Then King Mark rode till he came to a fountain, and there he rested
him, and stood in a doubt whether he would ride to Arthur’s court or
none, or return again to his country. And as he thus rested him by that
fountain there came by him a knight well armed on horseback; and he
alighted, and tied his horse until a tree, and set him down by the
brink of the fountain; and there he made great languor and dole, and
made the dolefullest complaint of love that ever man heard; and all
this while was he not ware of King Mark. And this was a great part of
his complaint: he cried and wept, saying: O fair Queen of Orkney, King
Lot’s wife, and mother of Sir Gawaine, and to Sir Gaheris, and mother
to many other, for thy love I am in great pains. Then King Mark arose
and went near him and said: Fair knight, ye have made a piteous
complaint. Truly, said the knight, it is an hundred part more ruefuller
than my heart can utter. I require you, said King Mark, tell me your
name. Sir, said he, as for my name I will not hide it from no knight
that beareth a shield, and my name is Sir Lamorak de Galis. But when
Sir Lamorak heard King Mark speak, then wist he well by his speech that
he was a Cornish knight. Sir, said Sir Lamorak, I understand by your
tongue ye be of Cornwall, wherein there dwelleth the shamefullest king
that is now living, for he is a great enemy to all good knights; and
that proveth well, for he hath chased out of that country Sir Tristram,
that is the worshipfullest knight that now is living, and all knights
speak of him worship; and for jealousness of his queen he hath chased
him out of his country. It is pity, said Sir Lamorak, that ever any
such false knight-coward as King Mark is, should be matched with such a
fair lady and good as La Beale Isoud is, for all the world of him
speaketh shame, and of her worship that any queen may have. I have not
ado in this matter, said King Mark, neither nought will I speak
thereof. Well said, said Sir Lamorak. Sir, can ye tell me any tidings?
I can tell you, said Sir Lamorak, that there shall be a great
tournament in haste beside Camelot, at the Castle of Jagent; and the
King with the Hundred Knights and the King of Ireland, as I suppose,
make that tournament.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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