Английские легенды / The English Legends

Chapter 1,

It was in the days[1] of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him for a long time. That duke was called the Duke of Tintagil. One time king Uther sent for this duke[2], asking him to bring his wife with him, because she was known to be a fair and wise lady, and her name was Igraine.

When the duke and his wife came to the king, the great lords that were in the king’s council helped them make peace. The king liked Igraine very much, and fell in love with her, and desired to lay with her. But she was a good woman, and did not accept the king’s offer. She came to her husband the duke and said, “I suppose that we were sent for so that I be dishonored. I advise you that we depart from here immediately, and ride all night to our own castle.” She also said that it would be wise to not tell the king and the lords that they were leaving.

So they departed. When king Uther learned that they left, he was very angry. He called his council and told the lords that the Duke of Tintagil rode away with Igraine. They advised the king to send for the duke and his wife to catch them and call them back, and if they didn’t want to come back, then the king had a reason to start a war against them.

They sent the messengers, and the messengers caught the duke and his wife midway. The duke said that neither he nor his wife[3] would come back. King Uther was very angry to hear that message. He sent the messengers again to warn the duke that he should prepare for a war, and that in less than forty days, Uther would take his biggest castle from him.

When the duke heard this warning, he started to prepare his castles for war. The duke had two strong castles, the bigger one was called Terrabil, and the smaller one was called Tintagil. The duke put his wife Igraine in the castle of Tintagil, and he put himself in the castle of Terrabil, which had many secret exits and passageways. Then in all haste[4] came Uther with a great army, and laid a siege to the castle of Terrabil. And there was a great war, and many people were slain.

But then Uther fell sick, because of his anger and his love to Igraine. A noble knight named Sir Ulfius came to king Uther and asked why he was sick.

“I will tell you,” said the king, “I am sick because of anger and love to fair Igraine.”

“Well, my lord,” said Sir Ulfius, “I will find Merlin, and he will prepare a remedy that will cure you.” So Ulfius departed, and after great adventures he met Merlin.

“Who are you seeking?” Merlin asked him.

Sir Ulfius took a little pause to think.

“I will tell you who you are seeking,” said Merlin. “You are seeking Merlin, and you should seek no further, because I am he. If King Uther rewards me, and swears to do exactly as I say, I will give him what he wants so much.”

“I can promise you,” said Sir Ulfius, “that he will reward you and do as you ask, as long as you ask reasonable things of him.”

“Ride back to Uther,” said Merlin, “And I will not be long behind[5].”

Ulfius was glad to hear that, and rode in all haste back to king Uther Pendragon, and told him that he had met Merlin.

“Where is he?” said the king. “Sir,” said Ulfius, “He will be here soon.”

As he said that, he saw that Merlin was standing at the entrance to the pavilion. Then Merlin came to the king, and when the king saw him, he said he was welcome.

“Sir,” said Merlin, “I know what you wish with all your heart, so if you swear to me as a king that you will do as I say, you will have what you wish.”

The king swore on the Four Evangelists[6].

“Sir,” said Merlin, “This is what I want from you: the first night that you will lie with Igraine, you will conceive a child. When this child is born, he will be delivered to me to nourish. This will bring great glory to you and your child, if he proves worth it[7].”

“Let it be so[8],” said Uther. “You will have the child.”

“Get ready,” said Merlin, “Tonight you will lie with Igraine in the castle of Tintagil. You will look like her husband the duke, Sir Ulfius will look like Sir Brastias, one of the duke’s knights, and I will look like Sir Jordanus, another of the duke’s knights. Do not talk a lot with her nor her men, just say that you are sick. Go to bed, and rise in the early morning, and I will come to bring you back.”

They rode to the castle of Tintagil. The duke saw them depart from the siege of Terrabil, so came out to fight with the king’s men. That night he was killed even before Uther came to Tintagil.

After the death of the duke, king Uther laid with Igraine, looking like the duke three hours after the duke was dead. In the early morning Merlin came to Uther to take him back. Uther kissed lady Igraine and departed in all haste.

When the lady heard that her husband the duke was killed that night, she wondered, who came to her chambers looking like the duke. She mourned privately, but didn’t tell anybody. Soon, the lords of king Uther asked him to end the war between him and Igraine. He was happy to do that, and he made Sir Ulfius to be the messenger.

“Now we will do well,” said Ulfius. “Our king is a strong man, and he doesn’t have a wife, and my lady Igraine is a fair lady. It would be great joy for us all and it might please the king to make her his queen.”

So king Uther took Igraine as a wife and made her his queen.

