Chapter LII: Part I: The Departure

I.

Wandered forth the young child Lez-Breiz
From his mother’s side,
Early on a summer morning,
Through the forest wide.
There the shade and sunlight glancing
On the armor played
Of a mounted knight, advancing
Through the greenwood glade.

Under spreading oaks and beeches
Rode the steel-clad knight,
Till his warlike splendors nearer
Flashed on Morvan’s sight.
“‘Tis the great Archangel Michael,”
Thought the child, and then
Straight he crossed himself devoutly,
Ere he gazed again.

Down upon his knees in wonder
Fell the trembling boy;
“O my lord! my lord S. Michael,
Work me not annoy!”
“Nay, boy, no more lord S. Michael
Than a serf am I;
But a dubbed and belted knight, sooth,
That I’ll not deny.”

“Never saw I belted knight, nor
Heard of, till this day.”
“That am I: say, hast thou seen none
Like me pass this way?”
“Nay, first answer me, I pray thee:
This, what may it be?”
“‘Tis my lance, wherewith I wound all
Whom it liketh me.

“But this weighty club far better
Than my lance I prize;
Whoso dares provoke my ange
With one blow he dies.”
“What this dish of steel, which thou, sir,
On thine arm dost wield?”
“Dish, child! ‘Tis nor steel nor dish:
It is my silver shield!”

“Mock me not, sir knight, for silver
Moneys more than one
I have handled: this is larger
Than an oven-stone.
What may be the coat you wear, like
Iron strong and hard?”
“‘Tis my steel cuirass: from sword-strokes
Safely this can guard.”

“Were the roes thus clad in harness,
Hard to kill were they!
Tell me, were you born, lord knight, just
As you are to-day?”
Thereupon the old knight, laughing,
Shook his sides with glee.
“Then what wizard clad you thus, if
So it might not be?”

“He alone the right who claimeth.”
“Who, then, has the right?”
“Me my lord the Count of Quimper
In my armor dight.
Now, boy, answer in thy turn: hath
One passed by this way
Like to me?”—“‘Tis even so, as
Thou, my lord, dost say.”

II.

The child ran home in eager haste;
Leapt on his mother’s knee.
‘Ma Mammik, ah! you do not know”
(He said, with boyish glee):
“You cannot guess what I have seen,
What I have seen to-day!
My lord S. Michael in the church
Is not so grand, so gay.

“A man so bright, so beautiful,
I ne’er before have seen.”
“Nay, son, more fair than angels are
No man hath ever been.”
“Pardon me, mother, but you err:
These knights (men call them so)
Are fairer. I would be as they,
And after them will go.”

Then thrice the mother, at these words,
Fell fainting to the ground:
While Morvan to the stable went,
Nor once his head turned round.
A wretched beast he found therein,
Then mounted, and away;
Bidding farewell to none, he sped,
He sped without delay.

After the noble knight went he,
Urging his steed forlorn
T’wards Quimper, from the manor old,
The home where he was born.