CHAPTER XII. SIR EWAINE AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE FOUNTAIN.

ONE time, as King Arthur was at Caerleon, it befell that though, because it was not the time of any high festival, most of the Knights of the Round Table were absent seeking adventures, yet there were in the palace Sir Kay, and Sir Gawaine, and Sir Ewaine his cousin, the son of Morgan le Fay, and Sir Konon, a good knight of the kings household, and some other knights. They were sitting one night about the fire in Sir Kay’s chamber relating adventures; and Sir Konon told a marvellous story, how, some time before, he had found his way to a strange fountain--seeing many wonderful sights by the road--and had there been overthrown by a knight in black armour. To this story Ewaine especially listened with close attention, and when it was ended he asked Sir Konon which way he had taken to go to the fountain. Konon described it to him; and the next day Ewaine took his horse and armour and a great spear in his hand, and rode forth determined to pursue the adventure.

In a while he came to a beautiful valley, with green meadows on either side and a river in the midst. By the side of the river was a path, and Sir Ewaine followed this path till evening. Then he came to an immense and stately castle, the largest he had ever seen; and in front of it were two fair youths, with yellow curling hair, and wearing garments of yellow satin, shooting with bows made of ivory and arrows of whalebone, pointed with gold. Standing by was a stately knight, richly dressed. Ewaine advanced and saluted him; and he courteously returned the greeting, and led him into the castle. There, in a splendid hall, were four and twenty damsels working at embroidery and tapestry, and they were the fairest women Ewaine had ever beheld. As soon as the lord and his guest entered, six of the damsels advanced and took charge of Ewaine’s horse; six others relieved him of his armour, which they proceeded to clean; the third six prepared a banquet; while the others brought to the guest rich attire in place of his travel-soiled garments. Then all sat down to the banquet, which was the most splendid that Ewaine had ever partaken of. After they had eaten, the knight informed the lord of the castle that he had come to achieve the adventure of a certain wonderful fountain, where was a knight in black armour. The lord smiled, and said that the quest would not end to his advantage; but as Sir Ewaine persisted, he said:--

“Sleep here to-night, and to-morrow rise early, and take the road upward through the valley till you come to a wood. A little way within the wood you will find a road branching off to the right; and this you must follow till you come to a great glade with a mound in the centre. On the top of the mound you will see a black man of great stature, who will show you the way to the fountain.”

Ewaine thanked the lord for his courtesy, and on the next day he set out according to the instruction which had been given him. In due time he arrived at the wood, which he found to be swarming with all kinds of wild animals, in such numbers as he had never before beheld. When he came to the mound, there sat the black man on the top of it. He was of vast bulk, and exceedingly ill-favoured, for he had but one eye in the middle of his forehead. In his hand he held an iron club, which would have been a burden for four strong knights. He said nothing to Ewaine, but looked at him steadfastly. Then said Ewaine, “Hast thou any power over all these animals that I see about thee?”

“That shalt thou soon see, little man,” answered the black; and he raised his club and smote a stag that was feeding near him, so that it cried out vehemently. Immediately all the animals in the wood crowded round the black man, in such numbers that Ewaine could scarce find room to stand in the glade. Then their master bade them go and feed; and straightway they bowed their heads to him in homage and dispersed. Ewaine now asked of him the way to the fountain.

“Take,” he answered, “the path that leads to the head of the glade, and ascend the wooded steep to its summit. There thou wilt find a large open space, and in the midst a tall tree with thick spreading branches. Under this tree is the fountain; and by its side a marble slab, on which is a silver bowl fastened by a chain of silver. If thou wouldst prove the adventure of the fountain, take the bowl and throw some water on the slab.”

Ewaine went up the steep as the black man had told him, and came to the fountain. There he took the bowl and cast some water on the slab; and immediately there came the loudest burst of thunder he had ever heard, as though heaven and earth were meeting. Then followed a terrible shower of hail, the stones of which were so large and so many that no man nor beast could have endured them unprotected and lived. Ewaine sheltered himself and his horse as well as he could under the tree with his shield. When he looked on the tree, not a leaf was left upon it; but the sky became clear, and a flight of birds came to the tree and sang a strain of such ravishing sweetness as the knight had never heard before. While he was listening to it, he heard a voice that cried to him, “O knight, what has brought thee hither? What evil have I done to thee, that thou shouldst act toward me and my possessions as thou hast done to-day? Dost thou not know that the shower has left in my dominions neither man nor beast alive that was exposed to it?” Then Ewaine looked forth and beheld approaching a knight dad in black velvet, armed in black armour, and riding a coal-black horse. The two encountered with great force, and both broke their spears without losing their saddles. Then they drew their swords and fought some time, till at last Ewaine smote the black knight so hard on the helm that the sword cut through his skull to the very brain. The black knight felt that he had received a mortal wound, and fled; and Ewaine followed hard after him. Presently they came to a great castle. The fleeing knight entered through the gate, but the portcullis was let fall upon Ewaine, and it struck his horse just behind the saddle, cutting him in two, and striking off the rowels of the knight’s spurs. Then was Ewaine shut in between the two gates, and he knew not what to do. But through an aperture in the gate he could see a street with a row of houses on each side. There came to the gate a maiden, richly clad, who desired him to open it.

