Lanval

Cue-sheet for Lanval

(Bernardo) {To an apprentice, painting.}
 
(Apprentice 3) The iron is prepared.
(1, 1) 183 At work, Bernardo?
(Bernardo) We are pressed, my lord.
 
(Bernardo) We are pressed, my lord.
(1, 1) 185 I think, Bernardo, you must dream of arms,
(1, 1) 186 See heaven as a place of perfect mail,
(1, 1) 187 With all its angels armoured in delight.
(Bernardo) We armourers — give me the hammer, boy —
 
(Bernardo) Unless we aid him. 'Tis a small conceit.
(1, 1) 194 But near the truth, for 'tis the shell, indeed,
(1, 1) 195 That makes the man; and his appearance serves
(1, 1) 196 In place of armour 'gainst all estimates.
(1, 1) 197 My blade is finished?
(Bernardo) In a little space,
 
(Bernardo) We would do justice to so fair a task.
(1, 1) 201 How would they fare, Bernardo, should ill chance
(1, 1) 202 Arrest this service.
(Bernardo) Not so ill, my lord.
 
(Bernardo) An I be spared to teach him.
(1, 1) 206 Praise indeed!
(Bernardo) It's true enough; he has the touch, my lord,
 
(Bernardo) Will halt and tremble.
(1, 1) 212 Not for many years.
(Bernardo) But I grow old, for come next Martinmas
 
(Bernardo) Half worshipped thee.
(1, 1) 217 I had forgotten it.
(1, 1) 218 Then was the world laid wide before my feet,
(1, 1) 219 And all adventures stood for my assay,
(1, 1) 220 But now — Bernardo, have you ever thought
(1, 1) 221 Of turning hence?
(Bernardo) I shall die here, my lord.
 
(Bernardo) I shall die here, my lord.
(1, 1) 223 Sloven content! What piece of steel is this
(1, 1) 224 Your practice moulds?
(Bernardo) A gauntlet for the joust,
 
(Bernardo) Sir Agravaine's.
(1, 1) 227 I gave it him. This guard
(1, 1) 228 Is Meliard's, a present from myself.
(1, 1) 229 This frontal here a portion of the suit
(1, 1) 230 I gave long since unto Sir Astamor.
(1, 1) 231 Here's much that once I could have called my own,
(1, 1) 232 Mine ancient substance —
(Bernardo) They are good pieces all.
 
(Bernardo) For future service.
(1, 1) 241 I gave them my best,
(1, 1) 242 And clad in kindness which they gained of me,
(1, 1) 243 They have o'erpast me. So I strive in vain
(1, 1) 244 And waste subsistence for their mockery.
(1, 1) 245 And yet, Bernardo, when we met before
(1, 1) 246 In Mantua, I did not do so ill.
(1, 1) 247 There's not such difference in the make of man,
(1, 1) 248 That I, who forced acknowledgement of worth
(1, 1) 249 In Italy, in Britain should be shamed.
(Bernardo) Not shamed, my lord; this land is proud and dull,
 
(Bernardo) Be patient with them.
(1, 1) 256 Patient, I am so!
(1, 1) 257 I crave no honours or rewards, indeed,
(1, 1) 258 For they are favours that a chance may bring
(1, 1) 259 To be henceforth the inmates of one's life,
(1, 1) 260 And so sustained, consulted hour by hour,
(1, 1) 261 That the cramped soul no longer is the lord
(1, 1) 262 Of its own being. Is it much I ask,
(1, 1) 263 That they acknowledge that I serve them well?
(Bernardo) The Duke of Cornwall praised your enterprise,
 
(Bernardo) To better purpose.
(1, 1) 267 I may do them wrong;
(1, 1) 268 Perhaps it is my vanity that's hurt,
(1, 1) 269 And they do right to overlook my power.
(1, 1) 270 Who knows where lies the limit of his use?
(1, 1) 271 My blade is finished?
(Bernardo) In a moment, lord.
 
(Bernardo) Have I thy leave?
(1, 1) 277 Bernardo, we are friends,
(1, 1) 278 And both alike contemned and lightly held
(1, 1) 279 In the opinion of these islanders.
(Bernardo) My lord, this humour is a youthful mood,
 
(Bernardo) And to show sourness is ungenerous.
(1, 1) 285 'Tis kindly meant; but I go hence to-night.
(Bernardo) To-night?
 
(Bernardo) To-night?
(1, 1) 287 At once. Bernardo, I am poor.
(1, 1) 288 The huge equipment and vast sustenance,
(1, 1) 289 Wherewith I came unto this island realm,
(1, 1) 290 Are past and vanished. All mine armament
(1, 1) 291 Have I not given to my friends or foes
(1, 1) 292 Indifferent? For I was taught a knight
(1, 1) 293 Should be so free, so liberal and kind,
(1, 1) 294 That none who asked should go without reward,
(1, 1) 295 To this result. One simple suit is left —
(1, 1) 296 My sword and horse.
(Bernardo) My lord, let me provide
 
(Bernardo) Arms for to-morrow.
(1, 1) 299 I may not accept
(1, 1) 300 A gift of you.
(Bernardo) For our old friendship's sake,
 
(Bernardo) To guard or ransom.
(1, 1) 307 I'll not take of you
(1, 1) 308 What I must risk.
(Bernardo) Geraint?
 
(Bernardo) Geraint?
(1, 1) 310 Has been my friend!
(1, 1) 311 Were his sweet friendship a small thing to me,
(1, 1) 312 I'd ask of him, but I am not become
(1, 1) 313 As yet a beggar.
(Bernardo) But the king is kind.
 
(Bernardo) But the king is kind.
(1, 1) 315 To some, perhaps. His kindness passed me by,
(1, 1) 316 And I'll accept that treatment as the worth
(1, 1) 317 I am to him.
(Bernardo) But he is just —
 
(Bernardo) But he is just —
(1, 1) 319 Most just,
(1, 1) 320 So I accept his verdict as my due.
(Bernardo) The Queen —
 
(Bernardo) The Queen —
(1, 1) 322 Bernardo, if I cannot ask
(1, 1) 323 Help of my friends, I am not like to come
(1, 1) 324 To such a pass. For I am not so made
(1, 1) 325 That I can bend my humour to the needs
(1, 1) 326 Of Queen and courtiers. Ask my Queen for aid?
(1, 1) 327 Cry out for my worth as pedlars cry their wares,
(1, 1) 328 And pledge my honour for another cast?
(1, 1) 329 That were too foul! Suffice it, I have failed.
(1, 1) 330 I do not charge injustice to the world,
(1, 1) 331 Nor blame mankind for blindness that my deeds
(1, 1) 332 Are out of sight. I can accept defeat,
(1, 1) 333 And with some sorrow put my dreams away.
(Bernardo) My lord, this court is not o'erfilled with men,
 
(Bernardo) So do not leave us.
(1, 1) 342 It is time I went,
(1, 1) 343 For I am landless, houseless, penniless.
(Bernardo) Go not, my lord. I have none else to speak
 
(Bernardo) Of Italy.
(1, 1) 347 Come with me then, my friend.
(Bernardo) I am too old, and must endure my days
 
(Bernardo) I wish I could.
(1, 1) 352 I shall be glad to think
(1, 1) 353 That one regrets my passing. Come — my blade!
(1, 1) 354 Is it not finished?
(Apprentice 3) It is here —
 
(Apprentice 3) It is here —
(1, 1) 356 And fits
(1, 1) 357 Its scabbard truly. Lad, the work is good.
(1, 1) 358 Would mine were so. Bernardo, then, farewell.
(1, 1) 359 I go to test my fortune in new lands,
(1, 1) 360 And fate may bring me to this realm again,
(1, 1) 361 Or hold me far from it.
(Bernardo) Farewell,
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) More like some robber. Would we were well home.
(1, 2) 653 Good, these should know. Come hither, my good folk.
(1, 2) 654 Know ye these paths?
(Charcoal-burner 1) Nay, I do not.
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) Nor I.
(1, 2) 657 Come, answer me, these thickets are your home,
(1, 2) 658 And ye must know them.
(Charcoal-burner 1) But, good sir, we came
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) To Carduel.
(1, 2) 662 But I would travel south.
(Charcoal-burner 1) South, you — where's south?
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) Why, anywhere but here.
(1, 2) 665 What ails your speech, and why this trembling, man?
(1, 2) 666 I shall not hurt you.
(Charcoal-burner 1) It grows over late;
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) The sun's near down.
(1, 2) 669 I see you fear. Thou, girl,
(1, 2) 670 Knowest thou the roads that lead beyond this place?
(Girl) Truly, my lord, I dare not overstep
 
(Girl) These certain limits.
(1, 2) 673 Is this truth?
(Girl) My lord.
 
