{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart195.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart195.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart195.htm","text":"CHAPTER I\nHow a young man came into the court of King Arthur, and\nhow Sir Kay called him in scorn La Cote Male Taile.\nAT the court of King Arthur there came a young man and bigly\nmade, and he was richly beseen: and he desired to be made knight\nof the king, but his over-garment sat over-thwartly, howbeit it\nwas rich cloth of gold. What is your name? said King Arthur.\nSir, said he, my name is Breunor le Noire, and within short space\nye shall know that I am of good kin. It may well be, said Sir\nKay, the Seneschal, but in mockage ye shall be called La Cote\nMale Taile, that is as much to say, the evil-shapen coat It is a\ngreat thing that thou askest, said the king; and for what cause\nwearest thou that rich coat? tell me, for I can well think for\nsome cause it is. Sir, he answered, I had a father, a noble\nknight, and as he rode a-hunting, upon a day it happed him to lay\nhim down to sleep; and there came a knight that had been long his\nenemy, and when he saw he was fast asleep he all to-hew him; and\nthis same coat had my father on the same time; and that maketh\nthis coat to sit so evil upon me, for the strokes be on it as I\nfound it, and never shall be amended for me. Thus to have my\nfather's death in remembrance I wear this coat till I be\nrevenged; and because ye are called the most noblest king of the\nworld I come to you that ye should make me knight. Sir, said Sir\nLamorak and Sir Gaheris, it were well done to make him knight;\nfor him <352>beseemeth well of person and of countenance, that he\nshall prove a good man, and a good knight, and a mighty; for,\nSir, an ye be remembered, even such one was Sir Launcelot du Lake\nwhen he came first into this court, and full few of us knew from\nwhence he came; and now is he proved the man of most worship in\nthe world; and all your court and all your Round Table is by Sir\nLauncelot worshipped and amended more than by any knight now\nliving. That is truth, said the king, and to-morrow at your\nrequest I shall make him knight.\nSo on the morrow there was an hart found, and thither rode King\nArthur with a company of his knights to slay the hart. And this\nyoung man that Sir Kay named La Cote Male Taile was there left\nbehind with Queen Guenever; and by sudden adventure there was an\nhorrible lion kept in a strong tower of stone, and it happened\nthat he at that time brake loose, and came hurling afore the\nqueen and her knights. And when the queen saw the lion she cried\nand fled, and prayed her knights to rescue her. And there was\nnone of them all but twelve that abode, and all the other fled.\nThen said La Cote Male Taile: Now I see well that all coward\nknights be not dead; and therewithal he drew his sword and\ndressed him afore the lion. And that lion gaped wide and came\nupon him ramping to have slain him. And he then smote him in the\nmidst of the head such a mighty stroke that it clave his head in\nsunder, and dashed to the earth. Then was it told the queen how\nthe young man that Sir Kay named by scorn La Cote Male Taile had\nslain the lion. With that the king came home. And when the\nqueen told him of that adventure, he was well pleased, and said:\nUpon pain of mine head he shall prove a noble man and a faithful\nknight, and true of his promise: then the king forthwithal made\nhim knight. Now Sir, said this young knight, I require you and\nall the knights of your court, that ye call me by none other name\nbut La Cote Male Taile: in so much as Sir Kay hath so named me so\nwill I be called. I assent me well thereto, said the king.\n<353>","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IX CHAPTER I","type":"page"}