. The dominant idea pervading the earlier
forms of the Charlemagne stories, the unswerving loyalty due from a
vassal to his lord,- that is, the feudal view of life, no longer found
an echo in the hearts of men. The time was therefore propitious for
the development of a new cycle of legend.
Though by the middle of the twelfth century the Arthurian
legend had been long in existence, and King Arthur had of late
been glorified by Geoffrey's book, the legend was not yet supreme in
popular interest. It became so through its association, a few years
later, with the legend of the Holy Grail,- the San Graal, the holy
vessel which received at the Cross the blood of Christ, which was
now become a symbol of the Divine Presence. This holy vessel had
been brought by Joseph of Arimathea from Palestine to Britain, but
was now, alas, vanished quite from the sight of man. It was the
holy quest for this sacred vessel, to which the knights of the Round
Table now bound themselves,- this "search for the supernatural,»
this "struggle for the spiritual," this blending of the spirit of Christ-
ianity with that of chivalry,- which immediately transformed the
Arthurian legend, and gave to its heroes immortality. At once a
new spirit breathes in the old legend. In a few years it is become


## p. 895 (#317) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
895
a mystical, symbolical, anagogical tale, inculcating one of the pro-
foundest dogmas of the Holy Catholic Church, a bearer of a Christian
doctrine engrossing the thought of the Christian world. And inas-
much as the transformed Arthurian legend now taught by implication
the doctrine of the Divine Presence, its spread was in every way
furthered by the great power of the Church, whose spiritual rulers
made the minstrel doubly welcome when celebrating this theme.
For there was heresy to be combated; viz. , the heresy of the
scholastic theologian Berengar of Tours, who had attacked the doc-
trine of the transubstantiation of the bread and the wine of the
Eucharist into the body and blood of Christ. Lanfranc, Archbishop
of Canterbury, one of the most brilliant of the Middle Age theologi-
ans, felt impelled to reply to Berengar, who had been his personal
friend; and he did so in the 'Liber Scintillarum,' which was a vigor-
ous, indeed a violent, defense of the doctrine denied by Berenga. .
Berengar died in 1088; but he left a considerable body of followers.
The heretics were anathematized by the Second Lateran Ecumenical
Council held in Rome in 1139. Again, in 1215, the Fourth Lateran
Council declared transubstantiation to be an article of faith, and in
1264 a special holy day, Corpus Christi,-viz. , the first Thursday after
Trinity Sunday,- was set apart to give an annual public manifesta-
tion of the belief of the Church in the doctrine of the Eucharist.
―――――――
But when the Fourth Lateran Ecumenical Council met in 1215,
the transformation of the Arthurian legend by means of its associa-
tion with the legend of the Holy Grail was already complete, and
the transformed legend, now become a defender of the faith, was
engrossing the imagination of Europe. The subsequent influence of
the legend was doubtless to some extent associated with the discus-
sions which continually came up anew respecting the meaning of the
doctrine of the Eucharist; for it was not until the Council of Trent
(1545-63) that the doctrine was finally and authoritatively defined.
In the mean time there was interminable discussion respecting the
nature of this "real presence," respecting transubstantiation and con-
substantiation and impanation, respecting the actual presence of the
body and blood of Christ under the appearance of the bread and
wine, or the presence of the body and blood together with the bread
and wine. · The professor of philosophy in the University of Oxford,
who passes daily through Logic Lane, has said that there the follow-
ers of Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas were wont to come to
blows in the eagerness of their discussion respecting the proper defi-
nition of the doctrine. Nor was the doctrine without interest to the
Reformers. Luther and Zwingli held opposing views, and Calvin was
involved in a long dispute concerning the doctrine, which resulted in
the division of the evangelical body into the two parties of the


