The youth said, “I will be here; but meantime I would fain go and see the Earl and tell him where you are lodged.” Sir Geraint said, “Go, but return again.” So whilst Sir Geraint slept, the youth hastened to the castle of the Earl, and he said to the Earl, “Sir, certes this man is a prince or a knight-royal, for he commandeth all things as he wills.” Then the Earl said, “Where is he lodged?” And the youth told him, and the youth said, “I go presently to serve him when he awakes, for now he sleepeth.” “Commend me to him when he awakeneth,” said the Earl, and the youth replied, “I will do so.” [Sidenote: _Sir Geraint bids the landlord to summon his friends to a feast._] That afternoon when Geraint awoke, it was time for them to take their food. So Sir Geraint summoned the landlord and bade him prepare him a feast, and the landlord said he would do so. Then Sir Geraint inquired of the landlord whether he had not some companions whom he would like to entertain, and the landlord said, yea, that there were several. Upon this Sir Geraint commanded the landlord to summon those companions and to prepare for them the best that there was in the town both to eat and to drink. “For,” quoth he, “though I be unhappy myself, yet do I love to behold those about me as happy and as gay as may be.” So the landlord went forth and bade many to come and feast with him, all these feasted at Sir Geraint’s expense, so that the entire inn was full of light and laughter and noise and merrymaking. [Sidenote: _The Earl visits Sir Geraint._] That evening the Earl came to visit Sir Geraint, and with him he brought twelve of the worthiest knights of his court. Then Sir Geraint arose and welcomed him, and the Earl greeted Sir Geraint and sat down and conversed with him. And he asked Geraint the object of his journey, to which Geraint replied, “I have no object, saving to seek adventure such as may become the life of a knight-errant.” Then the Earl cast his eyes upon Enid, and he looked at her very steadily, and he thought that he had never beheld a lady so fair and so beautiful as she. And as he gazed upon her his heart went out to her and he found that he loved her very extremely. Then he said to Geraint, “Have I thy permission to converse with yonder lady? For I see that she is not with thee.” “Thou hast it gladly,” said Geraint. [Sidenote: _The Earl bespeaks Enid the Fair._] So the Earl went to where Enid sat, and he said to her, “Lady, thy hands are soft and white and thy body is fragile and delicate; it cannot be pleasant for thee to travel through the rough and cruel world with this man.” She said, “It is not unpleasant for me to journey with him whithersoever he goeth.” The Earl said, “Lady, thou shouldst have youths and maidens to wait upon thee and to attend thee and to serve thee.” She said, “It is pleasanter to me to travel alone with yonder man than to live in state with youths and maidens to wait upon me.”