and overthrown eleven kings, and every one of them now did homage to him. That is to say, they gave him their beards, flayed clean off their faces. Thus, the messenger had come for King Arthur’s beard, for King Rience had trimmed a mantle with kings’ beards, and there was one blank space on his mantle. So he sent for his beard, or else he would enter in his lands and burn and slay and never stop until he had both head and beard.
CI.26
“Well,” said Arthur, “you have delivered your message, which is the most arrogant and ill-mannered message that a man has ever sent to a king. You can see that my beard is still too young to make much of a decoration. But tell your king this: I do not owe him, nor did any of my ancestors, and it will not be long before he shall do homage to me on both his knees, or else he will lose his head, by the faith of my body. This is the most shameful message that I have ever heard spoken; I sense that your king has not yet encountered with an honorable man. Tell him I will have his head unless he does homage to me.” Then the messenger departed.
“Now, is there anyone here who knows King Rience?” asked Arthur.
Then a knight named Naram answered, “Sir, I know the king well. There are few men who are of strong body as he is, and he is a very proud man. Sir, doubt not that he will make a great show of force against you.”
“Well,” said Arthur, “I will deal with him soon.”
Then King Arthur had all the children who were born on May-day sent for—those who were begotten of lords and born of ladies—for Merlin told King Arthur that he who would destroy him and all the land would be born on May-day. So he sent for them all on pain of death, and the sons of many kings and the sons of many knights were rounded up and sent to the king. And King Lot’s wife sent Mordred.
CI.27
They were all put in a ship and sent out to sea. And some were four weeks old, and some less. So by fortune the ship was wrecked near a castle, and the greatest part of it was destroyed. But Mordred was cast up onto the beach, and a good man found him, and fostered him until he was fourteen years of age, and then brought him to court, as it relates near the end of the Morte Darthur.
Many lords and barons of the realm were displeased that their children were lost. Many blamed Merlin more than Arthur, but out of fear and love, they held their peace.
When the messenger came to King Rience, he was out of his mind with rage, and gathered together a great host as it is told in the Book of Balin le Savage which follows next and tells the story of Balin’s adventure and how he got the sword.
4 Balin, The Knight with the Two Swords
After the death of Uther, his son Arthur reigned, and he had to fight a great war to bring all England under his rule, for there were many kings within the realm of England, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall.
VI.2 CII.1
So it happened one time when Arthur was in London that a knight came and told him how King Rience of North Wales had raised a great army and had entered the land and burned and slew the king’s true liege people.
“If this is true,” said Arthur, “it would be a great shame to my honor unless I should stand against him mightily.”
“It is true,” said the knight, “for I saw the army myself.”
“Well,” said the king, “I shall order a response to his malice.” Then the king announced that all the lords, knights, and gentlemen of arms should meet at the castle which was called Camelot in those days, and there the king would hold a council and a jousting tournament.
So when the king had arrived there with all his barons and they were comfortably lodged, there came a damsel who was sent from the great Lady Lyle of Avalon. When she came before King Arthur she explained from where she had come and how she had been sent as a messenger to him for a particular reason. Then she let her richly furred mantle fall and revealed that she was girt with a noble sword; the king marveled at this and said “Damsel, why are you girt with that sword? It is not appropriate.”
“Now I shall tell you,” said the damsel. “This sword with which I am girt is an encumbrance that causes me great sorrow. The sword cannot be removed except by a knight, and his deeds and actions must prove him to be a noble knight, without villainy, treachery, or treason. If I may find such a knight that has all these virtues, he will be able to draw this sword out of its sheath. I have been in King Rience’s land, for I was told that there I might find passing good knights. And he and all his knights tried and none of them were able to draw the sword.”
“That is a great marvel,” said Arthur. “If this is true, then I would like to try myself to pull out the sword, although I do not presume that I am the best knight here. But I will try to draw your sword as an example to all the barons, so that every one of them will try after I have tried.” Then Arthur took the sword by the sheath and girdle and pulled at it strongly, but the sword would not come out.
“Sir,” said the damsel, “you don’t need to pull so hard, for he that is able to pull out the sword will be able to do it quite easily.”
“You are right,” said Arthur. “Now, all my barons, you try!”
“But beware if you are tainted with shame, treachery or guile, for then it will be no use,” said the damsel. “For he must be a pure knight without any villainy and of noble birth on both his father’s and mother’s side.”
The greater part of the barons of the Round Table who there at that time tried one after another, but none had any success. Because of this the damsel made great sorrow out of measure and said, “Alas! I thought that in this country I would find the best knights of the world without treachery or treason.”
“By my faith,” said Arthur, “I believe the knights here are as good as any in the world, but it is not their fortune to be able to help you, for which I am sorry.”
CII.2
It happened that at that time there was a poor knight at King Arthur’s court who had been a prisoner for half a year because he had killed a knight who was King Arthur’s cousin. The name of this knight was Balin, and through the influence of the barons he was brought out of prison; he had a reputation as a strong knight, and he had been born in Northumberland.
So he went secretly to the court and saw the marvel of the sword, which lifted his spirits; he would have liked to have tried as the other knights did, but as he was poor and poorly outfitted, he did not put himself forward. But in his heart he believed that he could do as well as any knight there if luck was with him. As the damsel took her leave of Arthur and all the barons, Balin called out to her as she was departing and said, “Damsel, I pray you of your courtesy to allow me to try as these other lords have, although I am poorly outfitted. In my heart I believe that I am as likely as any of these others to succeed.”
This damsel looked at the poor knight and saw that he was a handsome man, but his shabby clothes made her think that any honor he had achieved was done through villainy and treachery.
Then she said to that knight, “Sir, you don’t need to bother, because I doubt that you would succeed where all these knights have failed.”
“Ah, fair damsel,” said Balin, “worthiness and good character and good deeds are not to be found in one’s outward appearance; manhood and worship are found within a man’s person. Many a noble knight is unknown to the people, as honor and fortitude
