'Sir, I pray you,' said Linet, as Beaumains bent forward to seize it,
'do not blow it till it is full noontide, for during three hours
before that the Red Knight's strength so increases that it is as the
strength of seven men; but when noon is come, he has the might of one
man only.'
'Ah! for shame, damsel, to say such words. I will fight him as he is,
or not at all,' and Beaumains blew such a blast that it rang through
the castle. And the Red Knight buckled on his armour, and came to
where Beaumains stood. So the battle began, and a fierce one it was,
and much ado had Beaumains to last out till noon, when the Red
Knight's strength began to wane; they rested, and came on again, and
in the end the Red Knight yielded to Sir Beaumains, and the lords and
barons in the castle did homage to the victor, and begged that the Red
Knight's life might be spared on condition they all took service with
Beaumains. This was granted to them, and Linet bound up his wounds and
put ointment on them, and so she did likewise to Sir Beaumains. But
the Red Knight was sent to the Court of King Arthur, and told him all
that Sir Beaumains had done. And King Arthur and his Knights
marvelled.
Now Sir Beaumains had looked up at the windows of Castle Perilous
before the fight, and had seen the face of the Lady Lyonesse, and had
thought it the fairest in all the world. After he had subdued the Red
Knight, he hasted into the castle, and the Lady Lyonesse welcomed him,
and he told her he had bought her love with the best blood in his
body. And she did not say him nay, but put him off for a time. Then
the King sent letters to her to bid her, and likewise Sir Gareth, come
to his Court, and by the counsel of Sir Gareth she prayed the King to
let her call a tournament, and to proclaim that the Knight who bore
himself best should, if he was unwedded, take her and all her lands.
But if he had a wife already he should be given a white ger-falcon,
and for his wife a crown of gold, set about with precious stones.
So the Lady Lyonesse did as Sir Gareth had counselled her, and
answered King Arthur that where Sir Gareth was she could not tell, but
that if the King would call a tourney he might be sure that Sir Gareth
would come to it. 'It is well thought of,' said Arthur, and the Lady
Lyonesse departed unto Castle Perilous, and summoned all her Knights
around her, and told them what she had done, and how they were to make
ready to fight in the tournament. She began at once to set her castle
in order, and to think what she should do with the great array of
Knights that would ride hither from the furthest parts--from Scotland
and Wales and Cornwall--and to lodge fitly the Kings, Dukes, Earls,
and Barons that should come with Arthur. Queen Guenevere also she
awaited, and the Queen of Orkney, Sir Gareth's mother. But Sir Gareth
entreated the Lady Lyonesse and those Knights that were in the castle
with him not to let his name be known, and this they agreed to.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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