## p. 896 (#318) ############################################

896
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
Lutherans and the Reformed.
Doubtless the connection between the
Arthurian legend and the doctrine of the Divine Presence was not
without influence on the unparalleled spread of the legend in the
closing decades of the twelfth century, and on its prominence in the
centuries following.
A suggestion has already been given of the vast development of
the Arthurian legends during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries, and of the importance of the labors of the specialists, who
are endeavoring to fix a date for these versions in order to infer
therefrom the spiritual ideals of the people among whom they arose.
To perceive clearly to what extent ideals do change, it is but neces-
sary to compare various versions of the same incident as given in
various periods of time. To go no farther back than Malory, for
example, we observe a signal difference between his treatment of
the sin of Guinevere and Launcelot, and the treatment of the theme
by Tennyson. Malory's Arthur is not so much wounded by the
treachery of Launcelot, of whose relations to Guinevere he had long
been aware, as he is angered at Sir Modred for making public those
disclosures which made it necessary for him and Sir Launcelot to
"bee at debate. " "Ah! Agravaine, Agravaine," cries the King, “Jesu
forgive it thy soule! for thine evil will that thou and thy brother
Sir Modred had unto Sir Launcelot hath caused all this sorrow.
Wit you well my heart was never so heavie as it is now,
and much more I am sorrier for my good knights losse than for the
losse of my queene, for queenes might I have enough, but such a
fellowship of good knightes shall never bee together in no com-
pany. "
But to the great Poet Laureate, who voices the modern
ideal, a true marriage is the crown of life. To love one maiden
only, to cleave to her and worship her by years of noblest deeds, to
be joined with her and to live together as one life, and, reigning
with one will in all things, to have power on this dead world to
make it live, this was the high ideal of the blameless King,
"Too wholly true to dream untruth in thee. »
―――
And his farewell from her who had not made his life so sweet that
he should greatly care to live,
---
"Lo! I forgive thee, as Eternal God
Forgives:
And so thou lean on our fair father Christ,
Hereafter in that world where all are pure
We two may meet before high God, and thou
Wilt spring to me, and claim me thine,»-
this is altogether one of the noblest passages in modern verse.


## p. 897 (#319) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
897
A comparison of the various modern treatments of the Tristram
theme, as given by Tennyson, Richard Wagner, F. Roeber, L.
Schneegans, Matthew Arnold, Algernon Charles Swinburne, F. Mil-
lard, touching also on the Tristan of Hans Sachs, and the Tristram
who, because he is true to love, is the darling of the old romances,
and is there—notwithstanding that his love is the wedded wife of
another always represented as the strong and beautiful knight, the
flower of courtesy, a model to youth,-such a comparison would
reveal striking differences between mediæval and modern ideals.
In making the comparison, however, care must be exercised to
select the modern treatment of the theme which represents correctly
the modern ideal. The Middle Age romances, sung by wandering
minstrels, before the invention of the printing press, doubtless ex-
pressed the ideals of the age in which they were produced more
infallibly than does the possibly individualistic conception of the
modern poet; for, of the earlier forms of the romance, only those
which found general favor were likely to be preserved and handed
down. This inference may be safely made because of the method of
the dissemination of the poems before the art of printing was known.
It is true that copies of them were carried in manuscript from
country to country; but the more important means of dissemination
were the minstrels, who passed from court to court and land to land,
singing the songs which they had made or heard. In that age there
was little thought of literary proprietorship. The poem belonged to
him who could recall it. And as each minstrel felt free to adopt
whatever poem he found or heard that pleased him, so he felt free
also to modify the incidents thereof, guided only by his experience
as to what pleased his hearers. Hence the countless variations in
the treatment of the theme, and the value of the conclusions that
may be drawn as to the moral sentiment of an age, the quality of
whose moral judgments is indicated by the prevailing tone of the
songs which persisted because they pleased. Unconformable varia-
tions, which express the view of an individual rather than the view
of a people, may have come down to us in an accidentally preserved
manuscript; but the songs which were sung by the poets of all lands
give expression to the view of life of the age, and reveal the morals
and the ideals of nations, whose history in this respect may other-
wise be lost to us. What some of these ideals were, as revealed by
this rich store of poetic material which grew up about the chivalrous
and spiritual ideals of the Middle Ages, and what the corresponding
modern ideals are,- what, in brief, some of the hitherto dimly dis-
cerned ethical movements of the past seven hundred years have in
reality been, and whither they seem to be tending,- surely, clear
knowledge on these themes is an end worthy the supreme endeavor
11-57


