THE CHEVALIER OF THE CART.
The year pa.s.sed on from Candlemas till after Easter, and then came the month of May, when every l.u.s.ty heart begins to blossom and to bear fruit; for as herbs and trees flourish in May, so does the heart of a lover, since in this l.u.s.ty month all lovers gain courage, calling to their minds old vows and deeds of gentleness, and much that was forgotten in the winter"s chill.
As winter always defaces and erases green summer, so fares it with unstable love in man and woman. But as May flowers and flourishes in many gardens, so flowers the lover"s heart in the joy of her to whom he has promised his faith. Yet nowadays men cannot love seven days without their love cooling; for where love warms in haste it cools as hastily; thus fareth it in our days,--soon hot, soon cold. The old love was not so. Men and women could love together seven years in truth and faithfulness. Such was the way of love in King Arthur"s days; but love nowadays I liken unto summer and winter; now hot, now cold, like the changing seasons. Therefore all ye who are lovers call to your remembrance the month of May, like as did Queen Guenever, who while she lived was a true lover, and therefore she had a good end.
So it befell in the month of May that Queen Guenever called unto her certain knights of the Round Table, inviting them to ride with her in the early morn a-maying in the woods and fields beside Camelot.
"And see that you all be well horsed," she said, "and clad in green, either in silk or cloth. I shall bring with me ten ladies, and every knight shall have a lady behind him, and bring with him a squire and two yeomen."
And so, when morning came, the ten knights invited put on their gayest robes of green, and rode with the queen and her ladies, a-maying in the woods and fields, to their great joy and delight.
Yet this pleasure party led to sad results, as we have now to tell. For there was a knight named Meliagrance, son of King Bagdemagus, who had a castle, the gift of King Arthur, within seven miles of Camelot. This knight loved the queen, and had done so for many years, and it had long been in his heart to steal her away; but he had never been able to find her without many knights about her, and, chief of all, Sir Lancelot.
When he heard of this Maying party, and that the queen would be attended by only ten knights, and these in green robes, he resolved to carry out his base design, and therefore placed in ambush twenty men-at-arms and a hundred archers.
So it happened that while the queen and her knights were merrily arraying one another in flowers and mosses, and with wreaths made of sprays of fresh green, this false knight rode suddenly from a wood near by, followed by a throng of armed men, and bade them stand, and yield up the queen on peril of their lives.
"Traitor knight," cried Guenever, "what seek you to do? Wouldst thou, a king"s son, and a knight of the Round Table, seek to dishonor the n.o.ble king who made you what you are? You shame yourself and all knighthood; but me you shall never shame, for I had rather cut my throat than be dishonored by you."
"Madam, this language will avail you nothing," said Meliagrance. "I have loved you many a year, and now that I have you at advantage will take you as I find you."
"You must kill us first, unarmed as we are," cried the queen"s knights.
"You have taken us at a foul disadvantage; but you shall not have the queen so lightly as you deem."
"Fight, will you? Then fight it, if you will have it so," said Meliagrance.
Then the ten knights drew their swords, and the others spurred upon them with couched spears. But so skilfully did the queen"s defenders use their blades that the spears did them no harm.
The battle then went on with swords, and the ten knights did n.o.ble deeds, slaying many of their a.s.sailants; yet they were so overmatched that they soon were all stretched upon the earth with bleeding wounds.
"Sir Meliagrance," cried the queen, in deep distress, "kill not my n.o.ble knights, I pray you. If you do them no more harm I will go with you, if you will take them with me. Otherwise I will slay myself before you shall take me."
"Madam, since you wish it, they shall be taken to my castle, whither you must come with me."
Then at the queen"s command the battle ceased, and the knights had their wounds dressed. But Meliagrance watched keenly that none of the company should escape, for greatly he feared that news of this outrage might be borne to Lancelot du Lake.
But there was with the queen a little page who rode a swift horse, and to him she privily spoke.
"Slip away, when you see the chance," she said, "and bear this ring to Lancelot du Lake. Tell him what has happened, and pray him as he loves me to come in haste to my rescue. Spare not your horse, and stay not for land or water."
The page took the ring, and rode carelessly to the edge of the circle.
