Le Morte Darthur
will do to him all the pleasure that I can, for and ye were better than
ye are, ye were well bestowed upon him. Fair brother, said dame Liones,
I understand well that the knight is good, and come he is of a noble
house. Notwithstanding I will assay him better, how be it I am most
beholding to him of any earthly man, for he hath had great labour for
my love, and passed many a dangerous passage. Right so Sir Gringamore
went unto Sir Gareth and said, Sir, make ye good cheer, for ye shall
have none other cause, for this lady my sister is yours at all times,
her worship saved, for wit ye well she loveth you as well as ye do her,
and better if better may be. And I wist that, said Sir Gareth, there
lived not a gladder man than I would be. Upon my worship, said Sir
Gringamore, trust unto my promise; and as long as it liketh you ye
shall sojourn with me, and this lady shall be with us daily and nightly
to make you all the cheer that she can. I will well, said Sir Gareth,
for I have promised to be nigh this country this twelvemonth. And well
I am sure king Arthur and other noble knights will find me where that I
am within this twelvemonth. For I shall be sought and found, if that I
be on live. And then the noble knight Sir Gareth went unto the dame
Liones, which he then much loved, and kissed her many times, and either
made great joy of other. And there she promised him her love, certainly
to love him and none other the days of her life. Then this lady, dame
Liones, by the assent of her brother, told Sir Gareth all the truth
what she was, and how she was the same lady that he did battle for, and
how she was lady of the castle perilous. And there she told him how she
caused her brother to take away his dwarf.
CHAP. XXII.
_How, at night, came an armed knight and fought with Sir Gareth, and
he, sore hurt in the thigh, smote off the knight’s head._
For this cause, to know the certainty what was your name, and of what
kin ye were come. And then she let fetch before him Linet the damsel,
which had ridden with him many dreary ways. Then was Sir Gareth more
gladder than he was tofore. And then they troth plight each other to
love, and never to fail while their life lasted. And at after supper
was made clean avoidance, that every lord and lady should go unto his
rest. But Sir Gareth said plainly that he would go no further than the
hall, for in such places, he said, was convenient for an errant knight
to take his rest in. And so there were ordained great couches, and
thereon feather beds, and there laid him down to sleep. And within
awhile he looked afore him and perceived and saw come an armed knight,
with many lights about him. And this knight had a long battle-axe in
his hand, and made grim countenance to smite him. When Sir Gareth saw
him come in that wise, he lept out of his bed, and gat in his hand his
sword, and lept straight toward that knight. And when the knight saw
Sir Gareth come so fiercely upon him, he smote him with a thrust
through the thick of the thigh, that the wound was a shaftmon broad,
and had cut a-two many veins and sinews. And therewithal Sir Gareth
smote him upon the helm such a buffet that he fell groveling, and then
he lept over him, and unlaced his helm, and smote off his head from the
body. And then he bled so fast that he might not stand, but so he laid
him down upon his bed, and there he swooned, and lay as he had been
dead. Then dame Liones found him, and cried aloud, that her brother Sir
Gringamore heard and came down. And when he saw Sir Gareth so
shamefully wounded, he was sore displeased, and said, I am shamed that
this noble knight is thus honoured. Sister, said Sir Gringamore, How
may this be that ye be here, and this noble knight wounded? Brother,
said dame Liones, I cannot tell you, for it was not done by me, nor by
mine assent. For he is my lord, and I am his, and he must be my
husband, therefore, brother, I will that ye wit I shame me not to be
with him, nor to do him all the pleasure that I can. Sister, said Sir
Gringamore, and I will that ye wit it, and Sir Gareth both, that it was
never done by me nor by mine assent that this unhappy deed was done.
And there they stanched his bleeding as well as they might. And great
sorrow made Sir Gringamore and dame Liones. And forthwithal came dame
Linet and took up the head in the sight of them all, and anointed it
with an ointment there as it was smitten off, and in the same wise she
did to the other part there as the head stuck, and then she set it
together, and it stuck as fast as ever it did. And the knight arose
lightly up, and the damsel Linet put him in her chamber. All this saw
Sir Gringamore and dame Liones, and so did Sir Gareth, and well he
espied that it was the damsel Linet that rode with him through the
perilous passages. Ah well, damsel, said Sir Gareth, I wend ye would
not have done as ye have done. My lord Gareth, said the damsel Linet,
all that I have done I will avow, and all that I have done shall be for
your honour and worship, and to us all. And so within a while, Sir
Gareth was nigh whole, and waxed light and jocund, and sang, danced,
and gamed. And at night, because he was wounded afore, he laid his
armour and his sword nigh his bed side.
CHAP. XXIII.
_How the said knight came again the next night, and was beheaded again.
And how at the feast of Pentecost all the knights that Sir Gareth had
overcome came and yielded them to king Arthur._
Right as soon as Sir Gareth was in his bed he espied an armed knight
coming toward the bed, and therewith he leaped lightly out, and they
hurtled together with great ire and malice all about the hall, and
there was great light as it had been the number of twenty torches both
before and behind, so that Sir Gareth strained him so that his old
wound burst out again bleeding, but he was hot and courageous, and took
no keep, but with his great force he struck down that knight, and
voided his helm and struck off his head. Then he hewed the head in an
hundred pieces. And when he had done so, he took up all those pieces
and threw them out at a window into the ditches of the castle; and by
this done he was so faint that scarcely he might stand for bleeding.
