And in that boat were several other ladies who stood there very silently and looked ever toward the shore where was Sir Bedivere; but these were the ladies attendant upon those queens. Then when Sir Bedivere came thitherward carrying King Arthur upon his shoulders, those ladies lifted up their voices in piercing lamentation so that the heart of Sir Bedivere ached to hear that lament. And Queen Morgana le Fay and the Queen of North Wales arose and reached their arms for King Arthur; and Sir Bedivere gave King Arthur into their arms and they two took him--Queen Morgana by the shoulders and the Queen of North Wales by the knees--and they lifted him into the boat. And they laid him upon a couch within the boat, and he lay with his head pillowed upon the lap of Queen Morgana. And Sir Bedivere stood upon the shore and looked upon the face of King Arthur as it lay within the lap of Queen Morgana, and he beheld that the face of King Arthur was white like to the ashes of wood, wherefore he wist that he was dead. And Sir Bedivere cried out in a loud and wailing voice, saying, “My Lord and King, wilt thou leave me? What then shall I do? For here am I alone in the midst of mine enemies.” [Sidenote: _The King speaketh to Sir Bedivere._] Then King Arthur opened his eyes and he said, “Hah, Messire, thou hast no enemies about thee, for thine enemies are put to flight, and in a little while Sir Launcelot comes who will be thy friend. But go thou back into the world and tell them all that thou hast beheld at this place. For wit you that now I know that I shall not die at this place, but that I shall go in this boat and with my sister, Queen Morgana, to Avalon. There in the Vale of Avalon I shall live, and by and by and after many years I shall again return to Britain and no man shall know of my return. But with that return shall come peace and tranquillity. And war shall be no more, but the arts of peace shall flourish. So take that message back with thee into the world, for now I go to leave thee; and so farewell.” Then for the third time those ladies lifted up their voices and wailed in lamentation, and with that lamentation the boat trembled and moved. And it moved away from the shore; at first slowly, then more and more swiftly until it disappeared in the moonlight of the night. And for awhile Sir Bedivere saw it, and then he was not sure that he saw it, and then it vanished away into the whiteness of the moonlight, and was gone from his vision. Then Sir Bedivere moved weeping away from that shore and he wept so that hardly could he see what next step he took. And so Sir Bedivere came away from that shore, and in his sorrow he wist not whither he went. But ever he walked forward for all that night, and when the morning was come he found himself to be near to a considerable city. So he went forward to that city and he found that there was a great bustle and turmoil of people coming and going. [Sidenote: _Sir Bedivere cometh to the Archbishop._]