## p. 898 (#320) ############################################

898
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
of finished scholars, whose training has made them expert in inter-
preting the aspirations of each age, and in tracing the evolution of
the ideals of the past into the realities of the present. And though,
as M. Gaston Paris has said, the path of the Arthurian scholar
seems at times to be an inextricable maze, yet the value of the
results already achieved, and the possibility of still greater results,
will doubtless prove a sufficient encouragement to the several gener-
ations of scholars which, as Dr. Sommer suggests, are needed for
the gigantic task.
Richard Jones
FROM GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH'S HISTORIA BRITONUM ›
ARTHUR SUCCEEDS UTHER, HIS FATHER, IN THE KINGDOM OF BRITAIN,
AND BESIEGES COLGRIN
U
THER Pendragon being dead, the nobility from several prov
inces assembled together at Silchester, and proposed to
Dubricius, Archbishop of Legions, that he should consecrate
Arthur, Uther's son, to be their king. For they were now in
great straits, because, upon hearing of the king's death, the Sax-
ons had invited over their countrymen from Germany, and were
attempting, under the command of Colgrin, to exterminate the
whole British race.
Dubricius, therefore, grieving for
the calamities of his country, in conjunction with the other bish-
ops set the crown upon Arthur's head. Arthur was then only
fifteen years old, but a youth of such unparalleled courage and
generosity, joined with that sweetness of temper and innate good-
ness, as gained for him universal love.
When his coronation
was over, he, according to usual custom, showed his bounty
and munificence to the people. And such a number of soldiers
flocked to him upon it that his treasury was not able to answer
that vast expense. But such a spirit of generosity, joined with
valor, can never long want means to support itself. Arthur,
therefore, the better to keep up his munificence, resolved to make
use of his courage, and to fall upon the Saxons, that he might
enrich his followers with their wealth. To this he was also
moved by the justice of the cause, since the entire monarchy of
Britain belonged to him by hereditary right. Hereupon assem-
bling the youth under his command, he marched to York, of


## p. 899 (#321) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
899
which, when Colgrin had intelligence, he met with a very great
army, composed of Saxons, Scots, and Picts, by the river Dug-
las, where a battle happened, with the loss of the greater part
of both armies. Notwithstanding, the victory fell to Arthur, who
pursued Colgrin to York, and there besieged him.
DUBRICIUS'S SPEECH AGAINST THE TREACHEROUS SAXONS, OF WHOM
ARTHUR SLAYS MANY IN BATTLE
WHEN he had done speaking, St. Dubricius, Archbishop of
Legions, going to the top of a hill, cried out with a loud voice,
"You that have the honor to profess the Christian faith, keep
fixed in your minds the love which you owe to your country and
fellow subjects, whose sufferings by the treachery of the Pagans
will be an everlasting reproach to you if you do not courageously
defend them. It is your country which you fight for, and for
which you should, when required, voluntarily suffer death; for
that itself is victory and the cure of the soul. For he that shall
die for his brethren, offers himself a living sacrifice to God, and
has Christ for his example, who condescended to lay down his
life for his brethren. If, therefore, any of you shall be killed in
this war, that death itself, which is suffered in so glorious a
cause, shall be to him for penance and absolution of all his sins. "
At these words, all of them, encouraged with the benediction of
the holy prelate, instantly armed themselves.
Upon
[Arthur's shield] the picture of the blessed Mary, Mother of
God, was painted, in order to put him frequently in mind of
her.
In this manner was a great part of that day also
spent; whereupon Arthur, provoked to see the little advantage he
had yet gained, and that victory still continued in suspense, drew
out his Caliburn [Excalibur, Tennyson], and calling upon the
name of the blessed Virgin, rushed forward with great fury into
the thickest of the enemy's ranks; of whom (such was the merit
of his prayers) not one escaped alive that felt the fury of his
sword; neither did he give over the fury of his assault until he
had, with his Caliburn alone, killed four hundred and seventy
men. The Britons, seeing this, followed their leader in great
multitudes, and made slaughter on all sides; so that Colgrin and
Baldulph, his brother, and many thousands more, fell before them.
But Cheldric, in his imminent danger of his men, betook himself
to flight.
.
·
.


