Part 11 (1/2)
”Geraint,” said Gyvar, ”knowest thou the naht yonder?” ”I know hie ar his face or his features”
”Go, ht is” Then the maiden went up to the dwarf; and the daited for thetowards hiht was ”I will not tell thee,” he answered ”Since thou art so churlish as not to tell me,” said she, ”I will ask him himself” ”Thou shalt not ask him, by my faith,”
said he ”Wherefore?” said she ”Because thou art not of honour sufficient to befit thee to speak to my Lord” Then the ht, upon which the dwarf struck her with the whip that was in his hand across the face and the eyes, until the blood flowed forth And the h the hurt she received fro of the pain ”Very rudely has the dwarf treated thee,” said Geraint
”I will go ht is” ”Go,” said Gyvar
And Geraint went up to the dwarf ”Who is yonder knight?” said Geraint ”I will not tell thee,” said the dwarf ”Then will I ask him himself,” said he ”That wilt thou not, by h to speak with my Lord” Said Geraint, ”I have spoken with men of equal rank with hiht; but the dwarf overtook him, and struck him as he had done the maiden, so that the blood coloured the scarf that Geraint wore Then Geraint put his hand upon the hilt of his sword, but he took counsel with hieance for him to slay the dwarf, and to be attacked unarht, so he returned to where Gyvar was
”And while they listen'd for the distant hunt, And chiefly for the baying of Cavall, King Arthur's hound of deepest ht, lady, and dwarf; Whereof the dwarf lagg'd latest, and the knight Had vizor up, and show'd a youthful face, Ihtiest lineaments
And Guinevere, not 's hall, desired his na vicious, old and irritable, And doubling all his master's vice of pride, Made answer sharply that she should not know
'Then will I ask it of himself,' she said
'Nay, by my faith, thou shalt not,' cried the dwarf; 'Thou art not worthy ev'n to speak of hiht, Struck at her with his whip, and she return'd Indignant to the Queen; whereat Geraint Exclai, 'Surely I will learn the name,'
Made sharply to the dwarf, and ask'd it of him, Who answer'd as before; and when the Prince Had put his horse in ht, Struck at him with his whip, and cut his cheek
The Prince's blood spirted upon the scarf, Dyeing it; and his quick, instinctive hand Caught at the hilt, as to abolish hi manfulness And pure nobility of temperament, Wroth to be wroth at such a worm, refrain'd From ev'n a word”
The self-restraint of Geraint, who does not slay the dwarf,
”Fro manfulness And pure nobility of temperament,”
may appear ”too polite,” and toosweet lives” However, the uninvented idea does occur in the Welsh original: ”Then Geraint put his hand upon the hilt of his sword, but he took counsel with hieance for him to slay the dwarf,”
while he also reflects that he would be ”attacked unarht” Perhaps Tennysonthis obvious ht in hope of finding arms, and arrives at the town all busy with preparations for the tournae sparrok: the knight had won it twice, and if he won it thrice it would be his to keep The rest, in the tale, is exactly followed in the Idyll Geraint is entertained by the ruined Yniol
The youth bears the ”costrel” full of ”good purchasedfor himself), and Enid carries theto be worn out” All Tennyson's own is the beautiful passage -
”And while he waited in the castle court, The voice of Enid, Yniol's daughter, rang Clear thro' the open case; and as the sweet voice of a bird, Heard by the lander in a lonely isle, Moves his so delicately clear, and e and the form; So the sweet voice of Enid moved Geraint; And made him like a man abroad atover many a windy wave To Britain, and in April suddenly Breaks froreen and red, And he suspends his converse with a friend, Or it may be the labour of his hands, To think or say, 'There is the nightingale'; So fared it with Geraint, who thought and said, 'Here, by God's grace, is the one voice for me'”
Yniol frankly ad in the quarrel with his nephew The poet, however, gives hiht, as is natural The combat is exactly followed in the Idyll, as is Geraint's insistence in carrying his bride to Court in her faded silks Geraint, however, leaves Court with Enid, not because of the scandal about Lancelot, but to do his duty in his own country He becomes indolent and uxorious, and Enid deplores his weakness, and awakes his suspicions, thus:-
And onein the summer tie of it And Enid ithout sleep in the apartlass And the sun shone upon the couch And the clothes had slipped froazed upon the marvellous beauty of his appearance, and she said, ”Alas, and am I the cause that these arlory and the warlike fame which they once so richly enjoyed!” And as she said this, the tears dropped from her eyes, and they fell upon his breast And the tears she shed, and the words she had spoken, awoke hi contributed to awaken hi of him that she spoke thus, but that it was because she loved some other man more than him, and that she wished for other society, and thereupon Geraint was troubled in his mind, and he called his squire; and when he came to him, ”Go quickly,” said he, ”and prepare my horse and my arms, and make them ready And do thou arise,” said he to Enid, ”and apparel thyself; and cause thy horse to be accoutred, and clothe thee in the worst riding-dress that thou hast in thy possession And evil betide me,” said he, ”if thou returnest here until thou knohether I have lost th so completely as thou didst say And if it be so, it will then be easy for thee to seek the society thou didst wish for of hi” So she arose, and clothed herself in her , Lord,” said she, ”of thy ”
”Neither wilt thou know at this time,” said he
”At last, it chanced that on a su each by either) the new sun Beat thro' the blindless case warrior in his drea, cast the coverlet aside, And bared the knotted column of his throat, The massive square of his heroic breast, And ar muscle sloped, As slopes a wild brook o'er a little stone, Running too vehemently to break upon it
And Enid woke and sat beside the couch, Adrandly made as he?
Then, like a shadow, past the people's talk And accusation of uxoriousness Across herover him, Low to her own heart piteously she said:
'O noble breast and all-puissant arms, A all your force is gone?
I AM the cause, because I dare not speak And tell him what I think and what they say
And yet I hate that he should linger here; I cannot love ird his harness on hihtful hand striking great blows At caitiffs and at wrongers of the world
Far better were I laid in the dark earth, Not hearing any more his noble voice, Not to be folded ht in his eyes, Than that my lord thro' me should suffer shame
Am I so bold, and could I so stand by, And see my dear lord wounded in the strife, Or maybe pierced to death before mine eyes, And yet not dare to tell hi all his force Is melted into mere effeminacy?