Part 6
Then Beaumains told Sir Persant that his name was Sir Gareth. And the maiden said that hers was Linet, and that she was sister to Dame Lionesse, who was besieged.
Then the dwarf took word to the lady who was besieged, and the others came on after.
"How escaped he," said the lady, Dame Lionesse, "from the brethren of Sir Persant?"
"Madam," said the dwarf, "as a noble knight should."
"Ah," said Dame Lionesse, "commend me unto your gentle knight, and pray him to eat and drink and make him strong. Also pray him that he be of good heart and courage, for he shall meet with a knight who is neither of bounty, courtesy, nor gentleness; for he attendeth unto nothing but murder, and that is the cause I cannot praise him nor love him."
All that night Beaumains lay in an hermitage, and upon the morn he and the damosel Linet broke their fast and heard mass. Then took they their horses, and, riding through a fair forest, they came out upon a plain where there were many pavilions and tents and a castle and much smoke and a great noise. When they came near the siege Beaumains espied upon great trees goodly knights hanging by the neck, their shields about their necks with their swords, and gilt spurs upon their heels. There hung high forty knights.
"What meanest this?" said Sir Beaumains.
"Fair sir, "answered the damosel, "these knights came hither to this siege to rescue my sister, Dame Lionesse, and when the Red Knight of the Red Lands had overcome them he put them to this shameful death."
Then rode they to the dikes, and saw them double-diked with full warlike walls; and there were lodged many great lords nigh the walls; and there was great noise of minstrelsy; and the sea beat upon the side of the walls, where there were many ships and mariners' noise. And also there was fast by a sycamore-tree, and there hung a horn, the greatest that ever they saw, of an elephant's bone. Therewith Beaumains spurred his horse straight to the sycamore-tree, and blew so eagerly the horn that all the siege and the castle rang thereof. And then there leaped out knights out of their tents and pavilions, and they within the castle looked over the walls and out of windows. Then the Red Knight of the Red Lands armed him hastily, and two barons set on his spurs upon his heels, and all was blood red, his armor, spear, and shield.
"Sir," said the damosel Linet, "look you be glad and light, for yonder is your deadly enemy, and at yonder window is my sister, Dame Lionesse."
Then Beaumains and the Red Knight put their spears in their rests, and came together with all their might, and either smote the other in the middle of their shields, that the surcingles and cruppers broke and fell to the earth both, and the two knights lay stunned upon the ground. But soon they got to their feet and drew their swords and ran together like two fierce lions. And then they fought until it was past noon, tracing, racing, and foining as two boars. Thus they endured until evensong time, and their armor was so hewn to pieces that men might see their naked sides. Then the Red Knight gave Beaumains a buffet upon the helm, so that he fell groveling to the earth.
Then cried the maiden Linet on high: "Oh, Sir Beaumains, where is thy courage? Alas! my sister beholdeth thee and she sobbeth and weepeth."
When Beaumains heard this he lifted himself up with great effort and got upon his feet, and lightly he leaped to his sword and gripped it in his hand. And he smote so thick that he smote the sword out of the Red Knight's hand. Sir Beaumains fell upon him and unlaced his helm to have slain him. But at the request of the lords he saved his life and made him yield him to the lady.
And so it was that Beaumains, or Sir Gareth, as his real name was, came into the presence of his lady and won her love through his meekness and gentleness and courtesy and courage, as every true knight should win the love of his lady.
* * * * *
So ends happily one of the charming stories of adventure and knighthood in one of the greatest Cycles of Romance the world has ever known. Indeed, in that Great Palace we have entered, and some of whose golden doors we have been opening, there is no door more loved by human beings than the one over which is written _Romance_, for boys and girls and their elders have always loved a romantic story, and always will.
There are four great romantic stories in the Palace of English Literature. The first is _King Arthur and the Round Table_, which Geoffrey of Monmouth discovered for us by his golden window. The second great romance is the story of Charlemagne. This was in the twelfth century, and the most valiant story which grew out of the Charlemagne Cycle was that of Roland. Every one should know the story of Roland and his famous sword, Durendal. The third is the _Life_ _of Alexander_, which came to England from the east. And the fourth is the _Siege of Troy_, composed in the thirteenth century and written in Latin.
It takes many, many stories to satisfy our love of Romance. As we pass through the golden door over which is written _Romance_, one whole wall is filled with the names of lesser romances forgotten long, long ago. But the stories which Sir Thomas Malory gave us in his _Morte d'Arthur_, written in 1469, will never be forgotten as long as the English language is spoken.
