declare that the lovers
were buried side by side, and that creepers growing out of their
respective graves twined lovingly around each other.

Other beautiful episodes which are taken from old Welsh versions of
the Arthurian legends are the stories of Geraint and Enid, of Pelleas
and Ettarre, of Gareth and Lynette, which have received their latest
and most beautiful setting at the hands of the poet-laureate Tennyson,
and the very tragic and pathetic tale of the twin brothers Balin and
Balan, who, after baleful happenings galore, failing to recognize each
other, fight until one deals the "dolorous stroke" which kills his
brother.

Were any one patient enough to count the characters, duels, and
hair-breadth escapes in Malory's Morte d'Arthur, the sum might well
appall a modern reader. Magic, too, plays a prominent part in the
Arthurian cycle, where Merlin, by means of a magic ring given by the
Lady of the Lake to her sister Vivien, becomes so infatuated with the
latter lady, that she is able to coax from him all his secrets, and
even to learn the spell whereby a mortal can be kept alive although
hidden from all eyes. Having obtained the magic formula by bringing
all her coquettish wiles to bear upon besotted old Merlin, Vivien is
said to have decoyed the wizard either to an enchanted castle, where
she enclosed him in a stone sepulchre, or into the forest of
Broceliande, in Brittany, where she left him, spellbound in a
flowering thorn-bush. Another legend, however, claims that, having
grown old and forgetful, Merlin absent-mindedly attempted to sit down
in the Siege Perilous, only to be swallowed up by the yawning chasm
which opened beneath his feet.

It was at the height of Arthur's prosperity and fame that the knights
of the Round Table solemnly pledged themselves to undertake the Quest
of the Holy Grail, as is described in the chapter on that subject.
Their absence, the adultery of the queen, and the king's consciousness
of past sins cast such a gloom over the once brilliant reunions of
Camelot and Caerleon, as well as over the whole land, that Arthur's
foes became bolder, and troubles thickened in an ominous way. Finally,
most of the knights returned from the Quest sadder and wiser men,
Launcelot was banished by the king to Joyous Garde, and was therefore
not at hand when the last great fight occurred. Mordred, the Judas of
the Arthurian cycle--whom some poets represent as the illegitimate and
incestuous son of Ar