{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart208.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart208.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart208.htm","text":"CHAPTER XIV\nHow Sir Meliagaunce told for what cause they fought,\nand how Sir Lamorak jousted with King Arthur.\nSIR, said Meliagaunce, I shall tell you for what cause we do this\nbattle. I praised my lady, Queen Guenever, and said she was the\nfairest lady of the world, and Sir Lamorak said nay thereto, for\nhe said Queen Morgawse of Orkney was fairer than she and more of\nbeauty. Ah, Sir Lamorak, why sayest thou so? it is not thy part\nto dispraise thy princess that thou art under her obeissance, and\nwe all. And therewith he alighted on foot, and said: For this\nquarrel, make thee ready, for I will prove upon thee that Queen\nGuenever is the fairest lady and most of bounty in the world.\nSir, said Sir Lamorak, I am loath to have ado with you in this\nquarrel, for every man thinketh his own lady fairest; and though\nI praise the lady that I love most ye should not be wroth; for\nthough my lady Queen Guenever, be fairest in your eye, wit ye\nwell Queen Morgawse of Orkney is fairest in mine eye, and so\nevery knight thinketh his own lady fairest; and wit ye well, sir,\nye are the man in the world except Sir Tristram that I am most\nloathest to have ado withal, but, an ye will needs fight with me\nI shall endure you as long as I may. Then spake Sir Bleoberis\nand said: My lord Sir Launcelot, I wist you never so misadvised\nas ye are now, for Sir Lamorak sayeth you but reason and\nknightly; for I warn you I have a lady, and methinketh that she\nis the fairest lady of the world. Were this a great reason that\nye <374>should be wroth with me for such language? And well ye\nwot, that Sir Lamorak is as noble a knight as I know, and he hath\nought you and us ever good will, and therefore I pray you be good\nfriends. Then Sir Launcelot said unto Sir Lamorak. I pray you\nforgive me mine evil will, and if I was misadvised I will amend\nit. Sir, said Sir Lamorak, the amends is soon made betwixt you\nand me. And so Sir Launcelot and Sir Bleoberis departed, and Sir\nMeliagaunce and Sir Lamorak took their horses, and either\ndeparted from other.\nAnd within a while came King Arthur, and met with Sir Lamorak,\nand jousted with him; and there he smote down Sir Lamorak, and\nwounded him sore with a spear, and so he rode from him; wherefore\nSir Lamorak was wroth that he would not fight with him on foot,\nhowbeit that Sir Lamorak knew not King Arthur.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IX CHAPTER XIV","type":"page"}