Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK VII CHAPTER XXVI

Sacred Texts  Legends and Sagas  Index  BOOK VII  Previous  Next 

 CHAPTER XXVI
 
 How King Arthur sent for the Lady Lionesse, and how she
 let cry a tourney at her castle, whereas came many knights.
 
 THEN said Sir Gawaine and his brethren unto Arthur, Sir, an ye
 will give us leave, we will go and seek our brother.  Nay, said
 Sir Launcelot, that shall ye not need; and so said Sir Baudwin of
 Britain: for as by our advice the king shall send unto Dame
 Lionesse a messenger, and pray her that she will come to the
 court in all the haste that she may, and doubt ye not she will
 come; and then she may give you best counsel where ye shall find
 him.  This is well said of you, said the king.  So then goodly
 letters were made, and the messenger sent forth, that night and
 day he went till he came unto the Castle Perilous.  And then the
 lady Dame Lionesse was sent for, thereas she was with Sir
 Gringamore her brother and Sir Gareth.  And when she understood
 this message, she bade him ride on his way unto King Arthur, and
 she would come after in all goodly haste.  Then when she came to
 Sir Gringamore and to Sir Gareth, she told them all how King
 Arthur had sent for her.  That is because of me, said Sir Gareth. 
 Now advise me, said Dame Lionesse, <257>what shall I say, and in
 what manner I shall rule me.  My lady and my love, said Sir
 Gareth, I pray you in no wise be ye aknowen where I am; but well
 I wot my mother is there and all my brethren, and they will take
 upon them to seek me, I wot well that they do.  But this, madam,
 I would ye said and advised the king when he questioned with you
 of me.  Then may ye say, this is your advice that, an it like his
 good grace, ye will do make a cry against the feast of the
 Assumption of our Lady, that what knight there proveth him best
 he shall wield you and all your land.  And if so be that he be a
 wedded man, that his wife shall have the degree, and a coronal of
 gold beset with stones of virtue to the value of a thousand
 pound, and a white gerfalcon.
 
 So Dame Lionesse departed and came to King Arthur, where she was
 nobly received, and there she was sore questioned of the king and
 of the Queen of Orkney.  And she answered, where Sir Gareth was
 she could not tell.  But thus much she said unto Arthur:  Sir, I
 will let cry a tournament that shall be done before my castle at
 the Assumption of our Lady, and the cry shall be this: that you,
 my lord Arthur, shall be there, and your knights, and I will
 purvey that my knights shall be against yours; and then I am sure
 ye shall hear of Sir Gareth.  This is well advised, said King
 Arthur; and so she departed.  And the king and she made great
 provision to that tournament.
 
 When Dame Lionesse was come to the Isle of Avilion, that was the
 same isle thereas her brother Sir Gringamore dwelt, then she told
 them all how she had done, and what promise she had made to King
 Arthur.  Alas, said Sir Gareth, I have been so wounded with
 unhappiness sithen I came into this castle that I shall not be
 able to do at that tournament like a knight; for I was never
 thoroughly whole since I was hurt.  Be ye of good cheer, said the
 damosel Linet, for I undertake within these fifteen days to make
 ye whole, and as lusty as ever ye were.  And then she laid an
 ointment and a salve to him as it pleased to her, that he was
 never so fresh nor so lusty.  Then said <258>the damosel Linet: 
 Send you unto Sir Persant of Inde, and assummon him and his
 knights to be here with you as they have promised.  Also, that ye
 send unto Sir Ironside, that is the Red Knight of the Red Launds,
 and charge him that he be ready with you with his whole sum of
 knights, and then shall ye be able to match with King Arthur and
 his knights.  So this was done, and all knights were sent for
 unto the Castle Perilous; and then the Red Knight answered and
 said unto Dame Lionesse, and to Sir Gareth, Madam, and my lord
 Sir Gareth, ye shall understand that I have been at the court of
 King Arthur, and Sir Persant of Inde and his brethren, and there
 we have done our homage as ye commanded us.  Also Sir Ironside
 said, I have taken upon me with Sir Persant of Inde and his
 brethren to hold part against my lord Sir Launcelot and the
 knights of that court.  And this have I done for the love of my
 lady Dame Lionesse, and you my lord Sir Gareth.  Ye have well
 done, said Sir Gareth; but wit you well ye shall be full sore
 matched with the most noble knights of the world; therefore we
 must purvey us of good knights, where we may get them.  That is
 well said, said Sir Persant, and worshipfully.
 
 And so the cry was made in England, Wales, and Scotland, Ireland,
 Cornwall, and in all the Out Isles, and in Brittany and in many
 countries; that at the feast of our Lady the Assumption next
 coming, men should come to the Castle Perilous beside the Isle of
 Avilion; and there all the knights that there came should have
 the choice whether them list to be on the one party with the
 knights of the castle, or on the other party with King Arthur. 
 And two months was to the day that the tournament should be.  And
 so there came many good knights that were at their large, and
 held them for the most part against King Arthur and his knights
 of the Round Table and came in the side of them of the castle. 
 For Sir Epinogrus was the first, and he was the king's son of
 Northumberland, and Sir Palamides the Saracen was another, and
 Sir Safere his brother, and Sir Segwarides his brother, but they
 were christened, and Sir Malegrine <259>another, and Sir Brian de
 les Isles, a noble knight, and Sir Grummore Grummursum, a good
 knight of Scotland, and Sir Carados of the dolorous tower, a
 noble knight, and Sir Turquine his brother, and Sir Arnold and
 Sir Gauter, two brethren, good knights of Cornwall.  There came
 Sir Tristram de Liones, and with him Sir Dinas, the Seneschal,
 and Sir Sadok; but this Sir Tristram was not at that time knight
 of the Table Round, but he was one of the best knights of the
 world.  And so all these noble knights accompanied them with the
 lady of the castle, and with the Red Knight of the Red Launds;
 but as for Sir Gareth, he would not take upon him more but as
 other mean knights.