Then he cried: "Ah, my lord
Arthur, will ye leave me here alone among mine enemies?" "Comfort
thyself," said the king, "for in me is no further help; for I will
to the Isle of Avalon, to heal me of my grievous wound." And as
soon as Sir Bedivere had lost sight of the barge, he wept and
wailed; then he took the forest, and went all that night, and in
the morning he was ware of a chapel and a hermitage.
Then went Sir Bedivere thither; and when he came into the chapel,
he saw where lay an hermit on the ground, near a tomb that was
newly graven. "Sir," said Sir Bedivere, "what man is there buried
that ye pray so near unto?" "Fair son," said the hermit, "I know
not verily. But this night there came a number of ladies, and
brought hither one dead, and prayed me to bury him." "Alas!" said
Sir Bedivere, "that was my lord, King Arthur." Then Sir Bedivere
swooned; and when he awoke he prayed the hermit he might abide
with him, to live with fasting and prayers. "Ye are welcome," said
the hermit. So there bode Sir Bedivere with the hermit; and he put
on poor clothes, and served the hermit full lowly in fasting and
in prayers.
Thus of Arthur I find never more written in books that be
authorized, nor more of the very certainty of his death; but thus
was he led away in a ship, wherein were three queens; the one was
King Arthur's sister, Queen Morgane le Fay; the other was Viviane,
the Lady of the Lake; and the third was the queen of North Galis.
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