Lash'd at the wizard as he spake the word,
And all at once all round him rose in fire,
So that the child and he were clothed in fire.
And presently thereafter follow'd calm,
Free sky and stars: 'And this same child,' he said,
'Is he who reigns; nor could I part in peace
Till this were told.' And saying this the seer
Went thro' the strait0 and dreadful pass of death,
narrow
Not ever to be question'd any more
Save on the further side; but when I met
Merlin, and ask'd him if these things were truth?
The shining dragon and the naked child
Descending in the glory of the seas?
He laugh'd as is his wont,' and answer'd me
custom
In riddling triplets of old time, and said: ' 'Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky!
A young man will be wiser by and by;
An old man's wit may wander ere he die.
Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea!
And truth is this to me, and that to thee;
And truth or clothed or naked let it be.
Rain, sun, and rain! and the free blossom blows:
Sun, rain, and sun! and where is he who knows?
From the great deep to the great deep he goes.'
8. Child secretly substituted for another.
.
THE COMING OF ARTHUR / 1 195
'So Merlin riddling anger'd me; but thou Fear not to give this King thine only child, Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing Hereafter; and dark sayings from of old
415 Ranging and ringing thro' the minds of men, And echo'd by old folk beside their fires For comfort after their wage-work is done, Speak of the King; and Merlin in our time Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn
420 Tho' men may wound him that he will not die, But pass, again to come; and then or now Utterly smite the heathen underfoot, Till these and all men hail him for their king.'
She spake and King Leodogran rejoiced,
425 But musing 'Shall I answer yea or nay?' Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw, Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew, Field after field, up to a height, the peak Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king,
430 Now looming, and now lost; and on the slope The sword rose, the hind? fell, the herd was driven, peasant Fire glimpsed;0 and all the land from roof and rick,9 glimmered In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind, Stream'd to the peak, and mingled with the haze
435 And made it thicker; while the phantom king Sent out at times a voice; and here or there Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest Slew on and burnt, crying, 'No king of ours, No son of Uther, and no king of ours;'
440 Till with a wink his dream was changed, the haze Descended, and the solid earth became As nothing, but the King stood out in heaven, Crown'd. And Leodogran awoke, and sent Ulfius, and Brastias and Bedivere,
445 Back to the court of Arthur answering yea.
Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved And honour'd most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth And bring the Queen;?and watch'd him from the gates: And Lancelot past away among the flowers,
450 (For then was latter April) and return'd Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere. To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint, Chief of the church in Britain, and before The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the King
455 That morn was married, while in stainless white, The fair beginners of a nobler time, And glorying in their vows and him, his knights Stood round him, and rejoicing in his joy.
9. Stacks of grain.
.
1 138 / ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 460465Far shone the fields of May thro' open door, The sacred altar blossom'd white with May, The Sun of May descended on their King, They gazed on all earth's beauty in their
