Merlin and the Grail

by Robert de Boron

  ‘Well certainly, you’ve told us rightly what we’d seen,’ they replied, ‘so we beg you in God’s name to advise us how to save our lives.’

  ‘Only a fool could fail to see the solution!’ he said. ‘Do you know what we’ll do? We’ll all agree to say something else entirely: that his tower will never remain standing unless it’s built with the blood of a child born without being fathered! But if such blood could be found, we’ll say, the tower would stand, good and strong. Let each of us say so separately, so the king doesn’t realise we’ve conferred. This way we can be avenged on the child we’ve seen in our visions. We must make sure the king doesn’t see him or speak to him: whoever finds the child must kill him on the spot, and take his blood back to the king.’

  They all agreed to say the same, and returned to Vortigern and said: ‘We’ll not give you our advice all together, but speak to you in private, one by one; then you can decide whose advice is best.’

  So the clerks pretended they had not conferred, and each spoke his mind to the king and one of his counsellors, who were astounded – but convinced that it could work, if a child could truly be born without a father. The king was deeply grateful to the clerks, and thought them wise indeed, and said: ‘Sir clerks, each of you separately has told me the same thing!’

  ‘Tell us what it was,’ they replied, and he repeated what each of them had said and they answered: ‘That’s right!’

  ‘Sirs,’ the king asked them, ‘can a man truly be born without a father?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ they replied, ‘and he’s now seven years old.’

  ‘I’m going to keep you under close guard,’ the king said, ‘and send men to fetch me this child’s blood.’

  ‘Sire,’ they all replied together, ‘by all means keep us under guard, but make sure you don’t see the child or let him speak to you! Give orders that he be killed and his blood brought back to you, and then your tower will stand.’

  The king had all the clerks taken to a chamber and provided with everything they needed. Then he chose twelve messengers and sent them off in pairs, making them swear upon holy relics not to return until they had found the child, and that whoever did so would kill him and bring back his blood.

  So, as you have heard, King Vortigern sent men to find this child, his messengers setting off two by two. They scoured many lands in search of Merlin, until two pairs of messengers met and agreed to continue a while together. One day they were passing through a field outside a town where a group of children were playing a game with a stick and ball. Merlin, who knew everything that had been happening, was one of the players. When he saw Vortigern’s messengers, he went up to one of the wealthiest children of the town and struck him across the leg with the stick, knowing he would react angrily. The child began to cry and hurl insults at Merlin, accusing him of being born without a father. The messengers went straight to the weeping child and asked him: ‘Who was it that hit you?’

  And he replied: ‘The son of a woman who doesn’t know who sired him: he never had a father!’

  Hearing this, Merlin came up to them and said: ‘Sirs, I’m the one you’re looking for, whom you’ve promised to kill so that you can return his blood to Vortigern.’

  The messengers were dumbfounded, and said: ‘Who told you this?’

  ‘I knew it,’ Merlin replied, ‘the moment you made the promise.’

  ‘Will you come with us,’ they asked, ‘if we take you?’

  ‘I fear you’d kill me, sirs,’ Merlin answered. He knew they had no desire to do so, but said this to test them further. ‘If you swear I’ve nothing to fear I’ll go with you, and tell you about the collapsing tower and why you intended to kill me.’

  The messengers were astounded by his words, and said to one another: ‘This child speaks wonders! It would be a great sin to kill him.’ And each of them said: ‘I’d rather break my oath a hundred times than kill this child.’

  Then Merlin said to them: ‘Sirs, will you come and take lodging with me at my mother’s house? For I couldn’t go with you without the leave of my mother and the worthy man who’s with her.’

  ‘We’ll gladly go,’ they replied, ‘wherever you care to lead us.’

  So Merlin took them to lodge with his mother in a nunnery where he had installed her. When he arrived he commanded everyone to make King Vortigern’s messengers welcome. They dismounted, and Merlin took them to Blaise.

  ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘here are the men I told you would be coming to kill me.’ Then he turned to them and said: ‘Please confirm the truth of my words to this worthy man; and if you lie, you may be sure I’ll know.’

