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92 How weak Sir Palamedes grows! We hear no more of bouts and blows! His weapons are his ten good toes! He that was Arthur's peer, good knight Proven in many a foughten fight, Flees like a felon in the night! Ay! this thy quest is past the ken Of thee and of all mortal men, Sir Palamede the Saracen !
…lamede ! For twinned with Earthquake laughs her brother The Questing Beast. As Goddes reed Sweats blood for sin, so now the heart Of the good knight begins to bleed. Of all the ruinous shafts that dart Within his liver, this hath plied The most intolerable smart. “ By Goddes wounds!” the good knight cried, “What is this quest, grown daily dafter, Where nothing—nothing—may abide ? Westward!” They fly, but rolling after Echoes the Beast’s unsatisfied And inextinguishable laughter!
THE HIGH HISTORY OF GOOD SIR PALAMEDES THE SARACEN KNIGHT; AND OF HIS FOLLOWING OF THE QUESTING BEAST ALEISTER CROWLEY 3
THE HIGH HISTO! GOOD SIR PALAM THE SARACEN Kn AND OF HIS FOLLOY OF THE QUESTING BY ALEISTER CROV RIGHTLY SET FORTH 4
TO ALLAN BENNETT “Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya” my good knight comrade in the Quest, I dedicate this imperfect account of it, in some small recognition of his suggestion of its form. MANDALAY, November 1905
…or some shape glimmering through the gloom: Naught, naught in all that void appears ; More still, more silent than the tomb! Yet now the good knight is aware Of some black force, of some dread throne, Waiting beneath that awful stair, Beneath that pit of slippery stone. Yea! though he sees not anything, Nor hears, his subtle sense is ’ware That, lackeyed by the devil-king, The Beast—the Questing Beast—is there| So though his heart beats close with fear, Though horror grips his throat, he goes, Goes on to meet it, spear to spear, ; As good knigh…
…est, My name, now meetest thou thy shame. See, with this whip I lash thee back, Back to the kennel whence there came So false a hound.” ‘Good knight, in sooth,” Answered Sir Palamede, “not I Presume to assert the idlest truth ; And here, by this good ear and eye, I grant thou art Sir Palamede. But—try the first and final test If thou or I be he. Take heed!” He backed his horse, covered his breast, Drove his spurs home, and rode upon That knight. His lance-head fairly struck The barred strength of his morion, And rolled the stranger in the muck.…
THE HIGH HISTORY OF GOOD SIR PALAMEDES THE SARACEN KNIGHT AND OF HIS FOLLOWING OF THE QUESTING BEAST BY ALEIST ER CROWLEY RIGHTLY SET FORTH IN RIME WIELAND & COMPANY, 3 GREAT JAMES ST. BEDFORD ROW, LONDON. ANNO PSEUDO CHRISTI, MCMXII. PRICE FIVE SHILLINGS NET
…e shock, and splits, and splits again, Until the baffled warrior sees A myriad myriad swarms of these A-questing over all the plain. The good knight reins his charger in. “ Now, by the faith of Paladin! The subtle quest at last I ken.” Rides off to Camelot to plight The faith of many a noble knight, Sir Palamede the Saracen. 57
72 In all the seasons and the tides. But ah! the more it changed and changed” — (The good knight laughed to split his sides !) “What? Is the soul of things deranged? The more it changed, and rippled through Its changes, and still changed, and changed, The liker to itself it grew. Bear me,” he cried, “ to purge my bile To the old land of Hormakhu, That I may sit and curse awhile At all these follies fond that pen My quest about—on, on to Nile! Tread tenderly, my merry men! For nothing is so void and vile As Palamede the Saracen.”
…; There, ill at heart, the chivalry Of strong Sir Palamede abides. Now comes irruption from the folk That live by murder: day by day The good knight strikes his deadly stroke; The vultures claw the attended prey. But day by day the heathen hordes Gather from dreadful lands afar, A myriad myriad bows and swords, As clouds that blot the morning star. Soon by an arrow from the sea The Lady of Palamede is slain ; His son, in sally fighting free, Is struck through burgonet and brain.
