The Adventure Of The Magic Ship
After Galahad had rescued Percivale from the twenty knights, he rode
into a vast forest, through which he journeyed for many days, meeting
there many strange adventures. Then fortune took him past a castle where
a tournament was in progress, and where the men of the castle had so
much the worse of it that they were driven back to their gates, and some
of them slain. Seeing this, Galahad rode to the aid of the weaker party,
foes.
As it happened, Gawaine and Hector de Maris were with the outer party,
and when they beheld the white shield with the red cross, they said to
one another,--
"That hewer of helms and shields is Galahad, none less. We should be
fools to meet him face to face."
Yet Gawaine did not escape, for Galahad came at full career upon him,
and gave him such a blow that his helm was cleft, and so would his head
have been but that the sword slanted, and cut the shoulder of his horse
deeply.
Seeing Gawaine thus dealt with, Hector drew back, not deeming it wise to
meet such a champion, nor the part of nature to fight with his nephew.
Galahad continued his onset till he had beaten down all the knights
opposed to him. Then, seeing that none would face him, he turned and
rode away as he had come, none knowing whither he, who had come upon
them with the suddenness of a thunder-clap, had gone.
"Lancelot du Lake told no less than the truth," declared Gawaine,
bitterly, "when he said that, for seeking to draw the sword from the
stone, I would get a sore wound from that same blade. In faith, I would
not for the best castle in the world have had such a buffet."
"Your quest is done, it seems," said Hector.
"As for that, it was done before. You can still seek the Sangreal if you
will, but I shall seek my bed; and I fear I shall stay there much longer
than I care to."
Then he was borne into the castle, where a leech was found for him,
while Hector remained with him, vowing he would not leave till his
comrade was well.
Meanwhile Galahad rode on, leaving many a groan and more than one sore
head behind him, and at night reached a hermitage near the castle of
Carbonek. Here he was welcomed by the hermit; but late at night, when
they were asleep, a loud knock came on the door, which roused the host.
Going to see who knocked at that untimely hour, he found a lady at the
door, who said,--
"Ulfin, rouse the knight who is with you. I must speak with him."
This he did, and Galahad went to the door, and asked her what she
wished.
"Galahad," she replied, "I am sent here to seek you. You must arm and
mount your horse at once, and follow me. Within three days I shall bring
you to the greatest adventure that ever knight met."
Without further question Galahad obeyed, and, having commended himself
to God, he bade his fair guide to lead, and he would follow wherever she
wished.
Onward they rode during the remainder of the night and the next day,
till they came to a castle not far from the sea, where Galahad was
warmly welcomed, for the damsel who guided him had been sent by the lady
of that castle.
"Madam," said the damsel, "shall he stay here all night?"
"No," she replied; "only until he has dined, and has slept a little. He
must ride on until destiny is accomplished."
So at early nightfall Galahad was called and helped to arm by
torchlight. Then he and the damsel again took horse, and rode on at
speed till they suddenly found themselves at the ocean's brink, with the
waves breaking at their feet. And here lay a ship covered with white
samite, from which manly voices cried,--
"Welcome, Sir Galahad. We have long awaited you. Come on board."
"What means this?" asked Galahad of the damsel. "Who are they that
call?"
"No others than your friends and comrades, Sir Bors and Sir Percivale.
Here you must leave your horse, and I mine, and both of us enter the
ship, for so God commands."
This they did, taking their saddles and bridles with them, and making on
them the sign of the cross. When they had entered the ship the two
knights received them with great joy. And as they stood greeting each
other the wind suddenly rose and drove the ship from the land, forcing
it through the waves at a marvellous speed.
"Whence comes this ship?" asked Galahad.
Then Bors and Percivale told him of their adventures and temptations,
and by what miracles they had been brought on board that vessel.
"Truly," said Galahad, "God has aided you marvellously. As for me, had
it not been for the lady who led me, I should never have found you."
"If Lancelot, your father, were but here," said Bors, "then it would
seem to me that we had all that heart could wish."
"That may not be," answered Galahad, "unless by the pleasure of our
Lord."
As they conversed the ship suddenly ran between two rocks, where it held
fast, but where they could not land for the raging of the sea. But just
before them lay another ship, which they could reach without danger.
copyright 1902 by Curtis and Cameron.
THE MAGIC SHIP.]
"Thither we must go," said the lady, "and there we shall find strange
things, for such is the Lord's will."
At this they approached the ship, and saw that it was richly provided,
but without man or woman on board. And on its bow there was written in
large letters,--
"You who shall enter this ship, take heed of your belief: for I am
Faith, and bid you beware. If you fail I shall not help you. He who
enters here must be of pure heart and earnest trust."
