SCENE II. Camelot. The shore of the Magic Mere, Sunset. Sir Breuse: enter to him, Morgan le Fay.)
Morgan.
Small space have I for greetings, good Sir Breuse,
But all falls bravely in tall Camelot
And deep disorder reigns in Arthur's Court,
For Guenever is gone!
Sir Breuse.
Whose hand is here?
I thought ye playèd pander to the king.
Morgan.
The which shall follow lightly: for the nonce
Wise Merlin aids us, for with potent spells
He has engulfed the girl that would be queen
In some profound abyss of mystery
Beyond the king's control.
Sir Breuse.
What follows?
Morgan.
War!
Rude war betwixt the king and Merlin.
Sir Breuse.
Ha!
I see thine import, Morgan.
Morgan.
All is well;
We need not vex us touching Guenever,
Our work lies close at hand. The king is wroth,
And deep dissension gets betwixt the twain
That let us from the throne. Sir Launcelot
Sits in his haughty seige amid the knights
Of that Round Table that shall guard the king.
I see the issue of that royal whim;
Red war is out against Imperial Rome,
The while along the borders of the realm
Impatient kings are fretting at their chains,
And black confusion like a thunder cloud
Creeps to the zenith.
Sir Breuse.
Have we nought to do?
Or may we sit and babble of the day
When I am king?
Morgan.
I do not deal in words,
I act.
Sir Breuse.
Then lightly to thy labour.
Morgan.
Aye,
The while ye idly fondle dreams of state
When I have crowned ye.
Sir Breuse.
Curse thine idle tongue!
What would ye have me do?
Morgan.
Avoid my sight
That I may act alone. Stay! seek the Court
And bring me word of Merlin and the king.
Sir Breuse.
A gentle errand!
Morgan.
For a gentle knight.
Farewell, Sir Breuse.
(Exit Sir Breuse.)
Now I have ample swing;
Come forth, my sword! Hola, brave Nimue!
(Enter from the Mere: Nimue.)
Nimue.
Unhorsed, but in the lists. Grant me a quest,
And I will lift mine honour from the deep
Where Merlin hurled it.
Morgan.
Cope with him again
With better fortune: now another task
Of gentler savour have I for thy hand.
Anon King Arthur walks beside the Mere,
If thou didst whisper in his hungry ear
The thing I bade thee.
Nimue.
"King, the spell dissolves
At sunset, by the Magic Mere, to-night!"
Morgan.
Where ye shall soon encounter with him. See!
How like a jaded warrior the sun
Stands halting on the world's empurpled shore
Before he plunges in the sea of night;
The tide is at the flood and Arthur comes.
Entreat him worshipfully; give him pause,
Until I ring him with a magic sleep:
Then sink with him a thousand fathoms down
The where I wait thee.
Nimue.
Hush, I hear the fall
Of eager feet.
Morgan.
And on the word I go.
(Exit Morgan.)
Nimue.
And I will crouch me for a splendid spring.
This hunting likes me well: come, little king!
(Enter: King Arthur.)
King Arthur.
"At sunset by the Magic Mere to-night
The spell dissolves." So breathed a pa**ing voice,
And I, a king, perforce must walk alone
Beside a cursèd lake, and wait on chance
To give me that is mine. And Merlin -- hell
Would lightly cast him forth an' he were dead,
Therefore he lives, and cloaks him with a cloud
Of black, impenetrable sorcery,
As he has shrouded Guenever -- By God!
I'll burn him for high treason if he crawls
Once more within my grasp. -- And Guenever!
I cannot see her, yet the sun is gone,
And noisome pestilence is lifting white
Above the Mere. Who played this sorry jest
Upon me for my shame? What whitened there?
Was it a ghostly creature from the lake
Or was it Guenever?
Nimue.
Most noble king,
I know thine errand, and I pledge my faith
Thou shalt achieve.
King Arthur.
What do ye, lady fair,
So far from Camelot?
Nimue.
The king's behest,
And my devoir unto his majesty.
Mistrust me not; I would befriend thee, sir,
And to that end I spake.
King Arthur.
It was from thee
I gained the warning?
Nimue.
Aye, "The spell dissolves
To-night, at sunset, by the Magic Mere."
King Arthur.
And Guenever?
Nimue.
Shall lie within thy hand
Despite Sir Merlin, ere the twilight goes
And darkness gathers.
King Arthur.
What is this to thee,
That thou shouldst play the part of mine ally?
Nimue.
Am I not subject unto England's crown
In equal measure with the watchful knights?
And shall I turn aside when treachery
Slides serpent-wise to sting thee?
King Arthur.
What is hid
Behind the arras of thy woven words?
Nimue.
Swift warning!
King Arthur.
Give it voice.
Nimue.
The sorcerer;
Endure him not lest thou shouldst see the crown
Reft from thee like thy mistress.
King Arthur.
What of her?
I hold a sword that well defends a crown,
Yet is it helpless here. Speak lightly, girl,
If thou know'st ought of Guenever.
Nimue.
My lord,
My honour on her coming. Of thy grace
I pray thee sit, and school thine eagerness
Until the stroke when Merlin's magic fails
And Guenever is free.
King Arthur.
What art thou, then?
How cam'st thou by this knowledge? By the Ma**
I do misdoubt thee.
Nimue.
And thou dost me hurt
By thinking malice of my championship:
Nathless I will content thee. Guenever
Fled all distraught with dole from Camelot,
For that old Merlin sought to weave a spell
About her that should lift a wall of bra**
Forever 'twixt her and the world of men.
(Soft music: the mist from the lake deepens.)
I found her crouching in the reedy sedge
And baffled Merlin, for I won a charm
Most potent, from the Lady of the Lake
Long since, for service, and he saw her not.
(The Lake Girls rise silently above the Mere; they come softly forward and dance around the King and Nimue.)
Within a mystic land of drifting dreams,
A realm of faery, ringed with summer seas,
She lieth, sleeping, 'til the long kiss frees
Her veilèd eyes of slumber. Level beams
Of sultry sunlight linger drowsily
Around her bed of roses, faint with love.
Give me thy hand, and thou shalt bend above
To breathe her name, and she shall wake to thee.
(The mist has deepened until all is obscured. It flushes rose colour and slowly dissolves.)