Quoth King Lot's son unto the Waleis,' Sir Knight, here thou doest ill 375 In that thou withholdest greeting--tho' patient I wait thy will Far otherwise can I bear me! Know thou that to friend and king, Yea, to all whom I count my fellows, thy deed doth dishonour bring, And our shame ever waxeth greater; yet prayed I for thee this grace, The king of free heart forgives thee, if now thou shalt seek his face. 380 So hearken, I pray, my counsel, and do thou as I shall say, And ride thou with me to King Arthur, nor too long shalt thou find the way.' Nor threatening nor prayer might move him, this fair son of Gamuret: Then the pride of King Arthur's knighthood his memory backward set, And he thought of Frau Minne's dealings, and the time when the knife's sharp blade 385 He drave thro' his hand unwitting, thro' the love of a gracious maid. And that time when from death's cold clutches, a queen's hand had set him free, When of Lähelein was he vanquished, and captive in joust was he, And a queen in the day of his danger must pledge her fair life for his, And her name shall of men be praisèd, Queen Ingus of Bachtarliess. 390 Thought Gawain, 'It may be Frau Minne dealeth so with this goodly man, As she dealt with me of old time, so claspeth him in the ban Of her magic spells fair-woven, that his spirit within the snare She holdeth fast entangled'--Then his eyes on the snow-flakes fair He cast, and he knew the token, and swift from the spell-bound sight 395 With cloth of fair silk and sendal, he covered the blood-drops bright. The blood-stained snow was hidden, nor longer its spell was seen, And his sight and his sense unclouded she gave him, his wife and queen; Yet his heart did she hold in her keeping, and its dwelling was Pelrapär, And he cried aloud in his sorrow thro' the silent summer air; 400 'Alas! who of thee hath robbed me, who erewhile wast my queen and wife, For thy love, thy crown, and thy kingdom my right hand hath won in strife. Say, say, am I he who saved thee from Klamidé the warrior king? Yea, sorrow and bitter sighing, and grief that the heart doth wring Are the guerdons I won in thy service, and now from mine eyes be-dazed 405 Art thou reft, and thy place I know not, tho' but now on thy face I gazed.'