Then he thought,'Must I e'en as a smuggler, in hiding-place bestow My goods, then the town is safer, methinks, than the plain below, Nor on gain shall my thoughts be turnèd, for this be my care alone, An Fate will so far befriend me, to guard that which is mine own!' 220 To the city gate he rode thus, and he found that which worked him woe, None too costly the Burgers deemed it, but their portals against the foe Had they walled up; well armed the watch-towers, and he saw on each rampart high Archers, with cross-bow bended that their bolts 'gainst the foe might fly. For defence and defiance ready on the battlements they stood. 225 Up the hillside toward the castle he turned him, that hero good. Tho' little he knew the pathway to the Burg came the gallant knight, And straightway his eyes beheld them, full many a lady bright, For the prince's wife had come there, from the hall abroad to gaze, And daughters twain stood by her, bright as the sunlight's rays. 230 Then they spake in such wise as Gawain right well their words might hear-- 'Now, who is this,' quoth the mother, 'who doth to our aid draw near? Where goes he with pack-horse laden?' Spake the elder daughter fair, 'Nay, mother, 'tis but a merchant!' 'Yet he many a shield doth bear.' 'Such shall oft be the wont of merchants!' Then the younger sister spake, 235 'Thou sayest the thing that is not, and shame to thyself shouldst take, For surely he is no merchant! My knight shall he be straightway, If his service here craveth guerdon, such debt I were fain to pay!' Now the squires they saw how a linden and olive-trees stood fair Beneath the walls, and they thought them how a welcome shade were there. 240 What would ye more? Then King Lot's son he straight to the ground did spring Where the shade was best, and his servants, they swift to their lord would bring A cushion fair and a mattress, and the proud knight he sat thereon; From on high gazed a crowd of ladies--Then, as he his rest had won, They lift adown from the pack-steeds the chests, and the harness bright, 245 And beneath the trees they laid them who rode here with the gallant knight.