their shields and spears to challenge the one knight with whom Sir Gawain had spoken.
CIV.21
Then the one knight brandished his spear, and one of the ten knights challenged him. The woeful knight smote him so hard that he fell over his horse’s tail. Just so, the dolorous knight served each of the ten knights—at the very least he smote down both horse and man, and he did it all with one spear.
When all ten of them were on foot, they went to the one knight; he stood still as a stone, allowing them to pull him down off his horse and bind him hand and foot. They tied him under the belly of his horse, and led him away with them.
“Ah, Jesus!” said Sir Gawain. “This is a sad sight, to see yonder knight treated this way. It seems that the knight allows them to bind him so, for he makes no resistance.”
“No,” said his host, “that is the truth. He allows them to do so, for they are all too weak to defeat him.”
“Sir,” said the damsel to Sir Gawain, “I think it would increase your worship to help that dolorous knight, for I think he is one of the best knights that I ever saw.”
“I would be happy to help him,” said Sir Gawain, “but it seems to me that he wishes to have no help.”
“No,” said the damsel, “I think you have no desire to help him.”
As they were talking, they saw a knight on the other side of the field fully armed, except for his head. On the other side of the field came a dwarf on horseback, fully armed except for his head and he had a large mouth and a short nose. When the dwarf came near he said, “Where is the lady who was to meet us here?” Then a lady came out of the woods. Then the knight and the dwarf began to fight for the lady, for the knight said he would have her, and the dwarf said he would.
“Will you agree to a settlement?” said the dwarf. “Yonder is a knight at the cross; let the matter be put before him, and however he judges, so shall it be.”
“I will gladly,” said the knight. So all three of them went to Sir Gawain and told him why they fought.
“Well, sirs, are you willing to put the matter in my hands?”
“Yes, sir,” they both said.
“Now damsel,” said Sir Gawain, “you shall stand between them both, and whichever one you like better, go to him, and he shall have you.”
When she was set between them both she left the knight and went to the dwarf. Then the dwarf took her up on his horse and went on his way singing, and the knight went his way with great mourning.
Then two knights, fully armed, suddenly arrived and cried out loudly, “Sir Gawain, knight of the court of King Arthur! Make yourself ready quickly to joust with me!” So they ran together, and both fell down. Once on foot, they drew their swords and fought as hard as they could.
In the meantime, the other knight went to the damsel and asked her why she was with Sir Gawain. He said, “If you will stay with me, I will be your faithful knight.”
“Then with you I will be,” said the damsel, “for I cannot find it in my heart to be with him, for just now there was a knight who fought against ten knights, and at the last, Sir Gawain let him be cowardly led away. Therefore, let us go while these two are fighting.”
Sir Gawain fought with this other knight for a long time, but finally they agreed to call it a draw. Then the knight asked Sir Gawain to stay with him that night.
As Sir Gawain went with that knight, he asked, “Who is the knight in this country that smote down the ten knights? For after he had done so manfully, he allowed them to bind him hand and foot, and led him away.”
“Ah,” said the knight, “I believe that is the best knight in the world and the man of greatest prowess. It is the greatest pity that he suffers so, more than any knight living, because he has been captured in that way more than ten times. His name is Sir Pelleas, and he loves a great lady in this country, and her name is Ettard. Shortly after he fell in love with her, a great joust—three days long—was announced, and all the knights and ladies of the land were there. Whoever proved himself the best knight would be rewarded with a good sword and a circlet of gold, and the knight was to give that circlet to the fairest lady present at the joust.
“This knight Sir Pelleas was by far the best of any of the knights who were there—and there were five hundred knights there! Every man with whom he encountered, Sir Pelleas struck him down—or at the very least off his horse—and every day he struck down at least twenty knights. Therefore, they gave him the prize. And then he went to where the lady Ettard was and gave her the circlet and said in the hearing of everyone that she was the fairest lady that there was, and he would prove it on any knight who dared say nay.
“So he chose her for his sovereign lady, never to love any other but her. But she was so proud that she scorned him, and said she would never love him, even if he died for her. Because of this all the ladies and gentlewomen scorned her for being so proud, for there were some who were fairer than she, and any one of them there would have returned Sir Pelleas’ love gladly if he had offered it to them.
CIV.22
“So this knight promised to follow Ettard into this country and never to leave her until she loved him, and thus he stays most of the time in a priory which is near to her. And every week she sends knights to fight with him. When he has defeated them, he allows them to take him prisoner, for he wishes to have a sight of his lady. And always she does him great wrong—sometimes she makes her knights tie him to his horse’s tail, and sometimes she makes them bind him under the belly of the horse. Thus, in the most shameful way she can conceive, he is brought to her, and she does all this to cause him to leave this land and leave his loving. But all of this cannot make him leave. If he would fight on foot, he would defeat the ten knights just as he did on horseback.”
“Alas!” said Sir Gawain, “that is a great pity for him! After tonight, I will seek him tomorrow in the forest and help him in any way that I can.”
So in the morning Sir Gawain took his leave of his host, Sir Carados, and rode into the forest. Finally, he met with Sir Pelleas, and found him moaning greatly. Each of them greeted the other, and Gawain asked why he made such sorrow.
And as it was described above, so Sir Pelleas told Sir Gawain. “But always I allow her knights to do with me as you saw yesterday, hoping at last to win her love. She well knows that no knight could easily defeat me if I fought to the fullest of my ability. And if I did not love her so much, I would rather die a hundred times than suffer the shame of being defeated; but I believe that in the end she will have pity on me, for love causes many a good knight to suffer in order to have his desire. But alas, I am unfortunate!” And then he made such sorrow he could barely stay in the saddle.
“Now,” said Sir Gawain, “stop your mourning, and I shall promise you, by the faith of my body, that I will do all that is in my power to get you the love of your lady, and to that end, I pledge my word.”
“Ah,” said Sir Pelleas, “from what court are you?”
“Sir, I am of the court of King Arthur; I am his sister’s son, and King Lot of Orkney was my father, and my name is Sir Gawain.”
“And my name is Sir Pelleas, born in the Isles, and I am lord of many isles. I never loved a lady or damsel until now. And sir knight, since you are so closely related to King Arthur and are a king’s son, betray me not, but help me, for I may never get her love except through the help of some good knight. She is in a strong castle nearby, within four miles, and she is lady over all this country. I would never be able to come into her presence unless I allowed her knights to take me, and unless I did so in order to see her, I would have died long before now. Yet, I have never had a kind word from her—when I am brought before her she rebukes me in the foulest manner. Then they take my horse and my armor and push me out of the gates, and she will allow me neither food nor drink. Always I offer to be her prisoner, but she will not allow that. I would desire nothing more, no matter what I might suffer, if I could just see her every day.”