But the queen was pregnant, and soon everyone could see that. So the king came to her and asked who the father of the child was. She didn’t want to tell him.

“Tell me the truth,” said the king, “And I promise I will love you even more after that.”

“I will tell you the truth,” said Igraine. “The same night my lord was killed, a man came to me at the castle of Tintagil, and he looked exactly like my lord, and with him were two men looking like my lord’s knights Sir Brastias and Sir Jordanus. So I went into bed with him, as I should have with my lord, and that night we conceived a child.”

“You’re telling me the truth,” said Uther, “Because it was I who came to lay with you that night. And I am the father of the child.” And he told her how all of that happened as Merlin planned. She was happy to know that Uther was the father.

Soon Merlin came to the king.

“Sir,” he said, “You swore that you would give the child to me to nourish.”

“As you wish,” Uther said.

“I know a lord of yours in this land,” said Merlin, “his name is Sir Ector, and he is a true and faithful knight, and he owns many parts in England and Wales. Send for him, and tell him that in the name of his love to you, he should put his own child to nourishing of another woman, and that your child should be nourished by Sir Ector’s wife. And when the child is born, have him secretly brought to me unchristened, through the back door of the castle.”

Uther did as Merlin said. He called Sir Ector, and granted him great rewards. Sir Ector swore to do as the king told him. When the child was born, Uther commanded two knights and two ladies to bring the child, bound in a cloth of gold, through the back door of the castle and give him to the poor man they meet outside. So the child was brought to Merlin, and Merlin took him to Sir Ector and brought a priest to christen the child, and he called him Arthur.

And Sir Ector’s wife nourished the child as her own.

Excercises

I. Выберите верный вариант:

a) Why did the duke of Tintagil and Igraine leave king Uther’s keep?

1. Because they didn’t like the food.

2. Because they didn’t want Uther to dishonour Igraine.

3. Because they didn’t want to stay for too long.

4. Because they were afraid of the war.

b) What was the lords’ advice to king Uther?

1. To send messengers to ask the duke to come back to Uther.

2. To declare a war to the duke and lay siege to his castles.

3. To send knights to catch the duke and Igraine midway and bring them back by force.

4. To come to the castle of Tintagil at night, dressed as the duke.

c) Where did the Duke of Tintagil put his wife for the time of war, and where did he go himself?

1. He put Igraine to the castle of Tintagil, and himself to the castle of Terrabil.

2. He put Igraine to the castle of Terrabil, and himself to the castle of Tintagil.

3. He stayed with Igraine in the castle of Tintagil.

4. He stayed with Igraine in the castle of Terrabil.

d) How did the Duke of Tintagil die?

1. He fought with King Uther and was killed by him.

2. He went out to fight the siege while Uther was away and got killed.

3. He died from sickness after a peasant shot him with a crossbow.

4. He was killed by a spell that Merlin put on him.

e) When Merlin made a deal with Uther during the siege, what did he ask to do with the future child of Uther and Igraine?

1. He asked that the child be given out to a poor man outside the back door of the castle.

2. He asked that the child be christened and named Arthur, and then named the prince of England.

3. He asked that the child be killed as soon as it was born.

4. He asked that the child be given to him to nourish.

f) How did Merlin make Uther have what he wanted?

1. He made him look like the Duke of Tintagil and brought him to the castle of Tintagil at night.

2. He put a spell on the Duke of Tintagil that killed him, and then arranged a marriage between the King and Igraine.

3. He put the guards at the castle of Tintagil to sleep with his magic and sneaked Uther in.

4. He made Igraine come out of the castle of Tintagil to Uther’s pavilion.

g) What instructions did Merlin give Uther shortly before his son was born?

1. To send the child to Merlin so that Merlin nourished him himself.

2. To make the child his rightful heir and raise him as his son.

3. To send the child to Sir Ector, and take Sir Ector’s child in exchange.

4. To make a deal with Sir Ector, and then to take the child to Merlin unchristened so that he could pass him to Sir Ector.

Chapter 2,

Two years after Arthur was born, king Uther Pendragon fell gravely sick. Meanwhile a great deal of his enemies gathered forces against him, and started a great battle, and slain many of his people.

“Sir,” said Merlin, “You cannot win a war lying here sick; you should go to the field of battle. Even if you have to ride in a horselitter, but you must be there in person[9], and then will you have your victory.”

Uther did like Merlin told him. He gathered his men and, travelling in a horse-litter, led them to battle. And that day Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias did many great deeds of arms, and king Uther’s men won the battle and slain many of his enemies. And then Uther returned to London and made great joy of his victory.

