the forefeet of Aubagu, who shied from it. And through the open visor Ryons’ face could be seen, the eyes and mouth frozen open in amazement. Meanwhile the huge body still stood erect and from the severed neck sprayed a fountain of blood which descended on the armor and enmantled it like unto a crimson cloak.
Then from the battlements of Caerleon sounded a mighty roar of exultation, and from the Irish host a vast groan of despair. Then all of Ryons’ army dismounted and fell upon their knees, and King Arthur went before them and addressed them as follows.
“Hibernians, ye have seen the necessary failure that will attend any invasion of Britain. Arise and go now, home across the Irish Sea, and no harm will come to ye.”
At which the Irishmen, all ten thousand of them as one, swore fealty to him and arose and went away as commanded.
But Arthur returned to the castle and he was melancholy of humor when he spoke with his wizard.
“Tell us, Merlin,” said he, “why do we feel no sense of triumph in this?”
And Merlin answered, “Well, is not triumph a childish feeling, Sire? Perhaps though you are still young in years you have already become old in authority.”
“Then,” said King Arthur, “the feelings which lift the heart must be alien to a king? There can be no joy in it, no exultation? Nought but duty?” He pondered on this matter. “We have learnt that our father was more or less a barbarian. But did he not have it better?”
“But,” said Merlin, “the era has changed.”
“If the truth be known,” said King Arthur, “we did admire the late Ryons for his ebullience, nay his very effrontery. He did wear his crown with a certain zest. Whereas we are afraid that he was right about us: we do tend towards pomposity. But we are young and yet beardless, and with Excalibur we are invincible in battle. How to be righteous without being sanctimonious we see as our problem.”
“If I may be so bold,” said Merlin, “it is not required for your dignity that you habitually use the first-person plural when referring to yourself. That you are the king and whatever you say is said by a sovereign and not a mere man is self-evident.”
“Yet,” said Arthur, “I am a man for all that. I must eat, sleep, and use the close-stool. What subjects look for in a king, methinks, are not reminders of their own baseness but rather that which is elevated above it. And speaking for myself, after a reign of two years, I must say that what a new king requireth is a constant reassurance of his own kingliness, especially if he hath yet to celebrate his eighteenth birthday and with no beard to frame his face. When I say ‘we,’ therefore, I am addressing myself foremost.”
“Not even with my powers,” said Merlin, “can I provide you with a real beard, for only Nature can create hair. But I can place upon your chin the illusion of a beard, the which will serve your purpose until you can grow a real one.”
“But, Merlin,” asked King Arthur, “would this not be dissembling? If I am a true king, how might I wear a false beard?”
“’Twould not be false,” said Merlin sighing. “Magic, Sire, is that to which reason cannot be applied.” He cleared his throat. “’Tis another realm of being. A fish cannot converse with a bird, because each inhabits another medium, yet they both exist and in so doing share the universe. So with magic and reality.”
“Which fish?” asked King Arthur. “And which bird?”
“Neither,” said Merlin. “Both are real, but air and water are magical.”
And now King Arthur frowned and said, “How so?”
“They have no individuality,” said Merlin, “one drop of water, one breath of air being like every other of their kind. They have no duration, which is to say no beginning and no end, for if water leaveth here, it goeth there: so with air. The general amounts of both in all the world do never change. Finally, by application of fire, water changeth into air, to which
Then from the battlements of Caerleon sounded a mighty roar of exultation, and from the Irish host a vast groan of despair. Then all of Ryons’ army dismounted and fell upon their knees, and King Arthur went before them and addressed them as follows.
“Hibernians, ye have seen the necessary failure that will attend any invasion of Britain. Arise and go now, home across the Irish Sea, and no harm will come to ye.”
At which the Irishmen, all ten thousand of them as one, swore fealty to him and arose and went away as commanded.
But Arthur returned to the castle and he was melancholy of humor when he spoke with his wizard.
“Tell us, Merlin,” said he, “why do we feel no sense of triumph in this?”
And Merlin answered, “Well, is not triumph a childish feeling, Sire? Perhaps though you are still young in years you have already become old in authority.”
“Then,” said King Arthur, “the feelings which lift the heart must be alien to a king? There can be no joy in it, no exultation? Nought but duty?” He pondered on this matter. “We have learnt that our father was more or less a barbarian. But did he not have it better?”
“But,” said Merlin, “the era has changed.”
“If the truth be known,” said King Arthur, “we did admire the late Ryons for his ebullience, nay his very effrontery. He did wear his crown with a certain zest. Whereas we are afraid that he was right about us: we do tend towards pomposity. But we are young and yet beardless, and with Excalibur we are invincible in battle. How to be righteous without being sanctimonious we see as our problem.”
“If I may be so bold,” said Merlin, “it is not required for your dignity that you habitually use the first-person plural when referring to yourself. That you are the king and whatever you say is said by a sovereign and not a mere man is self-evident.”
“Yet,” said Arthur, “I am a man for all that. I must eat, sleep, and use the close-stool. What subjects look for in a king, methinks, are not reminders of their own baseness but rather that which is elevated above it. And speaking for myself, after a reign of two years, I must say that what a new king requireth is a constant reassurance of his own kingliness, especially if he hath yet to celebrate his eighteenth birthday and with no beard to frame his face. When I say ‘we,’ therefore, I am addressing myself foremost.”
“Not even with my powers,” said Merlin, “can I provide you with a real beard, for only Nature can create hair. But I can place upon your chin the illusion of a beard, the which will serve your purpose until you can grow a real one.”
“But, Merlin,” asked King Arthur, “would this not be dissembling? If I am a true king, how might I wear a false beard?”
“’Twould not be false,” said Merlin sighing. “Magic, Sire, is that to which reason cannot be applied.” He cleared his throat. “’Tis another realm of being. A fish cannot converse with a bird, because each inhabits another medium, yet they both exist and in so doing share the universe. So with magic and reality.”
“Which fish?” asked King Arthur. “And which bird?”
“Neither,” said Merlin. “Both are real, but air and water are magical.”
And now King Arthur frowned and said, “How so?”
“They have no individuality,” said Merlin, “one drop of water, one breath of air being like every other of their kind. They have no duration, which is to say no beginning and no end, for if water leaveth here, it goeth there: so with air. The general amounts of both in all the world do never change. Finally, by application of fire, water changeth into air, to which
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