shall we sit here by the ripple of the water and break
our fast; and lastly, thou shalt go in and kiss again
and then take to the road. But tell me, deemest
thou surely that thou canst find it again? Yea,
surely, mother, said Birdalone; I am wood-woman enough
for that; and now I will do all thy will. And
therewith she stepped out lightly on to the greensward
and sought up the stream till she found a smooth-grounded
pool meet for her bath, and when that was done, she
fetched the victual and came back to the wood-wife;
then they two sat down together, and ate and drank
while the water rippled at their feet. But when
they were done, Birdalone gat her into the cave again,
and kissed the sleeping man fondly, and came forth
lightly and stood a moment before the wood-wife, and
said: Tell me this at least, mother, when shall
he be there? To-morrow quoth the wood-wife;
and, for my part, I would keep thee within doors and
abide him there, lest there be trouble; for he may
not yet be as strong as the strongest. Birdalone
hung down her head and answered not, but said presently:
Farewell, wood-mother, and be thou blessed.
Then she took up her bow and betook her lightly to
the woodland way, and the wood-wife stood looking
at her till the thicket had hidden her, and then turned
back and went into the cave.
CHAPTER XXV. THE WOOD-WIFE HEALETH AND TENDETH THE BLACK SQUIRE
She stood over Arthur for a minute or two, and then
stooped down and whispered a word in his ear, and
presently he stirred on the bed and half opened his
eyes, but straightway turned on his side, as if to
gather sleep to him, but she took him by the shoulder
and said in a clear voice: Nay, knight, nay;
hast thou not slept enough? is there nought for thee
to do? He sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes,
and his face was come to its wholesome colour, and
his eyes looked out quietly and calmly as he looked
about the cave and saw the wood-wife standing by him;
and he spake in a voice which was somewhat weak, but
wherein was no passion of rage or woodness: Where
am I then? and who art thou, dame? She said:
Thou art in a cave of the woodland, and I am for
one thing thy leech, and meseemeth thou desirest to
eat and to drink. He smiled and nodded his head;
and she fetched him the milk, and he drank a long
draught, and sighed thereafter, as one who is pleased;
and she smiled on him, and fetched him the bread and
the honey, and he ate and drank again, and then lay
down and fell fast asleep. And she suffered
his slumber for two hours or so, and then awoke him
again; and again he asked where he was and what was
she, but she said as before. And said she:
The next thing thou hast to do is to arise, as thou
well mayest, and take this raiment, which is fair
and clean, and go wash thee in the brook and come back
to me; and then we will talk, and thou shalt tell
me of how it was with thee, and peradventure I may
tell thee somewhat of how it shall be with thee.
As she spoke she went to a coffer which stood in a
nook of the cave, and drew forth from it a shirt and
hosen and shoon, and a surcoat and hood of fine black
cloth, and a gilded girdle and a fair sword, red-sheathed,
and said: These may serve thy turn for the present,
so take them and don them, and thou shalt look like
a squire at least, if not a knight.
