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
And Tirant caught her hands while Philippe attempted to make use
of his own resources. The infanta cried out, and the maidens
came and calmed them down.
When the infanta had laced up her garments, she dressed very
elegantly, and Philippe and Tirant accompanied her and the queen
to mass. And there, before mass, they were engaged. The
following Sunday the wedding was held with great ceremony, and
celebrations took place which lasted a week, with jousts,
tournaments, dances, and buffoonery, night and day.
In this way the infanta was entertained, and she was very pleased
with Tirant, and much more with Philippe whose work was so
wonderful that she never forgot it.
When the wedding celebrations were over, the King of Sicily
decided to lend his assistance to the King of France, and he had
ten galleys and four large ships armed, and gave the men six
months' wages. Tirant bought a galley, but he refused to accept
wages or to associate with anyone, because he intended to act on
his own. When the galleys were armed and well stocked with food,
they received word that the King of France was in Aigues-Mortes
with all the vessels of the King of Castile, of Aragon, Navarre
and Portugal.
Philippe was chosen captain, and the infante of Sicily went with
him, and they found themselves in the port of Savona with ships
from the pope, the emperor, and everyone who had offered their
aid. They all left together and sailed until they came to the
island of Corsica where they found the King of France. There
they took on water, and they approached the great city of Tripoli
in Libya before dawn, and no one in the entire armada knew where
they were going with the exception of the king. But when they
saw the king's ship turning and everyone taking up arms, they
realized that that was their destination. Then Tirant, who was
on his galley, went to the king's ship on a skiff. He climbed
aboard with many others, and they found the king arming himself
and preparing for mass.
During the reading of the Gospel, Tirant knelt before the king
and begged him to let him make a vow, and the king gave his
consent. Tirant placed himself at the feet of the priest who was
saying mass, and knelt down, and the priest took up the missal
and turned it toward the king. Tirant, while kneeling, put his
hands on the book and said:
"By the grace of Almighty God, I belong to the order of chivalry.
As a knight who wants to attain honor, I make my vow to God and
all the saints in paradise, and to my lord, the Duke of Brittany,
captain-general of this armada, that I will be the first to touch
land and the last to return."
Afterward Diafebus vowed to write his name on the gates to the
city of Tripoli.
Then another knight made a vow that he would go so near the wall
that he would put an arrow inside the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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