Then, seeing his opportunity, he put spurs to his horse and rode away at full speed. When Meliagrance saw this he ordered instant pursuit, and the boy was hotly chased and fired at with arrows and javelins; yet the speed of his horse soon carried him beyond danger.
"Madam," cried Meliagrance, fiercely, to the queen, "you are plotting to betray me. But if you have sent for Lancelot du Lake, he shall find the road to you a perilous one, I warrant him."
And as they rode to the castle he placed an ambush of thirty archers by the road-side, charging them if they saw a knight come that way on a white horse to slay the horse. But he warned them not to a.s.sail him in person, as they would find him hard to overcome.
This done, the party proceeded to the castle; but here the queen would not let her ladies and knights out of her presence, and Meliagrance stood in such dread of Lancelot that he dared not use force.
In the mean time the page found Lancelot, and gave him the queen"s ring and message, telling him the whole story of the treacherous a.s.sault.
"I would give all France to have been there well armed," cried Lancelot.
"The queen shall be saved, or I will die in the effort. Haste you to Sir Lavaine and tell him where I have gone, and bid him follow me to Meliagrance"s castle. Tell him to come quickly, if he wishes to have a hand in the rescue of the queen and her knights."
Lancelot was hastily arming as he spoke, and mounting, he rode with all speed, forcing his horse to swim the Thames in his haste. In no great time he reached the spot where the fight had taken place, and where he found the garlands the knights had worn, rent with sword-strokes and reddened with their blood. Then he followed the tracks of the party till he entered a narrow pa.s.sage, bordered by a wood. Here were the archers stationed, and when Lancelot came by they bade him return, for that way was closed.
"Why should I turn?" he demanded. "Whence get you the right to close the way?"
"If you go forward it will be on foot, for we shall kill your horse."
"Go forward I shall, if there were five hundred more of you," said Lancelot.
Then a cloud of arrows whistled through the air, and the n.o.ble horse, struck by a dozen shafts, fell to the earth. Lancelot leaped lightly from the falling animal, and rushed in a rage into the wood; but there were so many hedges and ditches that he found it impossible to reach his light-armed a.s.sailants.
"Shame on this Meliagrance for a dastard!" he cried in anger. "It is a true old saw that a good man is never in danger but from a coward."
The angry knight, finding that his a.s.sailants were beyond his reach, set out on foot for Meliagrance"s castle, but found himself so enc.u.mbered with his armor, shield, and spear, that his progress was but slow. Yet he dared not leave any of his arms, for fear of giving his foe an advantage.
At length, by good fortune, there appeared on the road a cart, that was used for hauling wood.
"Tell me, friend carter," said Lancelot, when the vehicle came near, "what shall I give you for a ride in your cart to a castle that lies a few miles away?"
"You can give me nothing," said the carter. "I am sent to bring wood for my lord, Sir Meliagrance, and it is not my fashion to work for two at once."
"It is Sir Meliagrance I seek."
"Then go on foot," said the carter, surlily. "My cart is for other work."
Incensed at this, Lancelot dealt the fellow a blow with his mailed fist that stretched him senseless on the ground. Then he turned to the carter"s comrade.
"Strike me not, fair sir," pleaded this fellow. "I will bring you where you wish."
"Then drive me and this cart to the gate of Meliagrance"s castle."
"Leap into the cart, and you shall be there before the day grows old."
This Lancelot did, and the carter lashed his horse forward with all speed, for he was in mortal fear of the knight"s hard fist.
An hour and a half afterwards, as Guenever and her ladies stood in a window of the castle, they saw a cart approaching, in which stood upright an armed knight, resting on his spear. Even at that distance they knew him by his shield to be Lancelot du Lake.
"A n.o.ble and trusty friend he is, indeed, to come in such a fashion,"
said the queen. "Hard bested he must have been, to be forced to ride hither in a woodman"s cart."
As they looked, the cart came to the castle gates, and Lancelot sprang from it to the ground, his heart full of rage and pa.s.sion.
"Where art thou, traitor?" he cried, in a voice that rang throughout the castle. "Come forth, thou disgrace to the Round Table fellowship! Come, with all your men; for here am I, Lancelot du Lake, who will fight you all single-handed on this question."