Chapter VII.
HOW YWAIN LOOKED INTO THE WATER OF A WELL, AND OF THAT WHICH HE SAW THEREIN.

THEN they rose up and went out, and the hermit showed Ywain a little path that went along under the cliff and so into the wood beyond: and thereby, he said, was the way to a dead thorn-tree that stood in a space alone, and under the thorn-tree was a wellspring, and from the well-spring came a runnel of bright water whereby it might surely be found. Then he put a wheaten cake into Ywain’s hand and said to him: Farewell now for to-day, and at suppertime come again with your visions, and we will talk of them together. But when you stand by the well-spring and look therein, then, said he, be not weary of your looking, but return always and be always in hope until the sun go down. For the visions are not quickly to be seen, as the common sort suppose that they see all things which are before their faces: whereas they see, as it were, but the shadows upon the ground and not the life of those who cast them. But that which you seek to see is the dealing of spirits, and men come not thereto suddenly, but by long time and loneliness.

Then he returned from him, and Ywain took the path and went into the wood, and in no long space he saw a great thorn-tree before him, and it was all dead and without leaf or berry, and other trees there were none very near it, but only the cliff that bore hard upon it on the one side, whereby it leaned a little outwards. And beneath the spread of it Ywain saw a well-head made of stone from the cliff, and it was of the height of a man’s thigh. Also there was a step or margin of stone under it, and the step and the well-head were both shapen with six sides, every side equal to every other, after the manner of the waxen chambers of bees. And when Ywain came nearer he saw that the spring rose in the well-head within four fingers of the brim, but it could not rise above the brim by reason of a little sluice below, that was made in the stone above the step, and a runnel came therefrom of bright water and went into the wood darkling.

Then he looked into the water of the spring, and it was deep and still, for the fountain was as great as the runnel and no more, so that there came no moving of the water that was above. But the shadow of the cliff lay yet upon the well-head, for the sun was not high, and by that reason the face of the water was like the face of a mirror, and all that Ywain could see therein was his own image, and with that the image of the thorn-tree, and no more could he see though he looked long and warily. So for a while he ceased from looking, and he went into the wood beyond the well, and walked softly therein, for he meant to come again as the hermit had counselled him. And as he went he mused, and when he awoke out of his musing he perceived that the sun was now high above him. Right so he turned about and came quickly back to the thorn-tree, and looked again into the water; and where dimness had been there was sunlight, and the water was clear and thin, and in the depth of it were many lights both shining and shimmering, for some of them rested in their glowing, like embers, and some rose and curdled, like smoke of gold, and so passed and came again continually. But of visions Ywain could find none: only these lights could he see, and else nothing. Then again he left looking in the water, and sat down under a green tree, for it was past noon and hotter than before: and he took his Wheaten cake that the hermit had given him and ate it sitting there. And as he ate he thought on these days that were hardly yet three days since he left his former life, and they seemed to him to be as it were three long years, that lay between him and the time that was before.

Then suddenly he perceived that with his thinking the heat of the day had gone over, and the sun was dipped into the trees of the wood behind him where he sat. And he looked again towards the well-head that stood there before him, and a light was upon the stone of it that was the last of the sunlight, and afterwards that light passed away and the stone was left dark. Then he knew that his time was come, and he leapt up and strode to the well and leaned over it. And at the first he looked and saw nothing, for a darkness seemed to rise and roll within it, like a cloud in storm: but after no long watching the darkness rolled away, and he saw clearly.

Now that which he saw was a marvel, for it was not water, though it lay within the well-head: nor was it sunlight, for the sun was now far down behind the wood. But it was by seeming a piece of that country, as it were between the night and the day: for there was a wood and a river with a high bank, and in the sky above there was neither sun nor moon, but one only star of bright silver. And as he looked the star faded, by reason that the sky was more light, and he saw that the river was wide and shallow, and over the width of it were stepping-stones, one beyond another in a line, like floats upon a fish-net. And out of the wood came a boy, and though his face was turned away, yet could Ywain tell without doubt that he was in all things like the boy that had been with him: and his heart beat and he strained in his watching as one that fears lest he be seen or heard. But the boy came to the stepping-stones and passed lightly over them, and began to go upon the bank. And as he went there came a bright light upon the topmost of the bank, and Ywain perceived that it was the light of sunrise, and it fell upon a banner that was there, with men about it in armour, and twice or thrice there came sudden glints upon the armour. And for all that they seemed far off and small, it was clear to be seen that they fought together in two companies. And the boy, when he had climbed the bank, came to one of the companies and entered into it, and Ywain saw him no more: but that company stayed not where they were, for they were hard pushed in the fighting, and gave ground by inch and by inch. And one man of them, that had no helmet upon him, came to the edge of the bank, with a horn in his right hand: and he set the horn to his mouth to blow it, and in that instant the darkness came again, and Ywain saw nothing but only the water in the well, and the cloud that rolled within the water. And he started up, and fear and joy took him in the same bloodheat, and he turned and ran quickly by the path under the cliff.