Prianius was christened, and made a duke and knight of the Round Table

Sir Lancelot smote down with one spear five knights, and brake the backs of four, and cast down the King of Northgales

Beyond the chapel, he met a fair damsel, who said, “Sir Lancelot, leave that sword behind thee, or thou diest”

“Lady,” replied Sir Beaumains, “a knight is little worth who may not bear with a damsel”

So he rode into the hall and alighted

Then they began the battle, and tilted at their hardest against each other

And running to her chamber, she sought in her casket for the piece of iron ... and fitted it in Tristram’s sword

By the time they had finished drinking they loved each other so well that their love never more might leave them

Waving her hands and muttering the charm, and presently enclosed him fast within the tree

Galahad ... quickly lifted up the stone, and forthwith came out a foul smoke

“This girdle, lords,” said she, “is made for the most part of mine own hair, which, while I was yet in the world, I loved full well”

At last the strange knight smote him to the earth, and gave him such a buffet on the helm as wellnigh killed him

Then was Sir Lancelot sent for, and the letter read aloud by a clerk

But still the knights cried mightily without the door, “Traitor, come forth!”

THE LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR

CHAPTER I

The Prophecies of Merlin, and the Birth of Arthur

King Vortigern the usurper sat upon his throne in London, when, suddenly, upon a certain day, ran in a breathless messenger, and cried aloud—­

“Arise, Lord King, for the enemy is come; even Ambrosius and Uther, upon whose throne thou sittest—­and full twenty thousand with them—­and they have sworn by a great oath, Lord, to slay thee, ere this year be done; and even now they march towards thee as the north wind of winter for bitterness and haste.”

At those words Vortigern’s face grew white as ashes, and, rising in confusion and disorder, he sent for all the best artificers and craftsmen and mechanics, and commanded them vehemently to go and build him straightway in the furthest west of his lands a great and strong castle, where he might fly for refuge and escape the vengeance of his master’s sons—­“and, moreover,” cried he, “let the work be done within a hundred days from now, or I will surely spare no life amongst you all.”

Then all the host of craftsmen, fearing for their lives, found out a proper site whereon to build the tower, and eagerly began to lay in the foundations.  But no sooner were the walls raised up above the ground than all their work was overwhelmed and broken down by night invisibly, no man perceiving how, or by whom, or what.  And the same thing happening again, and yet again, all the workmen, full of terror, sought out the king, and threw themselves upon their faces before him, beseeching him to interfere and help them or to deliver them from their dreadful work.