## p. 900 (#322) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
900
ARTHUR INCREASES HIS DOMINIONS
AFTER this, having invited over to him all persons whatsoever
that were famous for valor in foreign nations, he began to aug-
ment the number of his domestics, and introduced such politeness
into his court as people of the remotest countries thought worthy
of their imitation. So that there was not a nobleman who
thought himself of any consideration unless his clothes and arms
were made in the same fashion as those of Arthur's knights. At
length the fame of his munificence and valor spreading over the
whole world, he became a terror to the kings of other countries,
who grievously feared the loss of their dominions if he should
make any attempt upon them.
Arthur formed a design
for the conquest of all Europe.
At the end of nine
years, in which time all the parts of Gaul were entirely reduced,
Arthur returned back to Paris, where he kept his court, and call-
ing an assembly of the clergy and people, established peace and
the just administration of the laws in that kingdom. Then he
bestowed Neustria, now called Normandy, upon Bedoer, his but-
ler; the province of Andegavia upon Caius, his sewer; and sev-
eral other provinces upon his great men that attended him.
Thus, having settled the peace of the cities and the countries.
there, he returned back in the beginning of spring to Britain.
ARTHUR HOLDS A SOLEMN FESTIVAL
UPON the approach of the feast of Pentecost, Arthur, the better
to demonstrate his joy after such triumphant success, and for the
more solemn observation of that festival, and reconciling the
minds of the princes that were now subject to him, resolved,
during that season, to hold a magnificent court, to place the
crown upon his head, and to invite all the kings and dukes under
his subjection to the solemnity. And when he had communicated
his design to his familiar friends, he pitched upon the city of
Legions as a proper place for his purpose.
For besides its great
wealth above the other cities, its situation, which was in Glamor-
ganshire, upon the River Uske, near the Severn Sea, was most
pleasant and fit for so great a solemnity; for on one side it was
washed by that noble river, so that the kings and princes from
the countries beyond the seas might have the convenience of sail-
ing up to it. On the other side, the beauty of the meadows and
groves, and magnificence of the royal palaces, with lofty, gilded


## p. 901 (#323) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
901
roofs that adorned it, made it even rival the grandeur of Rome.
It was also famous for two churches: whereof one was built in
honor of the martyr Julius, and adorned with a choir of virgins,
who had devoted themselves wholly to the service of God; but
the other, which was founded in memory of St. Aaron, his com-
panion, and maintained a convent of canons, was the third metro-
politan church of Britain. Besides, there was a college of two
hundred philosophers, who, being learned in astronomy and the
other arts, were diligent in observing the courses of the stars, and
gave Arthur true predictions of the events that would happen at
that time. In this place, therefore, which afforded such delights,
were preparations made for the ensuing festival. Ambassadors
were sent into several kingdoms to invite to court the princes
both of Gaul and all the adjacent islands.
who came with
such a train of mules, horses, and rich furniture as it is difficult
to describe. Besides these, there remained no prince of any con-
sideration on this side of Spain, who came not upon this invita-
tion. And no wonder, when Arthur's munificence, which was
celebrated over the whole world, made him beloved by all people.
When all these were assembled together in the city, upon the
day of the solemnity, the archbishops were conducted to the
palace, in order to place the crown upon the king's head. There-
fore Dubricius, inasmuch as the court was kept in his diocese,
made himself ready to celebrate the office, and undertook the
ordering of whatever related to it. As soon as the king was
invested with his royal habiliments, he was conducted in great
pomp to the metropolitan church, supported on each side by two
archbishops, and having four kings, viz. , of Albania, Cornwall,
Demetia, and Venedotia, whose right it was, bearing four golden
swords before him. He was also attended with a concert of all
sorts of music, which made most excellent harmony. On another
part was the queen, dressed out in her richest ornaments, con-
ducted by the archbishops and bishops to the Temple of Virgins;
the four queens also of the kings last mentioned, bearing before
her four white doves, according to ancient custom; and after her
there followed a retinue of women, making all imaginable dem-
onstrations of joy. When the whole procession was ended, so
transporting was the harmony of the musical instruments and.
voices, whereof there was a vast variety in both churches, that
the knights who attended were in doubt which to prefer, and
therefore crowded from the one to the other by turns, and were