(Girl) My lord.
(1, 2) 675 Fear not, I shall not do you harm!
(1, 2) 676 Here will I rest, since I must have the day
(1, 2) 677 To light my passage.
(Charcoal-burner 1) We may go?
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) We may go?
(1, 2) 679 Why not?
(1, 2) 680 God speed you.
(Charcoal-burner 1) Fool, come on!
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) He should be told.
(1, 2) 684 Stay, though, I need a service of you yet;
(1, 2) 685 Light me a fire, for I'll sleep here to-night.
(Charcoal-burner 1) We will, my lord. Stay, girl, and make a fire.
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) We will, my lord. Stay, girl, and make a fire.
(1, 2) 687 Not so, my friends, stay ye and make it.
(Charcoal-burner 1) Night
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) Is hard upon us. {They make a fire.}
(1, 2) 690 Ye shall go full soon.
(1, 2) 691 Tell me, what fear ye?
(Charcoal-burner 1) My father near this place
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) Met with the death-dogs hunting!
(1, 2) 694 Oh, I know
(1, 2) 695 That tale!
(Charcoal-burner 2) But more, good sir, I know this vale too well.
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) What was that sound?
(1, 2) 702 Nothing, my good soul.
(1, 2) 703 Ye that do fear the length of all your days,
(1, 2) 704 Find doubt at dawn, half courage in the day,
(1, 2) 705 Terror at twilight. What the night can bring
(1, 2) 706 Of added tremors I may not conceive.
(Charcoal-burner 2) My lord, the shadows are not still, but move.
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) The fire is made.
(1, 2) 712 Then go, good fools — farewell!
(1, 2) 713 Why go ye not?
(Charcoal-burner 2) My lord, —
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) My lord, —
(1, 2) 715 Well?
(Charcoal-burner 2) Speak!
 
(1, 2) 719 See, here is the reward —
(Charcoal-burner 2) It was not that.
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) It was not that.
(1, 2) 721 What then?
(Girl) Oh, my lord,
 
(Girl) Sweet sir, return, for to remain is —
(1, 2) 729 What?
(Charcoal-burner 2) Tis death, my lord.
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) Tis death, my lord.
(1, 2) 731 Why, then, 'tis death.
(1, 2) 732 The night is here. Go, ye good fearful things,
(1, 2) 733 Lest your own fear play havoc with your lives.
(1, 2) 734 Silence! Enough! I'll have no more of this.
 
(1, 2) 736 Poor souls, they wander in a fitful dream;
(1, 2) 737 Born in the shadow, nurtured like the stuff
(1, 2) 738 That grows so rank between the stagnant moat
(1, 2) 739 And savage wall. The usage of their days
(1, 2) 740 Is but a hope that they shall pass unmarked.
(1, 2) 741 Unnoticed birth, unhindered life, and thence
(1, 2) 742 Unhampered passage to a state unknown.
(1, 2) 743 Existence cramped beneath the wings of fear!
(1, 2) 744 Poor souls, my sorrow is not half of theirs,
(1, 2) 745 And yet suffices. {Lies down.} Sleep. Did I desire
(1, 2) 746 To wish them well, I think to sleep is best,
(1, 2) 747 Since 'tis denied them to attain great ends.
 
(1, 2) 751 Returned so soon?
(Triamour) The fire burnt low, my lord.
 
(Triamour) The fire burnt low, my lord.
(1, 2) 753 Dost thou not fear?
(Triamour) I shall not fear here.
 
(Triamour) I shall not fear here.
(1, 2) 755 Thou needst not, girl. {dreamily} It's true more danger lives
(1, 2) 756 Amongst mankind than in the open woods.
(1, 2) 757 The twisted branches that enframe the stars
(1, 2) 758 Are not as tangled as men's motives are.
(1, 2) 759 The fiercest shadows that can haunt a glade,
(1, 2) 760 The forms of terror that infest bleak hills,
(1, 2) 761 Are not as savage, nor as dangerous,
(1, 2) 762 As fretful moods in passionate wild souls.
(1, 2) 763 All nature's constant save in idle man.
(1, 2) 764 Night is so sweet that I can wonder now,
(1, 2) 765 As must the spirits who look down on us;
(1, 2) 766 We fret and trouble, spur our willing souls,
(1, 2) 767 And yet see life outpace our earnest quest.
(1, 2) 768 Why not be gentle, and say just good-night,
(1, 2) 769 Sleep well, my dreams, sleep well, mine enterprise;
(1, 2) 770 To-morrow — well, to-morrow. Tell me, child,
(1, 2) 771 Why did thy comrades fear this place so much.
(Triamour) My lord, at times a phantom uses this
 
(Triamour) Once fixed, drain forth their poor drugged victim's life.
(1, 2) 779 What more?
(Triamour) The power that in the darkness lives
 
(1, 2) 791 No charcoal-burner this.
(1, 2) 792 The form itself! But, God, how fair it is —
(1, 2) 793 Is this enchantment, or does mystery
(1, 2) 794 In silence whispered, so infect my mind
(1, 2) 795 That I see phantoms?
(Triamour) Lanval.
 
(Triamour) Lanval.
(1, 2) 797 Hast my name?
(1, 2) 798 Why, then, my soul has left its fleshly shape,
(1, 2) 799 And stands to mock me.
(Triamour) Have no fear.
 
(Triamour) Have no fear.
(1, 2) 801 Not I!
(1, 2) 802 If thou be flesh, and of defiant sort,
(1, 2) 803 A blade can test thee. If thou art not that,
(1, 2) 804 But mere refraction of disordered thought,
(1, 2) 805 Thou canst not harm me.
(Triamour) Nay, I shall not harm
 
(1, 2) 810 And no slight spirit, vaporous form of dreams,
(1, 2) 811 Born of the moonbeams and the mist of lakes,
(1, 2) 812 Clasped in the woodlands. Thou didst speak my name —
(1, 2) 813 I know thee not!
(Triamour) But I do know thee well,
 
(Triamour) To seek the strangeness of all wild desire.
(1, 2) 821 They say the devil takes such shapes as this,
(1, 2) 822 When he would tempt the constancy of knights!
(Triamour) Nay, fear me not.
 
(Triamour) Nay, fear me not.
(1, 2) 824 Nay, I fear not, but doubt
(1, 2) 825 Why thou hast come to trouble me.
(Triamour) Do I
 
(Triamour) And also —
(1, 2) 830 Also?
(Triamour) I have come too close
 
(Triamour) Into its uses.
(1, 2) 834 What meanest thou?
(Triamour) Is there need
 
(Triamour) One of the daughters of the middle world.
(1, 2) 840 Let me hold fast my senses, for they reel; —
(1, 2) 841 I know this world!
(Triamour) There is a world as well,
 
(Triamour) Lest he be scorched by the fierce heat of truth.
(1, 2) 848 How may this be?
(Triamour) Speak not of it, but say
 
(Triamour) I came not vainly!
(1, 2) 851 How shall I believe?
(Triamour) That I do love thee? Look into mine eyes,
 
(Triamour) In ambush there!
(1, 2) 855 I dare not.
(Triamour) Am I then
 
(Triamour) Not fair enough?
(1, 2) 858 So wonderful and strange!
(1, 2) 859 I dare not let my straining ears take hold
(1, 2) 860 Upon thy speech.
(Triamour) Thou wilt not hear me?
 
