dead, but would come again to reign in England, when he had been nursed
long enough by Morgan le Fay in the island of Avalon.

The tradition was that King Arthur lived upon this island in an enchanted
castle which had the power of a magnet, so that every one who came near it
was drawn thither and could not get away. Morgan le Fay was its ruler
(called more correctly Morgan la fee, or the fairy), and her name Morgan
meant sea-born. By one tradition, the queens who bore away Arthur were
accompanied in the boat by the bard and enchanter, Merlin, who had long
been the king's adviser, and this is the description of the island said to
have been given by Merlin to another bard, Taliessin:--

"'We came to that green and fertile island which each year is blessed
with two autumns, two springs, two summers, two gatherings of fruit,--the
land where pearls are found, where the flowers spring as you gather them--
that isle of orchards called the "Isle of the Blessed." No tillage there,
no coulter to tear the bosom of the earth. Without labor it affords wheat
and the grape. There the lives extend beyond a century. There nine
sisters, whose will is the only law, rule over those who go from us to
them. The eldest excels in the art of healing, and exceeds her sisters in
beauty. She is called Morgana, and knows the virtues of all the herbs of
the meadow. She can change her form, and soar in the air like a bird; she
can be where she pleases in a moment, and in a moment descend on our
coasts from the clouds. Her sister Thiten is renowned for her skill on the
harp.'

"'With the prince we arrived, and Morgana received us with fitting
honour. And in her own chamber she placed the king on a bed of gold, and
with delicate touch, she uncovered the wound. Long she considered it, and
at length said to him that she could heal it if he stayed long with her,