## p. 902 (#324) ############################################

902
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
8
藤
​far from being tired with the solemnity, though the whole day
had been spent in it. At last, when divine service was over at
both churches, the king and queen put off their crowns, and put-
ting on their lighter ornaments, went to the banquet, he to one
palace with the men, she to another with the women. For the
Britons still observed the ancient custom of Troy, by which the
men and women used to celebrate their festivals apart. When
they had all taken their seats according to precedence, Caius, the
sewer, in rich robes of ermine, with a thousand young noblemen,
all in like manner clothed with ermine, served up the dishes.
From another part, Bedoer, the butler, was followed with the
same number of attendants, in various habits, who waited with
all kinds of cups and drinking vessels. In the queen's palace
were innumerable waiters, dressed with variety of ornaments, all
performing their respective offices; which, if I should describe
particularly, I should draw out the history to a tedious length.
For at that time Britain had arrived at such a pitch of grandeur,
that in abundance of riches, luxury of ornaments, and politeness.
of inhabitants, it far surpassed all other kingdoms. The knights
in it that were famous for feats of chivalry wore their clothes
and arms all of the same color and fashion: and the women
also, no less celebrated for their wit, wore all the same kind of
apparel; and esteemed none worthy of their love but such as
had given a proof of their valor in three several battles. Thus
was the valor of the men an encouragement for the women's
chastity, and the love of the women a spur to the soldiers'
bravery.
AFTER A VARIETY OF SPORTS AT THE CORONATION, ARTHUR AMPLY
REWARDS HIS SERVANTS
AS SOON as the banquets were over they went into the fields
without the city to divert themselves with various sports.
The
military men composed a kind of diversion in imitation of a fight
on horseback; and the ladies, placed on the top of the walls as
spectators, in a sportive manner darted their amorous glances at
the courtiers, the more to encourage them. Others spent the
remainder of the day in other diversions, such as shooting with
bows and arrows, tossing the pike, casting of heavy stones and
rocks, playing at dice and the like, and all these inoffensively and
without quarreling. Whoever gained the victory in any of these


## p. 903 (#325) ############################################

THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
903
sports was awarded with a rich prize by Arthur. In this manner
were the first three days spent; and on the fourth, all who, upon
account of their titles, bore any kind of office at this solemnity,
were called together to receive honors and preferments in reward
of their services, and to fill up the vacancies in the governments
of cities and castles, archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, and other
hosts of honor.
ARTHUR COMMITS TO HIS NEPHEW MODRED THE GOVERNMENT OF BRIT-
AIN, AND ENGAGES IN A WAR WITH ROME
AT THE beginning of the following summer, as he was on his
march toward Rome and was beginning to pass the Alps, he had
news brought him that his nephew Modred, to whose care he had
intrusted Britain, had, by tyrannical and treasonable practices, set
the crown upon his own head. [Book xi. , Chapters i. and ii. ] His
[Modred's] whole army, taking Pagans and Christians together,
amounted to eighty thousand men, with the help of whom he
met Arthur just after his landing at the port of Rutupi, and join-
ing battle with him, made a very great slaughter of his men.
After they had at last, with much difficulty, got ashore,
they paid back the slaughter, and put Modred and his army to
flight. For by long practice in war they had learned an excellent
way of ordering their forces; which was so managed that while
their foot were employed either in an assault or upon the defen-
sive, the horse would come in at full speed obliquely, break
through the enemy's ranks, and so force them to flee. Neverthe-
less, this perjured usurper got his forces together again, and the
night following entered Winchester. As soon as Queen Guan-
humara [Guinevere] heard this, she immediately, despairing of
success, fled from York to the City of Legions, where she resolved
to lead a chaste life among the nuns in the church of Julius the
Martyr, and entered herself one of their order.
In the battle that followed thereupon, great numbers lost their
lives on both sides. . . In this assault fell the wicked traitor
himself, and many thousands with him. But notwithstanding the
loss of him, the rest did not flee, but running together from all
parts of the field, maintained their ground with undaunted cour-
age. The fight now grew more furious than ever, and proved
fatal to almost all the commanders and their forces.
And
even the renowned King Arthur himself was mortally wounded;