  ‘We’ll never lie,’ they replied. ‘But make sure you don’t lie to us.’

  ‘Listen to what we have to say,’ said Merlin to Blaise; then he said to the messengers: ‘Sirs, you serve a king named Vortigern. He wishes to erect a tower, but after three or four days of building it will stand no longer but comes tumbling down. Such is his frustration that he summoned learned clerks, but none of them could explain why the tower wouldn’t stand or how to make it do so. So they turned to a study of the stars, but it gave them no answers about the tower: they still had nothing to say. But they did learn about my birth, and realised I was a great threat to them; and they all agreed to have me killed, telling the king that the tower would never stand without my blood. Vortigern was amazed by this and believed their words; but they insisted that the king should forbid his messengers to take me back to him, but should kill me as soon as they found me and take my blood to mix into the mortar of the tower’s foundations. That way, they said, the tower would stand. At their command Vortigern chose twelve messengers and made them all swear on holy relics that whoever found me would kill me. Then he sent them off, two by two, and four of them met and were crossing a field where children were playing with stick and ball; and I, who knew they were hunting me, struck one of the children on the leg with my stick, knowing he would insult me in the worst possible way by saying I was born without a father. I did this because I wanted these gentlemen to find me. And that, good master Blaise, is how they did so. Now ask them if I’ve told the truth.’

  Blaise asked the messengers if the child’s amazing words were true, and they replied: ‘They are indeed, exactly so.’

  Blaise crossed himself in wonderment, and said: ‘If this child is allowed to live he’ll grow to be a wise man indeed; it would have been a grievous wrong to kill him.’

  ‘Sir,’ the messengers replied, ‘we’d rather perjure ourselves for the rest of our lives and have the king seize our estates! And the child himself knows whether we’ve any desire to kill him.’

  ‘True enough,’ said Blaise, ‘and I’ll ask him – and other things, too – in private.’

  So Blaise called Merlin, who had left the chamber so that they could speak together, and said to him: ‘Merlin, they’ve confirmed every word of your story. But they’ve also said I should ask you if they have any desire to kill you.’

  ‘I know very well they have not,’ he replied.

  ‘That’s right,’ said the messengers, ‘so will you come with us?’

  ‘Certainly,’ he replied, ‘if you promise faithfully to take me to King Vortigern and allow no harm to be done to me until I’ve spoken to him – for once I’ve done so I know I’ll have nothing to fear.’

  They promised to do exactly as he asked. Then Blaise spoke to Merlin, saying: ‘Merlin, I see now that you mean to leave me. So tell me: what do want me to do with this book you’ve set me to write?’

  ‘I’ll tell you, truly,’ said Merlin. ‘You can clearly see that Our Lord has given me so much wit and intelligence that the one who sought my downfall has failed. And Our Lord has chosen me to serve Him in a way that I alone could do, for no-one shares my knowledge. You can see, too, that I must go to the land from which these men have been sent to find me, and when I arrive there I’ll do and say such things that no-one on Earth will have been so well believed, except God. And you’ll come there, too, to c
omplete the work you’ve begun. But not yet: first you’ll go in search of a land called Northumberland, a land covered in great forests, a place strange even to its own inhabitants, for there are parts where no man has ever been. There you’ll live, and I’ll often visit you to tell you everything you need to know for the writing of your book. You must devote much effort to it, for5 it will earn you a great reward – do you know what? I’ll tell you: your heart’s fulfilment in this life, and eternal joy hereafter. And your work will be retold and heard with gratitude for as long as this world lasts. And do you know the source of this grace? It comes from the grace bestowed by Our Lord upon Joseph – that Joseph to whom His body was6 given when He was crucified. When you’ve done this great work for Joseph and his ancestors and descendants, and have earned the right to be in their company, I’ll tell you where to find them, and you’ll see the glorious rewards that Joseph enjoys because he was given the body of Christ. And to reassure you, I want you to know that God has given me such wit and intelligence that, in the kingdom to which I’m going now, I’ll make all the worthy men obey me. And know, too, that your book will be much loved, and many worthy people will give it eager attention – but not until the reign of the fourth king from now. The name of that king will be Arthur. So you’ll go to the land I’ve said, and I’ll visit you often to tell you all the things I wish you to put in your book, and when you’ve completed it you’ll take it to the company of good people who enjoy the glorious rewards of which I’ve spoken. And I tell you, the story of no king’s life will ever have been heard so eagerly as that of King Arthur and his court. 7 When you’ve finished your work and told the story of their lives, you’ll have earned a share in the rewards enjoyed by the company of the Grail. And8 when they pass from this world and go to the joyous presence of Jesus Christ – of which I mustn’t speak – and you, too, die and leave this world, then your book, both what you’ve done so far and what you’ve yet to do, will for evermore, so long as the world shall last, be called The Book of the Grail, and will be9 heard most gladly, for every word and deed therein will be good and beneficial.’

