CHAPTER VII
 
 Of the opinion of some men of the death of King Arthur;
 and how Queen Guenever made her a nun in Almesbury
 
 
 YET some men say in many parts of England that King
 Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu
 into another place; and men say that he shall come again,
 and he shall win the holy cross.  I will not say it shall be
 so, but rather I will say: here in this world he changed
 his life.  But many men say that there is written upon his
 tomb this verse:   Thus leave I here Sir Bedivere with the
 hermit, that dwelled that time in a chapel beside Glastonbury,
 and there was his hermitage.  And so they lived in
 their prayers, and fastings, and great abstinence.  And
 when Queen Guenever understood that King Arthur was
 slain, and all the noble knights, Sir Mordred and all the
 remnant, then the queen stole away, and five ladies with
 her, and so she went to Almesbury; and there she let
 make herself a nun, and ware white clothes and black,
 and great penance she took, as ever did sinful lady in this
 land, and never creature could make her merry; but lived
 in fasting, prayers, and alms-deeds, that all manner of
 people marvelled how virtuously she was changed.  Now
 leave we Queen Guenever in Almesbury, a nun in white
 clothes and black, and there she was Abbess and ruler
 as reason would; and turn we from her, and speak we of
 Sir Launcelot du Lake.