Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XVIII CHAPTER XX

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 CHAPTER XX
 
 How the corpse of the Maid of Astolat arrived to-fore King
 Arthur, and of the burying, and how Sir Launcelot
 offered the mass-penny.
 
 
 SO by fortune King Arthur and the Queen Guenever were
 speaking together at a window, and so as they looked into
 Thames they espied this black barget, and had marvel
 what it meant.  Then the king called Sir Kay, and showed
 it him.  Sir, said Sir Kay, wit you well there is some new
 tidings.  Go thither, said the king to Sir Kay, and take
 with you Sir Brandiles and Agravaine, and bring me ready
 word what is there.  Then these four knights departed
 and came to the barget and went in; and there they found
 the fairest corpse lying in a rich bed, and a poor man
 sitting in the barget's end, and no word would he speak.
 So these four knights returned unto the king again, and
 told him what they found.  That fair corpse will I see,
 said the king.  And so then the king took the queen by
 the hand, and went thither.
 
 Then the king made the barget to be holden fast,
 and then the king and the queen entered with certain
 knights with them; and there he saw the fairest woman
 lie in a rich bed, covered unto her middle with many
 rich clothes, and all was of cloth of gold, and she lay as
 though she had smiled.  Then the queen espied a letter
 in her right hand, and told it to the king.  Then the king
 took it and said:  Now am I sure this letter will tell what
 she was, and why she is come hither.  So then the king
 and the queen went out of the barget, and so commanded
 a certain man to wait upon the barget.
 
 And so when the king was come within his chamber,
 he called many knights about him, and said that he would
 wit openly what was written within that letter.  Then the
 king brake it, and made a clerk to read it, and this was
 the intent of the letter.  Most noble knight, Sir Launcelot,
 now hath death made us two at debate for your love.  I
 was your lover, that men called the Fair Maiden of
 Astolat; therefore unto all ladies I make my moan, yet
 pray for my soul and bury me at least, and offer ye my
 mass-penny: this is my last request.  And a clean maiden
 I died, I take God to witness: pray for my soul, Sir
 Launcelot, as thou art peerless.  This was all the substance
 in the letter.  And when it was read, the king, the queen,
 and all the knights wept for pity of the doleful complaints.
 Then was Sir Launcelot sent for; and when he was come
 King Arthur made the letter to be read to him.
 
 And when Sir Launcelot heard it word by word, he
 said:  My lord Arthur, wit ye well I am right heavy of
 the death of this fair damosel:  God knoweth I was never
 causer of her death by my willing, and that will I report
 me to her own brother: here he is, Sir Lavaine.  I will
 not say nay, said Sir Launcelot, but that she was both fair
 and good, and much I was beholden unto her, but she
 loved me out of measure.  Ye might have shewed her, said
 the queen, some bounty and gentleness that might have
 preserved her life.  Madam, said Sir Launcelot, she would
 none other ways be answered but that she would be my
 wife, outher else my paramour; and of these two I would
 not grant her, but I proffered her, for her good love that
 she shewed me, a thousand pound yearly to her, and to her
 heirs, and to wed any manner knight that she could find
 best to love in her heart.  For madam, said Sir Launcelot,
 I love not to be constrained to love; for love must arise
 of the heart, and not by no constraint.  That is truth,
 said the king, and many knight's love is free in himself,
 and never will be bounden, for where he is bounden
 he looseth himself.
 
 Then said the king unto Sir Launcelot:  It will be
 your worship that ye oversee that she be interred worshipfully.
 Sir, said Sir Launcelot, that shall be done as I can
 best devise.  And so many knights yede thither to behold
 that fair maiden.  And so upon the morn she was interred
 richly, and Sir Launcelot offered her mass-penny; and all
 the knights of the Table Round that were there at that
 time offered with Sir Launcelot.  And then the poor man
 went again with the barget.  Then the queen sent for Sir
 Launcelot, and prayed him of mercy, for why that she had
 been wroth with him causeless.  This is not the first time,
 said Sir Launcelot, that ye had been displeased with me
 causeless, but, madam, ever I must suffer you, but what
 sorrow I endure I take no force.  So this passed on all
 that winter, with all manner of hunting and hawking, and
 jousts and tourneys were many betwixt many great lords,
 and ever in all places Sir Lavaine gat great worship, so
 that he was nobly renowned among many knights of the
 Table Round.