Book Excerpt
ned words falling from their lips in terse phrases such as he never found in the lines of Wace. Uther Pendragon, in a deadly battle against the Irish invaders under Gillomar and Pascent, slays Gillomar, then overtakes Pascent:–“And said these words Uther the Good: ‘Pascent, thou shalt abide; here cometh Uther riding!’ He smote him upon the head, so that he fell down, and the sword put in his mouth–such meat to him was strange–so that the point of the sword went in the earth. Then said Uther, ‘Pascent, lie now there; now thou hast Britain all won to thy hand! So is now hap to thee; therein thou art dead; dwell ye shall here, thou, and Gillomar thy companion, and possess well Britain! For now I deliver it to you in hand, so that ye may presently dwell with us here; ye need not ever dread who you shall feed.