a great enchanter indeed was merlin. he served with his enchantments the king of the isle of britain from the time he was a stripling to the time when he was two score years of age. then, when he might have passed from being a lesser to being a great enchanter, merlin vanished altogether and was seen no more at the court of the king of the isle of britain. all the great works he had planned were left undone, all the instruments he had gathered were left unused, all the books he had brought together were left unopened, and the king whom he had served so long was left to whistle for his enchanter.
if there were one to blame for that it was the daughter of king dionas. she was young, but she was ungentle. what she saw, that she would[pg 132] have. one day a stranger was passing with her father, and when he looked on her he said, “a young hawk she is, a young hawk that has not yet flown at any prey.” that very day the daughter of king dionas walked on the plain that was at a distance from her father’s castle. the stranger who had spoken of her to the king was there, and he looked long upon her.
“who art thou who lookest on me so?” said the child.
“thou art nimiane, who art also called vivien,” said the stranger.
“yea,” said she, “but who art thou, man?”
“i am called merlin,” he said, “and i am the enchanter to the king of the isle of britain.”
“show me thine enchantments,” said vivien, who feared not to speak to any man.
now merlin had looked on all the ladies who were at the court of the king of the isle of britain, and on the maidens who were in far countries and distant castles, and besides, the ladies of the times of old had been shown him in his magic glass, but never before had he seen any one who seemed so[pg 133] lovely to him as this child. she was bright eyed as a bird. she had a slim body, and pale cheeks, and quick, quick hands. her hair was red and in thick tangles. “show me thine enchantments,” she cried to him again.
merlin bade her come with him and she came. he brought her to a high place, a place that was of rock with rocks piled all about it. on the ground he made magical figures. then he said magical words. and all the time vivien, slim vivien with her tangle of red hair, stood upon the rocks and kept her eyes upon him.
upon the ground that was all rock merlin made a garden with roses blowing and clear waters flowing, with birds singing amongst the leaves and fishes swimming in the streams. he made trees grow, too, with honey-tasting fruits upon them.
vivien went through the garden, plucking the flowers and tasting the fruits that grew there. she turned to merlin and looked at him again with her bright eyes. “canst thou make a castle for me?” said she.
[pg 134]
then merlin made his magical figures and said his magical words over again. the stones that were strewn about everywhere came together and built themselves up into a castle. when the castle rose before them vivien took merlin by the hand, and they went through its doorway and up the stairway and into the castle turret. and when they looked from the turret vivien said, “would that no one should know of this garden and this castle but thou and i!”
he told her that the castle and the garden would be hidden. then when they were leaving the garden he put a mist all around, a mist that those who came that way could not see through and were made fearful of venturing into.
and so the castle and the garden were all unknown to men. but vivien would come, passing through the mist, and going into the garden and up into the turret. at first she would not have merlin near her. afterward it came to pass that she would summon him. a bugle hung in the turret of the castle, and she would blow upon it, and he would come and stay by her.
[pg 135]
he was two score years of age, and she was five years less than a score. nevertheless he thought it better to watch her dancing with bright green leaves in her red hair than to know all that would bring him from being a lesser to being a great enchanter. of the maidens and great ladies he had seen, some, he told her, were like light, and some were like flowers, and some were like a flame of fire. but she, he said, was like the wind. and he took thought no more for the king of the isle of britain, nor for the great work he was to do for him, and he spent his days in watching vivien, and in listening to vivien, and in making magic things for vivien’s delight.
her father once took her away from the place near where the hidden garden and the hidden castle stood. vivien was in another country now. and when she went amongst those who were strangers to her she found out that nothing mattered to her except the looks and the words of merlin. the castle and the garden—she did not think of them, nor of the magic things he had made for her. her thoughts were only on[pg 136] merlin, who was so wise and who could do such wonders.
when she came back, and when she met him in the hidden garden, she caught hold of his hands, and she would not let go of them. nor would she tell merlin why this change had come over her, and why she would keep close to him now and not apart. at last she said to him, “what ladies and what maidens have you known, o my master merlin?”
then merlin took his magic glass into his hands, and in it he showed her all the ladies who were at the court of the king of the isle of britain, and he showed her all the lovely maidens who lived in far countries and in distant castles whom he knew. vivien threw herself on the ground with her face to the rock after she had looked into the glass.
then afterward she watched him in a way different from the way she had watched him before. what he said and what he did she remembered well. soon she understood his magic figures and could make them. she came to understand his[pg 137] magic words and to be able to repeat them. and merlin would say to her, “o my little hawk, fly at this—and this—and this.”
one day as they wandered through a forest vivien asked him to tell her the mightiest spell that he knew. the enchanter told it to her. she stood still, with all her quick mind in her face, while he put aside the tangles of her red hair and spoke into her ear.
it was a spell that would hold in a place the one whom it was spoken over. when he had told her he went at her bidding and seated himself under a forest tree. vivien, laughing, made a magic circle around him and repeated the spell that he had given her. when she did this the enchanter was enchanted. merlin stayed under the forest tree, and there he would stay, for he could not move until the spell that was said over him was unsaid by vivien.
and vivien danced around him, her red hair shaking, her bright eyes gleaming, her quick hands waving. she called to him, “merlin, merlin enchanter, come to me.” but merlin, under the[pg 138] forest tree, could not move. she ran through the woods and he could not follow after her. in a while she came back and stood beside him.
said merlin to her, “why have you worked this spell upon me, and why have you left me here so that i cannot move?” she knelt down on the ground beside where he sat.
“o merlin,” said she, “i would leave you here enchanted, for fear you should leave me and go amongst the maidens and the ladies who are so lovely.” and when she said that her face was so hard that he knew she would hold him there.
but merlin smiled, and he said to her, “i would stay always where you are, vivien, blossom of the furze.”
“nay,” said she, “you would go from me. why should you not? you have great works to do for the king of the land. and when you see again the ladies and the maidens who are the loveliest in the world you will not come back again to vivien. i shall hate the castle and the garden that you made for me, and i shall hate every one who will come near me. i shall hold you, merlin,[pg 139] here, even until the wolves come out at night and devour you and me.”
“i will build a castle for you in an empty country, and no one shall ever be there but you and me,” said merlin.
“nay,” said vivien, “they will search the world for you, merlin, and when they find you, you will have to go with them.”
then merlin, as if it were a magic thing that would please her, brought out his thought about the island of the white tower. away beyond the western island, in a sea that is never sailed on, that island lies. only on midsummer day does it come near to the western island so that men may see it. there, said merlin, they might go. those who would search for him could never come to him there. he told her more and more about the island of the white tower, and vivien listened in delight to all he told her. and when he had sworn he would take her to it she unsaid the spell with which she had bespelled him, and he rose up from where he had been held, and he sprang across the magic figure that was drawn[pg 140] upon the ground. and with vivien merlin went through the forest.
the fishermen who cast their nets by the shores of the western ocean have this story of merlin and vivien. they tell how in a boat of crystal twelve creatures sailed to the island of the white tower. and two were merlin and vivien, and nine were the nine prime bards of the isle of britain who went with merlin, and one was the tame wolf that was merlin’s servant. they sailed out upon a midsummer’s day, and from that good day to this no hint or hair of the enchanter has been seen by king nor clown in all the isle of britain.
