31 October 2026
(10 June 2016) We return today to Tennyson’s “Morte D’Arthur,” having witnessed Bedivere’s second attempt to return Arthur’s sword to the lake, and Bedivere’s justifications for again failing to do what Arthur asked. Now we see Arthur’s response, who again asks Bedivere what he saw and heard:
Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily:
“What is it thou hast seen, or what hast heard?”
And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere:
“I heard the water lapping on the crag,
And the long ripple washing in the reeds.”
To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath:
“Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue,
Unknightly, traitor-hearted! Woe is me!
Authority forgets a dying king,
Laid widow’d of the power in his eye
That bow’d the will. I see thee what thou art,
For thou, the latest-left of all my knights,
In whom should meet the offices of all,
Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt;
Either from lust of gold, or like a girl
Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes.
Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice,
And the third time may prosper, get thee hence:
But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur,
I will arise and slay thee with my hands.”
For the second time, we see that Arthur is not fooled by Bedivere, or his attempt to lie concerning his assignment to return the sword, and now the king gets angry, accusing Bedivere of ‘unknightly’ behavior, and being a traitor, enamored by the pretty hilt and sparkling gems; he compares Bedivere to a girl, probably the worst possible insult to a knight of this time. Further, Arthur tells Bedivere that if he fails this time, the king will rise up and kill him. As we will see next Tuesday, the insults and threat are enough to send Bedivere running back to the lake to fulfill Arthur’s command. Until then, good reading!
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