And then he fell in a deadly swoon in the floor. And then dame Liones
found him, and cried so that Sir Gringamore heard. And when he came and
found Sir Gareth in that plight, he made great sorrow, and there he
awaked Sir Gareth, and gave him a drink that relieved him wonderly
well, but the sorrow that dame Liones made there may no tongue tell,
for she so fared with herself as she would have died. Right so came
this damsel Linet before them all, and she had fetched all the gobbets
of the head that Sir Gareth had thrown out at a window, and there she
anointed them as she had done tofore, and set them together again.
Well, damsel Linet, said Sir Gareth, I have not deserved all this
despite that ye do unto me. Sir knight, she said, I have nothing done
but I will avow, and all that I have done shall be to your worship and
to us all. And then was Sir Gareth stanched of his bleeding. But the
leeches said that there was no man that bare the life should heal him
throughout of his wound, but if they healed him that caused that stroke
by enchantment.
So leave we Sir Gareth there with Sir Gringamore and his sisters, and
turn we unto king Arthur, that at the next feast of Pentecost held his
feast, and there came the green knight with fifty knights, and yielded
them all unto king Arthur. And so there came the red knight, his
brother, and yielded him to king Arthur, and threescore knights with
him. Also there came the blue knight, brother to them, with an hundred
knights, and yielded them unto king Arthur. And the green knight’s name
was Pertolepe, and the red knight’s name was Perimones, and the blue
knight’s name was Sir Persant of Inde. These three brethren told king
Arthur how they were overcome by a knight that a damsel had with her,
and called him Beaumains. By my faith, said the king, I marvel what
knight he is, and of what lineage he is come; he was with me a
twelvemonth, and poorly and shamefully he was fostered, and Sir Kay in
scorn named him Beaumains. So right as the king stood so talking with
these three brethren there came Sir Launcelot du Lake, and told the
king that there was come a goodly lord with six hundred knights with
him. Then the king went out of Carlion, for there was the least, and
there came to him this lord, and saluted the king in a goodly manner.
What will ye? said king Arthur, and what is your errand? Sir, he said,
my name is the red knight of the red lawns, but my name is Sir
Ironside, and, sir, wit ye well here I am sent to you of a knight that
is called Beaumains, for he won me in plain battle, hand for hand, and
so did never no knight but he that ever had the better of me this
thirty winter, the which commanded to yield me to you at your will. Ye
are welcome, said the king, for ye have been long a great foe to me and
to my court, and now I trust I shall so entreat you that ye shall be my
friend. Sir, both I and these six hundred knights shall always be at
your summons to do you service as may lie in our powers. Truly, said
king Arthur, I am much beholding unto that knight that hath so put his
body in devoir to worship me and my court. And as to thee, Ironside,
that art called the red knight of the red lawns, thou art called a
perilous knight. And if thou wilt hold of me I shall worship thee and
make thee knight of the Table Round: but then thou must be no more a
murderer. Sir, as to that I have promised unto Sir Beaumains never more
to use such customs, for all the shameful customs that I used I did at
the request of a lady that I loved; and therefore I must go unto Sir
Launcelot, and unto Sir Gawaine, and ask them forgiveness of the evil
will I had unto them, for all that I put to death was all only for the
love of Sir Launcelot and Sir Gawaine. They be here now, said the king,
afore thee, now may ye say to them what ye will. And then he kneeled
down unto Sir Launcelot and to Sir Gawaine, and prayed them of
forgiveness of his enmity that ever he had against them.
CHAP. XXIV.
_How king Arthur pardoned them, and demanded of them where Sir Gareth
was._
Then goodly they said all at once, God forgive you, and we do, and pray
you that ye will tell us where we may find Sir Beaumains. Fair lords,
said Sir Ironside, I cannot tell you, for it is full hard to find him,
for all such young knights as he is one, when they be in their
adventures be never abiding in one place. But to say the worship that
the red knight of the red lawns and Sir Persant and his brothers said
of Beaumains it was marvel to hear. Well, my fair lords, said king
Arthur, wit you well I shall do you honour for the love of Sir
Beaumains, and as soon as ever I meet with him I shall make you all
upon one day knights of the Table Round. And as to thee, Sir Persant of
Inde, thou hast ever been called a full noble knight, and so have ever
been thy three brethren called. But I marvel, said the king, that I
hear not of the black knight your brother, he was a full noble knight.
Sir, said Pertolepe the green knight, Sir Beaumains slew him in a
recounter with his spear, his name was Sir Percard. That was great
pity, said the king, and so said many knights. For these four brethren
were full well known in the court of king Arthur for noble knights, for
long time they had holden war against the knights of the Table Round.
Then said Pertolepe the green knight unto the king: At a passage of the
water of Mortaise there encountered Sir Beaumains with two brethren
that ever for the most part kept that passage, and they were two deadly