_ GAWAIN'S ADVENTURE
It befell that, as Gawain went forth one day with King Arthur, he
perceived him to be very sad and sorrowful. And Gawain was much
grieved to see Arthur in his state, and he questioned him, saying,
"O my lord, what has befallen thee?" "In sooth, Gawain," said
Arthur, "I am grieved concerning Owain, whom I have lost these
three years; and I shall certainly die if the fourth year pass
without my seeing him. Now I am sure that it is through the tale
which Kynon, the son of Clydno, related, that I have lost Owain."
"There is no need for thee," said Gawain, "to summon to arms thy
whole dominions on this account, for thou thyself, and the men of
thy household, will be able to avenge Owain if he be slain or to
set him free if he be in prison; and, if alive, to bring him back
with thee." And it was settled according to what Gawain had said.
Then Arthur and the men of his household prepared to go and seek
Owain. And Kynon, the son of Clydno, acted as their guide. And
Arthur came to the castle where Kynon had been before. And when he
came there, the youths were shooting in the same place, and the
yellow man was standing hard by. When the yellow man saw Arthur,
he greeted him, and invited him to the castle. And Arthur accepted
his invitation, and they entered the castle together. And great as
was the number of his retinue, their presence was scarcely
observed in the castle, so vast was its extent. And the maidens
rose up to wait on them. And the service of the maidens appeared
to them all to excel any attendance they had ever met with; and
even the pages, who had charge of the horses, were no worse served
that night than Arthur himself would have been in his own palace.
The next morning Arthur set out thence, with Kynon for his guide,
and came to the place where the black man was. And the stature of
the black man was more surprising to Arthur than it had been
represented to him. And they came to the top of the wooded steep,
and traversed the valley, till they reached the green tree, where
they saw the fountain and the bowl and the slab. And upon that Kay
came to Arthur, and spoke to him. "My lord," said he, "I know the
meaning of all this, and my request is that thou wilt permit me to
throw the water on the slab, and to receive the first adventure
that may befall." And Arthur gave him leave.
Then Kay threw a bowlful of water upon the slab, and immediately
there came the thunder, and after the thunder the shower. And such
a thunder-storm they had never known before. After the shower had
ceased, the sky became clear, and on looking at the tree, they
beheld it completely leafless. Then the birds descended upon the
tree. And the song of the birds was far sweeter than any strain
they had ever heard before. Then they beheld a knight, on a coal-
black horse, clothed in black satin, coming rapidly towards them.
And Kay met him and encountered him, and it was not long before
Kay was overthrown. And the knight withdrew. And Arthur and his
host encamped for the night.
And when they arose in the morning, they perceived the signal of
combat upon the lance of the knight. Then, one by one, all the
household of Arthur went forth to combat the knight, until there
was not one that was not overthrown by him, except Arthur and
Gawain. And Arthur armed himself to encounter the knight. "O my
lord," said Gawain, "permit me to fight with him first." And
Arthur permitted him. And he went forth to meet the knight, having
over himself and his horse a satin robe of honor, which had been
sent him by the daughter of the Earl of Rhangyr, and in this dress
he was not known by any of the host. And they charged each other,
and fought all that day until the evening. And neither of them was
able to unhorse the other. And so it was the next day; they broke
their lances in the shock, but neither of them could obtain the
mastery.
And the third day they fought with exceeding strong lances. And
they were incensed with rage, and fought furiously, even until
noon. And they gave each other such a shock that the girths of
their horses were broken, so that they fell over their horses'
cruppers to the ground. And they rose up speedily and drew their
swords, and resumed the combat. And all they that witnessed their
encounter felt assured that they had never before seen two men so
valiant or so powerful. And had it been midnight, it would have
been light, from the fire that flashed from their weapons. And the
knight gave Gawain a blow that turned his helmet from off his
face, so that the knight saw that it was Gawain. Then Owain said,
"My lord Gawain, I did not know thee for my cousin, owing to the
robe of honor that enveloped thee; take my sword and my arms."
Said Gawain, "Thou, Owain, art the victor; take thou my sword."