They stood looking earnestly at one another after having read these
words.
"Percivale," said the lady, "know you who I am?"
"I do not," he replied. "Have I ever seen you before?"
"Know, then, that I am your sister, the daughter of King Pellinore. I
love no man on earth as I do you. I warn you, therefore, not to enter
this ship unless you have perfect belief in our Lord Jesus Christ, for
if your faith fails you aught here you shall perish."
"Fair sister," he replied, "happy am I, indeed, to know you. As for the
ship, I shall not fail to enter it. If I prove an untrue knight or a
misbeliever, then let me perish."
As they spoke, Galahad blessed himself and entered the ship, and after
him came the lady, and then Bors and Percivale. On reaching the deck
they found it so marvellously fair and rich that they stood in wonder.
In the midst of the ship was a noble bed; and when Galahad went thither
he found on it a crown of silk. Below this lay a sword, half drawn from
its scabbard, the pommel being of stone of many colors. The scales of
the haft were of the ribs of two beasts. One beast was a serpent, known
in Calidone as the serpent of the fiend; and its bone had the magic
virtue that the hand which touched it should never be weary or hurt. The
other beast was a fish, that haunted the flood of Euphrates, its name
Ertanax; its bone had the virtue that he who handled it should not think
on the joys and sorrows of his past life, but only of that which he then
beheld. And no man could grasp this sword but the one who passed all
others in might and virtue.
"In the name of God," said Percivale, "I shall seek to handle it."
But in vain he tried, he could not grasp the magic hilt. No more could
Bors, who attempted it in his turn. Then Galahad approached, and as he
did so saw written on the sword in letters like blood, "He who draweth
me has peril to endure. His body shall meet with shame, for he shall be
wounded to the death."
"By my faith, the risk is too great," said Galahad. "I shall not set my
hand to so fatal a blade."
"That you must," said the lady. "The drawing of this sword is forbidden
to all men, save you. No one can draw back from that which destiny
commands."
Then she told a marvellous story of that strange blade.
"When this ship arrived in the realm of England," she said, "there was
deadly war between King Labor and King Hurlame, who was a christened
Saracen. Here they fought one day by the sea-side, and Hurlame was
defeated and his men slain. Then he fled into this ship, drew the sword
which he saw here, and with one stroke smote King Labor and his horse in
twain. But a fatal stroke it proved, for with it there came harm and
pestilence to all this realm. Neither corn nor grass would grow, fruit
failed to ripen, the waters held no fish, and men named this the waste
land of the two marches. Nor did King Hurlame escape. When he saw the
strange carving of the sword, a craving came into his mind to possess
the scabbard. Entering the ship for that purpose, he thrust the sword
into the sheath; but no sooner had he done so than he fell dead beside
the bed. And there his body lay till a maiden entered the ship and cast
it out, for no man could be found hardy enough to set foot on that fatal
deck."
The three knights on hearing this looked earnestly at the scabbard,
which seemed to them made of serpent's skin, while on it was writing in
letters of gold and silver. But the girdle was poor and mean, and ill
suited to so rich a sword. The writing was to this effect: "He who shall
wield me must be hardy of nature. Nor shall he ever be shamed while he
is girt with this girdle; which must never be put away except by the
hands of a maiden and a king's daughter. And she, if she shall ever
cease to be a maid, shall die the most villanous death that woman ever
endured."
"Turn the sword," said Percivale, "that we may see what is on the other
side."
On doing so they found it red as blood, with coal-black letters, which
said: "He that shall praise me most shall find me most to fail him in
time of great need; and to whom I should be most fair shall I prove most
foul. Thus is it ordained."
Then Percivale's sister told them the history of the sword, which was a
very strange and admirable thing to hear. More than once had it been
drawn in modern times; once by Nancien, who afterwards became a hermit,
and in whose hands the sword fell in half, and sorely wounded him in the
foot. Afterwards it was drawn by King Pellam, and it was for this
boldness that he was destined to be deeply wounded by the spear with
which Balin afterwards struck him.
The knights now observed the bed more closely, and saw that above its
head there hung two swords. With them were three strange spindles, one
of which was white as snow, one red as blood, and one as green as
emerald. As they gazed at them with curious wonder, the damsel told a
strange story of the surprising things they had gazed upon. And thus her
story ran.
When mother Eve gathered the fruit for which Adam and she were put out
of Paradise, she took with her the bough on which the apple grew. As it
kept fair and green, and she had no coffer in which to keep it, she
thrust it in the earth, where, by God's will, it took root, and soon
grew to a great tree, whose branches and leaves were as white as milk.
