Читать книгу The Knights of the Round Table - Enid blyton - Страница 6

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King Rience of North Wales once sent an insolent message to King Arthur:

“Eleven kings have I defeated, and their beards make a fringe for my mantle. There is yet a space for a twelfth, so with all speed send me yours, or I will lay waste your land from east to west.”

The listening knights clapped their hands to their swords in anger, eager to slay the messenger, but the King forbade them.

“Get you gone!” he commanded the man sternly.

Now there was a knight there called Balin, he who wore two swords. He was very wrath when he heard the wicked message sent by King Rience, and he vowed to avenge the insult done to Arthur.

For eighteen months Balin had been in prison for slaying a knight of Arthur’s court, and he longed to do some deed that would win him the King’s favour once more. So he left the hall and went to don his armour, eager to fight against King Rience.

Whilst he was arming himself, a false lady came to the hall, and reminded the King that she had once done him a service.

“In return for the good I did you, I beg you to grant me a favour,” she said.

“Speak on,” said the King.

“Give me the head of the knight Balin,” said the lady.

“That I cannot do with honour,” answered Arthur. “I pray you, madam, ask some other thing.”

But the lady would not, and departed from the hall, speaking bitterly against the King. At the door she met the knight Balin, who was returning, fully armed.

As soon as he saw her, he rode straight at her and cut off her head, for he knew her to be a witch-woman and very wicked. She had caused his mother’s death, and for three years he had sought for her in vain.

Then he rode forth to go against King Rience. But when Arthur found that he had cut off the lady’s head, he was very angry.

“No matter what cause for anger he had against her, he should not have done such a thing in my court,” said the King. “Balin has shamed us all. Sir Lanceor, ride after him and bring him back again.”

Lanceor at once armed himself, and rode after Balin. He galloped his horse hard, and when he came up to Balin he shouted loudly—for he was an insolent knight—well pleased at the thought that Balin must needs go back with him to court.

“Stay, knight! You must stop whether you will or no, and I warrant your shield will not protect you if you turn to do battle with me!” he cried.

“What do you wish?” asked Balin fiercely, reining in his horse. “Would you joust with me, insolent knight? Have a care to yourself then!”

They rushed at one another with their spears held ready, and the two horses met with a crash. Lanceor’s spear struck sideways on Balin’s shield, and shivered to pieces, but Balin’s spear ran right through the insolent knight’s shield and slew him.

Balin looked sorrowfully at the knight, for he was sad to see a brave man fallen. He buried him, and went on his way grieving.

Soon he saw a knight riding towards him in the forest, and by the arms he bore he knew him to be his well-loved brother, Balan. They rode eagerly to meet one another, and greeted each other with joy.

“Now am I right glad to see you,” said Balan. “A man told me that you had been freed from your imprisonment, and I came to see you at the court.”

“I go to avenge my lord Arthur,” said Balin. “King Rience has done him an insult. Come with me, my brother, and together we will follow this adventure.”

The two knights rode on side by side, and presently they met the magician Merlin.

“You ride to find King Rience,” said Merlin, who knew the thoughts of all men. “Let me give you good counsel, and you shall meet with him and overcome him.”

“We will do as you say,” said Balin, and he and his brother followed the magician to a hiding-place in the wood, just beside a pathway.

“The King will come this way shortly with sixty knights,” said Merlin.

It came to pass as the magician had said. King Rience rode by with his knights, and, when he came near, Balin and Balan rose up and attacked the company.

First they unhorsed King Rience, and struck him to the ground, where he lay wounded sorely. Then they rode at the rest of the knights, and so fiercely did the two brothers fight that soon forty of the King’s men were vanquished, and the rest fled.

Then Balin returned to Rience, and would have slain him, but he begged for mercy. So his life was spared, and Balin and Balan took him to Arthur’s court, and there delivered him to the King to do with as he thought best.

Then the two brothers parted, and each went on his way alone.

Balin met with strange adventures, and fought many hard battles. Then one day as he rode onward, he came to a cross, and on it, written in letters of gold, were these words:

“It is perilous for a knight to ride alone towards this castle.”

As he was reading this, Balin saw an old man coming towards him, and heard him speak to him in warning.

“Balin of the Two Swords,” he said, “do not pass this way. Turn back, or you will ride into great peril.”

When he had finished speaking he vanished. Then Balin heard a horn blow as if some beast had been killed in the hunt, and his blood turned cold within him.

“That blast was blown for me,” said the knight. “I am the beast who shall die—but I am still alive, and I will go forward as befits a brave knight.”

So he rode onwards past the cross, and soon came to the castle. There he was welcomed by many fair ladies and knights, who led him into the castle and feasted him royally.

Then the chief lady of the castle came to him and said:

“Sir Knight of the Two Swords, know that all knights who pass this way must joust with one nearby who guards an island. No man may pass without so doing.”

“That is an unhappy custom,” said Balin; “but though my horse is weary my heart is not, and I will joust with this knight.”

Then a man came up to Balin, and took his shield.

“Sir,” he said, “your shield is not whole. Let me lend you mine, I pray you.”

Balin agreed, and took the strange knight’s shield instead of his own, which had his arms blazoned on. Then he mounted his horse and rode to where a great boat waited to take him and his charger to the island.

When he arrived at the island he met a maiden, and she spoke to him in dolorous tones.

“O Knight Balin, why have you left your own shield behind? You have put yourself in great danger by so doing.”

“That I cannot help,” said Balin, “for it is too late now to turn back. I must face what lies before me, for I am a knight of Arthur’s court.”

Then Balin heard the sound of hoofs, and saw a knight come riding out of a castle, clad in red armour, and his horse in trappings of the same colour. When this knight saw Balin he thought that surely it must be his brother Balin, because he carried two swords—for the Red Knight was no other than Balan, who had been forced by a foe to keep the castle against all comers.

But when Balan looked upon his enemy’s shield, he saw that it did not bear his brother’s arms, and he therefore galloped straight at him, deeming him to be a stranger.

The two knights met with a fearful shock, and the spear of each smote the other down. They lay in a swoon upon the ground, and for some time they could not rise.

Then Balan leapt up, and went towards Balin, who arose to meet him. But Balan struck first, and his sword went right through his brother’s shield, and smote his helmet. Then Balin struck back and felled his brother to the ground.

So they fought together till they had no more strength left, and each had seven great wounds. Then Balan laid himself down for a little, and Balin spoke to him.

“What knight are you?” he said. “Never till now did I meet a knight that was my match.”

“My name is Balan,” answered the knight. “And I am brother to the good knight Balin of the Two Swords.”

“Alas, that ever I should see this day!” cried Balin, in grief and dismay, for he loved his brother better than any one else on earth. Then he fell in a faint.

Balan went to him and raised his helmet so that he might look upon his face. And when he saw that it was his own well-loved brother, he wept bitterly.

“Now when I saw your two swords I did indeed think you were my brother,” he said, “but when I looked upon your shield and saw that it was not yours, I did not know you.”

“A knight bade me take his in exchange for mine that was not whole,” said Balin. “Great woe has he brought us this day, for we have slain one another, and the world will speak ill of us both for that!”

Then came the lady of the castle and her men. She wept to hear their tale, and when the two brothers begged her to bury them in the same grave, she promised with tears that she would do so.

So died Balin and Balan, and were buried in the same place. The lady knew Balan’s name, but not Balin’s, and she put above their grave how that the knight Balan was slain by his brother.

Then the next day came Merlin the Magician, and sorrowfully, in letters of gold, he wrote Balin’s name there too. Then below he put the story of their deaths, that all men might know how it came to pass that the two brothers had each killed the other.