And they took Arthur anon and bare him quickly
And softly him adown laid and to glide forth gan they.
Then was it come what Merlin said whilom
That unmeasured sorrow should be at Arthur's forth faring.
Britons believe yet that he is still in life
And dwelleth in Avelon with the fairest of all elves,
And every Briton looketh still when Arthur shall return.
Was never the man born nor never the lady chosen
Who knoweth of the sooth of Arthur to say more.
But erstwhile there was a wizard Merlin called.
He boded with words the which were sooth
That an Arthur should yet come the English to help."
You see by this last line that Layamon has forgotten the
difference between Briton and English. He has forgotten that in
his lifetime Arthur fought against the English. To him Arthur
has become an English hero. And perhaps he wrote these last
words with the hope in his heart that some day some one would
arise who would deliver his dear land from the rule of the
stranger Normans.
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