And now I know all, and can teach all.
But tell me, damsel, whence hadst thou this lore?"
Said Ursula: "I had it of a very fair woman who, as it seemeth,
was Lady and Queen of the Champions of Hampton under the Scaur,
not far from mine own land."
"Yea," quoth the Sage, "and what hath befallen her?...Nay, nay,"
said he, "I need not ask; for I can see by your faces that she is dead.
Therefore hath she been slain, or otherwise she had not been dead.
So I ask you if ye were her friends?"
Quoth Ursula; "Surely she was my friend, since she befriended me;
and this man I deem was altogether her friend."
Ralph hung his head, and the Sage gazed on him, but said naught.
Then he took a hand of each of them in his hands, and held
them a while silently, and Ralph was still downcast and sad,
but Ursula looked on him fondly.
Then spake the Sage: "So it is, Knight, that now I seem to understand
what manner of man thou art, and I know what is between you two;
whereof I will say naught, but will let the tree grow according to its seed.
Moreover, I wot now that my friend of past years would have me make you
both wise in the lore of the Well at the World's End; and when I have
done this, I can do no more, but let your good hap prevail if so it may.
Abide a little, therefore."
Then he went unto an ark, and took thence a book wrapped
in a piece of precious web of silk and gold, and bound
in cuir-bouilly wrought in strange devices.
Pages:
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479