2 THE COmINg OF ARTHUR

BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892): An English poet from whose writings a number of selections have been given in earlier books of this series. This selection is a part of the poem entitled, “The Coming of Arthur,” the first of the series of poemscomprising Tennyson’s great epic, “The Idylls of the King.”

Arthur, lately made king, had sent to King Leodogran asking his daughter Guinevere in marriage. Leodogran consulted Queen Bellicent as to Arthur’s kingship. This extract gives her answer.

“Bleys , our Merlin’s master, as they say,

Died but of late, and sent his cry to me,

To hear him speak before he left his life.

Shrunk like a fairychangeling lay themage ;

And when I entered told me that himself

And Merlin ever served about the king,

Uther, before he died; and on the night

When Uther inTintagil passed away

Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two

Left the still king, and passing forth to breathe,

Then from the castle gateway by the chasm

Descending through the dismal night—a night

In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost—

Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps

It seemed in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof

A dragon winged, and all from stem to stern

Bright with a shining people on the decks,

And gone as soon as seen. And then the two

Dropped to the cove and watched the great sea fall,

Wave after wave each mightier than the last,

Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep

And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged

Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame

And down the wave and in the flame was born

A naked babe, and rode toMerlin’s feet,

Who stooped and caught the babe, and cried, ‘The king

Here is an heir for Uther!’ And the fringe

Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand,

Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word,

And all at once all round him rose in fire

So that the child and he were clothed in fire

And presently thereafter followed calm,

Free sky and stars: ‘And this same child,’ he said,

‘Is he who reigns; nor could I part in peace

Till this were told. ‘ And saying this the seer

Went through the strait and dreadful pass of death.Not ever to be questioned any more

Save on the further side; but when I met

Merlin, and asked him if these things were truth—

The shining dragon and the naked child

Descending in the glory of the seas—

He laughed as is his wont, and answered me

In riddling triplets of old time, and said:

“‘Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky!A young man will be wiser by and by;

An old man’s wit may wander ere he die.

“‘Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea!

And truth is this to me, and that to thee;

And truth or clothed or naked let it be.

“‘Rain, sun, and rain! and the free blossom blows:Sun, rain, and sun! and where is he who knows?From the great deep to the great deep he goes.’

“So Merlin riddling angered me; but thou

Fear not to give this king thine only child,

Guinevere; so great bards of him will sing

Hereafter; and dark sayings from of old

Ranging and ringing through the minds of men,And echoed by old folk beside their fire

For comfort after their wage-work is done,

Speak of the king; and Merlin in our time

Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn

Though men may wound him that he will not die,

But pass, again to come; and then or now

Utterly smite the heathen underfoot,

Till these and all men hail him for their king.”

She spake and KingLeodogran rejoiced,

But musing, “Shall I answer yea or nay?”

Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw,

Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew,

Field after field, up to a height, the pea

Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king

Now looming and now lost; and on the slope

The sword rose, thehind fell, the herd was driven,

Fire glimpsed; and all the land from roof and rick,

In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind,

Streamed to the peak, and mingled with the haze

And made it thicker; while the phantom king

Sent out at times a voice; and here or there

Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest

Slew on and burnt, crying, “No king of ours,

No son of Uther, and no king of ours;”

Till with a wink his dream was changed, the haze

Descended, and the solid earth became

As nothing, but the king stood out in heaven,

Crowned. And Leodogran awoke, and sent

UlfiuandBrastiasandBedivere ,

Back to the court of Arthur answering yea.