Then the figure of Sir Gawaine melted slowly from his sight, and the figures of the ladies also melted away and King Arthur awoke from his sleep. And King Arthur sat up upon his couch and he beheld that the day-light was streaming into his pavilion, for the sun had already arisen. And King Arthur looked at the back of his hand, and he beheld that there was the spot as white as wax where Sir Gawaine had touched him. Then King Arthur was very much perturbed in spirit, for he wist that what he had just beheld was no dream, but that it was a vision of prophecy. [Sidenote: _The King advises with his counsellors._] So King Arthur called at him his knights and gentlemen and yeomen, and he told them to bring to him those bishops who were with him, and also the wisest of his counsellors. When these were come he told to them the vision of his sleep, and he showed them the white spot upon his hand, where the finger of Sir Gawaine had touched him. And he said to those counsellors, “Sirs, is it better to treat with these our enemies to-day than to do battle with them? For if it be true that Sir Launcelot cometh to us, then all those knights who for his sake are now in the army of Sir Mordred, will leave that army and will join them with us for the sake of Sir Launcelot. Thus will many lives be spared and much blood remain unshed, for there will be no battle with Sir Mordred.” Then all those counsellors agreed with him and they said, “That which thou sayst is true. Do not fight with Sir Mordred to-day, but treat with him. For thy dream and thy vision foretell thy death if thou fightest with him.” So King Arthur chose him two of those bishops, and he chose him Sir Lucian the Bottelier and Sir Bedivere, his brother, from all the Knights of the Round Table, and these two knights and those two worthies he sent as his ambassadors to Sir Mordred. And he said to them, “Spare not your promises of land and of estate, but make this treaty for a month and a day; for by that time we will know how Sir Launcelot standeth toward us.” [Sidenote: _The envoys treat with Sir Mordred._] So those two envoys went to Sir Mordred, and they entered into treaty with him and his advisers. And they argued for all that day, and against eventide they had not decided. So the next day they went to Sir Mordred, and that day it was determined that Sir Mordred should hold Cornwall and Kent for his own during the life of King Arthur, and that upon the death of King Arthur all Britain should be his to rule as king. This treaty they brought to King Arthur, and when he read it he frowned until his eyes were hidden. “Well,” said he, “this traitor claimeth much. Let him be thankful that instead of all this land he demandeth, he hath given to him instead only six feet of earth in which to lie.”