meadows and played till even-song; and then Merlin came to the damsel and
asked if he had done what he promised for her. "Fair, sweet friend," said
she, "you have done so much that I am all yours." "Let me teach you," he
answered, "and I will show you many wonders that no woman ever learned so
many."

Merlin and this young damsel always remained friends, and he taught her
many wonderful arts, one of which was (this we must regret) a spell by
which she might put her parents to sleep whenever he visited her; while
another lesson was (this being more unexceptionable) in the use of three
words, by saying which she might at any time keep at a distance any men
who tried to molest her. He stayed eight days near her, and in those days
taught her many of the most "wonderful things that any mortal heart could
think of, things past and things that were done and said, and a part of
what was to come; and she put them in writing, and then Merlin departed
from her and came to Benoyk, where the king, Arthur, rested, so that glad
were they when they saw Merlin."

The relations between Merlin and Arthur are unlike those ever held
towards a king even by an enchanter in any legend. Even in Homer there is
no one described, except the gods, as having such authority over a ruler.
Merlin came and went as he pleased and under any form he might please. He
foretold the result of a battle, ordered up troops, brought aid from a
distance. He rebuked the bravest knights for cowardice; as when Ban, Bors,
and Gawain had concealed themselves behind some bushes during a fight. "Is
this," he said to King Arthur and Sir Bors, "the war and the help that you
do to your friends who have put themselves in adventure of death in many a
need, and ye come hither to hide for cowardice." Then the legend says,
"When the king understood the words of Merlin, he bowed his head for
shame," and the other knights acknowledged their fault. Then Merlin took