divere wept for the death of his brother. Leave this mourning
and weeping, said the king, for all this will not avail me: for, wit
thou well, and I might live myself the death of Sir Lucan would grieve
me evermore; but my time hieth fast, said the king.

Therefore, said Arthur, take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with
it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there, I charge thee throw
my sword in that water, and come again, and tell me what thou there
seest. My lord, said Bedivere, your commandment shall be done, and
lightly bring you word again. So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way
he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and haft were all of
precious stones, and then he said to himself, If I throw this rich sword
in the water, thereof shall never come good, but harm and loss. And then
Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And as soon as he might he
came again unto the king, and said he had been at the water, and had
thrown the sword into the water. What sawest thou there? said the king.
Sir, he said, I saw nothing but waves and winds. That is untruly said of
thee, said the king; therefore go thou lightly again, and do my command
as thou art to me lief and dear, spare not, but throw it in.

Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the sword in his hand; and
then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword; and so
eft he hid the sword, and returned again, and told to the king that he
had been at the water, and done his commandment. What sawest thou there?
said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but the waters wap and the
waves wan. Ah traitor, untrue, said king Arthur, now hast thou betrayed
me twice. Who would have wend that thou that hast been to me so lief and
dear, and thou art named a noble knight, and would betray me for the
riches of the sword. But now go again lightly, for thy long tarrying
putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken cold. And
unless if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I shall
slay thee with mine own hands, for thou wouldest for my rich sword see
me dead.

Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it
up, and went to the water side, and there he bound the girdle about the
hilts, and then he threw the sword as far into the water as he might,
and there came an arm and an hand above the water, and met it, and
caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished away
the hand with the sw