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Lanval (1908)

T E Ellis

Allan o hawlfraint. Y fersiwn yma Ⓗ 2021 Steffan Donnelly, CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Act 1, Golygfa 1
Bernardo
(To an apprentice, painting.)
Keep to the line, lad, let the field be bright
And the device well marked.

Apprentice 2
So! Master?

Bernardo
Pure
In line and colour. (To Apprentice 1.) Bring that vambrace here,
Tis not ill done.

Apprentice 1
I thought it was well wrought.

Bernardo
And so it is, but I'm not satisfied
With competence; or I were still a smith
A common craftsman in far Mantua
And not Bernardo, once the armourer
Of Milan's court. See, here the work is rough
And somewhat careless.

Apprentice 1
Must I braize again?

Bernardo
Nay, let it stand till I have time for it.
Look you, my lad, this art of ours is rare
And needs long service. I am old enough
To know that I shall never learn it well.
(To others.) Keep to it, lads. (To Apprentice 3.) Bring that haubergeon
And test it well, for I believe it strained.

Apprentice 3
Here's a false ring.

Bernardo
Then out with it, my lad.
Death's a lean fellow, and needs little space
To make his entry. Rivet it again.
A life's no stronger than its slightest hour
Nor any armour than its weakest spot.
(While the apprentice works, Bernardo goes over to the others.)
Have care of it. I mind in Milan once—
I'll tell you sometime. Now go on with it.
How often, boy, must I repeat my words,
Though hard, a metal's not a rock to hack
As if it were a quarry, but a form
Worth some consideration. Yes, this steel
Has its own texture and its qualities,
And we must watch them. Iron has its use,
Bronze its own nature, steel its services,
All much akin, yet very different,
And I'd as soon take knife to my own flesh
As mangle metal with that tool of yours.
Work with the line and not across the grain
And see your play grows not too hot, for warmth
Draws out the soul of steel. Go on.

Apprentice 3
Tis finished, master.

Bernardo
Come, we'll test it then.
Give me a dagger. See, this is a life,
Here is the gorget, here would be the throat,
And I am fate in ambush 'gainst this life.
I strike it thus; the work is sound enough,
Ready for fracture in to-morrow's deeds.

Apprentice 3
It is a grief —

Bernardo
That such meet work is marred?
It's nature's way. All's made for breaking here
This linked defence and grievous instruments
For its destruction. Yet we make them both.
Either our blades can bite thro' our strong mail,
Or else these links can turn our finest edge.
We dress the balance of the world, my lad,
For all the virtues and the strength of man
Fare ill in life without the armourer.


Enter Gyfert (C}.

Bernardo
Ah, Gyfert! Welcome!

Gyfert
Welcome, Bernardo, too.
It's long since we did meet.

Bernardo
I think
Eight months.

Gyfert
Is it so much? I never thought
It was so long.

Bernardo
Ye have been active then?
Whence are ye come?

Gyfert
Whence but from Logris, man.
We were drawn thither by some false reports
Of Saxon landing.

Bernardo
You have need of me?

Gyfert
A pair of tassets and some saddle steels.

Bernardo
Come, let me see them.

Gyfert
They have had rough use.

Bernardo
Truly they have. I cannot make them good
Before the morrow.

Gyfert
I'm not troublesome;
Say in three days.

Bernardo
You do not need them then
To-morrow?

Gyfert
No, why should we?

Bernardo
Tis the last,
The final meeting of our summer court.
To-day is Pentecost!

Gyfert
I had forgotten it.
When one is serving on the boundaries
Of all known order, one is apt to miss
The nice discernment of each date and feast.
It's Pentecost.

Bernardo
The Prince of Devon then
Will break no lance to-morrow.

Gyfert
He is proved.
These tests are good for practice, but the best
Of all our knighthood serve their cause apart.
But I'm sorry that we took no hand.
Who did the best in recent tournaments?

Bernardo
Sir Lamorak.

Gyfert
Good! He's a noble knight.

Bernardo
Gawain.

Gyfert
Of course!

Bernardo
His brother Agravaine.

Gyfert
Sir Agravaine?

Bernardo
Aye, he is much advanced
In strength and favour.

Gyfert
I believe my lord
Loves him but little.

Bernardo
He's a gallant soul.

Gyfert
And so are many. He has certain faults
Which spoil the liking men should have for him.
Your countryman, has he gained no repute?
We thought him likely to do much.

Bernardo
Who is
My countryman?

Gyfert
Sir Lanval.

