27 October 2026
(27 May 2016) We return to Tennyson’s poem, “Morte D’Arthur,” reminding all that last time, we saw Bedivere go to return Excalibur to the lake; our night decided to keep the sword, so he hid it, and now returns to report to the dying Arthur:
Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere:
“Hast thou perform’d my mission which I gave?
What is it thou hast seen, or what hast heard?”
And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere:
“I heard the ripple washing in the reeds,
And the wild water lapping on the crag.”
To whom replied King Arthur, faint and pale:
“Thou hast betray’d thy nature and thy name,
Not rendering true answer, as beseem’d
Thy fealty, nor like a noble knight:
For surer sign had follow’d, either hand,
Or voice, or else a motion of the mere.
This is a shameful thing for men to lie.
Yet now, I charge thee, quickly go again
As thou art lief and dear, and do the thing
I bade thee, watch, and lightly bring me word.”
Arthur asks Bedivere what happened by asking him what he saw and heard; Bedivere replies that all he heard was the water moving through the reeds and lapping on the shore. The king knows at once that Bedivere did not do as he asked, for he knows what will happen when the sword is returned to the lake. He catches Bedivere in his lie, and sends him back again with the same charge: cast the sword into the lake, watch what happens, and then report back to me. You’d think that Bedivere would now realize that unless he does what Arthur asks, he will not see what he should. Bedivere, however, is not so wise, as we will see next time. Until then, good reading!
Leave a Reply