Chapter LII.
OF A SHIP THAT WAS FULL OF LADIES AND LOVELY KNIGHTS, AND HOW YWAIN AND AITHNE DEPARTED WITH THEM OVER SEA.

THEN Ywain looked upon Aithne, and in one moment he remembered all her love and her kindness, and pain was mingled with his joy. And his heart was filled with a tumult past bearing, and he groaned aloud and cried: Ah! my beloved, what is this that has come upon us? For here is the land of our desire and the land of all loveliness and all delectable enchantments, and herein we might have had life enduring. But now I see well that there is no such fortune: for the horn has sounded, and the sound of it has power upon body and blood. And peace is gone from me suddenly, and I can by no means keep me from the fight: for the cause is a right cause and one that must be ransomed, yea, though all else be given and lost for it.

But Aithne regarded him out of the depth of her eyes, and she said: Grieve not, dear heart, for how shall that which is given be lost? And as for the life which dureth, that is of the spirit and not of the body: for consider them which were great lovers of old time, how that they all are perished, as in the world transitory, yet their souls dwell not in death nor forgetfulness.

And when he heard those words Ywain’s heart was made strong again and his eyes were lightened; and he saw his life as it were a tale that shall be told. And he turned him about suddenly, for he was aware how there came somewhat from the seaward. And that which came was a ship, going slowly under stress of oars: and Ywain perceived that the ship was builded after the fashion of old time, and her sails were furled upon the yards, and she came by her oarage landward against the wind. And upon her deck stood many goodly persons: and they were all in silk or else in armour richly beseen, and they bore them gently and with a joyful courage.

Then Ywain was astonished, and he asked of Aithne: Who be these? for I know them not: yet their faces are like faces out of childhood. And Aithne answered him: You say not amiss, for these are they which are known of all men, howbeit none hath seen them, that is now on live. For yonder by the prow is Helen, fairest of women, and Paris, by whom Troy fell: and there is great Achilles that was loved both of maid and of man, and Prince Troilus that had double sorrow in loving of Criseyde, and Duke Jason that won the Fleece Perilous, and Medea that for his sake forsook her father’s house. And hard by them is Sigurd of the Volsungs, and Brynhild the Queen, for whom he rode the Wavering Fire: notwithstanding they came never together, but they were proud lovers until death. And other two queens there are beside Brynhild, and they are Isoud and Guinevere; and with Isoud haunteth Sir Tristram, which drank with her the cup of sorrow, and with the lady Guinevere is that Sir Lancelot, that was never matched of earthly knight’s hand.

Then Ywain looked, and he saw all those which were named, and other beside: and his heart was stirred with the sadness and the glory of them, and he asked again of Aithne: Tell me yet more of these lovers and of their renown, for of their loveliness is no need to tell. And Aithne spoke again, and she showed him where there stood a lady with a face like a flame of beauty, shining marvellously. And she said: Behold then Deirdre, that was born to be a death to many and a tale of wonder for ever. And with her is Naoise, son of Usnach, that loved her greatly. For when he saw her the first time, there and then he gave her the love that he never gave to living thing, to vision, or to creature, but to herself alone. Notwithstanding she has a little grave apart. And there also is Niamh, that Cuchulain loved, and with three kisses she sent him to his death. And there is Ailinn, daughter of Lugaidh, and Baile of the Honey Mouth, that died each for other, upon false tidings of their death. And there is Nicolette the slave girl, that was by rights the daughter of a king, and had twelve princes to her brothers. And beside her is her lord, that was her lover through all, and Aucassin he was called, and Count of Beaucaire thereafter. And they four which haunt apart, by two and by two together, they are Leila and Majnun, whose love is the song of Araby and the mirror of the East, and they are Valeh and Hadijeh, that were parted by land and by sea, yet at the last they came together by the secret road of dreams.

So Aithne made an end of her telling, and Ywain moved not but continued looking upon the ship and upon them that were therein. And his heart rejoiced in those mighty dead and in the grandeur of the dooms that he had heard told of them. And the ship came onward and was driven of the oarsmen upon the beach, and they called to Ywain and Aithne that they should come aboard. So they took hands together and went aboard, and they were received joyfully of all those knights and ladies. And the ship was thrust strongly out from off the beach, and so turned seaward, and the sails were hoised upon the masts, and the wind filled them roundly, and all they that were aboard began to sing.

And Ywain knew not the song which they sang, but he perceived that it was a song of the Rhymer’s making, for when he heard it he was mightily comforted, and he felt the springs of life leaping up within him. And the ship drave onward over foam and furrow and came swiftly upon a coast that was no strange coast: for upon it was the High Steep of Paladore, and the horn was blown again from the topmost of the city.

And by seeming that sound was well known of the lovers that were in the ship, for when they heard it they smiled and looked kindly one upon another, as remembering old sorrow long since lightened. And they brought Ywain and Aithne to land, and kissed them and bade them be of good courage, and so to meet with them again, for they said how their fellowship was an ever-during fellowship, and might never be broken. Then the ship put off from shore and went slowly to the westward; and it was no more seen, for it became as it had been a wreath of mist upon the water. And Ywain and Aithne climbed the steep together, and came into the city: and the dusk was falling round them, and a great star stood over Paladore.