clung to her
all the more devotedly, and wearied her the more with his endless tale
of love.

Then it came to pass that as they wandered through Cornwall, and Merlin
showed her all the wonders of that land, they found themselves by a
rocky steep, under which he told her was a wonderful cavern that had
been wrought by enchantment in the solid rock, its mouth being closed by
a mighty mass of stone.

Here, with all her art of love, and a subtle show of affection, the
faithless damsel so bewitched Merlin that for joy he knew not what he
did; and at her earnest wish he removed by his craft the stone that
sealed the cavern's mouth, and went under it that he might show her all
the marvels that lay there concealed.

But hardly had he entered when, using the magic arts which she had
learned from him, the faithless woman caused the great stone to sink
back with a mighty sound into its place, shutting up the enchanter so
firmly in that underground cavern that with all his craft he could never
escape. For he had taught her his strongest arts of magic, and do what
he would he could never move that stone.

This faithless act performed, the damsel departed and left Merlin a
prisoner in the rock. She alone of all the world could set him free, and
that she would not do, but kept her secret, and thanked heaven for her
deliverance.

And so Merlin, through his doting folly, passed out of the world of men
into a living tomb.

Long days and months passed before his fate was known, and then chance
brought to his cavern prison a valiant knight named Bagdemagus, who had
left Arthur's court in anger because Sir Tor was given a vacant seat at
the Round Table which he claimed as his due.

As he wandered through that part of Cornwall in quest of adventures, he
came one day past a great rock from which dire lamentations seemed to
issue. Hearing those woeful sounds, Bagdemagus sought to remove the
stone that closed the cavern's mouth, but so firmly was it fixed by
enchantment that a hundred men could not have stirred it from its place.

"Strive no longer," came a voice from within. "You labor in vain."

"Who is it that speaks?" asked the knight.

"I am Merlin, the enchanter; brought here by my doting folly. I loved
not wisely but too well; and here you find me, locked in this cliff by
my strongest spells, which in love's witlessness I taught to a woman
traitor. Go now, worthy sir, and leave me to my fate."

"Alas! that this should be! T