Bernardo
He is not.
Why, he was bred in wild Armorica,
A land that will not suckle her own seed,
But casts them out to batten on the world.

Gyfert
They do her honour.

Bernardo
There are no better knights
In Christendom.

Gyfert
But still Sir Lanval came
From Italy.

Bernardo
True, an Italian lord
Adopted him. But he still bears these arms,
Argent a bend of vert, no heraldry
Of my far country.

Gyfert
What is his birth to me?
Who worsted him?

Bernardo
No one; he took no part,
Nor have I seen him for some days.

Gyfert
Tis strange.
I often heard my master say no knight
In all this land was worthier in his sight.
Where does he lodge?

Bernardo
In the third ward, I think.

Gyfert
I have a message for him from my lord,
Which I had best deliver. In three days,
You said, Bernardo, these should be repaired.

Bernardo
I'll see to it.


(Exit Gyfert.)

Bernardo
Come, lad, now let us work.
The hour grows late. Here is Sir Lanval's blade.
This was not used in gentle passages,
But has been bitten by opposing swords.
We must re-edge it. There's good stuff in this.
A proper weapon should lie thus in hand,
Leashed like a hound unto its handler's mind,
Straining and hungering for the sentient force
That shall oppose it.

Apprentice 3
He's a worthy knight.

Bernardo
None better, lad; they do not know him well,
Whom I have heard speak lightly of his strength.
There are not many in all Arthur's realm
Who can o'ermatch him.

Apprentice 3
Yet he has no name
Or reputation.

Bernardo
I remember him
In Mantua when he was young, unknown,
And saw him step from that subservience
To eminence. He often spoke with me,
And talked of arms and manners of defence.
Come, let us work. For in to-morrow's play
Is half war's danger; no man must reproach
The aids we give him.

Apprentice 3
The iron is prepared.


Enter Lanval (C).

Lanval
At work, Bernardo?

Bernardo
We are pressed, my lord.

Lanval
I think, Bernardo, you must dream of arms,
See heaven as a place of perfect mail,
With all its angels armoured in delight.

Bernardo
We armourers — give me the hammer, boy —
Like to imagine that the case we frame
Outweighs in value all that it shall hold,
And that our work is the best part of nature's,
Seeing that man lies fenceless to the world
Unless we aid him. 'Tis a small conceit.

Lanval
But near the truth, for 'tis the shell, indeed,
That makes the man; and his appearance serves
In place of armour 'gainst all estimates.
My blade is finished?

Bernardo
In a little space,
We would do justice to so fair a task.


Lanval watches him working for a time.

Lanval
How would they fare, Bernardo, should ill chance
Arrest this service.

Bernardo
Not so ill, my lord.
Mark you this boy, his skill shall equal mine
An I be spared to teach him.

Lanval
Praise indeed!

Bernardo
It's true enough; he has the touch, my lord,
The quality and feeling for this art,
But wants instruction. For I know full well
The certainty that's needed for this toil
Will halt and tremble.

Lanval
Not for many years.

Bernardo
But I grow old, for come next Martinmas
'Tis ten full years since I left Italy;
I was not young the time that Mantua
Half worshipped thee.

Lanval
I had forgotten it.
Then was the world laid wide before my feet,
And all adventures stood for my assay,
But now — Bernardo, have you ever thought
Of turning hence?

Bernardo
I shall die here, my lord.

Lanval
Sloven content! What piece of steel is this
Your practice moulds?

Bernardo
A gauntlet for the joust,
Sir Agravaine's.

Lanval
I gave it him. This guard
Is Meliard's, a present from myself.
This frontal here a portion of the suit
I gave long since unto Sir Astamor.
Here's much that once I could have called my own,
Mine ancient substance —

Bernardo
They are good pieces all.
We have so much of armour bent and hurt
By bitter onslaughts of the Picts and Scots
That we are 'mazed that from the hundred acts,
The fierce attainments and strange accidents
Of such a war this handiwork comes back —
Worn, it is true, but none the less well fit
For future service.

Lanval
I gave them my best,
And clad in kindness which they gained of me,
They have o'erpast me. So I strive in vain
And waste subsistence for their mockery.
And yet, Bernardo, when we met before
In Mantua, I did not do so ill.
There's not such difference in the make of man,
That I, who forced acknowledgement of worth
In Italy, in Britain should be shamed.

Bernardo
Not shamed, my lord; this land is proud and dull,
And harsher in the value which it sets
Upon its servants than all other states.
This people slowly puts suspicion off,
And slower still divests it of belief.
Be patient with them.

