At the court of King Arthur there came a young man and bigly made, and
he was richly beseen: and he desired to be made knight of the king, but
his over-garment sat over-thwartly, howbeit it was rich cloth of gold.
What is your name? said King Arthur. Sir, said he, my name is Breunor
le Noire, and within short space ye shall know that I am of good kin.
It may well be, said Sir Kay, the Seneschal, but in mockage ye shall be
called La Cote Male Taile, that is as much to say, the evil-shapen
coat. It is a great thing that thou askest, said the king; and for what
cause wearest thou that rich coat? tell me, for I can well think for
some cause it is. Sir, he answered, I had a father, a noble knight, and
as he rode a-hunting, upon a day it happed him to lay him down to
sleep; and there came a knight that had been long his enemy, and when
he saw he was fast asleep he all to-hew him; and this same coat had my
father on the same time; and that maketh this coat to sit so evil upon
me, for the strokes be on it as I found it, and never shall be amended
for me. Thus to have my father’s death in remembrance I wear this coat
till I be revenged; and because ye are called the most noblest king of
the world I come to you that ye should make me knight. Sir, said Sir
Lamorak and Sir Gaheris, it were well done to make him knight; for him
beseemeth well of person and of countenance, that he shall prove a good
man, and a good knight, and a mighty; for, Sir, an ye be remembered,
even such one was Sir Launcelot du Lake when he came first into this
court, and full few of us knew from whence he came; and now is he
proved the man of most worship in the world; and all your court and all
your Round Table is by Sir Launcelot worshipped and amended more than
by any knight now living. That is truth, said the king, and to-morrow
at your request I shall make him knight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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