desired of her father a boon.  “Ye shall have what ye will,” said the old lord; for he hoped that she might yet recover.  Then first she required her brother, Sir Tirre, to write a letter, word for word as she said it; and when it was written, she turned to her father and said:  “Kind father, I desire that, when I am dead, I may be arrayed in my fairest raiment, and placed on a bier; and let the bier be set within a barge, with one to steer it until I be come to London.  Then, perchance, Sir Launcelot will come and look upon me with kindness.”  So she died, and all was done as she desired; for they set her, looking as fair as a lily, in a barge all hung with black, and an old dumb man went with her as helmsman.

Slowly the barge floated down the river until it had come to Westminster; and as it passed under the palace walls, it chanced that King Arthur and Queen Guenevere looked forth from a window.  Marvelling much at the strange sight, together they went forth to the quay, followed by many of the knights.  Then the King espied the letter clasped in the dead maiden’s hand, and drew it forth gently and broke the seal.  And thus the letter ran:  “Most noble Knight, Sir Launcelot, I, that men called the Fair Maid of Astolat, am come hither to crave burial at thy hands for the sake of the unrequited love I gave thee.  As thou art peerless knight, pray for my soul.”

Then the King bade fetch Sir Launcelot, and when he was come, he showed him the letter.  And Sir Launcelot, gazing on the dead maiden, was filled with sorrow.  “My lord Arthur,” he said, “for the death of this dear child I shall grieve my life long.  Gentle she was and loving, and much was I beholden to her; but what she desired I could not give.”  “Yet her request now thou wilt grant, I know,” said the King; “for ever thou art kind and courteous to all.”  “It is my desire,” answered Sir Launcelot.

So the Maid of Astolat was buried in the presence of the King and Queen and of the fellowship of the Round Table, and of many a gentle lady who wept, that time, the fair child’s fate.  Over her grave was raised a tomb of white marble, and on it was sculptured the shield of Sir Launcelot; for, when he had heard her whole story, it was the King’s will that she that in life had guarded the shield of his noblest knight, should keep it also in death.

BOOK X

QUEEN GUENEVERE

CHAPTER XXXI

HOW MORDRED PLOTTED AGAINST SIR LAUNCELOT

Before Merlin passed from the world of men, imprisoned in the great stone by the evil arts of Vivien, he had uttered many marvellous prophecies, and one that boded ill to King Arthur; for he foretold that, in the days to come, a son of Arthur’s sister should stir up bitter war against the King, and at last a great battle should be fought in the West, when many a brave knight should find his doom.