Lanval
Patient, I am so!
I crave no honours or rewards, indeed,
For they are favours that a chance may bring
To be henceforth the inmates of one's life,
And so sustained, consulted hour by hour,
That the cramped soul no longer is the lord
Of its own being. Is it much I ask,
That they acknowledge that I serve them well?

Bernardo
The Duke of Cornwall praised your enterprise,
And swore no knight of Arthur's court could lead
To better purpose.

Lanval
I may do them wrong;
Perhaps it is my vanity that's hurt,
And they do right to overlook my power.
Who knows where lies the limit of his use?
My blade is finished?

Bernardo
In a moment, lord.
For it, as thou, waits on accomplishment.
Sir, I am old, and have watched many knights,
And might make play to hearten discontent.
Have I thy leave?

Lanval
Bernardo, we are friends,
And both alike contemned and lightly held
In the opinion of these islanders.

Bernardo
My lord, this humour is a youthful mood,
The fretting of a soul untrained, who feels
The bit of fortune curb his stride half way
Adown the lists. There are more courses yet,
And to show sourness is ungenerous.

Lanval
'Tis kindly meant; but I go hence to-night.

Bernardo
To-night?

Lanval
At once. Bernardo, I am poor.
The huge equipment and vast sustenance,
Wherewith I came unto this island realm,
Are past and vanished. All mine armament
Have I not given to my friends or foes
Indifferent? For I was taught a knight
Should be so free, so liberal and kind,
That none who asked should go without reward,
To this result. One simple suit is left —
My sword and horse.

Bernardo
My lord, let me provide
Arms for to-morrow.

Lanval
I may not accept
A gift of you.

Bernardo
For our old friendship's sake,
Let me provide such arms as fit your rank.
Why, in a tournay one can win the wealth
Of a vast province in a single stroke,
Take prisoners, or hold the petty kings
To guard or ransom.

Lanval
I'll not take of you
What I must risk.

Bernardo
Geraint?

Lanval
Has been my friend!
Were his sweet friendship a small thing to me,
I'd ask of him, but I am not become
As yet a beggar.

Bernardo
But the king is kind.

Lanval
To some, perhaps. His kindness passed me by,
And I'll accept that treatment as the worth
I am to him.

Bernardo
But he is just —

Lanval
Most just,
So I accept his verdict as my due.

Bernardo
The Queen —

Lanval
Bernardo, if I cannot ask
Help of my friends, I am not like to come
To such a pass. For I am not so made
That I can bend my humour to the needs
Of Queen and courtiers. Ask my Queen for aid?
Cry out for my worth as pedlars cry their wares,
And pledge my honour for another cast?
That were too foul! Suffice it, I have failed.
I do not charge injustice to the world,
Nor blame mankind for blindness that my deeds
Are out of sight. I can accept defeat,
And with some sorrow put my dreams away.

Bernardo
My lord, this court is not o'erfilled with men,
But its defences are hewn out from it
As flakes of metal from old armour fall.
Saxon and Scot, the Picts and outland men
Lie ever restless on our boundaries.
Each day may bring the messengers of war
And set our standards in the field again,
So do not leave us.

Lanval
It is time I went,
For I am landless, houseless, penniless.

Bernardo
Go not, my lord. I have none else to speak
The southern tongue, or raise remembrances
Of Italy.

Lanval
Come with me then, my friend.

Bernardo
I am too old, and must endure my days
In these grey places. Death were easier there,
For he comes laughing with the sun and dust.
I wish I could.

Lanval
I shall be glad to think
That one regrets my passing. Come — my blade!
Is it not finished?

Apprentice 3
It is here —

Lanval
And fits
Its scabbard truly. Lad, the work is good.
Would mine were so. Bernardo, then, farewell.
I go to test my fortune in new lands,
And fate may bring me to this realm again,
Or hold me far from it.

Bernardo
Farewell,
My lord and friend. I would that I could go.
At least I'll speed thee.


Exeunt Bernardo and Lanval.

The apprentices continue working.

Enter Gawain and Agravaine, Meliard and Astamor (L).

Gawain
Where's the armourer, boy?

Apprentice 3
But now gone out.

Gawain
He will return?

Apprentice 3
At once.

Gawain
Good! Heed me not! I know that ye are pressed.


Gawain goes to the back of the stage.

Meliard
But, Agravaine, thou dost not hear my words!

Agravaine
I have much else to think of, Meliard.

Astamor
I dreamt this night, pardie,
An elf queen should my leman be,
And lie beneath —

Agravaine
Enough!