“Heaven knows, fair lady,” said he, “it is no more possible for me to open the gate than it is for thee to set me free.”

“Truly,” she answered, “I will do what I can to release thee, for thou art a full gallant knight.” She passed to him through the aperture a ring, and said, “Take this ring, and put it on thy finger with the stone inside thy hand; and so long as thou concealest it, it will conceal thee. When they have consulted together, they will come forward to seize thee in order to put thee to death; but they will not be able to find thee. I will wait within, and thou wilt be able to see me, though I cannot see thee; therefore come and place thy hand on my shoulder, and accompany me where I shall go.”

Ewaine did all as the damsel had told him. The people of the castle came presently and opened the gate to seize him; and when they could find nothing but the half of his horse, they were sorely grieved. But Ewaine went to the maiden and put his hand on her shoulder, and she led him to a large and beautiful chamber that was richly adorned. There she served him with delicious food in vessels of gold and silver. While Ewaine was eating, he heard a great clamour in the castle, and asked the cause of it.

“The lord of this castle has just died,” answered the maiden. Then she prepared for him a noble couch, on which he lay down and slept all night. In the morning he was awakened by a loud sound of wailing. “Wherefore is this outcry?” he asked.

“They are carrying the body of the dead lord to the place of burial,” answered the damsel. Then Ewaine rose and looked out of the window. In the street he beheld an immense crowd of armed men and of women in rich attire, and in the midst of the throng was a bier, on which lay the body of the knight he had slain. Behind it walked a lady with long yellow hair that fell over her shoulders, and her dress of yellow satin was all rent; she smote her hands together, and wailed bitterly. She was the fairest lady Ewaine had ever seen, and as soon as he beheld her he became inflamed with love for her. He inquired of the maiden who the lady was.

“She is my mistress, and one of the fairest and most noble of women. She is called the Countess of the Fountain; and the knight whom thou didst slay yesterday was her husband.”

“Verily,” said Ewaine, “she is the woman that I love best in all the world.”

“Then,” said the damsel, “she shall also love thee not a little.”

So after she had waited on Ewaine when he broke his fast, she bade him lie on the couch and sleep and she would go and woo for him. Then she shut the door of the chamber after her and went straight to the castle. There was nothing but mourning and sorrow, and the countess in her chamber could not bear the sight of any one through grief. The damsel, whose name was Luned, and who was a favourite attendant of the countess, went in and saluted her; but the countess sharply reproached her for not mourning as all the rest did.

“Truly,” said Luned, “I thought thy good sense was greater than I find it to be. Is it well for thee to mourn for that good man, or for anything else that thou canst not have?”

“I declare solemnly,” said the countess, “that in the whole world there is not a man equal to him!”

“Not so,” answered Luned; “an ill-favoured man that is alive is now as good as or better than he.”

At this the countess was exceedingly wrathful, and declared to Luned that she would banish her. Luned replied that the only cause for it was her desire to render her a service of which she stood in need; and she was going away affecting great anger, when the countess called her back.

“In truth,” said she, “evil is thy disposition; but if thou knowest what is to my advantage, declare it to me.”

“That will I,” quoth Luned. “Thou knowest that unless thou canst defend the fountain thou canst not maintain thy dominions; and no one can defend the fountain except a knight of King Arthur’s court. Now will I go thither, and ill betide me if I return hence without a warrior who can guard the fountain as well or better than he who kept it formerly.”

“That will be hard to perform,” said the countess. “Go, however, and make proof of that which thou hast promised.”

Luned accordingly set out under pretence of going to the court; but in reality she only returned to the chamber where she had left Ewaine, and remained there with him as long as it would have taken her to go to Caerleon and return again. Then she went again to the countess, who asked her what news she brought from the court.

“I bring you the best of news,” said Luned, “for I have compassed the object of my mission. When shall I present to you the knight who has accompanied me hither?”

