Song and Legend From the Middle Ages | Page 9

that of
Romances, and the great products of it are the Arthurian Romances and
the Romances of Antiquity. THE ARTHURIAN CYCLE OF
ROMANCES is a set of romantic stories founded on the legends of
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, with which was early fused
the legend of the Holy Graal. The legend has sources as far back as the
ninth century, but expanded into definite shape in France and England
in the twelfth. It had its first and highest popular development in France.
Here they were collected and thrown into verse by Chrestien de Troyes.
It became at once a general European possession and expanded to vast
proportions. In England the Arthur stories flourished both
independently and as translations from French. Sir Thomas Malory
collected in the latter part of the fifteenth century a great number of

these sources, translated, edited, abridged, and rewrote the whole into
that charming book "Morte D'Arthur". It is accepted that this book,
though so late, gives a true impression of the
characteristics of the
older romances. We select from this rather than from other translations
of French originals, to give a mediaeval flavor to the selection and have
the advantage of quoting a classic.
Alongside the Arthurian Romances, flourished many romances of
antiquity. The more important of these cycles are the ROMANCE OF
ALEXANDER and the ROMANCE OF TROY, while others worth
mentioning are the ROMANCE OF THEBES and the ROMANCE OF
AENEAS. They are all very long poems, consisting of series of stories
partly derived from classic sources, partly invented by trouveres. They
are important (1) as connecting, however loosely, mediaeval with
classical literature, and (2) as showing some scholarship on the part of
their authors and interest in general culture.
FROM MORTE D'ARTHUR.
Book I. Chapter 23.
How Arthur by the mean of Merlin gat Excalibur his sword of the Lady
of the lake.
Right so the king and he departed, and went until an hermit that was a
good man and a great leach. So the hermit searched all his wounds and
gave him good salves; so the king was there three days, and then were
his wounds well amended that he might ride and go, and so departed.
And as they rode, Arthur said, I have no sword. No force, said Merlin,
hereby is a sword that shall be yours and I may. So they rode till they
came to a lake, the which was a fair water and broad, and in the midst
of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held
a fair sword in that hand. Lo, said Merlin, yonder is that sword that I
spake of. With that they saw a damsel going upon the lake: What
damsel is that? said Arthur. That is the Lady of the lake, said Merlin;
and within that lake is a rock, and therein is as fair a place as any on
earth, and richly beseen, and this damsel will come to you anon, and
then speak ye fair to her that she will give you that sword. Anon withal

came the damsel unto Arthur and saluted him, and he her again.
Damsel, said Arthur, what sword is that, that yonder the arm holdeth
above the water? I would it were mine' for I have no sword. Sir Arthur
king, said the damsel, that sword is mine, and if ye will give me a gift
when I ask it you, ye shall have it. By my faith, said Arthur, I will give
you what gift ye will ask. Well, said the damsel, go ye into yonder
barge and row yourself to the sword, and take it and the scabbard with
you, and I will ask my gift when I see my time. So Sir Arthur and
Merlin alight, and tied their horses to two trees, and so they went into
the ship, and when they came to the sword that the hand held, Sir
Arthur took it up by the handles, and took it with him. And the arm and
the hand went under the water; and so they came unto the land and rode
forth.
Book III. Chapter 1.
How king Arthur took a wife, and wedded Guenever daughter to
Leodegrance, king of the land of Cameliard, with whom he had the
Round Table.
In the beginning of Arthur, after he was chosen king by adventure and
by grace--for the most part of the barons knew not that he was Uther
Pendragon's son, but as Merlin made it openly
known,--many kings
and lords made great war against him for that cause; but well Arthur
overcame them all; for the most part of the days of his life he was ruled
much by the council of Merlin. So it fell on a time king Arthur