CHAPTER XXIX

SIR ARTEGALL DOES JUSTICE

The marriage of Sir Marinell and the fair Florimell having been duly celebrated with much rejoicing and great festivity, Sir Artegall set forth again upon his travels. On his way, which for a while lay by the seashore, he came upon two men who were wholly taken up with a great quarrel. They were brothers, as might clearly be seen by the likeness between them. Near them stood two fair dames who would fain have reconciled them; but the brothers took no heed of their words, whether they spoke gently or in threatening fashion. Between them stood a strong chest, bound about with bands of iron; it seemed to have been much battered, whether by the violence of the sea or by the chances of long travel from foreign parts. It was indeed for this that the two seemed to be contending, for now the one and now the other would lay his hands upon it; so did they well-nigh come to blows, but the two damsels had so far hindered them from coming to this extremity. Not the less were they bent on trying their cause by the sword. It seemed as if it could not be decided in any other fashion. But when they were on the point to do so, notwithstanding all that the damsels could say or do, then did Sir Artegall appear.

“Sirs,” said he, “are you content to tell me the cause of your strife?” To this the two gave a common consent.

“Sir,” said the elder—Bracidas was his name—“our father, who was a knight, Milesio by name, divided between us, by his testament, his estate, that is to say, two islands which you see yonder. One is but a little mount, but in years past it was fully as long and broad as that which you see on the other side of the bay. To me he bequeathed that island which you see to be so small; for the sea, as years have passed by, has wasted it, and in so doing has largely increased the other, for what the waves took away from my land they added unto his. There is also this to be told. I was betrothed to that fair lady who stands yonder, Philtera by name, and with her I was to receive a goodly dowry, so soon as we should be linked together in bonds of wedlock. My younger brother, whose name is Amidas, was betrothed to that other dame whom you see yonder, Lucy by name. She had but small dower, but much of that which is far better—to wit, goodness. Now when the lady Philtera saw that my lands had been greatly decayed and the lands of my brother not less increased, she deserted me and betook herself to my brother, who, that he might receive her, deserted his own betrothed, to wit, the fair Lucy. Thereupon this damsel, in her unhappiness, thinking it better to die than to suffer such a contumely and pain, threw herself into the sea. But while she floated among the waves, being, I take it, buoyed up by her clothing, she chanced upon this chest which you see. And now there befell her what has often befallen others in like case. She, who had thought death to be better than life, when she saw his terrors close at hand, changed her mind, and desired to live. Catching hold, therefore, of this chest, she clung to it, and after much tossing by the sea, was at last thrown upon my island, and I, chancing at that time to be walking on the shore, espied her; and she being by this time much spent with hunger and cold, and little able to help herself, I did, so to speak, save her from death. And she, being not a little grateful for this same help, bestowed upon me the dowry which fortune had given her, to wit the chest on which she had chanced, and what was far more precious, her own self. When we had opened the chest, we found in it a great store of treasure, and took it for our own use. But now this damsel, Philtera, maintains that this chest is hers by right, that she was bringing it from foreign lands that she might deliver it to her husband, and that she suffered shipwreck by the way. Whether this be so or no, I cannot say; but this I do maintain, that whatever by good fortune or by the ordering of God has been brought into my hands is verily mine, I not having in any wise contrived the same. My land he has, and also my betrothed, though of that I take no count, but my good luck he shall not have!”

To this the younger of the two made this answer: “As for the two islands, it is as my brother has said. I do not deny the truth. But as for this chest and the treasure therein, which has been cast by the sea upon his island, that I do affirm to belong to the Lady Philtera, my wife, as she can prove by most certain signs and tokens, and I do claim that it be straightway rendered up to her.”

Sir Artegall said: “It were no hard thing to decide this matter, if you would refer it to the judgment of some just man. Are you content so to do?”

“Yes,” said the two with one voice, “you shall be a judge between us, and we will abide by the judgment that you shall give.”

“Then lay down your swords under my feet,” said Sir Artegall, and they laid them down.

Then Sir Artegall, turning himself to the younger of the two brothers, said to him: “Tell me now by what right you hold for yourself, and withhold from your brother, the land which the sea has taken from him and added to you?”

“I do so,” the man made answer, “because the sea bestowed it upon me.”

“You are in the right,” said Sir Artegall; “it is yours, keep it.” Then turning himself to the elder, he said: “Bracidas, by what right do you hold this treasure of which your brother and his wife affirm, and not without reason, that it is theirs?”

“I hold it,” said he, “because the sea bestowed it upon me.”

“You also are in the right,” said Sir Artegall; “it is yours; keep it.” Then, speaking to both, he thus declared his sentence: “That which the sea has taken is his own. None who before possessed it has claim upon it. He may bestow it as he will. The land which he took from Sir Bracidas he gave to Sir Amidas; let it therefore remain in his hand. The treasure which he took from Sir Amidas, or from the Lady Philtera, his wife, he gave to Sir Bracidas; let him also keep it.”

The matter being settled, the knight went on his way. After a while he espied a great rout of people, and turned aside from the road that he might discover what it might mean. When he came near he saw a great crowd of women, in warlike array, with weapons in their hands. And in the midst of them he saw a knight, with his hands tied tightly behind his back, and a halter about his neck; his face was covered, but his head was bare. It was plain that the man was about to be hanged. And, as they went, the women reviled him in bitter words. When Sir Artegall came near, he said: “Tell me, pray, what this may mean.”

To this they gave no answer, but made as if they would assault him. Then, at the knight’s bidding, Talus went among them, and with a few strokes of his iron flail sent them flying hither and thither. Then he took the knight, who would otherwise have been put to death, and brought him to Sir Artegall.

“Sir Turpine, unhappy man”—it so chanced that he knew the man—“how came you into this evil plight? How is it that you suffered yourself to be thus enslaved by women, who should rather be subject to men?” Sir Turpine was sore ashamed and confounded, and could say but little in his excuse for himself; but this was the story which he told.

“I was desirous, as was indeed my knightly duty, to find some adventure which would be praiseworthy in itself, and also bring me to honour. And I heard a report that there was a proud amazon who was accustomed to defy all the knights of Queen Gloriana. Some she had put to shame, and some she had slain. And the cause of her rage was this. She had loved the bold Bellodant, and when he disdained her, then her love was turned to hatred, not towards him only, but towards all knights, to whom she worked, as, indeed, she still works, all the mischief that she can devise. Any whom she can subdue, either by force or fraud, she treats in the most evil fashion. First she takes from them their arms and armour, and then she clothes them in women’s garments, and compels them to earn their bread by women’s work, spinning and sewing and washing and the like. And all the food that she gives them in recompense is but bread and water, so as to disable them from taking their revenge. And if anyone is of so manly a mind that he sets himself against her pleasure, him she causes to be hanged out of hand on that gibbet which you see yonder. And in this case I stood. For when she overcame me in fight, then she put me into that base service of which I have spoken; and when I refused, then she sent me with that rabble of women whom you dispersed, that I might be done to death.”

“By what name do they call this amazon?” said Sir Artegall, “and where does she dwell?”

“Her name,” answered Sir Turpine, “is Radigund; a princess is she of great power and pride, well tried in arms and skilled in battle, more than I could have believed had I not known it by my own experience.”

“Then,” said Sir Artegall, “by the faith which I owe to my queen, and the knighthood which I bear, I will not rest till I have made trial of this same amazon, and have found out for myself what she has of strength and skill. And now, Sir Turpine, put off these unseemly clothes which you wear, and come with me that you may see how my enterprise shall prosper, and whether I shall avenge the cause of knighthood upon this woman.”

To which request Sir Turpine consented with all his heart.