Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK I CHAPTER II

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 CHAPTER II
 
 How Uther Pendragon made war on the duke of Cornwall, and how by
 the mean of Merlin he lay by the duchess and gat Arthur.
 
 THEN Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he
 came to King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with
 Merlin.  Where is he? said the king.  Sir, said Ulfius, he will
 not dwell long.  Therewithal Ulfius was ware where Merlin stood
 at the porch of the pavilion's door.  And then Merlin was bound
 to come to the king.  When King Uther saw him, he said he was
 welcome.  Sir, said Merlin, I know all your heart every deal; so
 ye will be sworn unto me as ye be a true king anointed, to fulfil
 my desire, ye shall have your desire.  Then the king was sworn
 upon the Four Evangelists.  Sir, said Merlin, this is my desire:
 the first night that ye shall lie by Igraine ye shall get a child
 on her, and when that is born, that it shall be delivered to me
 for to nourish there as I will have it; for it shall be your
 worship, and the child's avail, as mickle as the child is worth. 
 I will well, said the king, as thou wilt have it.  Now make you
 ready, said Merlin, this night ye shall lie with Igraine in the
 castle of Tintagil; and ye shall be like the duke her husband,
 Ulfius shall be like Sir Brastias, a knight of the duke's, and I
 will be like a knight that hight Sir Jordanus, a knight of the
 duke's.  But wait ye make not many questions with her nor her
 men, but say ye are diseased, and so hie you to bed, and rise not
 on the morn till I come to you, for the castle of Tintagil is but
 ten miles hence; so this was done as they devised.  But the duke
 of Tintagil espied how the king rode from the siege of Terrabil,
 and therefore that night he issued out of the castle at a postern
 for to have distressed the king's host.  And so, through his own
 issue, the duke himself was slain or ever the king came at the
 castle of Tintagil.
 
 <4>
 So after the death of the duke, King Uther lay with Igraine more
 than three hours after his death, and begat on her that night
 Arthur, and on day came Merlin to the king, and bade him make him
 ready, and so he kissed the lady Igraine and departed in all
 haste.  But when the lady heard tell of the duke her husband, and
 by all record he was dead or ever King Uther came to her, then
 she marvelled who that might be that lay with her in likeness of
 her lord; so she mourned privily and held her peace.  Then all
 the barons by one assent prayed the king of accord betwixt the
 lady Igraine and him; the king gave them leave, for fain would he
 have been accorded with her.  So the king put all the trust in
 Ulfius to entreat between them, so by the entreaty at the last
 the king and she met together.  Now will we do well, said Ulfius,
 our king is a lusty knight and wifeless, and my lady Igraine is a
 passing fair lady; it were great joy unto us all, an it might
 please the king to make her his queen.  Unto that they all well
 accorded and moved it to the king.  And anon, like a lusty
 knight, he assented thereto with good will, and so in all haste
 they were married in a morning with great mirth and joy.
 
 And King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney then wedded Margawse that
 was Gawaine's mother, and King Nentres of the land of Garlot
 wedded Elaine.  All this was done at the request of King Uther. 
 And the third sister Morgan le Fay was put to school in a
 nunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk
 of necromancy.  And after she was wedded to King Uriens of the
 land of Gore, that was Sir Ewain's le Blanchemain's father.