Then called Arthur, noblest of kings: "Sit ye, sit
ye quickly, each man on his life! And whoso will not that do, he shall
be put to death. Take ye me the same man, that this fight first began,
and put withy on his neck, and draw him to a moor, and put him in a
low fen, there he shall lie. And take ye all his dearest kin, that ye
may find, and strike off the heads of them with your broad swords, the
women that ye may find of his nearest kindred, carve ye off their
noses, and let their beauty go to destruction; and so I will all
destroy the race that he of came. And if I evermore subsequently hear,
that any of my folk, of high or of low, eft arear strife on account of
this same slaughter, there shall ransom him neither gold nor any
treasure, fine horse nor war-garment, that he should not be dead, or
with horses drawn in pieces--that is of each traitor the law! Bring ye
the reliques, and I will swear thereon; and so, knights, shall ye,
that were at this fight, earls and barons, that ye will not it break."
First swore Arthur, noblest of kings; then swore earls, then swore
barons; then swore thanes, then swore swains, that they nevermore the
strife would arear.
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