But Sir Gawaine would not suffer the King to make peace, and they
fought on, now in one place, and now in another, till the Pope heard
of the strife and sent a noble clerk, the Bishop of Rochester, to
charge the King to make peace with Sir Lancelot, and to take back unto
him his Queen, the Lady Guenevere. Now the King, as has been said,
would fain have followed the Pope's counsel and have accorded with Sir
Lancelot, but Sir Gawaine would not suffer him. However, as to the
Queen Sir Gawaine said nothing; and King Arthur gave audience to the
Bishop, and swore on his great seal that he would take back the Queen
as the Pope desired, and that if Sir Lancelot brought her he should
come safe and go safe. So the Bishop rode to Joyous Gard and showed
Sir Lancelot what the Pope had written and King Arthur had answered,
and told him of the perils which would befall him if he withheld the
Queen. 'It was never in my thought,' answered Sir Lancelot, 'to
withhold the Queen from King Arthur, but as she would have been dead
for my sake it was my part to save her life, and to keep her from
danger till better times came. And I thank God that the Pope has made
peace, and I shall be a thousand times gladder to bring her back than
I was to take her away. Therefore ride to the King, and say that in
eight days I myself will bring the Lady Guenevere unto him.' So the
Bishop departed, and came to the King at Carlisle, and told him what
Sir Lancelot had answered, and tears burst from the King's eyes once
more.
A goodly host of a hundred Knights rode eight days later from the
Castle of Joyous Gard; every Knight was clothed in green velvet, and
held in his hand a branch of olive, and bestrode a horse with
trappings down to his heels. And behind the Queen were four and twenty
gentlewomen clad in green likewise, while twelve esquires attended on
Sir Lancelot. He and the Queen wore dresses of white and gold tissue,
and their horses were clothed in housings of the same, set with
precious stones and pearls; and no man had ever gazed on such a noble
pair, as they rode from Joyous Gard to Carlisle. When they reached the
castle, Sir Lancelot sprang from his horse and helped the Queen from
hers, and led her to where King Arthur sat, with Sir Gawaine and many
lords around him. He kneeled down, and the Queen kneeled with him, and
many Knights wept as though it had been their own kin. But Arthur sat
still and said nothing. At that Sir Lancelot rose, and the Queen
likewise, and, looking straight at the King, he spoke:
'Most noble King, I have brought to you my lady the Queen, as right
requires; and time hath been, my lord Arthur, that you have been
greatly pleased with me when I did battle for my lady your Queen. And
full well you know that she has been put to great wrong ere this, and
it seems to me I had more cause to deliver her from this fire, seeing
she would have been burnt for my sake.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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