Chapter XLIV.
HOW YWAIN BEHELD HIS LADY SLEEPING, AND HOW HE DESIRED TO SEE THE CASTLE OF KERIOC.

So Ywain dwelt in a land of enchantments, and had his will thereof continually. And many things he devised for his joyance, and one thing beyond all other. For it befell him on a day that he awoke at dawn, and thereafter came the sunrise and made light the chamber where he was. And he turned him and looked upon Aithne, thereas she lay still sleeping: and her face was fresh and clear and tranquil as the face of a little maid in her flower of youth. And as Ywain looked upon her his heart was pricked through with a sudden pain: for he saw her as she had been aforetime, in the days when she was no lady of his. And the pain was sharp, for wellnigh he forgot that which he knew of her, and thought only on that which he knew not, and he perceived that he could never come thereto, except he should go behind the back of time.

Then Aithne awoke and saw him looking down upon her, and she said: O my beloved, why look you so darkly upon me? And he said: Great things have you given me, and great enchantments have you showed me, but one thing I lack that you have held from me. Then she asked of him: What have I held from you, or what will you ask of me that I will not give you presently? And he was glad of that word and made request of her, saying: I beseech you that you bring me into the Castle of Kerioc, wherein you were born and nurtured: for except I see the manner of your youth therein I am not wholly mingled with your life. And when she heard him she laughed and loved him in her heart, for that which he asked was pleasing to her. And she said to him: Go now and have your will, for your request is granted you. And you shall go by the way of yesterday, and enter into the garden close and come thence into the place beyond. And you shall stand therein, looking upon the ground and speaking no word save one word that is your name, and that you shall say aloud by a hundred times and one. So prove your adventure and come again to me; for until you come I am alone.

Then Ywain kissed her thrice and went out: and he went by the way of the garden close and came to the place beyond. And he stood and looked downward upon the ground and spoke his own name aloud, and when he had spoken it but a score of times then his name was his name no longer, but a sound without sense and void. And he knew that the place was changed wherein he stood: and he looked up and saw the sea hard by him, and by the sea was a castle both great and ancient. And he went forward boldly and entered into the castle without help or hindrance.

Then he went spying out all things within the castle, and he found it rich and well beseen: and folk there were therein, but they took no heed of him, no more than if he had not been. And at the last he heard a voice singing and coming towards him: and presently there came to him a little maid. And she left singing, and looked curiously upon him, as one that knew him not. Then his heart was buffeted within him, for she was the maid which he sought, but he perceived that she had of him neither love nor knowledge.

And he said to her: Of a surety you are Aithne: but where is she which is my lady in Aladore? And the child looked upon him with clear eyes, and she answered him in a little voice and sweet: Sir Stranger, you come hither too late: for long ago she is grown up and gone away.

Then fear came upon him, and he longed to be with his own again: and he woke as from a vain dream, and stood in his chamber whence he had gone forth. And before him was his lady in her own image, and her kisses were still upon his lips: and she lay looking upon him in the sunlight and her eyes were filled with love and with laughter.