Classic Poem

" O GO again, " said the King,
" For love and charity
And throw my sword into that river
That never I do it see. "

The Duke to the river side he went
And the King's scabbard in threw he,
And still he kept Escalberd
For virtue's sake fair and free.

He came again to tell the King:
The King said: " Lukin, what did thou see? "
" Nothing, my liege, " then said the Duke,
" I tell you certainly. "

" O go again, Lukin, " said the King,
" Or the one of us shall die. "
Then the Duke to the riverside went
And the King's sword there threw he.

A hand an an arm did meet that sword
And flourished three times certainly.
He came again to tell the King,
But the King was gone from under the tree.

But to what place he could not tell,
For never after he did him see,
But he see a barge from the land go
And heard ladies howl and cry certainly.

But whether the King was there or no
He knew not certainly,
The Duke walked by that River's side
Till a chapel there found he.

And a priest by the altarside there stood,
The Duke kneeled down there on his knee
And prayed the priests: " For Christ's sake
The rites of the Church bestow on me. "