LITMIR.BIZ

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and slew on the right hand and on the left, so that almost no one escaped; thirty thousand people were slain.

      When the battle was over the king knelt down and humbly thanked God. Then he sent for the queen; she came immediately and made great joy at the victory of that battle.

      Then a messenger came to Arthur and told him that King Pellinore was three miles away with a great army. Arthur said, “Go to him and tell him how we have fared here.”

      CIV.4

      Within a while King Pellinore arrived with a great army and greeted the people and the king, and there was great joy on both sides. Then the king had a count made of how many people had been slain. It was discovered that a little more than two hundred men and eight knights of the Round Table had been killed in their pavilions.

      Then the king had built a beautiful abbey in the place where the battle was fought, and gave it a generous endowment. He named it the Abbey of La Belle Adventure.

      When those survivors of the battle returned home to the lands of the five kings, they told how their army was slain, and there was great sorrow. All of King Arthur’s enemies—such as the king of North Wales and the kings of the North—learned of this battle, and were very upset about it.

      The king then quickly returned to Camelot, and when he arrived there, he called King Pellinore to him and said, “You know that we have lost eight knights of the Round Table. On your advice, we must choose eight of the best knights to be found in this court.”

      “Sir,” said Pellinore, “I will advise you as to the best course of action to my way of thinking. There are, in your court, fully noble knights, both old and young; my advice would be to choose half of the eight from the older knights, and half from the younger knights”

      “Which of the older knights would you choose?” said King Arthur.

      “It seems to me that it should be King Uriens, who married your sister Morgan le Fay, the King of the Lake, Sir Hervyse de Revell—a noble knight!—and Sir Galagars should be the fourth.”

      “That is a good suggestion,” said Arthur, “and so shall it be. Now, which of the four young knights should we choose?”

      “Sir, the first should be your nephew, Sir Gawain, who is as good a knight at this time as are any in the land. The second should be Sir Grifflet le Fitz de Dieu, who is a good knight fully capable in arms; whoever lives to see him mature will see that he will prove to be a good knight. The third who seems quite worthy to be a member of the Round Table is Sir Kay the Seneschal, for many times he has performed truly worshipful deeds. At the last battle he honorably undertook to slay two kings.”

      “By my head,” said Arthur, “you speak the truth. He is most worthy to join the Round Table of any you have yet mentioned, even if he were to do nothing more of prowess the rest of his days.”

      “Now,” said King Pellinore, “you should choose which is the most worthy of the next two knights I will mention: Sir Bagdemagus and Sir Tor, my son. Because he is my son, I cannot praise him, but if he were not my son, I would dare to say that of other knights his age, there is not one in the land who is better than he—not one of better character, who is more loath to commit any wrong or suffer any wrong.”

      CIV.5

      “By my head,” said Arthur, “he is as good a knight as any that you have spoken of this day. I know that well,” said the king, “for I have seen him proved. He says but little, but he does much more. I know of no equal to him in this court, even though he is not as well born on his mother’s side as on your side. No one is like him in prowess and might. Therefore, I will choose him at this time, and leave Sir Bagdemagus for another time.”

      So when the new knights were chosen with the assent of the barons, the names of those knights heretofore mentioned were found written in their seats. They then took their seats, and Sir Bagdemagus was very angry that Sir Tor was advanced to the Round Table before him.

      Therefore he departed abruptly from the court, taking his squire with him. They rode for a long time through a forest until they came to a cross, and there he alit and said his prayers with devotion. As he was doing this, his squire found written on the cross that Bagdemagus would not return to court again until he had defeated a knight of the Round Table in a fair contest, body for body.

      “Lo,” said the squire, “here I find writing of you! I suggest we return again to the court.”

      “That I shall never do,” said Bagdemagus, “until men speak of my right great worship, and say that I am worthy to be a knight of the Round Table.”

      So he rode forth, and as he rode, he found alongside the road a branch of a holy herb, which was a sign of the Holy Grail; no knight ever found such a token unless he lived a good life and was a man of prowess.

      As Bagdemagus rode on his way to many adventures, it happened that he came to the cave wherein Nyneve had put Merlin, under a rock, and he heard him inside, making great sorrow. Bagdemagus wished to help him, and went to the great rock, but it was so heavy that a hundred men might not lift it. When Merlin realized he was there, he bade him leave off his labor, for it was all in vain; he could never be helped except by she who had put him there.

      So Bagdemagus departed and had many adventures, and after was proved to be a good knight. He came back to court and was made a knight of the Round Table, and the morning after, new tidings came, leading the way to many other adventures.

      11 The Betrayal of Morgan le Fay

      Then it happened that Arthur and many of his knights went out hunting in a great forest; King Arthur, King Uriens, and Sir Accolon of Gaul followed a great hart. The three of them were well-horsed, and they chased after the hart so fast that within a short time they were more than ten miles away from their party.

      CIV.6; VI.5

      Finally, they drove their horses so hard that they killed them right out from under them—the horses were so tired they fell down dead. Then all three were on foot, and they saw the hart before them, weary from being hunted down.

      “What shall we do?” said King Arthur. “We are in a difficult situation.”

      “Let us continue on foot,” said King Uriens, “until we come upon some lodging.”

      Then they saw that the hart was lying on the bank of a river, and there was a brachet biting his throat; and many other hounds came after. Then King Arthur called an end and finished off the hart.

      Then the king looked at the landscape around him and saw on the great water before him a little ship all decorated with silk, all the way down to the waterline. The ship came right up to them and beached itself on the sand. Arthur went down to the water’s edge, looked inside, and saw no earthly creature inside.

      “Sirs,” said the king, “come here and let us see what is in this ship.” So all three of them went into the ship, and found it was richly furnished with silk hangings.

      By that time it was night, and dark, and suddenly a hundred torches appeared about them all over the ship, giving off great light. Then twelve fair damsels appeared and greeted King Arthur on their knees. They called him by his name, and told him he was very welcome, and that they would show him the best hospitality. Then king thanked them graciously.

      Then they led the king and his companions into a beautiful chamber, and there a sumptuous feast was laid out on a cloth-covered table. They were served all manner of food and drink—any kind that they could think of—and the king had great marvel, for he had never had such a splendid dinner in all his life.

      So when they had eaten at their leisure, King Arthur was led into a chamber—a more richly furnished chamber he had never seen! King Uriens was led into another chamber, and Sir Accolon was led into another chamber that was richly furnished. They were laid in comfortable beds, and immediately fell asleep, and slept deeply through the night.

      In the morning, King Uriens awoke to find himself abed in the arms of his wife, Morgan le Fay. When

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