## p. 904 (#326) ############################################

904
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
and being carried thence to the isle of Avallon to be cured of
his wounds, he gave up the crown of Britain to his kinsman
Constantine, the son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall, in the five
hundred and forty-second year of our Lord's incarnation.
THE HOLY GRAIL
From Malory's Morte d'Arthur'
"F
AIRE knight," said the King, "what is your name? I require
you of your knighthood to tell me.
>>
་་
"Sir," said Sir Launcelot, "wit ye well, my name is Sir
Launcelot du Lake. "
"And my name is Sir Pelles, king of the forrain countrey,
and nigh cousin unto Joseph of Arithmy" [Arimathea].
Then either of them made much of the other, and so they
went into the castle for to take their repast. And anon there
came in a dove at the window, and in her bill there seemed a
little censer of gold, and therewithal there was such a savor as
though all the spicery of the world had been there; and forth-
withal there was upon the table all manner of meates and drinkes
that they could thinke upon. So there came a damosell, passing
faire and young, and she beare a vessell of gold between her
hands, and thereto the king kneeled devoutly and said his prayers,
and so did all that were there.
"O Jesu," said Sir Launcelot, "what may this meane? "
"This is," said King Pelles, "the richest thing that any man
hath living; and when this thing goeth about, the round table
shall bee broken. And wit ye well," said King Pelles, "that
this is the holy sancgreall which ye have heere seene. "
So King Pelles and Sir Launcelot led their lives the most
part of that day.


## p. 905 (#327) ############################################

905
PETER CHRISTEN ASBJÖRNSEN
(1812-1885)
SBJÖRNSEN was born January 15th, 1812, at Christiania, Nor-
way. He entered the University in 1833, but was presently
obliged to take the position of tutor with a family in Rome-
rike. Four years later he came back to the University, where he
studied medicine, but also and particularly zoölogy and botany, sub-
jects which he subsequently taught in various schools. During his
life among the country people he had begun to collect folk-tales and
legends, and afterward, on long foot-tours undertaken in the pursuit
of his favorite studies, he added to this store. In co-operation with
his lifelong friend, Jörgen Moe, subsequently Bishop of Christiansand,
he published in 1838 a first collection of folk-stories. In later years
his study of folk-lore went on side by side with his study of zoölogy.
At various times, from 1846 to 1853, he received stipends from the
Christiania University to enable him to pursue zoological investiga-
tions at points along the Norwegian coast. In addition to these jour-
neys he had traversed Norway in every direction, partly to observe
the condition of the forests of the country, and partly to collect the
popular legends, which seem always to have been in his mind.
From 1856 to 1858 he studied forestry at Tharand, and in 1860
was made head forester of the district of Trondhjem, in the north of
Norway. He retained this position until 1864, when he was sent by
the government to Holland, Germany, and Denmark, to investigate
the turf industry. On his return he was made the head of a com-
mission whose purpose was to better the turf production of the coun-
try, from which position he was finally released with a pension in
1876. He died in 1885.
Asbjörnsen's principal literary work was in the direction of the
folk-tales of Norway, although the list of his writings on natural his-
tory, popular and scientific, is a long one. As a scientist he made
several important discoveries in deep-sea soundings, which gave him,
at home and abroad, a wide reputation, but the significance of his
work as a collector of folk-lore has in a great measure overshadowed
this phase of his activity. His greatest works are -'Norske Folke-
eventyr (Norwegian Folk Tales), in collaboration with Moe, which
appeared in 1842-44, and subsequently in many editions; Norske
Huldre-eventyr og Folkesagn' (Norwegian Fairy Tales and Folk
Legends) in 1845. In the stories published by Asbjörnsen alone, he
has not confined himself simply to the reproduction of the tales in


