Then Sir Bedivere unbuckled the strap from about the loins of King Arthur, and he drew the strap from beneath him. Then he folded the strap around the blade of Excalibur and he took the sword with him and went away with it. But when Sir Bedivere had come out into the moonlight, the moonlight shone very brightly down upon the hilt of Excalibur, and Sir Bedivere beheld how that the hilt and the handle of the sword were studded all over with jewels, and the gold into which they were inset flamed and blazed in the moonlight as with a thousand colors. And Sir Bedivere said to himself, “Why should I cast this splendid sword into the sea? Behold how richly it is studded with jewels so that it flashes and flames with pure light. Certes, the King raves when he telleth me to cast it into the sea! Rather will I keep this sword, to show to those generations who are yet to come how great and how splendid was the estate of King Arthur.” [Sidenote: _Sir Bedivere doth not cast the sword away._] So Sir Bedivere looked about him and he beheld a dead and riven tree that stood there, all stark and leafless in the moonlight. So he took the sword Excalibur and he hid it beneath the roots of that tree. Anon he returned to King Arthur, and he said to the King, “Lord, your behest is done and I have cast that sword into the sea.” Quoth the King, “What sawest thou, Sir Bedivere?” Quoth Sir Bedivere, “What should I have beheld, Lord? I beheld nothing but the waves beating upon the shore. And the moon shone upon those waves, as it were a path of living and of glittering silver.” Then King Arthur said, “Ah, liar and caitiff knight! I am undone for trusting to thee. For thou hast deceived me, who trusted in thee. For thou hast coveted the jewels set upon the handle of the sword, and hast refrained from casting it into the water of the sea.” Then Sir Bedivere said, “Lord, I repent me of this.” But King Arthur said, “Go now, and do what I bid thee do, and see to it that this time thou failest not. For my time draweth near and I have now but a little while to live.” [Sidenote: _Sir Bedivere goeth forth again. He doth not cast away the sword._] So Sir Bedivere went forth again and he went to that place where he had hidden the sword. And he took the sword from where it lay hidden and lifted it in his hands. And when he again beheld the light of the moon illuminating its handle of gold and flaming upon the jewels of the handle, his heart and his purpose weakened within him, and he said to himself, “Surely, it would be a sin to cast away this sword. For it is the most beautiful and noblest sword in all of the world. Wherefore then should I destroy this sword that belongeth not more to the King himself than to the world in which he lives? Certes, the King raved in this, wherefore for the sake of posterity and for the sake of those who are to come after, I will not cast this sword into the sea.”