Then Launcelot, leaning over helped the maid To mount behind and at an easy trot They and the troop rode on to Camelot. He asked no questions for some fairy spell Made light his heart, and told him all was well; And as these two rode through the land together, By dappled greenwood shade and sunlit heather, Her soft voice in his ears, the innocent charm Of her light, steady touch upon his arm, Wrought magic in his soul. That day, I ween, Sir Launcelot well-nigh forgot his queen. And Elfinhart (you knew those eyes were hers!) Laughed with the silvery jingle of his spurs, And from her heart the new world's rapture drove All thought of Fairyland--excepting love. And so to high-towered Camelot they came, The golden city,--now a shadowy name; For over heath-clad hills the wild-winds blow Where Arthur's halls, a thousand years ago Bright with all far-fetched gems of curious art, Shone brighter with the eyes of Elfinhart. She came to Camelot; the king receives her; And there for five glad years my story leaves her. Five glad years, and this "episode" is done, And we are back again at Canto I. I write of merry jest and greenwood shade, But tales of chivalry are not my trade; So if you wish to read that five years' story Of lady-love, romance, and martial glory,-- The mighty feats of arms that Gawayne did,-- The ever ripening love that Gawayne hid Five long years in his breast, biding his time,-- Go seek it in some abler poet's rime. My tale begins with the young knight's brave soul All Elfinhart's. She thinks herself heart-whole.