## p. 906 (#328) ############################################

906
PETER CHRISTEN ASBJÖRNSEN
•
their popular form, but has retold them with an admirable setting of
the characteristics of the life of the people in their particular envi-
ronment. He was a rare lover of nature, and there are many exqui-
site bits of natural description.
Asbjörnsen's literary power was of no mean merit, and his work
not only found immediate acceptance in his own country, but has
been widely translated into the other languages of Europe. Norwe-
gian literature in particular owes him a debt of gratitude, for he was
the first to point out the direction of the subsequent national devel-
opment.
GUDBRAND OF THE MOUNTAIN-SIDE
TH
HERE was once a man named Gudbrand, who had a farm which
lay on the side of a mountain, whence he was called Gud-
brand of the Mountain-side. He and his wife lived in such
harmony together, and were so well matched, that whatever the
husband did, seemed to the wife so well done that it could not be
done better; let him therefore act as he might, she was equally
well pleased.
They owned a plot of ground, and had a hundred dollars lying
at the bottom of a chest, and in the stall two fine cows. One
day the woman said to Gudbrand:-
:-
"I think we might as well drive one of the cows to town, and
sell it; we should then have a little pocket-money: for such
respectable persons as we are ought to have a few shillings in
hand as well as others. The hundred dollars at the bottom of
the chest we had better not touch; but I do not see why we
should keep more than one cow: besides, we shall be somewhat
the gainers; for instead of two cows, I shall have only one to
milk and look after. "
These words Gudbrand thought both just and reasonable; so
he took the cow and went to the town in order to sell it: but
when he came there, he could not find any one who wanted to
buy a cow.
"Well! " thought Gudbrand, "I can go home again with my
cow: I have both stall and collar for her, and it is no farther to
go backwards than forwards. " So saying, he began wandering
home again.
When he had gone a little way, he met a man who had a
horse he wished to sell, and Gudbrand thought it better to have


## p. 907 (#329) ############################################

PETER CHRISTEN ASBJÖRNSEN
907
a horse than a cow, so he exchanged with the man. Going a
little further still, he met a man driving a fat pig before him;
and thinking it better to have a fat pig than a horse, he made an
exchange with him also. A little further on he met a man with
a goat. "A goat," thought he, "is always better to have than a
pig;" so he made an exchange with the owner of the goat.
He
now walked on for an hour, when he met a man with a sheep;
with him he exchanged his goat: "for," thought he, "it is always
better to have a sheep than a goat. " After walking some way
again, meeting a man with a goose, he changed away the sheep
for the goose; then going on a long way, he met a man with a
cock, and thought to himself, "It is better to have a cock than a
goose,' " and so gave his goose for the cock. Having walked on
till the day was far gone, and beginning to feel hungry, he sold
the cock for twelve shillings, and bought some food; "for,"
thought he, "it is better to support life than to carry back the
cock. " After this he continued his way homeward till he reached
the house of his nearest neighbor, where he called in.
"How have matters gone with you in town? " asked the
neighbor.
"Oh," answered Gudbrand, "but so-so; I
luck, neither can I exactly complain of it. "
relate all that he had done from first to last.
cannot boast of my
He then began to
"You'll meet with a warm reception when you get home to
your wife," said his neighbor. "God help you, I would not be in
your place. "
"I think things might have been much worse," said Gudbrand;
"but whether they are good or bad, I have such a gentle wife
that she will never say a word, let me do what I may. "
"Yes, that I know," answered his neighbor; "but I do not
think she will be so gentle in this instance. "
"Shall we lay a wager? " said Gudbrand of the Mountain-side.
"I have got a hundred dollars in my chest at home; will you
venture the like sum? "
"Yes, I will," replied the neighbor, and they wagered accord-
ingly, and remained till evening drew on, when they set out
together for Gudbrand's house; having agreed that the neighbor
should stand outside and listen, while Gudbrand went in to meet
his wife.
"Good-evening," said Gudbrand.
"Good-evening," said his wife, "thank God thou art there. "


