THEN Sir Bors told Sir Launcelot how there was sworn a great tournament and jousts betwixt King Arthur and the King of Northgalis,that should be upon All Hallowmass Day,beside Winchester.Is that truth?said Sir Launcelot;then shall ye abide with me still a little while until that Ibe whole,for I feel myself right big and strong.Blessed be God,said Sir Bors.Then were they there nigh a month together,and ever this maiden Elaine did ever her diligent labour night and day unto Sir Launcelot,that there was never child nor wife more meeker to her father and husband than was that Fair Maiden of Astolat;wherefore Sir Bors was greatly pleased with her.
So upon a day,by the assent of Sir Launcelot,Sir Bors,and Sir Lavaine,they made the hermit to seek in woods for divers herbs,and so Sir Launcelot made fair Elaine to gather herbs for him to make him a bain.In the meanwhile Sir Launcelot made him to arm him at all pieces;and there he thought to assay his armour and his spear,for his hurt or not.And so when he was upon his horse he stirred him fiercely,and the horse was passing lusty and fresh because he was not laboured a month afore.And then Sir Launcelot couched that spear in the rest.That courser leapt mightily when he felt the spurs;and he that was upon him,the which was the noblest horse of the world,strained him mightily and stably,and kept still the spear in the rest;and therewith Sir Launcelot strained himself so straitly,with so great force,to get the horse forward,that the button of his wound brast both within and without;and therewithal the blood came out so fiercely that he felt himself so feeble that he might not sit upon his horse.And then Sir Launcelot cried unto Sir Bors:Ah,Sir Bors and Sir Lavaine,help,for I am come to mine end.
And therewith he fell down on the one side to the earth like a dead corpse.And then Sir Bors and Sir Lavaine came to him with sorrow-making out of measure.And so by fortune the maiden Elaine heard their mourning,and then she came thither;and when she found Sir Launcelot there armed in that place she cried and wept as she had been wood;and then she kissed him,and did what she might to awake him.And then she rebuked her brother and Sir Bors,and called them false traitors,why they would take him out of his bed;there she cried,and said she would appeal them of his death.
With this came the holy hermit,Sir Baudwin of Brittany,and when he found Sir Launcelot in that plight he said but little,but wit ye well he was wroth;and then he bade them:Let us have him in.And so they all bare him unto the hermitage,and unarmed him,and laid him in his bed;and evermore his wound bled piteously,but he stirred no limb of him.Then the knight-hermit put a thing in his nose and a little deal of water in his mouth.And then Sir Launcelot waked of his swoon,and then the hermit staunched his bleeding.And when he might speak he asked Sir Launcelot why he put his life in jeopardy.Sir,said Sir Launcelot,because I weened I had been strong,and also Sir Bors told me that there should be at All Hallowmass a great jousts betwixt King Arthur and the King of Northgalis,and therefore I thought to assay it myself whether I might be there or not.Ah,Sir Launcelot,said the hermit,your heart and your courage will never be done until your last day,but ye shall do now by my counsel Let Sir Bors depart from you,and let him do at that tournament what he may:And by the grace of God,said the knight-hermit,by that the tournament be done and ye come hither again,Sir Launcelot shall be as whole as ye,so that he will be governed by me.
CHAPTER XVIII
How Sir Bors returned and told tidings of Sir Launcelot;and of the tourney,and to whom the prize was given.
THEN Sir Bors made him ready to depart from Sir Launcelot;and then Sir Launcelot said:Fair cousin,Sir Bors,recommend me unto all them unto whom me ought to recommend me unto.And I pray you,enforce yourself at that jousts that ye may be best,for my love;and here shall I abide you at the mercy of God till ye come again.
And so Sir Bors departed and came to the court of King Arthur,and told them in what place he had left Sir Launcelot.That me repenteth,said the king,but since he shall have his life we all may thank God.And there Sir Bors told the queen in what jeopardy Sir Launcelot was when he would assay his horse.And all that he did,madam,was for the love of you,because he would have been at this tournament.Fie on him,recreant knight,said the queen,for wit ye well I am right sorry an he shall have his life.
His life shall he have,said Sir Bors,and who that would otherwise,except you,madam,we that be of his blood should help to short their lives.But madam,said Sir Bors,ye have been oft-times displeased with my lord,Sir Launcelot,but at all times at the end ye find him a true knight:
and so he departed.
And then every knight of the Round Table that were there at that time present made them ready to be at that jousts at All Hallowmass,and thither drew many knights of divers countries.And as All Hallowmass drew near,thither came the King of Northgalis,and the King with the Hundred Knights,and Sir Galahad,the haut prince,of Surluse,and thither came King Anguish of Ireland,and the King of Scots.So these three kings came on King Arthur's party.And so that day Sir Gawaine did great deeds of arms,and began first.And the heralds numbered that Sir Gawaine smote down twenty knights.Then Sir Bors de Ganis came in the same time,and he was numbered that he smote down twenty knights;and therefore the prize was given betwixt them both,for they began first and longest endured.Also Sir Gareth,as the book saith,did that day great deeds of arms,for he smote down and pulled down thirty knights.But when he had done these deeds he tarried not but so departed,and therefore he lost his prize.And Sir Palomides did great deeds of arms that day,for he smote down twenty knights,but he departed suddenly,and men deemed Sir Gareth and he rode together to some manner adventures.