CHRONOLOGY
+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------- | HISTORY | LITERATURE | SCIENCE AND ART -------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------- | Romans leave | St. Augustine, | Galen, the great | Britain, 409-420. | 354-430. | doctor, d. 200. | Coming of Angles and | Earliest Gaelic lays,| Baths of Caracalla, 200-600| Saxons, 449. | 200-300. | 215. | King Arthur, d. 520. | St. Patrick, d. 465. | Great Roman Roads. | | Merlin, 475-575. | Underground churches | | Taliesin, 500-560. | for Christians, | | "Traveller's Song," | 250-260. | | Widsith. | Glass used in | | | cathedral | | | windows, 300. | | | First bells in | | | Europe. | | | The first clock, | | | a water-clock, | | | 5th century. -------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------- | Charlemagne, | Beowulf, 7th century,| The first stone | 742-814. | formative period. | English churches, | First landing of | Cædmon, late 7th | 680. | Danes, 787. | century. | The organ used in a | Alfred, 871-900. | Judith. | church, 757. | Battle of | The Fight at | Worms Cathedral | Brunanburh, 937. | Finnesburg. | commenced, 996. | Canute, 1016-1035. | St. Cuthbert, d.686. | | Macbeth, 1040-1057. | Aldhelm, 655-709. | | Edward the | _Arabian Nights_ | | Confessor, 1042. | (Traditions of), | 600- | Harold, 1066. | c. 700. | 1066 | | "Deor's Lament." | | | Bede, 670?-735. | | | Cynewulf, c. | | | 725-800. | | | Old German | | | alliterative | | | poetry, 8th | | | century. | | | Nennius, Historia | | | Britonum, probl. | | | 9th century. | | | Alfred's | | | translations, | | | after 871. | | | Anglo-Saxon | | | Chronicle, | | | 875-1154. | | | _Asser's Life of | | | Alfred_, 910. | | | Poems "Battle of | | | Brunanburh," 937; | | | "Battle of | | | Maldon," 994. | | | First medieval | | | drama, 980. | | | Aelfric's Homilies, | | | 995. | | | Early Chanson de | | | Gestes and | | | Fabliaux, 1000 | | | and later. | -------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------- | William the | "Chanson de Roland," | Striking clocks with | Conqueror, | composed | wheels, late | 1066-1087. | 1066-1097? | 11th century. | The Crusades, | Archbishop Anselm, | Westminster Hall and | 1095-1270. | 1093-1109. | London Bridge | Feudal system | William of Guienne, | built, late 11th | in England. | the first | century. | _Domesday Book_, | troubadour, | Wool manufactured | 1086. | late 11th | in England, early | William II., | century. | 12th century. | 1087-1100. | William of | Silk cultivated in | Henry I., 1100-1135. | Malmesbury, | Sicily, 1146. | Stephen, 1135-1154. | 1095-1142. | Leaning Tower of | Civil War, | Chansons | Pisa commenced, 1066- | 1139-1142. | d'Alexandre, | 1174. 1200 | Henry II., | 1050-1150. | | 1154-1189. | Chronicle of | | Thomas à Becket, | Geoffrey of | | d. 1170. | Monmouth, 1137. | | Richard I., | Nibelungen Lied, | | 1189-1199. | c. 1140. | | John, 1199-1216. | Wace's "Brut | | | d'Angleterre," | | | 1155. | | | Minnesingers. | | | Arthurian legends, | | | 12th century. | | | Giraldus Cambrensis, | | | 1147-1216. | | | Crestien de Troyes, | | | 1140-1227. | | | Gottfried von | | | Strasburg. | | | Marie de France, | | | Lais, late 12th | | | century. | -------+----------------------+----------------------+--------------------- | Magna Charta, 1215. | Walther von der | University of Paris | Henry III., | Vogelweide, c. | Charter, c. 1200. | 1216-1272. | 1170-1235. | The University of | The Barons' War, | St. Francis of | Oxford Charter, | 1262-1266. | Assisi, 1182-1226. | c. 1200. | Edward I., | Wolfram von | The University of | 1272-1307. | Eschenbach's | Cambridge | Wales subdued, 1282. | "Parzival," early | Charter, c. 1231. | William Wallace, fl. | 13th century. | Roger Bacon, | 1296-1298. | The Bestiary, early | 1214-1292. | Edward II., | 13th century. | (Reference to | 1307-1327. | Romance of the Rose, | gunpowder.) | Robert Bruce, | 13th and 14th | Cologne Cathedral | 1306-1329. | centuries. | commenced, 1249. 1200- | Battle of | Havelok (English | First rag paper, c. 1350 | Bannockburn, 1314, | version), 1300. | 1300. | Edward III., | Bevis of Hampton | First apothecaries | 1327-1377. | (English version), | in England, 1345. | Scotland | c. 1300. | Glass windows in | reorganized, 1328. | Guy of Warwick | general use, | Opening of Hundred | (English version), | 1345. | Years' War | c. 1300. | | with France, 1337. | Mabinogion, | | | 1250-1290. | | | King Horn (English | | | version), 1250. | | | Dante, 1265-1321. | | | Jean de Meung, b. | | | 1280. | -------+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------
Transcriber's Note:
Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Small capitals have been rendered in full capitals. A number of minor spelling errors have been corrected without note.
End of Project Gutenberg's Early English Hero Tales, by Jeannette Marks