[Sidenote: _Of the three knights of the towns, their mission._] Then the knight from the chiefest of those three towns blew upon a bugle-horn, and anon Sir Bors appeared upon the battlement of the tower where there was a small turret. Then the knight from without greeted him, saying, “Sir, hail to you. We three come hither to tell you that we repent us that we have done wrong to the lady of this tower, wherefore we will accept her for our queen. Only this: that she shall marry some good, worthy knight such as yourself, and that he shall be our King as she is our Queen. For that which we need at this place is not a woman to rule us, but a man.” Then Sir Bors laughed and he said, “Sir, I will take you at your word, and in a little while this lady shall marry some gentleman who shall rule over you.” For Sir Bors thought to himself, “Haply I shall be that man.” So the gates of that castle were opened, and the three knights entered the courtyard thereof. Then they opened the three chests that their esquires had brought into the castle courtyard, and in those chests were all manner of raiment of silks and velvets, together with jewels, and golden ornaments of divers sorts and designs such as were fit for a queen to adorn herself withal. These were conveyed to the rooms of the lady of the castle, and she arrayed herself in them, and when she was thus arrayed she shone with a wonderful beauty and splendor, even as the sun shines when the mists of heaven dissolve before his face. [Sidenote: _Sir Bors and the lady ride away from the castle._] After that the lady of the castle and Sir Bors and the three knights and their esquires all mounted upon their horses and rode away from that castle, leaving behind them the lady who had been the Queen of that land. For there she should abide for awhile under guard of the old porter of that place. So, at last, they reached the chief city of that kingdom where were great concourses of people assembled to welcome them. These shouted aloud with a tumult of applause as their new Queen rode up the stony street amongst them. And everywhere were banners and streamers of many colored silks, fluttering in the sunlight from the pinnacles of the houses. So that all the sunlight was gay with radiant tints of red and blue and yellow and green, and divers gaudy colors, and all the air was merry with the shouting of multitudinous voices. Thus they reached the castle, and so the rightful queen became queen again. * * * * * [Sidenote: _Sir Bors hath a dream._] Now one night Sir Bors had a dream. He saw before him a tall and splendid knight, clad all in pure and shining white, and the knight said to him, “Sir Bors! Sir Bors! What is it you do?” And Sir Bors dreamed that he said to him in reply, “I would abide here and rule this kingdom justly.” The knight said, “Hast thou so soon forgot the quest of the Grail that in such a short time thou shouldst think only of this and not of that?”