…ic spire he spies, That like a gladiator towers Its spear-sharp splendour to the skies. The people cluster round, acclaim : “Sir Knight, good knight, thy quest is won. Here dwells the Beast in orient flame, Spring-sweet, and swifter than the sun!” Sir Palamede the Saracen Spurs to the shrine, afire to win The end; and all the urgent men Throng with him eloquently in. Sir Palamede his vizor drops; He lays his loyal lance in rest; He drives the rowels home—he stops! Faugh! but a black-mouthed money-chest! 63
…pies the thing to seek. Thereat he putteth spur to horse And runneth him a random course, The Beast a-questing aye before. But praise to good Sir Palamede! *Hath gotten him a fairy steed Alike for venery and for war, So that in little drawing near The quarry, lifteth up his spear To run him of his malice through.
78 XXX STARRED is the blackness of the sky; Wide is the sweep of the cold plain Where good Sir Palamede doth lie, Keen on the Beast-slot once again. All day he rode; all night he lay With eyes wide open to the stars, Seeking in many a secret way The key to unlock his prison bars. Beneath him, hark! the marvel sounds! The Beast that questeth horribly. As if a thirty couple hounds Are in his belly questeth he. Beneath him? Heareth he aright? He leaps to’s feet—a wonder shews: Steep dips a stairway from the light To what obscurity God knows. Still…
…y clear That cuts him, cuts him to the bone. “False knight! false knight!” the stranger cried. “ Thou bastard dog, Sir Palamede? Iam the good knight fain to ride Upon the Questing Beast at need. 99
76 XXIX Ha! but the good knight, striding forth From Set’s abominable shrine, Pursues the quest with bitter wrath, So that his words flow out like wine. And lo! the soul that heareth them Is straightway healed of suffering. His fame runs through the land of Khem: They flock, the peasant and the king. There he works many a miracle: The blind see, and the cripples walk; Lepers grow clean ; sick folk grow well ; The deaf men hear, the dumb men talk. He casts out devils with a word; Circleth his wand, and dead men rise. No such a wonder hath been h…
38 XIV Nortuwarp the good knight gallops fast, Resolved to seek his foe at home, When rose that Vision of the past, The royal battlements of Rome, A ruined city, and a dome. There in the broken Forum sat A red-robed robber in a Hat. “Whither away, Sir Knight, so fey?” “Priest, for the dove on Ararat T could not, nor I will not, stay!” “T know thy quest. Seek on in vain A golden hart with silver horns! Life springeth out of divers pains. What crown the King of Kings adorns? A crown of gems? A crown of thorns! The Questing Beast is like a king In…
XXXVII Sir Paramens is sick to death! The staring eyen, the haggard face! God grant to him the Beauteous Breath! God send the Goodly Gift of Grace! There is a white cave by the sea Wherein the knight is hid away. Just ere the night falls, spieth he The sun’s last shaft flicker astray. All day is dark. There, there he mourns His wasted years, his purpose faint. A million whips, a million scorns Make the knight flinch, and stain the saint. For now! what hath he left? He feeds On limpets and wild roots. What odds? There is no need a mortal needs W…
10 But day by day the foes increase, Though day by day their thousands fall: Laughs the unshaken fortalice ; The good knights laugh no more at all. Grimmer than heathen hordes can scowl, The spectre hunger rages there; He passes like a midnight owl, Hooting his heraldry, despair. The knights and squires of Palamede Stalk pale and lean through court and hall; Though sharp and swift the archers speed Their yardlong arrows from the wall. Their numbers thin; their strength decays; Their fate is written plain to read. These are the dread deciduous d…
…ly wight: “T will believe!” The hermit blessed His convert : on the horizon Appears the Beast. ‘To thee the rest!” He cries, to urge the good knight on. But no! Sir Palamedes grips The hermit by the woebegone Beard of him; then away he rips, Wood as a maniac, to the West, Where down the sun in splendour slips, And where the quarry of the quest Canters. They run lik e hippogriffs! Like men pursued, or swine possessed, Over the dizzy Cretan cliffs They smash. And lo! it comes to pass He sees in no dim hieroglyphs, In knowledge easy to amass, This…