King Arthur's Knights
'Thou art full young, Lancelot,' said Arthur, 'to joust with so strong
a knight. Let an older man have ado with him.'
'Sir king,' cried Lancelot eagerly, 'I claim the first battle with this
strong tyrant. He is my captive, and I claim it.'
'Have it as ye will,' said Arthur, 'and God speed you. But I misdoubt
me much 'twill end in your sorrow.'
'Ay, and thine too, thou gentle lady's knight!' sneered Sir Caradoc.
'Peace, man, peace,' said the king sternly. 'I think God will fight in
this battle, for I have inquired far, and the tale of thy evil deeds is
over-full.'
Therewith King Arthur made young Lancelot knight, and men eagerly
rushed away to the tilting-ground to see the battle between the virgin
knight, Sir Lancelot, and the old robber knight, Sir Caradoc. And when
Sir Caradoc was released and armed, he laughed and shook his lance, so
sure was he of revenge right speedily.
Then they hurtled together most fiercely, and young Sir Lancelot was
thrust from his horse by Sir Caradoc. Quickly he rose from the ground,
and dressed his shield and drew his sword, and cried, 'Alight, Sir
Caradoc, for I will fight thee on foot.' But Sir Caradoc, being
traitorous, rode at Sir Lancelot with his spear, as if he would pin him
to the earth, and the young knight had much ado to avoid him. All the
knights cried out upon Sir Caradoc for a foul knight, and for shame he
threw down his lance and alighted, and rushed at Sir Lancelot full
fiercely, in order to slay him instantly.
But that was not easily to be done, for however wise Sir Caradoc was in
sword-play, he was mad with wrath, and therefore thought of naught but
to slay his enemy instantly. He raged like a wild boar, and gave Sir
Lancelot many evil strokes, yet never did he beat down the young
knight's guard. Soon men perceived that Sir Caradoc's great fierceness
was causing him to make blind strokes, and then Sir Lancelot seemed the
more wary. Suddenly they saw the young knight leap forward, and beat so
heavily upon the other's helm that it cracked. Sir Caradoc strove to
guard himself, but Sir Lancelot was so wroth, and so mighty of his
blows, that he could not. At last Sir Lancelot beat him to his knees,
and then thrust him grovelling to the ground. Sir Lancelot bade him
yield, but he would not, and still sought to thrust at the other. Then
the young knight struck at him between the neck and the head and slew
him.
Both the knights and the common people shouted with joy, and acclaimed
Sir Lancelot as a noble and mighty knight. But the young man was full
modest, and withdrew from the press. King Arthur gave unto him the
Dolorous Tower and the lands which had belonged to Sir Caradoc, and
Lancelot caused the old dame and her son to be given a fair piece of
land and a hut, and many other wrongs and evil customs that had been
done by Sir Caradoc, Sir Lancelot caused to be righted.
The kinsmen of Sir Caradoc went apart and conspired to have Sir
Lancelot slain, but for a long time they could not come at him.
Then, when the queen came unto King Arthur, there was great feasting
and joustings and merry games, and Sir Lancelot, for his knightly
prowess in the lists, and for his gentle courtesy and noble manners to
all, both poor and rich, high and low, was sought by many, and for some
time rested himself in knightly games and play.
Then, on a day in June, when a sudden wind from a lattice blew upon his
face as he laughed and jested with ladies and knights in silks and rich
garments, he bethought him of the fair green woods and the wide lands
through which lonely roads were winding. And departing from the hall
forthwith, he bade his horse and arms be brought to him, and rode into
a deep forest, and thought to prove himself in strange adventures.
Thus faring, he rode for two days and met with naught. On the third day
the weather was hot about noon, and Sir Lancelot had great list to
sleep. He espied a great apple-tree full of white blossoms, and a fair
shadow was beneath it, and he alighted and tied his horse unto a thorn,
and laid his helmet under his head and slept.
While he thus lay, there rode by him on white mules four ladies of
great estate, with four knights about them, who bore a canopy of green
silk on four spears, so that the high sun should not touch the faces of
the ladies. Then, as they rode by, they heard a war-horse grimly neigh,
and looking aside, they were aware of Sir Lancelot all armed, and
asleep under the apple-tree.
The ladies came nigh him, and of them there was Queen Morgan le Fay,
who was wife of King Lot, and an evil witch; the Queen of Northgales, a
haughty lady; the Lady of the Out-Isles; and the Lady of the Marshes.
And when the Lady of the Marshes saw the knight she cried:
'Now this is as good hap as ever could be, for this is he that slew my
brother, Sir Caradoc of the Dolorous Tower; and for revenge of that, I
would have this knight taken to my tower and torture him before I slay
him.'
'That is well said,' said Morgan le Fay, 'for he bids fair to be one of
the most strong knights of Arthur, whom I hate. This man, Sir Lancelot
du Lake, is the favourite of all the ladies at that court, who hate me.
So will I lay an enchantment on him, so that he shall sleep.'
Then the evil queen laid her hands over the face of Sir Lancelot, and
said strange words that none could understand, and then he was laid
across the crupper of one of the knights' horses, and he did not wake.
When in the twilight Sir Lancelot awoke, he found himself on a straw
pallet in a strange room, and he leaped up and went to a narrow
arrow-slit in the wall and looked out. Before him for a great distance
was a black watery land, with the sun sinking far away on the very
edge, and the pools of the marsh were as if they were of blood.