(Triamour) Thou wilt not hear me?
(1, 2) 862 No;
(1, 2) 863 For such a beauty is too dangerous
(1, 2) 864 For mortal feeling.
(Triamour) I am shamed. Unkind
 
(Triamour) Thou art and cruel. {She moves away. }
(1, 2) 867 Can I endure it so,
(1, 2) 868 Or will my lips enforcèd cry the words —
(1, 2) 869 My soul compels them! I have but my soul
(1, 2) 870 To stake on it. Stay, Triamour!
(Triamour) Farewell!
 
(Triamour) My own state waits me.
(1, 2) 873 May I not attain
(1, 2) 874 Unto that world?
(Triamour) But by mine aid alone;
 
(Triamour) Of this my presence, let us be apart.
(1, 2) 878 Stay but a moment.
(Triamour) We shall meet no more
 
(Triamour) At any time!
(1, 2) 881 Nay, be thou merciful.
(1, 2) 882 Forgive my failing. 'Twas my craven soul
(1, 2) 883 That shrank in doubt from this dread novelty,
(1, 2) 884 But for a time. The fashion of my fear
(1, 2) 885 Was more amazement than true dread. So swift,
(1, 2) 886 So strange was thy sweet coming that my mind,
(1, 2) 887 But half awoken from fantastic thoughts,
(1, 2) 888 Lost mastery upon itself. But now
(1, 2) 889 My fear is swung to terror of long days
(1, 2) 890 Without thy presence.
(Triamour) This is no constancy,
 
(Triamour) Art thou my knight, sworn to my services?
(1, 2) 898 Let me be so, though I had never thought
(1, 2) 899 To do love-service. I will pledge my soul
(1, 2) 900 Unto thy being.
(Triamour) Bear witness to it, dreams,
 
(Triamour) See that thou fail not.
(1, 2) 906 On my soul be it!
(Triamour) Look on the world, for it may be henceforth
 
(Triamour) And all its usage.
(1, 2) 910 I'll not mourn for it.
(1, 2) 911 Sour and displeasing it has been to me,
(1, 2) 912 Unfriends of mine most of its habitants,
(1, 2) 913 And I can leave it with no pain at heart.
(Triamour) Ours is a better and a stranger world,
 
(Triamour) With strands of riot.
(2, 1) 998 Triamour.
(Triamour) {Turning to him.} Be still;
 
(Triamour) The clouds are passing.
(2, 1) 1001 Aye, it seems to me
(2, 1) 1002 The light has changed.
(Triamour) Is there a difference
 
(Triamour) Already?
(2, 1) 1005 Surely this harsh colouring
(2, 1) 1006 Fashions a change from the grey, silvered state
(2, 1) 1007 Wherein I entered!
(Triamour) Has it changed my face?
 
(Triamour) Or form?
(2, 1) 1010 I thought you once a wondrous flower,
(2, 1) 1011 White in the darkness of moon-mocking woods;
(2, 1) 1012 But now the flush of suns unknown to me
(2, 1) 1013 Has made you strange.
(Triamour) Think not of it. This state
 
(Triamour) Comes amber dawn.
(2, 1) 1022 But now the skies are filled
(2, 1) 1023 With bronze and golden harness, like the breasts
(2, 1) 1024 Of kings in war.
(Triamour) A sun is setting now.
 
(Triamour) As we can see.
(2, 1) 1033 We watch an autumn, then?
(Triamour) Rome was its summer. These reflected fires
 
(Triamour) Foretell a winter.
(2, 1) 1036 And we watch?
(Triamour) In peace
 
(Triamour) Of a new spring.
(2, 1) 1043 I cannot understand.
(2, 1) 1044 What is this place?
(Triamour) This is the quiet land:
 
(Triamour) It needs no knowledge.
(2, 1) 1049 Wherefore?
(Triamour) Here all space
 
(Triamour) A thing unknown.
(2, 1) 1053 How can I think of it?
(Triamour) Here thought needs not expression for its use,
 
(Triamour) In all the regions of the middle world.
(2, 1) 1064 But I have flesh and garb of man.
(Triamour) In such a shape I chose thee from the world.
 
(Triamour) I would not change it.
(2, 1) 1067 Were I worthier
(2, 1) 1068 I should not be ashamed.
(Triamour) Am I so much
 
(Triamour) That I am feared?
(2, 1) 1071 All exaltations here,
(2, 1) 1072 Vision, whose fashion is nobility,
(2, 1) 1073 Purged splendour of a sloven world,
(2, 1) 1074 Why hast thou brought me to the place of gods?
(2, 1) 1075 I am but man.
(Triamour) O love of mine, be still.
 
(Triamour) Than this we look on?
(2, 1) 1082 It is fair indeed.
(Triamour) Here, like the gods, shall we immortal watch
 
(Triamour) To do thy pleasure.
(2, 1) 1091 I am sick at heart.
(Triamour) Why so?
 
(Triamour) Why so?
(2, 1) 1093 Thy sweetness is so much to me
(2, 1) 1094 That I am withered in my impotence.
(2, 1) 1095 I cannot match thee. Had I been a man
(2, 1) 1096 As I am not —
(Triamour) Nay — Lanval —
 
(Triamour) Nay — Lanval —
(2, 1) 1098 Hear me out.
(2, 1) 1099 Had I been something, something even slight,
(2, 1) 1100 One that great nature sets apart and fits
(2, 1) 1101 To certain purpose, I were not ashamed.
(2, 1) 1102 But I'm a callow 'prentice unto life
(2, 1) 1103 As yet, a clumsy handler of my soul,
(2, 1) 1104 Lacking the gifts of knowledge, strength and age.
(2, 1) 1105 Dearest, canst thou believe me faithful and yet know
(2, 1) 1106 I hold thy love to be but patronage?
(2, 1) 1107 Affection squandered on a thing unproved —
(Triamour) And my poor judgment — is it nothing worth?
 
(Triamour) Have I no wisdom?
(2, 1) 1111 Thou art overwise.
(Triamour) And yet I drew thee from a million shapes
 
(Triamour) And forms of being. I am satisfied.
(2, 1) 1114 But I am not. I have myself to please —
(2, 1) 1115 The hardest master of censorious thoughts
(2, 1) 1116 That one could wish for.
(Triamour) Dost thou not serve me
 
(Triamour) And my commandments?
(2, 1) 1119 In all faith.
(Triamour) Why then
 
(Triamour) Misdoubt my judgment?
(2, 1) 1122 I have kept my pride.
(2, 1) 1123 I'll be no peasant spying on the gods,
(2, 1) 1124 No trancèd servant of a common lust,
(2, 1) 1125 But a clean being from all bondage free,
(2, 1) 1126 From crippling custom and base prejudice,
(2, 1) 1127 Wherein the folly of the world is held.
(2, 1) 1128 I cannot love thee; as a thing of us,
(2, 1) 1129 The mere companion of the films of earth,
(2, 1) 1130 I worship thine existence, and will stand
(2, 1) 1131 Equal or nothing.
(Triamour) Here's a flame indeed,
 
(Triamour) I think, for me!
(2, 1) 1135 God help me! I forswear
(2, 1) 1136 My recent oaths. I have not only loved,
(2, 1) 1137 But set my being to a hopeless end,
(2, 1) 1138 Namely, to match what I have not deserved,
(2, 1) 1139 And force my substance to strange attributes.
(Triamour) Tired so soon? Do I then weary thee?
 