The countess appointed the next day at noon for the interview; and at that time, accordingly, Luned conducted Ewaine, for whom she had provided suitable attire, to the chamber of the lady, who gazed steadfastly upon him, and said, “Luned, this knight has not the look of a traveller.”

“What harm is there in that, lady?” answered Luned boldly, as was her wont.

“I am certain that he it was, and no other, who conquered and slew my lord.”

“So much the better for thee,” returned Luned; “for had he not been stronger than thy lord he could not have slain him. For what is past there is no remedy.”

Ewaine feared for what would come next, for as he gazed on the countess his passion had grown greater than before. But not unmoved had she herself looked upon the comely knight.

“Go back to thine abode,” she said to Luned, “and I will take counsel.”

The next day she assembled all the chief men among her subjects, and showed them that her dominions could not be defended except by some knight of great prowess. “Therefore,” she said, “if you can choose such an one from among yourselves, let him take me; and if not, give your consent that I should take a husband from elsewhere to defend my dominions.”

They came to the determination that it would be better for the countess to marry some one from elsewhere; and thereupon she caused her nuptials with Ewaine to be straightway solemnized; and the men of the earldom did him homage. He defended the fountain against all comers, and for three years he reigned in that country, and was much beloved by his subjects.

At the end of that time King Arthur, who had grown very uneasy because of Ewaines protracted absence, set out with many knights to the Valley of the Fountain to find what had become of him. They were all entertained as nobly as Ewaine himself had been by the knight who dwelt in the stately castle with the twenty-four damsels. The next day they went forward to the place of the fountain; and there Sir Kay, with the king’s permission; undertook the adventure, and threw the water on the marble slab. After the thunder and the hail-storm, came a knight in black armour, who encountered Sir Kay and easily overthrew him. Then Arthur and his company encamped on the plain, and the next day Sir Kay, who was not satisfied with his first repulse, again challenged the knight, who this time not only unhorsed him, but wounded him severely. Thereafter all the knights the king had brought with him, except Sir Gawaine, successively encountered the black knight, and were all overthrown one after another. Then at last Gawaine met him, but he did not carry his own shield. For two days the two met and fought on horseback with spears, and neither could gain the advantage. On the third day they fought with increased fury, and both were unseated. Then they fell to with their swords, and struck many terrible blows. At last a blow from Ewaine turned Sir Gawaines helm on one side, so that his face could be seen. “Ah!” cried Ewaine, “I knew thee not for my cousin, because thou hadst not thine own shield. Take my sword, for thou hast conquered.” But Gawaine said that Ewaine was the victor, and they disputed this till the king decided that neither had vanquished the other. Then they embraced, and Arthur and his knights were exceedingly rejoiced to see Sir Ewaine once more. He led them all to the Castle of the Fountain, where they were splendidly entertained for three months.

After that King Arthur returned to his own dominions, and he entreated the countess to permit Ewaine to go with him for three months. She assented, though it was very painful to her. But when Ewaine was once more among his kindred and friends, he forgot all about his lady and his territory, and remained about three years instead of three months!

Now one day, as Ewaine was sitting in the hall of the king’s palace at Caerleon, there came in a damsel riding on a bay horse; and she dismounted and went up to him, and took the ring off his finger. “Thus,” said she, “should be treated the deceiver, the traitor, the faithless, the disgraced.” Then she got on her horse again and departed. But Ewaine suddenly remembered the countess, and how he had deserted her; and his mind was so filled with shame and sorrow that he well-nigh lost his reason. He wandered away from Caerleon into wild and desert places, and remained there till his apparel wore out, and his hair and beard grew long, and his body was sore wasted. And as he wandered, he came to a fair park belonging to the countess whom he had deserted. There he lay down by a small lake; and he was so weak that he became insensible. It happened that the countess came forth with her maidens to walk in the park, and they saw him lying there. They saw that life was still in him; and the countess went back to her palace, and gave to one of her maidens a flask containing precious ointment. “Go,” said she, “with this balsam and a horse and clothing to that man who lieth in the park, and anoint him with the balsam near the heart. If there is life in him, he will arise; and then watch what he will do.”

The maiden obeyed, and poured the whole of the balsam upon Ewaine; then she withdrew a little-and watched. Soon he rose up and looked at his person, and became ashamed of the unseemliness of his appearance; so he clothed himself, and with some difficulty mounted on the horse. Then the damsel saluted him; and he asked her what land that was. “Truly,” she said, “it belongs to a widowed countess. At the death of her husband she had two earldoms, but now this park and castle are all that are left to her, the rest having been taken from her by a young earl, her neighbour, because she refused to become his wife.”

