I suffer from the things before me, know,
Learn nothing; am not worthy to be knight;
A churl, a clown!' and in him gloom on gloom
Deepen'd: he sharply caught his lance and shield,
Nor stay'd to crave permission of the King,
But, mad for strange adventure, dash'd away."


Balin is "disillusioned," his faith in the Ideal is shaken if not
shattered. He rides at adventure. Arriving at the half-ruined
castle of Pellam, that dubious devotee, he hears Garlon insult
Guinevere, but restrains himself. Next day, again insulted for
bearing "the crown scandalous" on his shield, he strikes Garlon down,
is pursued, seizes the sacred spear, and escapes. Vivien meets him
in the woods, drops scandal in his ears, and so maddens him that he
defaces his shield with the crown of Guinevere. Her song, and her
words,


"This fire of Heaven,
This old sun-worship, boy, will rise again,
And beat the cross to earth, and break the King
And all his Table,"


might be forced into an allegory of the revived pride of life, at the
Renaissance and after. The maddened yells of Balin strike the ear of
Balan, who thinks he has met the foul knight Garlon, that