Astamor
She were cold else.


Agravaine moves away impatiently.

Astamor
See, Meliard, he cannot even bear
The little mention of a covering.

Meliard
Behold his meditation and his frown,
Which now relaxes while he sweetly smiles
On vacancy.

Astamor
He only loves his thoughts
And smiles on them. But still I do him wrong.

Meliard
How, Astamor?

Astamor
Why, did he love his thoughts
But half as much as he does love himself,
He would out-shock the poets.

Meliard
We hate pride
Out of an envy, when we have no power
To humble it.

Astamor
But only the good will,
God send us some one for the noble task.


Meliard and Astamor go aside.

Agravaine
Think'st thou, Gawain, this guard is wide enough?

Gawain
I think it is.

Agravaine
And see this blazoning!
Twill not look ill on to-morrow's field!

Gawain
It's well enough. I trust it may be marked
Of all to-morrow.

Agravaine
Borne in such a cause
As I uphold.

Gawain
And what is that?

Agravaine
My own!
It cannot fail.

Gawain
Be not too confident.

Agravaine
Why, I am borne upon the central stream
Of Fortune's current. Brother, blame me not;
There is a sweetness in the taste of power
Beyond all savours.

Gawain
Be gentler, Agravaine,
This pride of bearing will not make thee loved.

Agravaine
Loved! What care I for any man's regard?
And for the rest this manner has its use.


Enter Geraint and Owain (C).

Geraint
Welcome, fair cousin —

Gawain
Welcome, too, Geraint,
Wilt break a lance to-morrow?

Geraint
No, Gawain,
For I have other business in my hands,
And grow too old for these slight practices.

Gawain
My brother there is anxious to advance
His name and honour.

Geraint
There are many here
Who'll not deny him the occasion.

Gawain
True,
But he flies high.

Geraint
Let him be satisfied;
But I'll not stay thee, for the time at least.
Ye choose your arms for this fair tournament,
Wherein, no doubt, ye both will do great deeds.
I will not hinder. (He turns away) Welcome, Meliard
And Astamor. All's well with you, I hope!

Astamor
Well met, Geraint. We fare much the same
As we did ever.

Geraint
(aside) And are likely to,
Until the Judgment. (To Owain) Let us sit and talk.
(They sit down.)
Tell me the news. How goes it in the court?

Owain
In these last months there's been a bitter waste —

Geraint
What of?

Owain
Of breath. There's been more ditty-making, sighing,
And yammering than I care to keep count of.

Geraint
Well, let them have their play at least.

Owain

Play? All the babes that can carry a sword without being crushed by the belt, or hit a swinging shield with a practice-spear are bellowing and challenging like bucks. They'd be better of a little blood-letting. War's a fine chastener of manners.

Geraint
You take no part?

Owain
God knows I've seen enough of war's true self,
To need no practice in its semblances.
Our strife is over for the time, it seems.
I keep my breath, for I have need of it
For other purpose than this foolishness.

Geraint
And so I think. Within the year, Owain,
This dalliance turns to raucous speech of strife.

Owain
So soon?

Geraint
Aye, sooner than we think.

Owain
The Saxons will not come for such a meal,
Having so tasted of our stuff —

Geraint
Not come!
Why, I know well. — No matter, let it pass —
And tell me more.

Owain
This may please you, the Queen
Hath cast her favour on Sir Agravaine.

Geraint
I like him not.

Owain
Nor do the most of us.
He gained some honour in the Saxon war,
And for that cause is by the Queen preferred,
And so by Arthur much advanced and loved.

Geraint
He irks my soul, for I have known him long,
And found his worth in no way equal to
His pride and scorn.

Owain
The queen doth favour him.

Geraint
And there are others who should have the power
To stay this braggart.

Owain
Who?

Geraint
Lanval, for one.
Cador of Cornwall told me of his skill;
And I have seen him deal as goodly strokes
As man could wish for.

Owain
How could we engage
Him in this passage?

Geraint
Why, most easily.
But how is it Sir Lanval has not yet
Encountered him?

Owain
He has not taken part
In joust or tournay since this court was held.

Geraint
Is he so backward?

Owain
He may have cause to be.
At least I noted that amongst the hosts
Who got rewards and favours of the King,
He was not mentioned.

Geraint
Why? Did not Cador,
With whom he served, advance his claim and due?

Owain
Maybe he did. Perhaps the King forgot,
Or else Cador.

Geraint
Perhaps
He had no Queen to plead for kindnesses.
I am amazed; but come, we'll alter it,
For this foul usage fits my cause too well
To let me miss it.