“That is pity,” said Ewaine. Then she led him to the castle, and took him to a pleasant chamber, where she waited on him till he was quite recovered; and in three months he had become more mighty and more comely than ever he was before. One day he heard a great tumult outside the castle walls, and he asked the maiden what was the cause.

“The earl of whom I spoke to thee,” she said, “has come before the castle with a numerous army to subdue the countess.” Then Ewaine asked her to obtain for him from the countess the loan of a horse and arms; and when he had got them he went forth, and penetrated the hostile army till he came to the earl himself, whom he dragged out of his saddle, and carried him off, in spite of all the efforts of his knights, to the castle. Then he took him to the countess, and threw him down before her, and said, “Behold, here is a gift in requital for thy precious balsam.”

Then the earl restored to the countess all that he had taken from her; and as a ransom for his life he gave her the half of his own dominions, and much gold and silver. After that Ewaine took his departure; and as he rode through a wood he heard a loud yelling, which was repeated a second and third time. He went to the spot whence the sound proceeded, and came to a huge craggy mound, whereon a black lion and a horrible serpent were fighting. Ewaine drew his sword and smote the serpent in twain. Then he continued on his way; but the lion followed him, and played about him as though it had been a hound. Thus they journeyed on together. When it was time to rest for the night, Ewaine dismounted, turned his horse loose to graze, and kindled a fire; and the lion, having left him, presently returned with a large roebuck, which it threw down before him. Ewaine roasted some of the flesh for himself, and the rest of it he gave to the lion. While he was eating, he heard a deep sigh that seemed to come from within a rock near at hand. He called out to know whether the sigh proceeded from a mortal; and a voice answered that it did. “Who art thou?” asked Ewaine.

“I am,” said the voice, “Luned, the handmaiden to the Countess of the Fountain. I am imprisoned here on account of the knight that came from King Arthur’s court and married the countess. He was the friend I loved most in the world; and after he had departed, two of the knights of the court traduced him. I told them that they two were not a match for him alone. So they have imprisoned me in this stone vault; and I am to be put to death if he come not to deliver me by a certain day, which is no further off than the day after to-morrow. I have no one to seek him for me. His name is Ewaine, the son of King Urience.”

“Art thou certain that if he knew all this the knight would come to rescue thee?” asked Ewaine.

“I am most certain of it,” she answered.

In the morning Ewaine asked the damsel if there were any place near where he could get lodging. She directed him to an earl’s castle near. Thither he went, and the lion with him; and at the castle was he right nobly entertained. But he found the earl and everybody else in the castle exceedingly sorrowful; so he asked the reason.

“I have two sons,” said the earl, “and yesterday they went to the mountains to hunt. Now there is on the mountain a horrible giant that kills men and devours them, and he seized my sons. To-morrow he has fixed an hour to be here; and he threatens that he will then slay my sons before my eyes, unless I will deliver into his hands my only daughter, whom you see here.” The maiden sat beside her father; and she was exceedingly fair, but very sorrowful.

Ewaine said that was very lamentable, and then talked of other matters. The next morning there was a great clamour, which was caused by the coming of the giant with the two youths. Then Ewaine put on his armour, and went forth to attack the giant; and his lion went with him. When the giant saw that Ewaine was armed, he rushed fiercely upon him; and the lion fought against the giant more strongly even than Ewaine did “Truly,” said the giant, “I could deal easily with thee were it not for this lion that is with thee.” Upon that, Ewaine took the lion back to the castle and shut the gate upon him, and then returned to fight the giant as before. The lion roared furiously, and climbed up till he got to the top of the castle, and then sprung down from the wall, and rushed again upon the giant, giving him a stroke with his paw that tore him from the shoulder to the hip, so that he fell down dead. Then Ewaine restored the two youths to their father.

The earl besought Ewaine to remain with him, but he would not, and set forth to the place where Luned was imprisoned in the stone vault. When he came there he found a great fire kindled, and the two knights were leading the maiden to cast her into it. Ewaine asked what charge they had against her; and they told him of the compact that there was between-them. Then, without making himself known, he proffered himself to do battle for her in place of Ewaine; and the knights assented. They attacked Ewaine, and, inasmuch as he had not his usual strength, he was sore beset by them; but his lion fell upon them and put them to the worse. So thus was Luned saved from being burned. And Ewaine returned with her to the dominions of the Countess of the Fountain; and thence he took the countess with him to the court of King Arthur, where they lived afterwards in great happiness and renown.