Beyond A noise of wind stirred in his ears, and he 

 the Blue f e it the chill dew creep over his hands like 



the stealth y cold h *P of the tide - He rose 

 stumblingly, and stood, staring around him. 



He was on the same spot, under the brow of 

 the hill that looked over the dim shoreless 

 seas, now obscure with the dusk. He glanced 

 upward and saw the stars of the Great Bear 

 in their slow majestic march round the Pole. 

 Then he remembered. 



He went slowly down the hillside, his 

 mind heavy with thought. When he was 

 come to the place of the King his father, lo, 

 Pendragon and all his fierce chivalry came out 

 to meet him, for the archdruid had foretold that 

 the great King to be had received his mystic 

 initiation among the holy silence of the hills. 



"I am no more Snowbird the child," the 

 boy said, looking at them fearlessly, and as 

 though already King. "Henceforth I am 

 Arth-Uthyr, 1 for my place is in the Great 

 Bear which we see yonder in the north." 



So all there acclaimed him as Arthur, the 

 wondrous one of the stars, the Great Bear. 



" I am old," said Pendragon, " and soon you 

 shall be King, Arthur my son. So ask now a 

 great boon of me and it shall be granted to you." 



1 Pronounced Arth-Uir, or Arth-Ur. In ancient British Arth 

 means Bear, and Uthyr great, wondrous. 



322 



