Then the king went out of Carlion, for there was the feast, and there
came to him this lord, and saluted the king in a goodly manner. What
will ye, said King Arthur, and what is your errand? Sir, he said, my
name is the Red Knight of the Red Launds, but my name is Sir Ironside;
and sir, wit ye well, here I am sent to you of a knight that is called
Beaumains, for he won me in plain battle hand for hand, and so did
never no knight but he, that ever had the better of me this thirty
winter; the which commanded to yield me to you at your will. Ye are
welcome, said the king, for ye have been long a great foe to me and my
court, and now I trust to God I shall so entreat you that ye shall be
my friend. Sir, both I and these five hundred knights shall always be
at your summons to do you service as may lie in our powers. Jesu mercy,
said King Arthur, I am much beholden unto that knight that hath put so
his body in devoir to worship me and my court. And as to thee,
Ironside, that art called the Red Knight of the Red Launds, thou art
called a perilous knight; and if thou wilt hold of me I shall worship
thee and make thee knight of the Table Round; but then thou must be no
more a murderer. Sir, as to that, I have promised unto Sir Beaumains
never more to use such customs, for all the shameful customs that I
used I did at the request of a lady that I loved; and therefore I must
go unto Sir Launcelot, and unto Sir Gawaine, and ask them forgiveness
of the evil will I had unto them; for all that I put to death was all
only for the love of Sir Launcelot and of Sir Gawaine. They be here
now, said the king, afore thee, now may ye say to them what ye will.
And then he kneeled down unto Sir Launcelot, and to Sir Gawaine, and
prayed them of forgiveness of his enmity that ever he had against them.
CHAPTER XXIV. How King Arthur pardoned them, and demanded of them where
Sir Gareth was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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