Out they
drew soon fair phials, filled with poison, of all liquids bitterest;
six phials full they poured in the well; then was the well anon with
poison infected. Then were full blithe the traitors in their life, and
forth they went; they durst not there remain. Then came there
forth-right two chamber-knights; they bare in their hands two bowls of
gold. They came to the well, and filled their bowls; back they gan
wend to Uther the king, forth into the chamber, where he lay in
bed.--"Hail be thou, Uther! Now we are come here, and we have brought
thee, what thou ere bade, cold well water; receive it with joy." Up
arose the sick king, and sate on his bed; of the water he drank, and
soon he gan to sweat; his heart gan to weaken, his face began to
blacken, his belly gan to swell, the king gan to burst. There was no
other hap, but there was Uther the king dead; and all they were dead,
who drank of the water.
When the attendants saw the calamity of the king, and of the king's
men, who with poison were destroyed, then went to the well knights
that were active, and destroyed the well with painful labour, with
earth and with stones made a steep hill.
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