{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart198.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart198.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart198.htm","text":"CHAPTER IV\nHow La Cote Male Taile fought against an hundred\nknights, and how he escaped by the mean of a lady.\nAND anon there came an hundred knights about him and assailed\nhim; and when he saw his horse should be slain he alighted and\nvoided his horse, and put the bridle under his feet, and so put\nhim out of the gate. And when he had so done he hurled in among\nthem, and dressed his back unto a lady's chamber-wall, thinking\nhimself that he had liefer die there with worship than to abide\nthe rebukes of the damosel Maledisant. And in the meantime as he\nstood and fought, that lady whose was the chamber went out slily\nat her postern, and without the gates she found La Cote Male\nTaile's horse, and lightly she gat him by the bridle, and tied\nhim to the postern. And then she went unto her chamber slily\nagain for to behold how that one knight fought against an hundred\nknights. And when she had beheld him long she went to a window\nbehind his back, and said: Thou knight, thou fightest wonderly\nwell, but for all that at the last thou must needs die, but, an\nthou canst through thy mighty prowess, win unto yonder postern,\nfor there have I fastened thy horse to abide thee: but wit thou\nwell thou must think on thy worship, and think not to die, for\nthou mayst not win unto that postern without <357>thou do nobly\nand mightily. When La Cote Male Taile heard her say so he\ngripped his sword in his hands, and put his shield fair afore\nhim, and through the thickest press he thrulled through them.\nAnd when he came to the postern he found there ready four\nknights, and at two the first strokes he slew two of the knights,\nand the other fled; and so he won his horse and rode from them.\nAnd all as it was it was rehearsed in King Arthur's court, how he\nslew twelve knights within the Castle Orgulous; and so he rode on\nhis way.\nAnd in the meanwhile the damosel said to Sir Mordred: I ween my\nfoolish knight be either slain or taken prisoner: then were they\nware where he came riding. And when he was come unto them he\ntold all how he had sped and escaped in despite of them all: And\nsome of the best of them will tell no tales. Thou liest falsely,\nsaid the damosel, that dare I make good, but as a fool and a\ndastard to all knighthood they have let thee pass. That may ye\nprove, said La Cote Male Taile. With that she sent a courier of\nhers, that rode alway with her, for to know the truth of this\ndeed; and so he rode thither lightly, and asked how and in what\nmanner that La Cote Male Taile was escaped out of the castle.\nThen all the knights cursed him, and said that he was a fiend and\nno man: For he hath slain here twelve of our best knights, and\nwe weened unto this day that it had been too much for Sir\nLauncelot du Lake or for Sir Tristram de Liones. And in despite\nof us all he is departed from us and maugre our heads.\nWith this answer the courier departed and came to Maledisant his\nlady, and told her all how Sir La Cote Male Taile had sped at the\nCastle Orgulous. Then she smote down her head, and said little.\nBy my head, said Sir Mordred to the damosel, ye are greatly to\nblame so to rebuke him, for I warn you plainly he is a good\nknight, and I doubt not but he shall prove a noble knight; but as\nyet he may not yet sit sure on horseback, for he that shall be a\ngood horseman it must come of usage and exercise. But when he\ncometh to the strokes of his sword <358>he is then noble and\nmighty, and that saw Sir Bleoberis and Sir Palomides, for wit ye\nwell they are wily men of arms, and anon they know when they see\na young knight by his riding, how they are sure to give him a\nfall from his horse or a great buffet. But for the most part\nthey will not light on foot with young knights, for they are\nwight and strongly armed. For in likewise Sir Launcelot du Lake,\nwhen he was first made knight, he was often put to the worse upon\nhorseback, but ever upon foot he recovered his renown, and slew\nand defoiled many knights of the Round Table. And therefore the\nrebukes that Sir Launcelot did unto many knights causeth them\nthat be men of prowess to beware; for often I have seen the old\nproved knights rebuked and slain by them that were but young\nbeginners. Thus they rode sure talking by the way together.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IX CHAPTER IV","type":"page"}