But afterwards, at the time of Abel's birth, it became grass-green. It
was under this tree that Cain slew Abel, and then it quickly lost its
green color, and grew red as blood. So it lived and thrived, and was in
full life when Solomon, the wise king, came to the throne.
It came to pass that, as Solomon studied over many things, and, above
all, despised women in his heart and in his writings, a voice came which
told him that of his line would be born the Virgin Mary, the purest and
noblest of human kind, and that afterwards would come a man, the last of
his blood, as pure in mind as a young maiden, and as good a knight as
Joshua of Israel. This revelation he told to his wife, who had
questioned him as to the reason of his deep study.
"Sir," she said, "since this knight is to come, it is our duty to
prepare for him. Therefore, I shall first have made a ship of the best
and most durable wood that man may find."
This was done by Solomon's command. When the ship was built and ready to
sail, she made a covering for it of cloth of silk, of such quality that
no weather could rot it. And in the midst she placed a great bed, of
marvellously rich workmanship, and covered with silk of the finest
texture.
"Now, my dear lord," she said to Solomon, "since this last knight of
your lineage is to pass in valor and renown all other knights that have
been before or shall come after him, therefore I counsel you to go into
the Temple of the Lord, where is the sword of the great King David, your
father, which is of magic temper and virtue. Take off the pommel of this
sword and make one of precious stones, skilfully wrought. And make a
hilt and sheath of great richness and beauty. As for the girdle, leave
that to me to provide."
Solomon did as she advised, and she took the sword and laid it in the
bed; but when he looked at it he grew angry, for the girdle was meanly
made of hemp.
"I have nothing," she said, "fit to make a girdle worthy of such a
sword. But when the time comes a maiden will change this for a girdle
worthy of him that is to wear it."
This done, she went with a carpenter to the tree under which Abel was
slain.
"Carve me from this tree as much wood as will make me a spindle," she
said.
"Ah, madam," said he, "I dare not cut the tree which our first mother
planted."
"Do as you are bidden," she ordered. "Dare not disobey me."
But as he began to cut the tree drops of blood flowed out. Then he would
have fled, but she made him cut sufficient to form a spindle. Next she
went to the green and the white trees, which had grown from the roots of
the other, and bade him cut as much from each of these. From this wood
were three spindles wrought, which she hung up at the head of the bed.
"You have done marvellously well," said Solomon, on seeing this.
"Wonderful things, I deem, shall come of all this, more than you
yourself dream of."
"Some of these things you shall soon know," she answered.
That night Solomon lay near the ship, and as he slept he dreamed. There
came from heaven, as it seemed to him, a great company of angels, who
alighted in the ship, and took water that was brought by an angel in a
vessel of silver, and sprinkled it everywhere. Then the angel came to
the sword and drew letters on the hilt, and on the ship's bow he wrote,
"You who shall enter this ship take heed of your belief," and further as
the knights had read. When Solomon had read these words he drew back,
and dared not enter, and there soon arose a wind which drove the ship
far to sea, so that it was quickly lost to sight. Then a low voice said,
"Solomon, the last knight of thy lineage shall rest in this bed." With
this Solomon waked, and lo! the ship was gone.
This was the story that the fair damsel, Percivale's sister, told to the
knights, as they stood curiously surveying the bed and the spindles.
Then one of them lifted a cloth that lay on the deck, and under it found
a purse, in which was a written paper, telling the same strange story
they had just heard.
"The sword is here," said Galahad; "but where shall be found the maiden
who is to make the new girdle?"
"You need not seek far," said Percivale's sister. "By God's leave, I
have been chosen to make that girdle, and have it here."
Then she opened a box which she had brought with her, and took from it a
girdle that was richly wrought with golden threads and studded with
precious stones, while its buckle was of polished gold.
"Lo, lords and knights," she said, "here is the destined girdle. The
greater part of it was made of my hair, which I loved dearly when I was
a woman of the world. When I knew that I was set aside for this high
purpose, I cut off my hair and wrought this girdle in God's name."
"Well have you done!" cried Bors. "Without you we would have learned
nothing of this high emprise."
Then the noble maiden removed the mean girdle from the sword, and put
upon it the rich one she had brought, which became it wonderfully.
"By what name shall we call this sword?" they now asked her.
"Its name is," she answered, "the sword with the strange girdle; and
that of the sheath is, mover of blood. But no man with blood in him
shall ever see the part of the sheath that was made of the tree of
life."
Then she took the sword and girded it about Galahad, fastening the
golden buckle about his waist.
