The White Knight: Tirant Lo BlancMartorell, Joanot
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The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc
Martorell, Joanot
Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction; Adventure stories; Knights and knighthood -- Fiction
When Tirant heard the maiden say these things, he heaved a sigh
from the depths of his heart as he remembered the lady he loved
more than anyone in the world. He was so stricken that he fell
to the ground, senseless. When everyone saw their captain lying
there, his eyes filled with tears, they thought he had delivered
up his spirit to God and his body to the ground.
The doctors came and said:
"Our captain must be very ill. He looks as though he is near
death."
King Escariano quickly had the maiden seized and her hands
tightly bound. When Plaerdemavida saw herself treated so badly,
she angrily said:
"Let me go to the captain. I nourished him from my breast before
you ever heard of him. Let me use the remedies I know, because I
can see that these ignorant doctors don't know how to help him."
The maiden quickly sat on the ground, unfastened her robes and
the blouse she was wearing down past her bosom, uncovering her
breasts.
She took Tirant's body, placed it in her lap, and lay his head on
her breasts. When the maiden saw Tirant open his eyes and sigh
deeply, she was very happy, and she said:
"Captain, my lord, for a long time you have been fighting us
night and day. I don't want your grace to suffer such terrible
hardships when I can free you from them. Begin with me. I am
right here, a defenseless maiden, and your sword is very sharp.
Now you can use your strong hand and bathe your sword with the
blood of someone who, after God, wants to serve only you."
Tirant answered as well as he could:
"Maiden, it seems to me that you are like the bee that carries
honey in its mouth and a stinger in its tail. I have heard
things from you that have left me astonished. I want very much
to know how news about that most serene princess has reached you.
Tell me, I beg you, and you can count on this: In consideration
of Her Majesty, I will do such things for you that you will all
leave here highly satisfied."
Plaerdemavida was very happy at the captain's reply. While they
were talking, Lord Agramunt came into the tent in a rage, with a
bare sword in his hand. He had been misinformed by King
Escariano about how Tirant had fallen into a faint in the
maiden's arms. When he saw Tirant in her lap and without
noticing his captain's condition, with a fierce face and a
terrible voice, he cried:
"What is this poisonous woman doing here, this devil-worshipper?
How can you all stand by, seeing how she's killed him, and not
behead her? Since the rest of you won't do it, I will."
He grabbed her by the hair and jerked back her head. And he put
his sword by her neck to take away her life. When Tirant saw the
sword so close to the maiden, and heard her cry, he seized the
sword with his hands. Lord Agramunt, feeling the sword against
something hard, thought it was the maiden's neck. So he slashed
as hard as he could, and put a large gash in Tirant's hands. And
according to the doctors Tirant was very fortunate that he was
not badly injured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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