But then he was even more sick. For three days and three nights he couldn’t talk, so his lords and barons were in great sorrow and asked for Merlin’s counsel.

“There is no cure for that,” said Merlin, “It is in the hands of God. But come to Uther tomorrow morning, and God and I will make him speak.”

The next morning all the lords and barons came with Merlin to Uther’s chamber.

“Sir,” said Merlin, “Is it your will that after your death your son Arthur will become king of this realm?”

Then Uther Pendragon turned so that everybody could see him and spoke.

“I give him God’s blessing and mine”, he said, “and bid him pray for my soul, and righteously and worshipfully claim the crown, or he will lose my blessing.”

Having said that, he yielded up the ghost[10], and then he was buried as a king should be. The queen Igraine made great sorrow, and with her all the barons.

Then a troubled time came to the kingdom. No one knew about Arthur, and everybody was thinking that they could start a war and claim the crown for their own. Then Merlin went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and counseled him to send for all the lords of the realm, and all the knights, so that they would come to London by Christmas. And since Jesus was born on that night, as a merciful king of mankind, he would show some miracle to reveal who should be the rightful king of this realm.

So the Archbishop, by the advice of Merlin, sent for all the lords and knights, asking them to come to London by Christmas. So on Christmas, in the greatest church of London, everybody came to pray. And when matins and the first mass[11] were done, everybody could see in the churchyard across the altar a great stone, and in the middle of it stood an anvil of steel a foot on high[12], and there was a sword between the stone and the anvil. And letters that were written in gold about the sword said this: “Who pulls this sword out of this stone and anvil, is the rightful king of all England.”

The people told it to the Archbishop, but he forbade trying to take the sword out before the Christmas high mass was finished. After that, a great many knights and lords tried to get the sword, but no one could move it. “He who could pull the sword is not here,” finally said the Archbishop, “but God will make him known. But this is my counsel that we let ten honourable knights guard the stone at all times.”

So they put ten knights to guard the stone at all times, and sent criers all over the realm to say that everyone is welcome to come to the church on New Year’s Eve to try and take the sword. On that day, a big jousting tournament was held, so all the barons and knights went there. Sir Ector decided to come as well, bringing with him his son Sir Kay that was made knight shortly before that, and his nourished brother[13] Arthur. When they were riding to the jousts-ward, Sir Kay noticed that he had forgotten his sword at home. He asked young Arthur to go and bring this sword to him, because he wanted to fight in the tournament.

Arthur went back, but everybody left home, so he could not get in and bring Sir Kay’s sword. He didn’t want to come back with empty hands, because he didn’t want his brother to miss the tournament.

“I know a sword nearby,” thought Arthur,“that I can bring to Sir Kay so that he would have a sword to fight with.”

So Arthur went to the churchyard. No one was guarding the stone and the anvil, because all the knights went to the tournament. Arthur took the sword by the handles and easily pulled it from under the anvil.

“Now I have a good sword for Sir Kay,” he said.

So Arthur brought the sword to his brother. Sir Kay immediately recognized the sword. He came to Sir Ector and said, “See, father, this is the sword from the stone. Therefore I am the rightful king of this land.”

Sir Ector recognized the sword, too. He took Arthur and Sir Kay back to the church, and asked Sir Kay to swear on the Book and answer, where did he get the sword.

“My brother Arthur gave it to me,” said Sir Kay.

“How did you get this sword?” Sir Ector asked Arthur.

“Sir, I will tell you,” Arthur replied. “When I came home, I saw that no one was there, so I couldn’t get Sir Kay’s sword. I didn’t want him to miss the tournament[14], so I came here and pulled this sword from the stone without any trouble.”

“Did you see any knights guarding the sword?” Sir Ector asked.

“No,” Arthur said.

“Now,” said Sir Ector to Arthur, “I understand that you must be the rightful king of this land.”

“Why me?” said Arthur.

“Sir,” said Sir Ector, “It is the will of God, because the man that can pull this sword from the stone should be the rightful king of this land. Now let me see if you can put the sword back into the stone and then pull it out again.”

“With ease,” said Arthur, and put the sword back into stone. Sir Ector tried pulling the sword out, but couldn’t, and neither could Sir Kay. Then Arthur pulled it out again with ease. Sir Ector and Sir Kay kneeled before Arthur.

“Alas,” said Arthur, “my dear father and brother, why do you kneel before me?”

“No, lord Arthur, it is not so,” said Sir Ector, “I was never your father, and you are not of my blood, but of higher blood that I thought.”