King Arthur and His Knights | Page 8

men were under Arthur.
Before day dawned, Merlin told Arthur to draw back his troops. This he
did, leaving about ten thousand of the enemy dead behind him. He,
however, had not lost very many men.
At daybreak Arthur and his followers saw that the lay of the land could
be used to their advantage. Between them and the enemy was a narrow
road, bounded on one side by a lake, and on the other side by a dense
wood. One part of this wood, however, was thin enough to allow men
to hide in it.
"Now," said Merlin, "let King Bors and King Ban take their soldiers
and hide in the wood for a long time. Then, my lord Arthur, stand up
before the enemy with your men."
"Why shall we do this?" asked Arthur.
"Because," said the wise old man, "when the eleven kings see how few

in number your troops are, they will let you proceed down the passage.
They will think that if you march close to them they can overcome you.
But you can fill up this narrow road with more and more men from the
wood. Then the enemy cannot surround you."
"That seems very good," said Arthur.
"And at last," continued Merlin, "when the eleven kings are weary, let
King Bors and King Ban come forth. Then surely the courage of our
enemies will fail."
The plan was carried out. Arthur's men marched down the passage. The
green wood was on one side, and on the other was the lake, the water of
which was so clear that it reflected the bodies of the soldiers with their
shields and helmets. The sun shone on their armor. The little birds in
the woods sang as they passed. But the men were thinking of nothing
but the expected battle.
When they had come close to the enemy, they saw the eleven kings all
in a row, mounted on big handsome horses. Their fifty thousand men
were behind them. Suddenly these rode forward and the battle began.
It was a fierce fight. In a very short time the field was covered with
overthrown men and horses. Broken shields and helmets lay on the
ground, and many of the knights who had been fighting on horseback
were unhorsed, and were fighting on foot. Arthur galloped here and
there among his enemies, conquering with his trusty sword all with
whom he fought. The woods and the water rang with his sword strokes.
The noise drowned the sweet songs of the birds, but still they sang, and
flew about gaily, all unaware of the grim death-struggle going on
beneath them.
Finally the time arrived for bringing forward King Bors and his men.
The great dark king went thundering down upon his enemies. When the
King of Orkney saw him coming, he cried:
"Oh, we are in great danger! I see King Bors, one of the best and
bravest kings in the world, and he is helping our enemy."

Then the other kings were astonished, for they did not know that Arthur
had sent outside his country for help.
"But we will fight on," they said, "no matter how powerful he is."
While they were still fighting, but with great loss of courage, they
heard the loud sounds made by the hoofs of other tramping horses, and
King Ban rode down on them, followed by his men. His black brows
were frowning, and his green and gold colors glittered in the sun.
"Alas, alas!" cried the King of Orkney, "now in truth are we lost, for
here is another king, no less great than his brother Bors. But we must
neither flee nor yield."
The eleven kings, being agreed to this, continued the battle, though so
many of their men were killed that the King of Orkney wept. When he
saw some of his men running away, he wept still more, for he thought it
was better to die than to be a coward.
Though they did not intend to run away, the eleven kings thought it
would be wise to retreat to a little copse near by. It was late and they
were tired and wished to rest before fighting again. King Bors and King
Ban could not help admiring these rulers.
"In truth," said King Ban, "they are the bravest men I ever saw. I would
they were your friends."
"Indeed, so would I," replied Arthur; "but I have no hope of that, for
they are determined to destroy me, and so we must fight on."
At this moment Merlin rode up on his great black horse.
"Have you not done enough?" he cried to Arthur. "Of their sixty
thousand men there are left but fifteen thousand. It is time to stop, I say.
If you fight on, they will