"Now reck I not though I die," she said, "for I hold that I am one of
the world's blessed maidens, since it has been given to me to arm the
worthiest knight in the world."
After this they left the magic ship at her bidding, and entered the one
in which they had come. And immediately there rose a great wind which
blew their vessel from between the rocks, and carried it afar over the
sea.
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While Tarquin the Proud was king a strange thing happened at Rome. One day an unknown woman came to the king, bearing in her arms nine books, which she offered to sell to him at a certain price. She told him that they contained the prophecies of the... The British At New York
Before the days of dynamite and the other powerful explosives which enable modern man to set at naught the most rigid conditions of nature, warfare with the torpedo was little thought of, gunpowder being a comparatively innocent agent for this pu... The Burning Of Moscow
From west to east across Europe had marched the army of the great conqueror, no nation daring to draw a hostile sword, none venturing to place an obstacle in its path. Across Russia it had marched almost as triumphantly, breaking irresistibly throug... The Burning Of The Summer Palace
The "sublime" emperor, the supreme head of the great realm of China and its hundreds of millions of people, dwells in a magnificence and seclusion unknown to the monarchs of other lands. His palace enclosure within the city of Peking, the "Purple Fo... The Captivity Of Captain Golownin
Japan was persistent in its policy of isolation. To its people their group of islands was the world, and they knew little of and cared less for what was going on in all the continents outside. The Dutch vessel that visited their shores once a year s... The Captivity Of Richard Coeur De Lion
In the month of October, in the year of our Lord 1192, a pirate vessel touched land on the coast of Sclavonia, at the port of Yara. Those were days in which it was not easy to distinguish between pirates and true mariners, either in aspect or avoc... The Career Of A Desert Chief
In looking upon a modern map of the empire of China, it will be seen to cover a vast area in Asia, including not only China proper but the wide plains of Mongolia and the rock-bound region of Thibet. Yet no such map could properly have been drawn tw... The Career Of A Knight-errant
Mediaeval history would be of greatly reduced interest but for its sprightly stories of knights and their doings. In those days when men, "clad in complete steel," did their fighting with spear, sword, and battle-axe, and were so enamoured of hard b... The Career Of Bishop Hatto
We have now to deal with a personage whose story is largely legendary, particularly that of his death, a highly original termination to his career having arisen among the people, who had grown to detest him. But Bishop Hatto played his part in the... The Career Of Grimoald
The Avars, led by Cacan, their king, crossed, in the year 611, the mountains of Illyria and Lombardy, killed Gisulph, the grand duke, with all his adherents, in battle, and laid siege to the city of Friuli, behind whose strong walls Romilda, the w... The Caudine Forks
Westward from Rome rise the Apennine Mountains, the backbone of Italy; and amid their highest peaks, where the snow lies all the year long, and whence streams flow into the two seas, dwelt the Sabines, an important people, from whom came the mothers... The Causes Of Spain's Decadence
The golden age of Spain began in 1492, in which year the conquest of Granada extinguished the Arab dominion, and the discovery of America by Columbus opened a new world to the enterprise of the Spanish cavaliers. It continued during the reigns of ... The Cave Of Covadonga
Tarik landed in Spain in April, 711. So rapid were the Arabs in conquest that in two years from that date nearly the whole peninsula was in their hands. Not quite all, or history might have another story to relate. In a remote province of the once... The Charge Of The Light Brigade
The Crimean War, brief as was the interval it occupied in the annals of time, was one replete with exciting events. And of these much the most brilliant was that which took place on the 25th of October, 1854, the famous "Charge of the Light Brigad... The Charge Of The Light Brigade
Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "For... The Chevalier Of The Cart
The year passed on from Candlemas till after Easter, and then came the month of May, when every lusty 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 lusty month all lo... The Commune Of Laon
The history of the kingdoms of Europe has a double aspect, that of the arrogant rule of kings and nobles, and that of the enforced submission and occasional insurrection of the common people, whom the governing class despised while subsisting on the... The Conquest Of Central Asia
The Chinese are the most practical and the least imaginative of the peoples of the earth. During their whole four thousand years and more of historical existence the idea of military glory seems never to have dawned upon their souls. They have had w... The Conquest Of Siberia
In the year 1558 a family of wealthy merchants, Stroganof by name, began to barter with the Tartar tribes dwelling east of the Ural Mountains. Ivan IV. had granted to this family the desert districts of the Kama, with great privileges in trade, an... The Crime And Punishment Of King Birger
When the events narrated in the last tale took place, there were three young princes in the kingdom, Birger, Erik and Valdemar, Torkel, the regent, ruling in their name. But when the princes grew up Birger, the oldest, was crowned king, the other tw...