## p. 908 (#330) ############################################

908
PETER CHRISTEN ASBJÖRNSEN
Yes, there he was. His wife then began asking him how he
had fared in the town.
«< So-so," said Gudbrand: "I have not much to boast of; for
when I reached the town there was no one who would buy the
cow, so I changed it for a horse. '
>>
"Many thanks for that," said his wife: "we are such respect-
able people that we ought to ride to church as well as others; and
if we can afford to keep a horse, we may certainly have one. Go
and put the horse in the stable, children. ”
"Oh," said Gudbrand, "but I have not got the horse; for as
I went along the road, I exchanged the horse for a pig. "
"Well," said the woman, "that is just what I should have
done myself; I thank thee for that. I can now have pork and
bacon in my house to offer anybody when they come to see us.
What should we have done with a horse? People would only
have said we were grown too proud to walk to church. Go, chil-
dren, and put the pig in. "
"But I have not brought the pig with me," exclaimed Gud-
brand; "for when I had gone a little further on, I exchanged it
for a milch goat. ' >>>
"How admirably thou dost everything," exclaimed his wife.
"What should we have done with a pig? People would only
have said that we eat everything we own. Yes, now that I have
a goat, I can get both milk and cheese, and still keep my goat.
Go and tie the goat, children. "
"No," said Gudbrand, "I have not brought home the goat;
for when I came a little further on, I changed the goat for a
fine sheep. "
"Well," cried the woman, "thou hast done everything just as
I could wish; just as if I had been there myself. What should
we have done with a goat? I must have climbed up the mount-
ains and wandered through the valleys to bring it home in the
evening. With a sheep I should have wool and clothing in the
house, with food into the bargain. So go, children, and put the
sheep into the field. "
"But I have not got the sheep," said Gudbrand, "for as I
went a little further, I changed it away for a goose. >>
"Many, many thanks for that," said his wife. "What should
I have done with a sheep? For I have neither a spinning-wheel
nor have I much desire to toil and labor to make clothes; we
can purchase clothing as we have hitherto: now I shall have


## p. 909 (#331) ############################################

PETER CHRISTEN ASBJÖRNSEN
909
roast goose, which I have often longed for; and then I can
make a little pillow of the feathers. Go and bring in the goose,
children. "
«<
"But I have not got the goose," said Gudbrand; as I came
on a little further, I changed it away for a cock. "
"Heaven only knows how thou couldst think of all this,"
exclaimed his wife, "it is just as if I had managed it all myself.
A cock! that is just as good as if thou hadst bought an eight-
day clock; for as the cock crows every morning at four o'clock,
we can be stirring betimes. What should I have done with a
goose? I do not know how to dress a goose, and my pillow I
can stuff with moss. Go and fetch in the cock, children. "
"But I have not brought the cock home with me," said Gud-
brand; "for when I had gone a long, long way, I became so
hungry that I was obliged to sell the cock for twelve shillings
to keep me alive. "
"Well! thank God thou always dost just as I could wish to
have it done. What should we have done with a cock? We are
our own masters; we can lie as long as we like in the morning.
God be praised, I have got thee here safe again, and as thou
always dost everything so right, we want neither a cock, nor a
goose, nor a pig, nor a sheep, nor a cow. "
Hereupon Gudbrand opened the door:-"Have I won your
hundred dollars? " asked he of the neighbor, who was obliged to
confess that he had.
Translation by Benjamin Thorpe in Yule-Tide Stories' (Bohn's Library).
THE WIDOW'S SON
HERE
was once a very poor woman who had only one son.
She toiled for him till he was old enough to be confirmed
by the priest, when she told him that she could support him
no longer, but that he must go out in the world and gain his
own livelihood. So the youth set out, and after wandering about
for a day or two he met a stranger.
"Whither art thou going? "
asked the man. "I am going out in the world to see if I can
get employment," answered the youth. "Wilt thou serve us? "
—“Yes, just as well serve you as anybody else," answered the
youth.