(Triamour) Of this distraction leave you to yourself.
(2, 1) 1144 Nay, Triamour. You take my words amiss.
(Triamour) Thou dost not love me.
 
(Triamour) Thou dost not love me.
(2, 1) 1146 How can I do more
(2, 1) 1147 Than swear myself unto thy services?
(2, 1) 1148 Would hotter words prove greater faith in me?
(2, 1) 1149 If protestations measure of one's truth,
(2, 1) 1150 I am o'erthrown. The stumbling syllables
(2, 1) 1151 Which I can utter mock what I can feel;
(2, 1) 1152 But yet believe me.
(Triamour) So I will. Be frank.
 
(Triamour) What troubles thee?
(2, 1) 1155 Thought, only thought.
(Triamour) Have the cold phantoms of the foolish world
 
(Triamour) That bring contrition.
(2, 1) 1170 Watch, always to watch!
(2, 1) 1171 I want no freedom, yet I would be free.
(2, 1) 1172 I have an envy of this god-like state,
(2, 1) 1173 And am not of it.
(Triamour) I will bring to thee
 
(Triamour) Since I am not enough.
(2, 1) 1178 Nay, Triamour,
(2, 1) 1179 I would not others.
(Triamour) Lanval, tell me, then,
 
(Triamour) What is this sickness?
(2, 1) 1182 Give me a little time.
(2, 1) 1183 My withered hopes have had no space to fall,
(2, 1) 1184 But hang about me as the crispèd leaves
(2, 1) 1185 In mournful autumn. It is hard to tell —
(2, 1) 1186 But I do love thee; and affection should,
(2, 1) 1187 Like the grim father of the early gods,
(2, 1) 1188 Swallow all other offspring of the mind.
(2, 1) 1189 Yet it does not. For in this place of dreams
(2, 1) 1190 A dream has trapped me. Ay, I am forsworn.
(2, 1) 1191 I, who should have no glamour but thine eyes;
(2, 1) 1192 I, who should hear no music but thy words,
(2, 1) 1193 Heed other motions.
(Triamour) What is this?
 
(Triamour) What is this?
(2, 1) 1195 The while
(2, 1) 1196 I was half sleeping, there was borne to me
(2, 1) 1197 A faint far clamour, like the distant call
(2, 1) 1198 Of hunters in the forest, and I saw
(2, 1) 1199 Long, lordly lines of very noble forms
(2, 1) 1200 Passing beyond me; then my pleasure passed,
(2, 1) 1201 Our dalliance was forgotten, and I heard,
(2, 1) 1202 In place of our sweet music, the foul clang
(2, 1) 1203 Of brass in action, and the dance of steel
(2, 1) 1204 On shields opponent, and into my ears
(2, 1) 1205 Stole the sweet thunder of a thousand hooves,
(2, 1) 1206 The hissing of the arrows, and the shrill
(2, 1) 1207 Keen note of the wind-cutting spears. Again
(2, 1) 1208 I saw the light on lance-heads in the dawn;
(2, 1) 1209 Long legions creeping from the morning mists;
(2, 1) 1210 The death-haze standing on embattled ranks;
(2, 1) 1211 The shaft of sunset on the armoured slain,
(2, 1) 1212 And breathless victors leaning on red swords.
(2, 1) 1213 There is no music like the tread of hosts,
(2, 1) 1214 Nor any glamour that can match the sight
(2, 1) 1215 Of set battalions meeting in the field.
(2, 1) 1216 I have confessed. {a pause} So silent! Is my fault
(2, 1) 1217 Beyond forgiveness?
(Triamour) Listen, there's no fault
 
(Triamour) That God has fettered.
(2, 1) 1223 What are they?
(Triamour) Such souls
 
(Triamour) They wander waiting for new times to dawn.
(2, 1) 1233 What's this to me?
(Triamour) The call of life; for none
 
(Triamour) To like attainment.
(2, 1) 1237 Am I called to them?
(Triamour) Aye! mine's the fault! I took a shallow grief,
 
(Triamour) And a child hindered, for a tortured soul.
(2, 1) 1242 If I am slight it's not from lack of will,
(2, 1) 1243 Nor have I boasted my poor strength to be
(2, 1) 1244 More than it is. If I have shamed your choice,
(2, 1) 1245 Blame not my poverty.
(Triamour) I blame thee not,
 
(Triamour) In rags of soul.
(2, 1) 1255 But, Triamour!
(Triamour) Go now,
 
(2, 1) 1259 I was led hither for some mockery,
(2, 1) 1260 But it was needless. For on earth the skies
(2, 1) 1261 Cry scorn on all; the very heedless stars
(2, 1) 1262 Look down on us, as some cold audience
(2, 1) 1263 Might watch the striving and the end of man.
(2, 1) 1264 One can bear all when there is no escape.
 
(2, 1) 1266 Twas not ill thought to tempt me with a dream,
(2, 1) 1267 And add relation to one's misery, {half drawing his sword}
(2, 1) 1268 For here's a mistress that at least will hurt
(2, 1) 1269 More than myself.
(Triamour) Wilt thou not understand?
 
(Triamour) Thou wilt remember.
(2, 1) 1285 God give strength to me,
(2, 1) 1286 The pledge I gave of my whole self endures.
(2, 1) 1287 Drive me not forth!
(Triamour) See how they envy thee,
 
(Triamour) Whose souls acknowledge some plain mastery.
(2, 1) 1294 The constant dusk is deepening into night;
(2, 1) 1295 Give me thy hand, I can no longer see,
(2, 1) 1296 These mysteries are faint.
(Triamour) Remember this,
 
(Triamour) Thou speakest of it.
(2, 1) 1301 I'll remember. God!
(2, 1) 1302 What is this gloom?
(Triamour) The sullen grasp of earth.
 
(Geraint) Welcome, Sir Lanval.
(2, 2) 1465 Welcome thou, Geraint.
(Geraint) {aside} There's the most heartfelt greeting of my life.
 
(Astamor) Welcome, Sir Lanval.
(2, 2) 1468 Welcome, Astamor.
(2, 2) 1469 What do ye here?
(Geraint) I seek an errant knight,
 
(Geraint) Aid of his friends.
(2, 2) 1474 And have you found him?
(Geraint) Aye,
 
(Geraint) To slink from us in such a fashion.
(2, 2) 1478 I? Is't I ye seek?
(Geraint) Whom else? Think you we spend
 
(Geraint) Suffice it all ends well.
(2, 2) 1484 Three months!
(2, 2) 1485 Is it so long?
(Geraint) Hast lost the count of time?
 
(Astamor) Or in a sickness?
(2, 2) 1490 I am well enough.
(Geraint) Then the adventure! Come, the whole of it;
 
(Astamor) Aye, Lanval, tell it us.
(2, 2) 1494 What shall I tell you? Ye seem real men,
(2, 2) 1495 And have the texture of this earth. But I
(2, 2) 1496 Have touched such dreams and viewed such phantomry,
(2, 2) 1497 That ye seem but the mist of being. God,
(2, 2) 1498 How thin and vap'rous is reality!
(Astamor) This should be magic.
 
(Geraint) Wait.
(2, 2) 1501 I mixed
(2, 2) 1502 My flesh with shadows, and I wrung my soul
(2, 2) 1503 In impotent dumb conflict with a wraith
(2, 2) 1504 That was myself. How quickly they can pass —
(2, 2) 1505 The golden twilights and flushed dawns that turned
(2, 2) 1506 Never to day. The ringed, wide, brazen lakes
(2, 2) 1507 Shining in purple-shadowed forestry,
(2, 2) 1508 And gaunt pale mountains fretted like the teeth
(2, 2) 1509 Of some sea dragon. Oh, the wealth of it
(2, 2) 1510 Dies in my mind ere I can find my words.
(Geraint) Strange speech, indeed. Where have you gotten these
 
(Geraint) Come, Lanval, tell us.
(2, 2) 1517 How had I these arms?
(2, 2) 1518 I had them of the fairest hands. — No more
(2, 2) 1519 Can I forget so soon. I may not speak.
(Astamor) Thou dost but edge our interest —
 
(Astamor) Thou dost but edge our interest —
(2, 2) 1521 I am
(2, 2) 1522 In honour bound.
(Astamor) But surely we may hear
 
(Astamor) Some outline of the tale.
(2, 2) 1525 E'en now
(2, 2) 1526 I speak too much.
(Geraint) This is not gentle.
 
