And therewith Sir Gawaine plight his troth unto Sir Pelleas to be true
and faithful unto him; so each one plight their troth to other, and so
they changed horses and harness, and Sir Gawaine departed, and came to
the castle whereas stood the pavilions of this lady without the gate.
And as soon as Ettard had espied Sir Gawaine she fled in toward the
castle. Sir Gawaine spake on high, and bade her abide, for he was not
Sir Pelleas; I am another knight that have slain Sir Pelleas. Do off
your helm, said the Lady Ettard, that I may see your visage. And so
when she saw that it was not Sir Pelleas, she bade him alight and led
him unto her castle, and asked him faithfully whether he had slain Sir
Pelleas. And he said her yea, and told her his name was Sir Gawaine of
the court of King Arthur, and his sister’s son. Truly, said she, that
is great pity, for he was a passing good knight of his body, but of all
men alive I hated him most, for I could never be quit of him; and for
ye have slain him I shall be your woman, and to do anything that might
please you. So she made Sir Gawaine good cheer. Then Sir Gawaine said
that he loved a lady and by no means she would love him. She is to
blame, said Ettard, an she will not love you, for ye that be so well
born a man, and such a man of prowess, there is no lady in the world
too good for you. Will ye, said Sir Gawaine, promise me to do all that
ye may, by the faith of your body, to get me the love of my lady? Yea,
sir, said she, and that I promise you by the faith of my body. Now,
said Sir Gawaine, it is yourself that I love so well, therefore I pray
you hold your promise. I may not choose, said the Lady Ettard, but if I
should be forsworn; and so she granted him to fulfil all his desire.
So it was then in the month of May that she and Sir Gawaine went out of
the castle and supped in a pavilion, and there was made a bed, and
there Sir Gawaine and the Lady Ettard went to bed together, and in
another pavilion she laid her damosels, and in the third pavilion she
laid part of her knights, for then she had no dread of Sir Pelleas. And
there Sir Gawaine lay with her in that pavilion two days and two
nights. And on the third day, in the morning early, Sir Pelleas armed
him, for he had never slept since Sir Gawaine departed from him; for
Sir Gawaine had promised him by the faith of his body, to come to him
unto his pavilion by that priory within the space of a day and a night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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