'Sir,' said the maiden, 'my lady sister is of great beauty and renown, and is besieged in her castle by a tyrant-knight, who will not let her go forth from her castle; and because it is said that here in your court are the noblest knights in all the world, I come to you praying for aid.' 'What is your lady sister's name?' asked the king, 'and where doth she dwell, and tell me who is he that doth besiege her?' 'Sir king,' said the lady, 'I may not tell you my sister's name, but she is of great beauty and of wide lands. And the tyrant-knight who besieges her is the Red Knight of Reedlands.' 'I know him not,' replied the king. 'Sir,' cried Sir Gawaine from his seat, 'I know him well. He is one of the perilous knights of the world, for he hath the strength of seven men, and from him I once escaped barely with my life.' 'Fair lady,' said the king, 'I would help you willingly, but as ye will not tell me your lady's name, none of my knights here shall go with you with my consent.' The damsel looked about the hall with a quick angry glance, and the knights that sat there liked not her sour looks. Then from the crowd of scullions and kitchen lads that hung about the serving-tables at the side of the hall came Beaumains, his dress smirched, but his handsome face lit up and his eyes burning with eagerness. 'Sir king!' he cried, holding up his hand, 'a boon I crave!' As he came to the step of the dais the damsel shrank from him as if he had been something foul. 'Say on,' replied the king to the young man. 'God thank you, my king,' went on Beaumains. 'I have been these twelve months in your kitchen, and have had my full living, as ye did graciously order, and now I ask for the two further gifts ye promised.' 'Ye have but to ask,' replied the king. 'Sir, they are these,' said Beaumains. 'First, that you will grant me this adventure of the damsel.' 'I grant it you,' said King Arthur. 'Then, sir, this is the other,--that ye shall bid Sir Lancelot du Lake to follow me, and to make me a knight when I shall desire him.' 'All this shall be done if Sir Lancelot think it well,' said the king. But the lady was exceedingly wroth, and her eyes flashed with scorn as she turned to the king: 'Shame on thee!' she cried; 'will you give me a kitchen scullion to aid me?' With that she hastened from the hall, mounted her horse and rode away. Even as she went forth, a dwarf in the dress of a page entered the hall leading a great horse richly caparisoned, and on the saddle was piled a splendid suit of armour. And the dwarf went up to Beaumains and began to arm him, while men asked each other whence came all this fine gear. When he was dressed in armour, all the knights marvelled to see how goodly a man he looked. Then Beaumains took leave of King Arthur and of Sir Gawaine, and asked Sir Lancelot to follow him.