  So said Merlin to his master Blaise, explaining what he had to do. Merlin called him ‘master’ because he had been such a support and guide to his mother. Blaise felt deeply happy at Merlin’s words, and said: ‘I’ll do whatever you command.’

  So Merlin returned to the messengers who had come in search of him, and said: ‘Come with me, sirs; I want you to hear me take leave of my mother.’ And he led them to her and said: ‘Dear mother, these men have come from strange and distant lands to find me. I would like to go now by your leave, for I must do Christ the service for which he has given me the power, and I can do so only if I follow these gentlemen to where they wish to take me. Your master Blaise is leaving, too: you’ll have to suffer on both our accounts.’

  ‘Dear son,’ she replied, ‘I commend you to God, for I’m not clever enough to keep you here! But please, I dearly want Blaise to stay.’

  ‘Mother,’ said Merlin, ‘that cannot be.’

  So Merlin took his leave of her and set off with the messengers, while Blaise went his separate way to Northumberland as Merlin had directed. Merlin and the messengers rode and journeyed on until they passed through a town one market day; and as they left the town they saw a peasant who had bought a very good pair of shoes, along with spare leather to repair them if the need arose, for he was about to go on a pilgrimage. As he drew near the peasant Merlin laughed, and the messengers asked him why. And he said: ‘Because of that peasant. If you ask him what he intends to do with his leather, he’ll tell you he plans to mend those shoes when they wear out; but I tell you, he’s going to die before he even reaches home.’

  The messengers were amazed by this, and said: ‘We’ll find out straight away if this is true!’

  So they rode up to the peasant and asked him what he meant to do with the shoes and leather he was carrying, and he said he was about to go on a pilgrimage and wanted to mend his shoes when they wore out. Hearing him say exactly the same as Merlin, the messengers were astonished and said: ‘This man seems in perfect health. Two of us will find out what happens to him, while the others carry on and wait for us where they stop to sleep tonight, for we must know the truth about this wonder.’

  So two of the messengers went after the man, and followed him until, after no more than half a league, they saw him collapse in the middle of the road and stretch out, dead, his shoes still in his arms. They had a good, clear look, then turned back and rejoined their companions and reported the amazing sight they had seen. When they heard the news they all declared: ‘The clerks were mad to tell us to kill such a wonderful fortune-teller!’

  And they said they would rather suffer harm themselves than cause him to be a victim. All this was said in secret, for they did not want Merlin to hear. But Merlin came straight up to them and thanked them for their words.

  ‘What have we said to earn your thanks?’ they asked, and Merlin repeated their words exactly. They were astonished, and said: ‘This child knows everything we say and do!’

  They rode on day by day until they came to Vortigern’s kingdom. And one day, as they were riding through a town, a child was being carried to his burial, with many mourners following, both men and women. Merlin saw the mourning, and the priest singing, and the diligent carrying of the body to burial, and he stopped in his tracks and burst out laughing. The messengers asked him what there was to laugh about, and he said: ‘I can see something remarkable!’ The messengers begged him to say what it was, and Merlin replied: ‘Do you see the priest singing there at the head of the column? He should be the one grieving, not that gentleman. The dead boy is the son of the one singing! It strikes me as rather remarkable!’

