Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IV CHAPTER XIV

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 CHAPTER XIV
 
 How Queen Morgan le Fay made great sorrow for the
 death of Accolon, and how she stole away the scabbard
 from Arthur.
 
 THEN came tidings unto Morgan le Fay that Accolon was dead, and
 his body brought unto the church, and how <123>King Arthur had
 his sword again.  But when Queen Morgan wist that Accolon was
 dead, she was so sorrowful that near her heart to-brast.  But
 because she would not it were known, outward she kept her
 countenance, and made no semblant of sorrow.  But well she wist
 an she abode till her brother Arthur came thither, there should
 no gold go for her life.
 
 Then she went unto Queen Guenever, and asked her leave to ride
 into the country.  Ye may abide, said Queen Guenever, till your
 brother the king come home.  I may not, said Morgan le Fay, for I
 have such hasty tidings, that I may not tarry.  Well, said
 Guenever, ye may depart when ye will.  So early on the morn, or
 it was day, she took her horse and rode all that day and most
 part of the night, and on the morn by noon she came to the same
 abbey of nuns whereas lay King Arthur; and she knowing he was
 there, she asked where he was.  And they answered how he had laid
 him in his bed to sleep, for he had had but little rest these
 three nights.  Well, said she, I charge you that none of you
 awake him till I do, and then she alighted off her horse, and
 thought for to steal away Excalibur his sword, and so she went
 straight unto his chamber, and no man durst disobey her
 commandment, and there she found Arthur asleep in his bed, and
 Excalibur in his right hand naked.  When she saw that she was
 passing heavy that she might not come by the sword without she
 had awaked him, and then she wist well she had been dead.  Then
 she took the scabbard and went her way on horseback.  When the
 king awoke and missed his scabbard, he was wroth, and he asked
 who had been there, and they said his sister, Queen Morgan had
 been there, and had put the scabbard under her mantle and was
 gone.  Alas, said Arthur, falsely ye have watched me.  Sir, said
 they all, we durst not disobey your sister's commandment.  Ah,
 said the king, let fetch the best horse may be found, and bid Sir
 Ontzlake arm him in all haste, and take another good horse and
 ride with me.  So anon the king and Ontzlake were well armed, and
 rode after this lady, and so they came by a cross and found a
 cowherd, and they asked the <124>poor man if there came any lady
 riding that way.  Sir, said this poor man, right late came a lady
 riding with a forty horses, and to yonder forest she rode.  Then
 they spurred their horses, and followed fast, and within a while
 Arthur had a sight of Morgan le Fay; then he chased as fast as he
 might.  When she espied him following her, she rode a greater
 pace through the forest till she came to a plain, and when she
 saw she might not escape, she rode unto a lake thereby, and said,
 Whatsoever come of me, my brother shall not have this scabbard. 
 And then she let throw the scabbard in the deepest of the water
 so it sank, for it was heavy of gold and precious stones.
 
 Then she rode into a valley where many great stones were, and
 when she saw she must be overtaken, she shaped herself, horse and
 man, by enchantment unto a great marble stone.  Anon withal came
 Sir Arthur and Sir Ontzlake whereas the king might know his
 sister and her men, and one knight from another.  Ah, said the
 king, here may ye see the vengeance of God, and now am I sorry
 that this misadventure is befallen.  And then he looked for the
 scabbard, but it would not be found, so he returned to the abbey
 where he came from.  So when Arthur was gone she turned all into
 the likeliness as she and they were before, and said, Sirs, now
 may we go where we will.