I know that it is God’s decree that she shall give birth to your son, who will be a great emperor.”

Merlin had brought some rare herbs from his forest; he went with the king and one trusted confidant whose name was Ulfin, or Ulfius.  The three of them went to a deserted place near the castle of Tintagel, the residence of the dukes of Cornwall.  There Merlin made the king swear that his son would be entrusted to him as soon as he was weaned, to be educated with all the knowledge that a future king needed to know in statecraft.  In the prospect of acquiring the love of the lady, Uter agreed.  Merlin then ordered Ulfin to rub his face with the juice of the secret herb.  Suddenly, his face changed and he looked exactly like Jordan, the duke of Cornwall’s most trusted servant.  Next, Merlin asked the king to rub his face with the juice, and at once Uter Pendragon became indistinguishable from the duke.  Finally, Merlin rubbed his own face and took the appearance of Bretel, or Brastias, the duke’s most faithful aide and adjutant.

The king’s spies had told him that the duke resided at that time in a small hunting castle, Dimilioc, in the wooded hills.  When the king and his two followers appeared before the gate of Tintagel, the gatekeepers opened the heavy door for the knight in whom they recognized their duke.  The three horsemen entered the castle, and the king boldly walked into the personal chamber of the duchess.  She received him as her husband, whom she loved.

Meanwhile, that same evening before sunset, the duke was killed.  It is said that one of his huntsmen hit him by accident with an arrow, just as the king of France once hit a saint instead of a hind.  It has also been said that the duke died fighting a gang of robbers who lived in the forest where the duke chose to hunt.  The most likely explanation is that the duke’s castle was invaded by a band of ruffians, probably on the king’s orders, who “accidentally” killed the duke. 

However that may be, it seems certain that the duchess, when she embraced the king that night, was already a widow, though she did not know it.  Nor did she know that the man she embraced was not her wedded husband, but the king of Britain, to whom she owed loyalty.  The magic spell of the great sorcerer was upon her so that whenever she looked at the king’s face, she saw her husband, to whom she remained faithful until he died.  In that night—and this was the third thing that happened to her in her ignorance—she conceived not an ordinary son, but the child whom God had predestined to become king of Logres, prince of Wales, emperor of Britannia.