(Geraint) This is not gentle.
(2, 2) 1528 No;
(2, 2) 1529 But still, Geraint, I have been put in bonds
(2, 2) 1530 For silence.
(Geraint) Then thou hast the right of it.
 
(Geraint) To Carduel.
(2, 2) 1538 And wherefore?
(Geraint) I admit
 
(Geraint) Deals more with hate than love.
(2, 2) 1543 What, then?
(Geraint) I swore myself to prove thy worthiness,
 
(Geraint) To make me hot to see it shown.
(2, 2) 1547 'Twas kind
(2, 2) 1548 To so uphold me.
(Geraint) I'm no flatterer,
 
(Geraint) This service of you.
(2, 2) 1559 Gladly I accept
(2, 2) 1560 Such terms of service.
(Astamor) We do linger here
 
(Geraint) Thou wilt forgive me that I staked thy life.
(2, 2) 1565 Geraint, I thank thee; I am heartened now
(2, 2) 1566 To try another cast with fortune. I am glad
(2, 2) 1567 To meet occasion that my fate may bring,
(2, 2) 1568 If I may gather honour.
(Geraint) We shall speak
 
(Geraint) To sharpen us. Our horses, Gyfert.
(2, 2) 1581 So
(2, 2) 1582 The stream's in flood, I must plunge into it,
(2, 2) 1583 And be borne deathward. There are mysteries
(2, 2) 1584 Which ring our purpose, flex our aims, and drape
(2, 2) 1585 Our subsequence. But I have seen so much
(2, 2) 1586 That I am baffled with strange lights. The course
(2, 2) 1587 Of one unknowing is so simple clean,
(2, 2) 1588 His quiet pleasure in an end achieved,
(2, 2) 1589 His certainty of honour and his faith
(2, 2) 1590 In gentle doings, I knew all of them.
(2, 2) 1591 But I am meshed in a strange web of dreams,
(2, 2) 1592 Limed to the thread of thoughts yet unconceived,
(2, 2) 1593 And faced by Nature, the grim spider form,
(2, 2) 1594 Who traps and spares not. O God, curse the hour
(2, 2) 1595 I ever saw her! No, all gods be thanked
(2, 2) 1596 That led me to it. Better it is to see
(2, 2) 1597 And be a madman than to keep one's sense
(2, 2) 1598 And happily be blind. But I am wrecked
(2, 2) 1599 In all my hopes, for I, like any fool,
(2, 2) 1600 Stand staked for ever on the motionless
(2, 2) 1601 High rocks of love. All visions shift and veer,
(2, 2) 1602 But there's a phantom stands beside my path
(2, 2) 1603 Both loved and feared.
(Geraint) Sound us a rally.
 
(Geraint) Sound us a rally.
(2, 2) 1607 Life!
(2, 2) 1608 I think too much. My soul's a sanctuary
(2, 2) 1609 For every folly: to accomplishment
(2, 2) 1610 I lend my being.
(Charcoal-burner 1) Let him not come near.
 
(Charcoal-burner 1) There's some devil gotten into his shape, and such company may be fit for knights, but it's o'er warm for us.
(2, 2) 1615 Why, 'tis the same. My old night-fearing friends
(2, 2) 1616 Still in unease. Well, I do owe you much.
(2, 2) 1617 Ye were the heralds of those fateful hours,
(2, 2) 1618 Truly quaint guardians for the gates of night;
(2, 2) 1619 But ye shall share my fortunes.
 
(Owain) Good. Thy shoulder, Lanval, smarts?
(3, 1) 1758 It troubles me a little.
(Owain) Have a care
 
(Owain) To well protect it.
(3, 1) 1761 Trust me.
(Geraint) That we do.
 
(Guinevere) Wilt grant a favour?
(3, 1) 1973 I shall be most glad
(3, 1) 1974 To do thy pleasure.
(Guinevere) I pray thee, sit by me;
 
(Guinevere) Nay, but thy arms will hamper thee.
(3, 1) 1977 Not so.
(Guinevere) Let me unarm thee. Nay, it is but just,
 
(Guinevere) Which thou hast granted; is it not?
(3, 1) 1985 'Tis so.
(Guinevere) I have a maid attendant on myself,
 
(Guinevere) The chance — flung breath of careless victory!
(3, 1) 1996 Madame, I pray you — I had never thought
(3, 1) 1997 To push advantage to so foul an end:
(3, 1) 1998 The world's too fertile in quaint accidents,
(3, 1) 1999 And change of fortune, to let anger live
(3, 1) 2000 Beyond its moment. This question overpast,
(3, 1) 2001 I am so glad to turn to other thoughts
(3, 1) 2002 That I can keep no malice. There are souls
(3, 1) 2003 Who, once awakened by the conflict, flushed
(3, 1) 2004 By quick successes may not hold their hand;
(3, 1) 2005 I did not think I seemed as one of them.
(Guinevere) Forgive me, Lanval. But there are some men
 
(Guinevere) And thou art stern, I thought thee one of them.
(3, 1) 2018 Thou did'st misjudge me.
(Guinevere) Truly I did so:
 
(Guinevere) I ask thy pardon.
(3, 1) 2021 Nay, there is no need;
(3, 1) 2022 But I am grieved thou did'st anticipate
(3, 1) 2023 My own poor purpose, since Sir Agravaine
(3, 1) 2024 Is my possession. I did mean to ask
(3, 1) 2025 For thine acceptance of his person, arms;
(3, 1) 2026 His word is pledged as surety for his life
(3, 1) 2027 That he will serve thee.
(Guinevere) Tis a kindly gift:
 
(Guinevere) But, though I thank thee, I do need him not.
(3, 1) 2030 I had hoped else. He is of comely build;
(3, 1) 2031 Fit to take part in revels, used to courts,
(3, 1) 2032 Skilled in the custom of all palaces,
(3, 1) 2033 Holding, in short, the qualities I lack.
(Guinevere) I need him not. I would not speak of him.
 
(Guinevere) Think evil of me?
(3, 1) 2043 Art thou not my Queen?
(3, 1) 2044 And am I not the servant of this realm?
(3, 1) 2045 How then shall I find space to heed such talk?
(3, 1) 2046 About the passage of our lives there drifts
(3, 1) 2047 A constant eddy of foul mutterings,
(3, 1) 2048 Which have no import, truth, or evidence.
(3, 1) 2049 However clean, our souls must wade waist-deep
(3, 1) 2050 In ribaldry. Though we disdain such stuff,
(3, 1) 2051 Full half the world can feed on nothing else.
(3, 1) 2052 I may have heard; I have not noticed.
(Guinevere) True,
 
(Guinevere) Indifferent of them!
(3, 1) 2057 Calumny.
(Guinevere) I thought —
 
(Guinevere) Report did have it thou wast near a boor!
(3, 1) 2061 It flatters seldom.
(Guinevere) Lanval, wilt thou blame? —
 
(Guinevere) Have I done wrong?
(3, 1) 2074 I cannot think so.
(Guinevere) Thou
 
(Guinevere) Be thou my knight!
(3, 1) 2078 I may not do so.
(Guinevere) But to refuse me is no courteous act.
 
