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‘Be not so hardy, scullion, as to slay

       One nobler than thyself.’ ‘Damsel, thy charge

       Is an abounding pleasure to me. Knight,

       Thy life is thine at her command. Arise

       And quickly pass to Arthur’s hall, and say

       His kitchen-knave hath sent thee. See thou crave

       His pardon for thy breaking of his laws.

       Myself, when I return, will plead for thee.

       Thy shield is mine — farewell; and, damsel, thou,

       Lead, and I follow.’

      And fast away she fled.

       Then when he came upon her, spake, ‘Methought,

       Knave, when I watched thee striking on the bridge

       The savour of thy kitchen came upon me

       A little faintlier: but the wind hath changed:

       I scent it twenty-fold.’ And then she sang,

       ‘“O morning star” (not that tall felon there

       Whom thou by sorcery or unhappiness

       Or some device, hast foully overthrown),

       “O morning star that smilest in the blue,

       O star, my morning dream hath proven true,

       Smile sweetly, thou! my love hath smiled on me.”

      ‘But thou begone, take counsel, and away,

       For hard by here is one that guards a ford —

       The second brother in their fool’s parable —

       Will pay thee all thy wages, and to boot.

       Care not for shame: thou art not knight but knave.’

      To whom Sir Gareth answered, laughingly,

       ‘Parables? Hear a parable of the knave.

       When I was kitchen-knave among the rest

       Fierce was the hearth, and one of my co-mates

       Owned a rough dog, to whom he cast his coat,

       “Guard it,” and there was none to meddle with it.

       And such a coat art thou, and thee the King

       Gave me to guard, and such a dog am I,

       To worry, and not to flee — and — knight or knave —

       The knave that doth thee service as full knight

       Is all as good, meseems, as any knight

       Toward thy sister’s freeing.’

      ‘Ay, Sir Knave!

       Ay, knave, because thou strikest as a knight,

       Being but knave, I hate thee all the more.’

      ‘Fair damsel, you should worship me the more,

       That, being but knave, I throw thine enemies.’

      ‘Ay, ay,’ she said, ‘but thou shalt meet thy match.’

      So when they touched the second river-loop,

       Huge on a huge red horse, and all in mail

       Burnished to blinding, shone the Noonday Sun

       Beyond a raging shallow. As if the flower,

       That blows a globe of after arrowlets,

       Ten thousand-fold had grown, flashed the fierce shield,

       All sun; and Gareth’s eyes had flying blots

       Before them when he turned from watching him.

       He from beyond the roaring shallow roared,

       ‘What doest thou, brother, in my marches here?’

       And she athwart the shallow shrilled again,

       ‘Here is a kitchen-knave from Arthur’s hall

       Hath overthrown thy brother, and hath his arms.’

       ‘Ugh!’ cried the Sun, and vizoring up a red

       And cipher face of rounded foolishness,

       Pushed horse across the foamings of the ford,

       Whom Gareth met midstream: no room was there

       For lance or tourney-skill: four strokes they struck

       With sword, and these were mighty; the new knight

       Had fear he might be shamed; but as the Sun

       Heaved up a ponderous arm to strike the fifth,

       The hoof of his horse slipt in the stream, the stream

       Descended, and the Sun was washed away.

      Then Gareth laid his lance athwart the ford;

       So drew him home; but he that fought no more,

       As being all bone-battered on the rock,

       Yielded; and Gareth sent him to the King,

       ‘Myself when I return will plead for thee.’

       ‘Lead, and I follow.’ Quietly she led.

       ‘Hath not the good wind, damsel, changed again?’

       ‘Nay, not a point: nor art thou victor here.

       There lies a ridge of slate across the ford;

       His horse thereon stumbled — ay, for I saw it.

      ‘“O Sun” (not this strong fool whom thou, Sir Knave,

       Hast overthrown through mere unhappiness),

       “O Sun, that wakenest all to bliss or pain,

       O moon, that layest all to sleep again,

       Shine sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.”

      What knowest thou of lovesong or of love?

       Nay, nay, God wot, so thou wert nobly born,

       Thou hast a pleasant presence. Yea, perchance —

      ‘“O dewy flowers that open to the sun,

       O dewy flowers that close when day is done,

       Blow sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.”

      ‘What knowest thou of flowers, except, belike,

       To garnish meats with? hath not our good King

       Who lent me thee, the flower of kitchendom,

       A foolish love for flowers? what stick ye round

       The pasty? wherewithal deck the boar’s head?

       Flowers? nay, the boar hath rosemaries and bay.

      ‘“O birds, that warble to the morning sky,

       O birds that warble as the day goes by,

       Sing sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.”

      ‘What knowest thou of birds, lark, mavis, merle,

       Linnet? what dream ye when they utter forth

       May-music growing with the growing light,

       Their sweet sun-worship? these be for the snare

       (So runs thy fancy) these be for the spit,

       Larding and basting. See thou have not now

       Larded thy last, except thou turn and fly.

       There stands the third fool of their allegory.’

      For there beyond a bridge of treble bow,

       All in a rose-red from the west, and all

       Naked it seemed, and glowing in the broad

       Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight,

       That named himself the Star of Evening, stood.

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