{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart217.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart217.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart217.htm","text":"CHAPTER XXIV\nHow Sir Tristram and Sir Dinadan came to a lodging where\nthey must joust with two knights.\nTHEN Sir Tristram and Sir Dinadan rode forth their way till they\ncame to the shepherds and to the herdmen, and there they asked\nthem if they knew any lodging or harbour there nigh hand.\nForsooth, sirs, said the herdmen, hereby is good lodging in a\ncastle; but there is such a custom that there shall no knight be\nharboured but if he joust with two knights, and if he be but one\nknight he must joust with two. And as ye be therein soon shall\nye be matched. There is shrewd harbour, said Sir Dinadan; lodge\nwhere ye will, for I will not lodge there. Fie for shame, said\nSir Tristram, are ye not a knight of the Table Round? wherefore\nye may not with your worship refuse your lodging. Not so, said\nthe herdmen, for an ye be beaten and have the worse ye shall not\nbe lodged there, and if ye beat them ye shall be well harboured.\nAh, said Sir Dinadan, they are two sure knights. Then Sir\nDinadan would not lodge there in no manner but as Sir Tristram\nrequired him of his knighthood; and so they rode thither. And to\nmake short tale, Sir Tristram and Sir Dinadan smote them down\nboth, and so they entered into the castle and had good cheer as\nthey could think or devise.\nAnd when they were unarmed, and thought to be merry and in good\nrest, there came in at the gates Sir Palomides and Sir Gaheris,\nrequiring to have the custom of the castle. What array is this?\nsaid Sir Dinadan, I would have my rest. That may not be, said\nSir Tristram; <393>now must we needs defend the custom of this\ncastle, insomuch as we have the better of the lords of this\ncastle, and therefore, said Sir Tristram, needs must ye make you\nready. In the devil's name, said Sir Dinadan, came I into your\ncompany. And so they made them ready; and Sir Gaheris\nencountered with Sir Tristram, and Sir Gaheris had a fall; and\nSir Palomides encountered with Sir Dinadan, and Sir Dinadan had a\nfall: then was it fall for fall. So then must they fight on\nfoot. That would not Sir Dinadan, for he was so sore bruised of\nthe fall that Sir Palomides gave him. Then Sir Tristram unlaced\nSir Dinadan's helm, and prayed him to help him. I will not, said\nSir Dinadan, for I am sore wounded of the thirty knights that we\nhad but late ago to do withal. But ye fare, said Sir Dinadan\nunto Sir Tristram, as a madman and as a man that is out of his\nmind that would cast himself away, and I may curse the time that\never I saw you, for in all the world are not two such knights\nthat be so wood as is Sir Launcelot and ye Sir Tristram; for once\nI fell in the fellowship of Sir Launcelot as I have done now with\nyou, and he set me a work that a quarter of a year I kept my bed.\nJesu defend me, said Sir Dinadan, from such two knights, and\nspecially from your fellowship. Then, said Sir Tristram, I will\nfight with them both. Then Sir Tristram bade them come forth\nboth, for I will fight with you. Then Sir Palomides and Sir\nGaheris dressed them, and smote at them both. Then Dinadan smote\nat Sir Gaheris a stroke or two, and turned from him. Nay, said\nSir Palomides, it is too much shame for us two knights to fight\nwith one. And then he did bid Sir Gaheris stand aside with that\nknight that hath no list to fight. Then they rode together and\nfought long, and at the last Sir Tristram doubled his strokes,\nand drove Sir Palomides aback more than three strides. And then\nby one assent Sir Gaheris and Sir Dinadan went betwixt them, and\ndeparted them in-sunder. And then by assent of Sir Tristram they\nwould have lodged together. But Sir Dinadan would not lodge in\nthat castle. And then he cursed the time that ever he came in\ntheir <394>fellowship, and so he took his horse, and his harness,\nand departed.\nThen Sir Tristram prayed the lords of that castle to lend him a\nman to bring him to a lodging, and so they did, and overtook Sir\nDinadan, and rode to their lodging two mile thence with a good\nman in a priory, and there they were well at ease. And that same\nnight Sir Bors and Sir Bleoberis, and Sir Ector and Sir Driant,\nabode still in the same place thereas Sir Tristram fought with\nthe thirty knights; and there they met with Sir Launcelot the\nsame night, and had made promise to lodge with Sir Colgrevance\nthe same night.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IX CHAPTER XXIV","type":"page"}