And as he stood thus before that sepulchre, a great thunder and hailstorm came, and such a great terrifying noise and such great darkness, that he saw nothing, as if it were dark night, although it was a little before nones; and he heard a great tumult and disturbance in the house, as if a thousand men were there, and as if each one shouted as loudly as he could; and there were many ugly and terrifying voices among them, which Bandemagus was very afraid of, so that he could not stay on his feet, and it seemed as if his heart was failing him, and that he lacked all the strength in his body; and he fell fainting and senseless to the earth, and he believed he would soon be dead, so much fear he felt. And while he lay on the earth thus, he heard a cry as great as if a thousand voices shouted at once; and among them all there was a voice so great, that it sounded above all the others, and it seemed that it arrived in the heavens and said, "Ah, caitiff! Why was I born, since I end with such great sadness? Say, wretched Merlin, where you will go to be damned! Ah, what a dolorous loss!"

These and many other very sorrowful words it said. And at that Merlin was silent and died with a very dolorous cry, which was so loud that, as the author and many others who speak of this write, this cry that Merlin gave then was heard over all the other voices, so that it sounded two days' travel in all directions, and the stones which the good men of that time placed there are still there today, and they are there so that it should be known where the voice was heard and up to what point its sound was heard. And the candles which he had made burn a long time ago over the thirteen kings whom King Arthur killed when he killed King Rion's brother, were then quenched, and many other things befell that day that Merlin died, which were taken for marvels. Because of this it is called the "Cry of Merlin" in the romance, which will be heard willingly by many people, especially by those knights who never did villainy, but prowess and great deeds of chivalry, and which tells of strange things which the knights of the Round Table did. This the "History of the Holy Grail" recounts at length.

Bandemagus was unconscious there from the fright he felt at hearing the cry of Merlin and the great shouts, as has already been said, and he was unconscious as long as it would take to travel a league. And as soon as his senses returned, he saw such a multitude of devils that it seemed to him that they covered the whole earth, and he left there with great fear and much sadness, because he could not remedy Merlin's death; and as the saddest of men he returned to where he had left his damsel, who, as soon as he saw her, was very afflicted, because she saw him so disfigured that she hardly recognized him, and asked him with infinite pleas to tell her why he came thus disfigured, and where he had been for such a long time. Bandemagus, when he saw the anxious pleas his damsel made him, endeavored to speak, his voice such that what he said could barely be understood; and as best he could, he recounted point by point to the damsel all he had seen and heard.

Baladro del Sabio Merlin