Geraint goes across to Gawain.

Owain
(aside) What a fiery fool!
The devil take all those who have a mind
To cure injustice; there'll be trouble here.

Geraint
Gawain!

Gawain
Good cousin!

Geraint
I have a word for you.
(They talk apart.)


Enter Bernardo, bearing a sheaf of blades.

Owain
Blunt blades, Bernardo?

Bernardo
For the tournay, lord.

Owain
Best sharpen them.

Bernardo
Why so, my lord?

Owain

Why thus:
There are not enough Picts, Scots, Angles, Saxons, or discontented folk in the kingdom for some of us, so we must needs encourage carving amongst our own friends.

Gawain
Tis not our custom.

Geraint
A fair test, Gawain,
And for one seeking honour much encouragement.
Although inactive, I am glad I may
Do something now to lend reality
To the sped fashion of this mimic war.
I'll make a match. They say, Sir Agravaine,
That there is none who can withstand thy strength,
Or sleight of sword, amongst the younger knights.

Agravaine
Should fortune aid me, I believe I hold
As fair a chance upon to-morrow's field
As any man.

Geraint
I marked thy confidence,
And such an air goes not with slender worth.
Now 'tis a passion with me to maintain
Fortunes unknown and beings indigent.
I am so hungry for the birth of power
That I must needs help all that's slight and young;
Therefore I would, not doubting thy great strength,
Make some slight wager that success doth fall
In other hands.

Agravaine
Do as thou wilt, Geraint,
But I must fear thy wager is ill found.

Geraint
Come then, I choose a knight of little name.
Hast thou a badge which he may challenge?

Agravaine
No,
I bear no badge.

Geraint
Tis strange! Hast thou no love
To be upholden?

Agravaine
No, I bear no badge.

Geraint
What shall we hazard? Stake our baronies,
All tracts and fiefs which have been our reward,
So shall the gainer be made rich indeed,
The loser whetted to renewed attempts.

Agravaine
Sir, the fair gifts the King has rendered me
For my attainments are not to be staked
In such a manner.

Geraint
They do sit you hard.
I'll give you odds upon my friend's behalf,
Trust all my fortunes to his skill. Thus I
Stake all the lordship I have gained in war,
The barren lands and castle-shadowed fields
Against thine arms; thy horse and arms alone.

Agravaine
Be it accepted. What paladin is this
I must encounter?

Geraint
Lanval!

Agravaine
No, Geraint,
I will not rob you. 'Tis too slight a task.

Geraint
Why, then, fulfil it! Lanval is not here.
But if he proves not thine attainments false,
Then am I fool, and all mine estimates
Are straight degraded.

Gawain
This is not right, Geraint.

Geraint
The match is mine, and I have staked my lands.

Gawain
The greater folly —

Geraint
Folly it may be.
But I stake these clean honours of the field
Against the favours of a gross intrigue.
Shall I be patient while true merit's checked,
And such a fashion strides unto success?

Gawain
You are too free, Geraint.

Geraint
I am no thrall,
Or a dependent, but the Prince of Devon.
This much I know, ye have used Lanval ill,
And I have justice at my side to aid
In his maintaining.

Gawain
Let him prove himself.

Geraint
And that he shall. Bernardo, hast thou seen
Aught of Sir Lanval?

Bernardo
Sir Lanval is gone hence.

Geraint
Whither?

Bernardo
He said he longed for Italy.

Geraint
He will return?

Bernardo
I know not.

Agravaine
I do know.
He will return when this is overpast;
I had not failed him if he wished to break
A lance with me. But he has never dared.
Therefore, Geraint, thy lands are forfeited
To my possession.

Geraint
Let that wager stand.
Be not too hungry for my lands, good sir.
I think this matter is more like to come
To bitter ending than ye dream of now.
I think I heard ye say Sir Lanval feared?

Agravaine
I said he feared, and I will stand by it.

Geraint
Witness, ye knights, a charge of cowardice,
A slur on honour, which must be redeemed
In the closed field. Am I not right, Gawain?

Gawain
I fear it is so.

Agravaine
I am well prepared
To answer for it, if Sir Lanval dare!

Geraint
Lanval is gone. I follow him at once.

Owain
(At the window) Too late, Geraint; he passes even now
Into the forest.

Geraint
By which path?

Owain
He rides
Into the evening.

Geraint
I will follow him,
And though I rake the whole wide earth about,
I will not fail to bring him here again,
When I return; then guard you, Agravaine.


Exit and Curtain.

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