(Guinevere) Is in my handling; honour, worship, all —
(3, 1) 2092 Honour and power are very far apart.
(Guinevere) Look at me, Lanval. Have you lust for place,
 
(Guinevere) To be denied thee.
(3, 1) 2097 Madam, my deserts
(3, 1) 2098 Have not earned this.
(Guinevere) I know your merits well,
 
(Guinevere) My meaning?
(3, 1) 2103 I may not.
(Guinevere) Why not?
 
(Guinevere) But discipline to suit a baser sort?
(3, 1) 2110 I pray you, spare me.
(Guinevere) Put me not away,
 
(Guinevere) Of gentle, distant, white inconsequence.
(3, 1) 2116 I will not.
(Guinevere) Wherefore? Hast another love?
 
(Guinevere) Wherefore? Hast another love?
(3, 1) 2118 Nay, I have none.
(Guinevere) What can then impede
 
(Guinevere) Must yield their substance.
(3, 1) 2126 What of my fealty,
(3, 1) 2127 Shall I dishonour all I hold most firm,
(3, 1) 2128 And play the traitor to my King?
(Guinevere) What bonds
 
(Guinevere) Free and unfettered.
(3, 1) 2136 I will not betray
(3, 1) 2137 My life for lust.
(Guinevere) This is false modesty —
 
(Guinevere) Why art thou harsh?
(3, 1) 2144 Let me go, I say.
(Guinevere) Why should I so?
 
(Guinevere) Why should I so?
(3, 1) 2146 My fealty is pledged.
(Guinevere) So be it, Lanval. Fealty's the term;
 
(Guinevere) Shall I endure it?
(3, 1) 2162 And shall I endure
(3, 1) 2163 This constant insult? If my purpose stand
(3, 1) 2164 So much assured that no appeals of thine
(3, 1) 2165 Avail to move it, is that a just cause
(3, 1) 2166 For insolence?
(Guinevere) Insolence?
 
(Guinevere) Insolence?
(3, 1) 2168 What else?
(3, 1) 2169 Think'st thou a man should speak as much to me,
(3, 1) 2170 And pass unharmed? There is a limit, too,
(3, 1) 2171 To a queen's tongue! I bear as much as most,
(3, 1) 2172 And I am patient unless pricked too far!
(Guinevere) Thus do I gall thee! Be it a challenge then!
 
(Guinevere) Hast thou a love?
(3, 1) 2179 I love many things:
(3, 1) 2180 Much of the world, and more that may be hid
(3, 1) 2181 Beyond its limits.
(Guinevere) Hast thou not a love?
 
(Guinevere) Need I say more? I pray thee let me pass!
(3, 1) 2202 One moment, madam: I have some defence.
(Guinevere) Defence! I doubt not there's a pretty talk,
 
(Guinevere) Which can enjoy it.
(3, 1) 2208 Madam, at the least,
(3, 1) 2209 Hear my excuse.
(Guinevere) If there were excuse,
 
(Guinevere) Which shall it be?
(3, 1) 2223 Neither, by all Heaven!
(3, 1) 2224 My strength is proved and I am not ashamed.
(3, 1) 2225 I know I may not hold free speech with thee,
(3, 1) 2226 Though I endure as much as man can stand
(3, 1) 2227 Of insult! But this goes too far,
(3, 1) 2228 And slurs the fairness of my love.
(Guinevere) I knew —
 
(Guinevere) Some drab —
(3, 1) 2231 Enough. If there be fault in us,
(3, 1) 2232 It is that I am worthless and deserve
(3, 1) 2233 The stale abuse I have received. But she
(3, 1) 2234 Is much beyond it. God! you offered me
(3, 1) 2235 The present usage of an ugly lust,
(3, 1) 2236 The vileness of corruption, when I know
(3, 1) 2237 Someone so fair beyond the mould of earth
(3, 1) 2238 That she transcends all beauty that thou hast,
(3, 1) 2239 As much as dreams, that come to sleeping gods,
(3, 1) 2240 Outweigh the sweetest of men's slender thoughts!
(3, 1) 2241 Theres not a maiden that doth wait on her
(3, 1) 2242 But is thy match in beauty, in all else
(3, 1) 2243 Thy better! Pass, I will not stay thee now.
 
(3, 1) 2245 Why did I speak? My God! Did I not swear
(3, 1) 2246 Myself to silence? Never again, O fool!
(3, 1) 2247 My tongue has sped me. Why could I not rule
(3, 1) 2248 So base a passion? Fool that I am, O fool!
(Owain) Fool! It is true, he has some wisdom then!
 
(Arthur) Welcome, Sir Lanval, what would'st thou of me?
(3, 3) 2717 Permission, sire, to leave this Court at once,
(3, 3) 2718 To render up my offices and place.
(Arthur) At such a time?
 
(Arthur) At such a time?
(3, 3) 2720 Sire, I have a quest
(3, 3) 2721 That I would follow.
(Arthur) Strange, could'st thou
 
(Arthur) For such a purpose?
(3, 3) 2725 I would not have asked
(3, 3) 2726 This boon of thee, did not my fealty
(3, 3) 2727 Demand it of me. All the faith I have
(3, 3) 2728 Doth urge me to it.
(Arthur) 'Tis impossible
 
(Arthur) That thou, Sir Lanval, should'st ask this of me.
(3, 3) 2734 Sire, I entreat thee.
(Arthur) I will hear no more.
 
(Bernardo) And merit not such usage.
(4, 2) 3456 Is there not
(4, 2) 3457 A single refuge or forgotten spot
(4, 2) 3458 Where this dogged custom fails?
(Bernardo) My lord,
 
(Bernardo) So hear me now.
(4, 2) 3463 Bernardo, all my rage
(4, 2) 3464 Was vented then upon the world. But since,
(4, 2) 3465 I've learnt to blame myself, not circumstance.
(Bernardo) Is this the man that faced all Mantua,
 
(Bernardo) And held his honour up against the world?
(4, 2) 3468 Aye, this is he. What would you of the ghost
(4, 2) 3469 Which once was man?
(Bernardo) My lord, I knew you well
 
(Bernardo) For the fair spaces of the southern coasts.
(4, 2) 3475 I shall not see them. Nor do I desire
(4, 2) 3476 To gain such ease.
(Bernardo) My lord, in Italy —
 
(Bernardo) My lord, in Italy —
(4, 2) 3478 I have forsworn it. I have cursed all lands,
(4, 2) 3479 And yet, Bernardo, thou dost not believe
(4, 2) 3480 That I am guilty?
(Bernardo) Nay, my lord, I know
 
(Bernardo) It is not just.
(4, 2) 3483 Such faith should soften me,
(4, 2) 3484 Whom certain ills have hardened.
(Bernardo) O my lord,
 
(Bernardo) Come hence with me.
(4, 2) 3487 Wherefore should I?
(Bernardo) There's room
 
(Bernardo) For honour yet abroad.
(4, 2) 3490 Is there a court
(4, 2) 3491 In Christendom where it will not be known
(4, 2) 3492 That I'm dishonoured? Let the stripling fools
(4, 2) 3493 Who follow fame seek honour at my hands:
(4, 2) 3494 For here's a man whose death would bring them worth,
(4, 2) 3495 Since I am one with savage, beast and thief,
(4, 2) 3496 And not as worthy as the butchering lords
(4, 2) 3497 That foul these borders. No, give me a bell,
(4, 2) 3498 And let me sound my coming to all men
(4, 2) 3499 As do the lepers: let them step aside
(4, 2) 3500 And shirk the wrong they gave me.
(Bernardo) But my lord —
 
(Bernardo) But my lord —
(4, 2) 3502 No, no, Bernardo. Leave me as I am.
(4, 2) 3503 These woods are kinder than the paths of men:
(4, 2) 3504 They give me shelter, but the bitter souls
(4, 2) 3505 Whom I have served have taken everything.
(4, 2) 3506 I squandered on them liking, wealth and life,
(4, 2) 3507 And they return me scorn. What is there left?
(4, 2) 3508 They've had my service, honour, youth and name;
(4, 2) 3509 They sucked my being: at a harlot's word
(4, 2) 3510 They spat me out. This mire is honesty.
(4, 2) 3511 This thicket clearness, and the sleeting night
(4, 2) 3512 Warm covering, while I remember them.
(Bernardo) Your wrath is just, but bear a little while
 
(Bernardo) Into a corner.
(4, 2) 3517 Can faith live so long?
(4, 2) 3518 You should know man.
(Bernardo) I do.
 
