So passed they unto her chamber, the queen and those heroes twain, And that none 'gainst her will should enter was the care of her chamberlain. 430 Only her bower maidens as befitted them there might be, And the queen, in all love and honour, her guest tended royally. And the Landgrave in naught gainsaid her, for belike did he bear a part In the fear for her guest's well-doing that lay dark on the maiden's heart. So the twain with the queen abode there till the strife of the day was o'er, 435 And the night and the hour of feasting had come in their course once more. Then the slender maidens bare them sweet drinks, and the wine so red, And with fish and fowl in plenty, I ween, was the table spread. Fair and white was the bread to look on, and the Landgrave and Knight Gawain, Who had passed thro' such deadly peril, to taste of the food were fain. 440 And each as the queen might bid him ate that which should please him best, And no lack did they find, for right queenly the maid did entreat her guest, And vainly the heroes prayed her to cease from her kindly care. Of the many who knelt before them no maid but was young and fair; Yea, fair with the opening beauty of the rose that is yet unblown, 445 And soft lay their locks as the feathers of a falcon the knight hath flown. Now list, ere they close the council, to the rede they would rede the king And wise were the men who, wisely, good counsel in need should bring; And each spake as his mind should bid him, and that which his heart deemed best, And they turned the thing hither and thither, till the king thus his speech addrest: 450 And he spake, 'One of late fought with me, as on venture bent I rode In the wood Læhtamreis--too proudly, perchance, I my steed bestrode, For a knight, who o'er great my fame deemed, in joust smote me such a blow That, behind my gallant charger, on the greensward he laid me low. And this oath must I swear unto him, in search of the Grail to ride, 455 And my knightly pledge I gave him, were it other, I there had died. Now give me, I pray, your counsel, for 'gainst death was no other shield But to swear as my victor bade me, and, as knight, to a knight to yield!'