King Arthur and the Knights of the Round TableMalory, Thomas, Sir
General
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Malory, Thomas, Sir
Arthurian romances
At that the knight set down the maid, and dropped his shield, and drew
forth his sword against Sir Bors, who ran at him, and smote him through
both shield and shoulder, and threw him to the earth; and when he pulled
his spear forth, the knight swooned. Then the maid thanked Sir Bors
heartily, and he set her on the knight's horse, and brought her to her
men-at-arms, who presently came riding after her. And they made much
joy, and besought him to come to her father, a great lord, and he should
be right welcome. But "truly," said he, "I may not at this time, for I
have a great adventure yet to do"; and commending them to God, he
departed in great haste to find his brother.
So he rode, seeking him by the track of the horses a great while. Anon
he met a seeming holy man riding upon a strong black horse, and asked
him, had he seen pass by that way a knight led bound and beaten with
thorns by two others.
"Yea, truly, such an one I saw," said the man; "but he is dead, and lo!
his body is hard by in a bush."
Then he showed him a newly slain body lying in a thick bush, which
seemed indeed to be Sir Lionel. Then made Sir Bors such mourning and
sorrow that by-and-by he fell into a swoon upon the ground. And when he
came to himself again, he took the body in his arms and put it on his
horse's saddle, and bore it to a chapel hard by, and would have buried
it. But when he made the sign of the cross, he heard a full great noise
and cry as though all the fiends of hell had been about him, and
suddenly the body and the chapel and the old man vanished all away. Then
he knew that it was the devil who had thus beguiled him, and that his
brother yet lived.
Then held he up his hands to heaven, and thanked God for his own escape
from hurt, and rode onwards; and anon, as he passed by an hermitage in a
forest, he saw his brother sitting armed by the door. And when he saw
him he was filled with joy, and lighted from his horse, and ran to him
and said, "Fair brother, when came ye hither?"
But Sir Lionel answered, with an angry face, "What vain words be these,
when for you I might have been slain? Did ye not see me bound and led
away to death, and left me in that peril to go succoring a gentlewoman,
the like whereof no brother ever yet hath done? Now, for thy false
misdeed, I do defy thee, and ensure thee speedy death."
Then Sir Bors prayed his brother to abate his anger, and said, "Fair
brother, remember the love that should be between us twain."
But Sir Lionel would not hear, and prepared to fight, and mounted his
horse and came before him, crying, "Sir Bors, keep thee from me, for I
shall do to thee as a felon and a traitor; therefore, start upon thy
horse, for if thou wilt not, I will run upon thee as thou standest."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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