(Bernardo) I do.
(4, 2) 3520 Yet you'd persuade
(4, 2) 3521 Me back to them. Nay, I am better here.
(4, 2) 3522 Naught's fair in dreams but some reality,
(4, 2) 3523 And in the real nothing's good but dreams.
(4, 2) 3524 Here I come closer to essential things,
(4, 2) 3525 Here will I stand before the veil of life
(4, 2) 3526 And wait its lifting.
(Bernardo) But, my lord, our foes —
 
(Bernardo) Lovers of blood who spare no living thing.
(4, 2) 3530 And what of them? They can but add my death
(4, 2) 3531 To my account, and that's a certain debt
(4, 2) 3532 Which all must pay. They'll pile no infamy
(4, 2) 3533 Upon my name; they'll not first fondle me,
(4, 2) 3534 Then spurn me like a dog. I shall be glad
(4, 2) 3535 To meet with them; for such sword-ending is
(4, 2) 3536 Most honourable treatment.
(Bernardo) Hark, my lord,
 
(Bernardo) That crush the bracken. Come away, my lord.
(4, 2) 3540 Stand to it, fool, this is as kind a spot
(4, 2) 3541 As we shall find.
(Charcoal-burner 1) Come away, man, there are some good thick places near here.
 
(Charcoal-burner 2) Well, lets get away, then.
(4, 2) 3548 Go thou, Bernardo.
(Bernardo) Nay, my lord, I stay,
 
(Geraint) Alone, unarmed!
(4, 2) 3583 I came of my own will,
(4, 2) 3584 With but one purpose, to be free of all
(4, 2) 3585 The cankering trouble of your squalid state,
(4, 2) 3586 But I can find no refuge. Let me go,
(4, 2) 3587 I seek some covert like a wounded beast,
(4, 2) 3588 Where I can brood to death.
(Geraint) I know the cause
 
(Geraint) Of strength in it?
(4, 2) 3593 Thou hast been friend to me
(4, 2) 3594 Beyond my merit. I have been so pricked
(4, 2) 3595 In comradeship that I must do the last
(4, 2) 3596 Good deed of kinship. Let me go, Geraint,
(4, 2) 3597 I am pollution, although innocent.
(4, 2) 3598 I shall infect the fashion of thy days,
(4, 2) 3599 Draw the black wings of sour suspicion down
(4, 2) 3600 Upon thy being. I am a man condemned,
(4, 2) 3601 Pronounced degraded, and no innocence
(4, 2) 3602 Can change my fashion. Let me go. I spoil
(4, 2) 3603 Thy whole existence. I am outcast now.
(Geraint) I need thy service.
 
(Geraint) I need thy service.
(4, 2) 3605 My best service is
(4, 2) 3606 To stand as far as may be from thy path.
(Geraint) I tell thee, Lanval, I'll not hear of this.
 
(Geraint) Let us abide it.
(4, 2) 3622 Is it not enough
(4, 2) 3623 That I must suffer for such sodden crime
(4, 2) 3624 As I ne'er dreamt on. Is it not enough
(4, 2) 3625 That I must drift upon the sullen stream,
(4, 2) 3626 Like some wan lily of the autumn time,
(4, 2) 3627 In which the fairness and the flavours dead;
(4, 2) 3628 A thing repugnant, destined to the ooze
(4, 2) 3629 That beds the river? God! the little good
(4, 2) 3630 That I can do thee is to leave this place,
(4, 2) 3631 Or to rush idly on my fate beyond.
(Geraint) I say thou shalt not. If need be, I stay
 
(Geraint) Our bitter fortunes.
(4, 2) 3643 Think not that I fear
(4, 2) 3644 To see my life out: but foul influence
(4, 2) 3645 Rules all my doings.
(Geraint) Thou hast cause for wrath,
 
(Geraint) And names grow taintless in the fire of war.
(4, 2) 3650 Why wilt thou drag me to the profitless
(4, 2) 3651 And empty quarrel of this bitten realm?
(4, 2) 3652 I am aweary of it.
(Geraint) And I am no less.
 
(Geraint) A very falseness.
(4, 2) 3674 How?
(Geraint) I was constrained
 
(Geraint) Of a clean being. Now are we at holds.
(4, 2) 3681 Say on, Geraint.
(Geraint) All men speak ill of thee:
 
(Geraint) A common trickster and a hypocrite?
(4, 2) 3690 Wilt thou believe it?
(Geraint) Only from thy lips,
 
(Geraint) Stoutly enough.
(4, 2) 3696 I had but this to lose!
(4, 2) 3697 God! is there yet another rag to tear
(4, 2) 3698 From beggary?
(Geraint) Now it is thine to loose
 
(Geraint) The friend I trusted.
(4, 2) 3712 Wilt compel me then?
(Geraint) That's not my answer.
 
(Geraint) That's not my answer.
(4, 2) 3714 I'll not say "accept,"
(4, 2) 3715 But "take" my life: for I have nothing left
(4, 2) 3716 Beyond the usage of my hands. Take this,
(4, 2) 3717 Cast it to feed what purposes you will.
(4, 2) 3718 It has no merit, value or regard;
(4, 2) 3719 Such as it is, I give it — a free gift
(4, 2) 3720 From now till death.
(Geraint) And I will take it so.
 
(Geraint) What think'st thou, Lanval?
(4, 2) 3758 I believe it true.
(4, 2) 3759 It is their custom to attack at dawn,
(4, 2) 3760 If they suspect not we shall be renewed,
(4, 2) 3761 And know our forces to be much reduced,
(4, 2) 3762 They will endeavour to destroy at once
(4, 2) 3763 This band of ours. I counsel thee attack
(4, 2) 3764 And bring confusion.
(Geraint) We have not the strength.
 
(Geraint) We have not the strength.
(4, 2) 3766 The Duke of Cornwall cannot now be far,
(4, 2) 3767 Owain is near. If we do lose this place
(4, 2) 3768 The issue's doubtful. Check them, and surprise
(4, 2) 3769 Leaves them half-hearted, unprepared to meet
(4, 2) 3770 Our armies' onset. Hold them at all costs.
(Geraint) Should Arthur fail?
 
(Geraint) Should Arthur fail?
(4, 2) 3772 We fall in either case,
(4, 2) 3773 If we oppose them not.
(Geraint) Gyfert, my arms.
 
(Geraint) And bring you aching for the food of death.
(4, 2) 3784 Come, let us go.
(Geraint) While thou art still unarmed?
 
(4, 2) 3787 Lend me a sword.
(Geraint) No, Lanval, I command
 
(Geraint) And then employ them as occasion turns.
(4, 2) 3794 I must obey.
(Geraint) The hour is dark and strange.
 
(Geraint) Of friendship.
(4, 2) 3808 Nay, Geraint.
(Geraint) God guard you well.
 
(Geraint) We meet no more — in such a case: farewell!
(4, 2) 3814 Farewell, Geraint.
(Geraint) Thou, Gyfert, stay with him.
 
(Geraint) Thou, Gyfert, stay with him.
(4, 2) 3817 One righteous man who's fool enough to think
(4, 2) 3818 That I am worthy. One friend who forces me
(4, 2) 3819 To do him wrong. The hooks of hell are fast
(4, 2) 3820 In all my being. I am manacled
(4, 2) 3821 With a cold bondage I have forged myself.
(4, 2) 3822 And how much simpler will the world become
(4, 2) 3823 For many men when I am dead! My end
(4, 2) 3824 Will be a kindness.
(Owain) They have joined too soon.
 
