Now 'twas done, and Gawain had been greeted with a kiss by those ladies three, And so fair were they all that I wot well their beauty would fatal be 140 To a heart that was yet unwounded--Then he spake to the elder queen, And he prayed her to tell of the pillar, and the marvels he there had seen. Quoth Arnivé, 'By day and by night-time that pillar, I ween, doth throw Its light for six miles around it, so long as its power I know. And all that within that circuit doth chance on its face we see, 145 In water, or on the meadow, and true shall the vision be. The bird and the beast we see here, the guest and the woodman true, He who to this land is a stranger, or its ways of aforetime knew. Yea, all may we find within it, and it shineth for six miles round; And so fast and so firm it standeth none moveth it from the ground, 150 And no hammer shall ever harm it, and no smith hath, I ween, the skill. 'Twas stolen from Queen Sekundillé, I think me, against her will!' Now Gawain he saw at this moment on the column a goodly pair, A knight with a lady riding, and he thought him the maid was fair, And clearly and well he saw them--and armed were both steed and knight, 155 And his helmet was plumed and jewelled, and it gleamed in the morning light. And they rode at a hasty gallop thro' the defile out on the plain: Tho' I wot well he little knew it, yet they rode but to seek Gawain! And they came by the self-same pathway that Lischois he rode afore, The proud knight whom Gawain had vanquished, and in joust from his charger bore. 160 And the lady she held the bridle of the knight who to joust would ride, And the sight to Gawain brought sorrow, and swiftly he turned aside, And behold! 'twas no lying vision, for without on the grassy plain By the river rode Orgelusé, and a knight at her side drew rein. E'en as hellebore within the nostril pierceth sharp, and a man doth sneeze, 165 Thro' his eye to his heart came the Duchess, and she robbed him of joy and ease!