Then he beat at the door and called, but none responded, and for wrath
he could have dashed the door down, but it was too stout, and he had no
weapon; for his arms had been taken from him.
When it was dark, suddenly it seemed to Sir Lancelot that the room
smelled foul, as if he had been carried into the midst of the quaking
marsh, and was sunk deep in the slime and weeds of a pool. Then,
through the arrow-slit, he saw many strange lights come, dim and blue
like the wild lights that dance and flit over the lonely marshes by
night; but that which made him marvel was that these lights were two
together, as if they were the eyes of evil things. And they came up to
him with a breath that was cold and dank, and they seemed to peer into
his face, but he could see naught of their bodies. The hair upon his
head rose, and his skin went cold. They pressed all about him, and to
defend himself he struck at the eyes, but his blows beat only the air.
Then suddenly Sir Lancelot felt sharp pains, as if small keen knives
had been thrust into his flesh at many places. The stabs increased in
number and in pain, and Sir Lancelot beat about himself and ran to and
fro in the narrow chamber to escape the evil eyes and the stabs, but it
was in vain, and thus all night in much misery he suffered. When for
sheer weariness he lay down and tried to close his eyes, the evil
things would not let him, but ever they tore at him and stabbed him. He
was in anguish of mind more than he could bear, and for all his thought
he could not think of any way to fight against the evil powers which
followed and tortured him wherever he ran.
But at dawn they fled, and then the door of the room opened, and a
damsel appeared, and in her hands was a manchet of sour bread, and a
beaker of water from the ditch of the moat. The damsel was evilly clad
in rags, and seemed like a scullion-maid.
'These,' she said, 'my mistresses bid me say shall be your food until
you die.'
'Damsel,' said Lancelot, 'tell me who hath brought me here and used me
so evilly.'
'It is Queen Morgan le Fay,' said the damsel, 'and the three witch
queens, the Queen of Northgales, the Queen of the Out-Isles, and the
Lady of the Marshes.'
'I doubt not, then, that they would slay me?' said Lancelot. 'But why
hate they me?'
'It is for this,' went on the damsel, 'that you did slay Sir Caradoc,
the brother of the Lady of the Marshes.'
'Alas, then,' said Sir Lancelot, 'there is no pity for me, and none of
my dear friends shall learn of my shameful death.'
'And so that you should suffer much ere you are slain,' went on the
damsel, 'they sent in the night the Coranians, the marsh fiends, to
torture you. Thus will they do until you die, unless, sir knight, you
are a knight with a stout heart, and a good fighter, and will do me
justice. If you will be ruled by me, and will give me a promise, I will
aid you.'
'Damsel, that will I grant you,' said Lancelot, 'for this would be an
evil death for a knight. And full of terror hath been this night, from
the foul things which have beset me.'
'I may not stay further now,' said the maid, 'lest they think I tarry
over-long. But by evening I will come again.'
The day passed and twilight came, and Sir Lancelot was adread for fear
of the night. But anon the damsel came secretly to him and said:
'Now must you promise me this, that you will release my father, whom
Sir Turquine, Sir Caradoc's brother, hath kept in his foul dungeons
since I was but a little child. And all his lands did Sir Turquine rob
from him, and me he gave as a kitchen slut to Morgan le Fay, and evilly
have I been treated who am a good knight's daughter. Now, will ye
promise to free my father?'
'That will I, my poor damsel,' said Lancelot, 'and I will, God aiding
me, slay this Sir Turquine as I slew Sir Caradoc his brother.'
So at the dead of night the damsel opened his door, and with the keys
that she had stolen, she opened twelve other locks that stood between
them and the postern door. Then she brought him to his armour, which
she had hidden in a bush, and she led forth his horse, and he mounted
with much joy, and took the maid with him, and she showed him the way
to a convent of white nuns, and there they had good cheer.
Then, on the morrow, she led him to a thick forest with many hills
therein, and anon they came to a fair ford, and over the ford there
grew a tree, and on it there hung many good shields, each with the
device of some knight thereon, and Sir Lancelot was astounded to see
the shields of many of King Arthur's knights hung there. And on a bole
of the tree there was a bason of copper.
'Now,' said the damsel, 'I have brought you here where is Sir Turquine,
the mightiest knight that ever was found, as men say, and was never
overmatched by any. And in his dungeons are many poor knights, and my
dear father, Sir Darrel. Now strike the bason with the butt of your
spear.'
Sir Lancelot beat such strokes that the bason burst asunder, and then
he was aware of a great knight riding on a black horse. 'This is he,'
said the damsel, 'and now God aid you!'
'What needst thou, sir knight?' cried the other.
'To try my strength on thee,' cried Lancelot, 'for thou hast done great
despite and shame unto many good knights of the Round Table.'
'Art thou of that caitiff crew of ladies' knights?' sneered Sir
Turquine. 'Then I defy thee.'
'Thou hast said enough,' replied Lancelot.
They put their spears in their rests, and came like the wind against
each other, and either smote other in the middle of their shields, so
that both their horses' girths broke. Then, lightly avoiding their
beasts, they came at each other with great fierceness, and so fared for
two hours, feinting and striking, and so heavy were their blows that
each bled from many wounds as they stood. At last, for sheer
breathlessness, each leaned upon his sword.
'Now, fellow,' said Sir Turquine haughtily, 'answer me these questions
I shall put to thee.'
'Say on,' said Sir Lancelot.