And with that Arthur saw that they were conversing, and advanced
toward them. "My lord Arthur," said Gawam, "here is Owain who has
vanquished me, and will not take my arms." "My lord," said Owain,
"it is he that has vanquished me, and he will not take my sword."
"Give me your swords," said Arthur, "and then neither of you has
vanquished the other." Then Owain put his arms around Arthur's
neck, and they embraced. And all the host hurried forward to see
Owain, and to embrace him. And there was nigh being a loss of
life, so great was the press.
And they retired that night, and the next day Arthur prepared to
depart. "My lord," said Owain, "this is not well of thee. For I
have been absent from thee these three years, and during all that
time, up to this very day, I have been preparing a banquet for
thee, knowing that thou wouldst come to seek me. Tarry with me,
therefore, until thou and thy attendants have recovered the
fatigues of the journey, and have been anointed."
And they all proceeded to the castle of the Countess of the
Fountain, and the banquet which had been three years preparing was
consumed in three months. Never had they a more delicious or
agreeable banquet. And Arthur prepared to depart. Then he sent an
embassy to the Countess to beseech her to permit Owain to go with
him, for the space of three months, that he might show him to the
nobles and the fair dames of the island of Britain. And the
Countess gave her consent, although it was very painful to her. So
Owain came with Arthur to the island of Britain. And when he was
once more amongst his kindred and friends, he remained three
years, instead of three months, with them.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE LION
And as Owain one day sat at meat, in the city of Caerleon upon
Usk, behold a damsel entered the hall, upon a bay horse, with a
curling mane, and covered with foam; and the bridle, and as much
as was seen of the saddle, were of gold. And the damsel was
arrayed in a dress of yellow satin. And she came up to Owain, and
took the ring from off his hand. "Thus," said she, "shall be
treated the deceiver, the traitor, the faithless, the disgraced,
and the beardless." And she turned her horse's head and departed.
[Footnote: The custom of riding into a hall while the lord and his
guests sat at meat might be illustrated by numerous passages of
ancient romance and history. But a quotation from Chaucer's
beautiful and half-told tale of "Cambuscan" is sufficient:
"And so befell that after the thridde cours,
While that this king sat thus in his nobley,
Herking his minstralles thir thinges play,
Beforne him at his bord deliciously,
In at the halle door all sodenly
Ther came a knight upon a stede of bras,
And in his hond a brod mirrour of glas;
Upon his thombe he had of gold a ring,
And by his side a naked sword hanging;
And up he rideth to the highe bord.
In all the halle ne was ther spoke a word,
For meryaille of this knight; him to behold
Full besily they waiten, young and old."]
Then his adventure came to Owain's remembrance, and he was
sorrowful. And having finished eating, he went to his own abode,
and made preparations that night. And the next day he arose, but
did not go to the court, nor did he return to the Countess of the
Fountain, but wandered to the distant parts of the earth and to
uncultivated mountains. And he remained there until all his
apparel was worn out, and his body was wasted away, and his hair
was grown long. And he went about with the wild beasts, and fed
with them, until they became familiar with him. But at length he
became so weak that he could no longer bear them company. Then he
descended from the mountains to the valley, and came to a park,
that was the fairest in the world, and belonged to a charitable
lady.
One day the lady and her attendants went forth to walk by a lake
that was in the middle of the park. And they saw the form of a
man, lying as if dead. And they were terrified. Nevertheless they
went near him, and touched him, and they saw that there was life
in him. And the lady returned to the castle, and took a flask full
of precious ointment and gave it to one of her maidens. "Go with
this," said she, "and take with thee yonder horse, and clothing,
and place them near the man we saw just now; and anoint him with
this balsam near his heart; and if there is life in him, he will
revive, through the efficiency of this balsam. Then watch what he
will do."
And the maiden departed from her, and went and poured of the
balsam upon Owain, and left the horse and the garments hard by,
and went a little way off and hid herself to watch him. In a short
time, she saw him begin to move; and he rose up, and looked at his
person, and became ashamed of the unseemliness of his appearance.
Then he perceived the horse and the garments that were near him.