(Owain) Are 'gainst good timing. What are ye?
(4, 2) 3829 Reserves
(4, 2) 3830 Of Prince Geraint.
(Owain) I want an honest man
 
(Owain) Will you shew teeth?
(4, 2) 3856 Nay, Gyfert, hold your hand.
(Owain) Hearken, they're to it. Our good game begins.
 
(Owain) Out, swords, and follow!
(4, 2) 3861 I am come so low,
(4, 2) 3862 I have no word to answer censure with,
(4, 2) 3863 No record to run counter to reproach.
(4, 2) 3864 Even these men stand shamed to follow me.
(Gyfert) It is not so, Sir Lanval, we do not
 
(Gyfert) Forget old battles.
(4, 2) 3867 I remember now.
(4, 2) 3868 I led you once upon the fields of Clyde,
(4, 2) 3869 And once at Stirling. Take our forces on:
(4, 2) 3870 There is a hillock which doth lie beyond
(4, 2) 3871 The ridge we hold. Ye know it.
(Gyfert) Aye, we do.
 
(Gyfert) Aye, we do.
(4, 2) 3873 Thence we can lend assistance in short space
(4, 2) 3874 Where it is needed. Should by chance I fail
(4, 2) 3875 To give the signal and direction, use
(4, 2) 3876 Thine own discernment.
(Gyfert) I will do so, sir!
 
(Gyfert) I will do so, sir!
(4, 2) 3879 Geraint should hold the passage of that line
(4, 2) 3880 Sufficiently; and yet becoming weak,
(4, 2) 3881 Will tempt these Angles to renewed assaults,
(4, 2) 3882 Whereon an army coming fresh with day
(4, 2) 3883 Will grip the issue. All will be success,
(4, 2) 3884 But I can have no share in it again.
(4, 2) 3885 A parasite that like the sucking-fish
(4, 2) 3886 Is borne about the spaces of the world
(4, 2) 3887 By one more powerful! No, there is no hope,
(4, 2) 3888 No refuge and no purpose in my life,
(4, 2) 3889 But to live on like some outlying wolf
(4, 2) 3890 Too savage even for the hungry pack.
(4, 2) 3891 Or to go mocked, the client of a prince,
(4, 2) 3892 Licking the crumbs of honour from his floor.
(4, 2) 3893 No, I am sure that life's not tenable
(4, 2) 3894 Upon such terms. And therefore let us end.
(4, 2) 3895 If I gained heaven she would not be there,
(4, 2) 3896 So 'tis no heaven! If I earned a hell
(4, 2) 3897 She has not done so, therefore 'tis no hell!
(4, 2) 3898 I should be tearing at my heart by now,
(4, 2) 3899 Playing Prometheus to my own regrets,
(4, 2) 3900 And yet I'm numb. Sensation has its end,
(4, 2) 3901 And all our feeling to exhaustion comes.
(4, 2) 3902 So, life's a silence, death an incident
(4, 2) 3903 Which to our dreaming puts a period.
(4, 2) 3904 If dreams are evil, one has but to wake
(4, 2) 3905 Into the darkness. Come, I'll look for it
(4, 2) 3906 Beyond that ridge. It is not hard to find,
(4, 2) 3907 And worth the seeking!
(Triamour) Lanval!
 
(Triamour) Lanval!
(4, 2) 3910 I have done
(4, 2) 3911 With all these dreams, and I had hoped to pass
(4, 2) 3912 Unhindered hence.
(Triamour) Why? Art thou not content
 
(Triamour) The world doth give thee?
(4, 2) 3916 There's no need to mock,
(4, 2) 3917 The hour is past when I entreated help:
(4, 2) 3918 True there are times which do one's memory hurt,
(4, 2) 3919 Whose quick remembrance stabs one's soul with hate,
(4, 2) 3920 And makes one loth to look upon the beast
(4, 2) 3921 That this has been; for I have raved and foamed,
(4, 2) 3922 Spent all my soul in crying for thine aid,
(4, 2) 3923 And brought my manhood into such a pass
(4, 2) 3924 That reason's self could not well recognise
(4, 2) 3925 Such bestial stuff to be the frame of man,
(4, 2) 3926 Wherein she wrought. But that is overpast.
(4, 2) 3927 There is no scorn can touch the heart of me,
(4, 2) 3928 And no reproach but is an idle tale
(4, 2) 3929 Too oft repeated. All I am is ash,
(4, 2) 3930 The cindered fragment of a billet cast
(4, 2) 3931 By God or chance into time's furnaces,
(4, 2) 3932 And now the shadow is come down on me.
(Triamour) Is it not pleasant — man's acknowledgment?
 
(Triamour) Surely all love thee for thine excellence!
(4, 2) 3935 Be not so hard. I learnt my impotence,
(4, 2) 3936 And God has gently cleansed my vanity.
(Triamour) So the same shame that drove thee from mine arms,
 
(Triamour) Still dogs thy courses?
(4, 2) 3939 No, I've learnt enough,
(4, 2) 3940 And know myself an ordinary soul,
(4, 2) 3941 No way distinguished from the common mass,
(4, 2) 3942 No way their better. I am very low,
(4, 2) 3943 And have no feeling but an envious hope
(4, 2) 3944 Of better things. Yet I am not shamed,
(4, 2) 3945 For there's a passion which must cry for stars,
(4, 2) 3946 Cry from the body of a beast that crawls
(4, 2) 3947 Upon this surface for the face of God.
(4, 2) 3948 I am not shamed, for while the spirit lives
(4, 2) 3949 Man must lust high.
(Triamour) There is no more to learn;
 
(Triamour) And been so patient.
(4, 2) 3964 I was never worth
(4, 2) 3965 A portion of such kindness. I'd have talked
(4, 2) 3966 Of love in days whose dawn I shall not see.
(4, 2) 3967 God knows I loved you, but love whips my soul
(4, 2) 3968 To the same end life spurred me to, since I
(4, 2) 3969 Have found existence folly. Let me go
(4, 2) 3970 And get some credit in the end of it.
(Triamour) Wilt leave me?
 
(Triamour) Wilt leave me?
(4, 2) 3972 I am pledged
(4, 2) 3973 Unto Geraint.
(Triamour) If thou canst leave me now,
 
(Triamour) Thou hast forgotten —
(4, 2) 3980 Come — the end! the end!
(4, 2) 3981 Tempt not my nature; while he lives, I hold
 
(4, 2) 3983 Unto Geraint.
(Triamour) Geraint is dead.
 
(Triamour) Geraint is dead.
(4, 2) 3985 He's dead?
(4, 2) 3986 I sent him to it: sent my only friend
(4, 2) 3987 To find his death! Hes better dead than friend
(4, 2) 3988 Or kind to me! God help me, I am cursed!
(4, 2) 3989 Oh let me die, then I can do no hurt
(4, 2) 3990 To any one!
(Triamour) Choose, then, the time is short.
 
(Triamour) This battle lost.
(4, 2) 3994 Arthur must come.
(Triamour) He's far,
 
(Triamour) The gates are closing. Wilt thou hold the world?
(4, 2) 3999 The King comes not. Can I do nothing right?
(4, 2) 4000 Always so foolish and unfortunate.
(4, 2) 4001 Geraint is dead. He was a noble knight —
(4, 2) 4002 God rest his soul.
(Triamour) {aside} His soul awaits thine own.
 
(Triamour) {aside} His soul awaits thine own.
(4, 2) 4004 All's lost, my friend, my faith and e'en my use,
(4, 2) 4005 Take me away.
(Triamour) Now, Lanval, in this kiss
 
(Triamour) Give me thy being.
(4, 2) 4010 It is done.