{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart197.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart197.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart197.htm","text":"CHAPTER III\nHow La Cote Male Taile overthrew Sir Dagonet the king's\nfool, and of the rebuke that he had of the damosel.\nTHEN Sir Kay ordained Sir Dagonet, King Arthur's fool, to follow\nafter La Cote Male Taile; and there Sir Kay ordained that Sir\nDagonet was horsed and armed, and bade him follow La Cote Male\nTaile and proffer him to joust, and so he did; and when he saw La\nCote Male Taile, he cried and bade him make him ready to joust.\nSo Sir La Cote Male Taile smote Sir Dagonet over his horse's\ncroup. Then the damosel mocked La Cote Male Taile, and said:\n<355>Fie for shame! now art thou shamed in Arthur's court, when\nthey send a fool to have ado with thee, and specially at thy\nfirst jousts; thus she rode long, and chid. And within a while\nthere came Sir Bleoberis, the good knight, and there he jousted\nwith La Cote Male Taile, and there Sir Bleoberis smote him so\nsore, that horse and all fell to the earth. Then La Cote Male\nTaile arose up lightly, and dressed his shield, and drew his\nsword, and would have done battle to the utterance, for he was\nwood wroth. Not so, said Sir Bleoberis de Ganis, as at this time\nI will not fight upon foot. Then the damosel Maledisant rebuked\nhim in the foulest manner, and bade him: Turn again, coward.\nAh, damosel, he said, I pray you of mercy to missay me no more,\nmy grief is enough though ye give me no more; I call myself never\nthe worse knight when a mare's son faileth me, and also I count\nme never the worse knight for a fall of Sir Bleoberis.\nSo thus he rode with her two days; and by fortune there came Sir\nPalomides and encountered with him, and he in the same wise\nserved him as did Bleoberis to-forehand. What dost thou here in\nmy fellowship? said the damosel Maledisant, thou canst not sit no\nknight, nor withstand him one buffet, but if it were Sir Dagonet.\nAh, fair damosel, I am not the worse to take a fall of Sir\nPalomides, and yet great disworship have I none, for neither\nBleoberis nor yet Palomides would not fight with me on foot. As\nfor that, said the damosel, wit thou well they have disdain and\nscorn to light off their horses to fight with such a lewd knight\nas thou art. So in the meanwhile there came Sir Mordred, Sir\nGawaine's brother, and so he fell in the fellowship with the\ndamosel Maledisant. And then they came afore the Castle\nOrgulous, and there was such a custom that there might no knight\ncome by that castle but either he must joust or be prisoner, or\nat the least to lose his horse and his harness. And there came\nout two knights against them, and Sir Mordred jousted with the\nforemost, and that knight of the castle smote Sir Mordred down\noff his horse. And then La Cote Male Taile jousted with that\nother, and either of them <356>smote other down, horse and all,\nto the earth. And when they avoided their horses, then either of\nthem took other's horses. And then La Cote Male Taile rode unto\nthat knight that smote down Sir Mordred, and jousted with him.\nAnd there Sir La Cote Male Taile hurt and wounded him passing\nsore, and put him from his horse as he had been dead. So he\nturned unto him that met him afore, and he took the flight\ntowards the castle, and Sir La Cote Male Taile rode after him\ninto the Castle Orgulous, and there La Cote Male Taile slew him.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IX CHAPTER III","type":"page"}