  ‘How can we prove that?’ asked the messengers; and Merlin said: ‘Go to the woman and ask her why her husband is grieving so, and she’ll tell you it’s for the death of his son. Then say to her: “Lady, you know very well he’s not his son – we know he’s the son of that priest who’s singing! And the priest knows it himself, for he told you he’d calculated the date of the boy’s conception. ‘‘’

  They went straight to the woman and told her what Merlin had said. She was aghast, and said: ‘Before God, dear sirs, I know I can’t hide it; you seem to be very worthy men, so I’ll tell you the whole truth. It’s just as you’ve said, but in God’s name, don’t tell my husband, for he’d kill me if he knew.’

  Having heard this wonder, they returned to their companions, and all four of them agreed they had never known such a great seer as Merlin.

  On they rode, until the day came when they neared Vortigern’s tower. Then they said: ‘Merlin, tell us how to deal with our lord Vortigern, for two of us ought to go and tell him we’ve found you. Advise us what to say. He may well abuse us for having not killed you.’

  When he heard them say this, Merlin knew they meant him well, and he said: ‘Sirs, do exactly as I say and you’ll incur no blame.’

  ‘We’ll do whatever you command,’ they replied, and he said: ‘Go to Vortigern and say you’ve found me, and tell him the truth about what you’ve heard me say, and that I’ll reveal why his tower won’t stand if he’ll promise to deal with the clerks who sought to have me killed exactly as he would have done with me. And tell him how and why the clerks had ordered my death.’

  They agreed to this and went straight to Vortigern, who was overjoyed to see them, and told him how they had come together and found Merlin, and how the clerks knew nothing about the tower, and all about Merlin’s exploits.

  ‘Is he the child who was born without a father?’ asked Vortigern.

  ‘Yes,’ they replied, and explained how they had left him in the custody of their companions. When Vortigern heard this he said to them: ‘Sirs, if you’ll pledge your lives on Merlin revealing why my tower falls, I will not seek his death.’

  ‘We will indeed, most certainly,’ they replied, and the king said: ‘Go and fetch him, for I can’t wait to s
peak to him.’

  So the messengers went to get Merlin, and the king himself followed them. And when Merlin saw the messengers he laughed and said: ‘Sirs, you’ve staked your lives on me!’

  ‘We have indeed,’ they replied. ‘We’d rather be in danger of death ourselves than kill you. And we must do one or the other.’

  ‘I’ll make sure your pledge is safe,’ he said.

  Merlin and the messengers rode together to meet the king; and when Merlin saw him he saluted him and said: ‘Vortigern, come and talk to me in private.’

  And he took him to one side, telling the messengers to wait, and said: ‘You sent men to find me because of your tower which won’t stand, and ordered them to kill me and bring you back my blood. This was on the advice of the clerks, but I assure you, my blood10 wouldn’t make the tower stand. But if they’d said it would stand with the aid of my intelligence, they would have been quite right!’

  ‘I’ll take you to them,’ said Vortigern, and Merlin was led into their presence, where he said: ‘My dear clerks, you took your king for a fool, telling him the blood of a child born without a father would make his tower stand. You had no vision of a way to keep it standing; what your study of the stars revealed was that you’d die because of the child. You all agreed to tell a common story, and told King Vortigern to have me killed.’

  When the clerks heard him utter what they thought no man could know, they were aghast and realised they were doomed. And Merlin said to the king: ‘Sire, now you can see how these clerks wanted me killed on account of your tower, because they’d foreseen that I would bring about their deaths. Ask them the truth now, for they won’t be so bold as to lie in my presence.’

  And the king said: ‘Tell me if this child’s words are true.’

  ‘Sire,’ they replied, ‘may God save us from our sins as surely as he has told the truth. But we don’t understand how he got this amazing knowledge. We beg you, in God’s name, let us live long enough to see if he can truly make the tower stand.’