And he clothed himself, and with difficulty mounted the horse.
Then the damsel discovered herself to him, and saluted him. And he
and the maiden proceeded to the castle, and the maiden conducted
him to a pleasant chamber, and kindled a fire, and left him.
And he stayed at the castle three months, till he was restored to
his former guise, and became even more comely than he had ever
been before. And Owain rendered signal service to the lady, in a
controversy with a powerful neighbor, so that he made ample
requital to her for her hospitality; and he took his departure.
And as he journeyed he heard a loud yelling in a wood. And it was
repeated a second and a third time. And Owain went towards the
spot, and beheld a huge craggy mound, in the middle of the wood,
on the side of which was a gray rock. And there was a cleft in the
rock, and a serpent was within the cleft. And near the rock stood
a black lion, and every time the lion sought to go thence the
serpent darted towards him to attack him. And Owain unsheathed his
sword, and drew near to the rock; and as the serpent sprung out he
struck him with his sword and cut him in two. And he dried his
sword, and went on his way as before. But behold the lion followed
him, and played about him, as though it had been a greyhound that
he had reared.
They proceeded thus throughout the day, until the evening. And
when it was time for Owain to take his rest he dismounted, and
turned his horse loose in a flat and wooded meadow. And he struck
fire, and when the fire was kindled, the lion brought him fuel
enough to last for three nights. And the lion disappeared. And
presently the lion returned, bearing a fine large roebuck. And he
threw it down before Owain, who went towards the fire with it.
And Owain took the roebuck, and skinned it, and placed collops of
its flesh upon skewers round the fire. The rest of the buck he
gave to the lion to devour. While he was so employed, he heard a
deep groan near him, and a second, and a third. And the place
whence the groans proceeded was a cave in the rock; and Owain went
near, and called out to know who it was that groaned so piteously.
And a voice answered, "I am Luned, the hand-maiden of the Countess
of the Fountain." "And what dost thou here?" said he. "I am
imprisoned," said she, "on account of the knight who came from
Arthur's court, and married the Countess. And he staid a short
time with her, but he afterwards departed for the court of Arthur,
and has not returned since. And two of the Countess's pages
traduced him, and called him a deceiver. And because I said I
would vouch for it he would come before long and maintain his
cause against both of them, they imprisoned me in this cave, and
said that I should be put to death, unless he came to deliver me,
by a certain day; and that is no further off than to-morrow, and I
have no one to send to seek him for me. His name is Owain, the son
of Urien." "And art thou certain that if that knight knew all
this, he would come to thy rescue?" "I am most certain of it,"
said she.
When the collops were cooked, Owain divided them into two parts,
between himself and the maiden, and then Owain laid himself down
to sleep; and never did sentinel keep stricter watch over his lord
than the lion that night over Owain.
And the next day there came the two pages with a great troop of
attendants to take Luned from her cell, and put her to death. And
Owain asked them what charge they had against her. And they told
him of the compact that was between them; as the maiden had done
the night before. "And," said they, "Owain has failed her,
therefore we are taking her to be burnt." "Truly," said Owain, "he
is a good knight; and if he knew that the maiden was in such
peril, I marvel that he came not to her rescue. But if you will
accept me in his stead, I will do battle with you." "We will,"
said the youth.
And they attacked Owain, and he was hard beset by them. And with
that, the lion came to Owain's assistance, and they two got the
better of the young men And they said to him, "Chieftain, it was
not agreed that we should fight save with thyself alone, and it is
harder for us to contend with yonder animal than with thee." And
Owain put the lion in the place where Luned had been imprisoned,
and blocked up the door with stones. And he went to fight with the
young men as before. But Owain had not his usual strength, and the
two youths pressed hard upon him. And the lion roared incessantly
at seeing Owain in trouble. And he brust through the wall, until
he found a way out, and rushed upon the young men and instantly
slew them. So Luned was saved from being burned.
Then Owain returned with Luned to the castle of the Lady of the
Fountain. And when he went thence, he took the Countess with him
to Arthur's court, and she was his wife as long as she lived. _