{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart104.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart104.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart104.htm","text":"CHAPTER IV\nHow Sir Launcelot was delivered by the mean of a damosel.\nRIGHT so at the noon came the damosel unto him with his dinner,\nand asked him what cheer. Truly, fair damosel, said Sir\nLauncelot, in my life days never so ill. Sir, she said, that me\nrepenteth, but an ye will be ruled by me, I shall help you out of\nthis distress, and ye shall have no shame nor villainy, so that\nye hold me a promise. Fair damosel, I will grant you, and sore I\nam of these queen-sorceresses afeard, for they have destroyed\nmany a good knight. Sir, said she, that is sooth, and for the\nrenown and bounty that they hear of you they would have your\nlove, and Sir, they say, your name is Sir Launcelot du Lake, the\nflower of knights, and they be passing wroth with you that ye\nhave refused them. But Sir, an ye would promise me to help my\nfather on Tuesday next coming, that hath made a tournament\nbetwixt him and the King of Northgalis--for the last Tuesday past\nmy father lost the field through three knights of Arthur's\ncourt--an ye will be there on Tuesday next coming, and help my\nfather, to-morn or prime, by the grace of God, I shall deliver\nyou clean. Fair maiden, said Sir Launcelot, tell me what is your\nfather's name, and then shall I give you an answer. Sir knight,\nshe said, my father is King Bagdemagus, that was foul rebuked at\nthe last tournament. I know your father well, said Sir\nLauncelot, for a noble king and a good knight, <181>and by the\nfaith of my body, ye shall have my body ready to do your father\nand you service at that day. Sir, she said, gramercy, and to-\nmorn await ye be ready betimes and I shall be she that shall\ndeliver you and take you your armour and your horse, shield and\nspear, and hereby within this ten mile, is an abbey of white\nmonks, there I pray you that ye me abide, and thither shall I\nbring my father unto you. All this shall be done, said Sir\nLauncelot as I am true knight.\nAnd so she departed, and came on the morn early, and found him\nready; then she brought him out of twelve locks, and brought him\nunto his armour, and when he was clean armed, she brought him\nuntil his own horse, and lightly he saddled him and took a great\nspear in his hand and so rode forth, and said, Fair damosel, I\nshall not fail you, by the grace of God. And so he rode into a\ngreat forest all that day, and never could find no highway and so\nthe night fell on him, and then was he ware in a slade, of a\npavilion of red sendal. By my faith, said Sir Launcelot, in that\npavilion will I lodge all this night, and so there he alighted\ndown, and tied his horse to the pavilion, and there he unarmed\nhim, and there he found a bed, and laid him therein and fell\nasleep sadly.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK VI CHAPTER IV","type":"page"}