And then in a valley they met with a knight all armed, which proffered
them to joust as far as he saw them. In the name of God, said Sir
Gawaine, sith I departed from Camelot there was none proffered me to
joust but once. And now, sir, said Ector, let me joust with him. Nay,
said Gawaine, ye shall not but if I be beat; it shall not for-think me
then if ye go after me. And then either embraced other to joust and
came together as fast as their horses might run, and brast their
shields and the mails, and the one more than the other; and Gawaine was
wounded in the left side, but the other knight was smitten through the
breast, and the spear came out on the other side, and so they fell both
out of their saddles, and in the falling they brake both their spears.
Anon Gawaine arose and set his hand to his sword, and cast his shield
afore him. But all for naught was it, for the knight had no power to
arise against him. Then said Gawaine: Ye must yield you as an overcome
man, or else I may slay you. Ah, sir knight, said he, I am but dead,
for God’s sake and of your gentleness lead me here unto an abbey that I
may receive my Creator. Sir, said Gawaine, I know no house of religion
hereby. Sir, said the knight, set me on an horse to-fore you, and I
shall teach you. Gawaine set him up in the saddle, and he leapt up
behind him for to sustain him, and so came to an abbey where they were
well received; and anon he was unarmed, and received his Creator. Then
he prayed Gawaine to draw out the truncheon of the spear out of his
body. Then Gawaine asked him what he was, that knew him not. I am, said
he, of King Arthur’s court, and was a fellow of the Round Table, and we
were brethren sworn together; and now Sir Gawaine, thou hast slain me,
and my name is Uwaine les Avoutres, that sometime was son unto King
Uriens, and was in the quest of the Sangreal; and now forgive it thee
God, for it shall ever be said that the one sworn brother hath slain
the other.
CHAPTER III. How Sir Gawaine and Sir Ector came to an hermitage to be
confessed, and how they told to the hermit their advisions.
Alas, said Gawaine, that ever this misadventure is befallen me. No
force, said Uwaine, sith I shall die this death, of a much more
worshipfuller man’s hand might I not die; but when ye come to the court
recommend me unto my lord, King Arthur, and all those that be left
alive, and for old brotherhood think on me. Then began Gawaine to weep,
and Ector also. And then Uwaine himself and Sir Gawaine drew out the
truncheon of the spear, and anon departed the soul from the body. Then
Sir Gawaine and Sir Ector buried him as men ought to bury a king’s son,
and made write upon his name, and by whom he was slain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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