{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart255.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart255.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart255.htm","text":"CHAPTER XVIII\nHow Sir Palomides would have jousted for Sir Lamorak\nwith the knights of the castle.\nTHEN forthwithal came a knight out of the castle, with\na shield bended with black and with white. And anon\nthe Knight with the Red Shield and he encountered so\nhard that he smote the knight of the castle through the\nbended shield and through the body, and brake the horse's\nback. Fair knight, said Sir Palomides, ye have overmuch\non hand, therefore I pray you let me joust, for ye had\nneed to be reposed. Why sir, said the knight, seem ye\nthat I am weak and feeble? and sir, methinketh ye proffer\nme wrong, and to me shame, when I do well enough. I\ntell you now as I told you erst; for an they were twenty\nknights I shall beat them, and if I be beaten or slain then\nmay ye revenge me. And if ye think that I be weary,\nand ye have an appetite to joust with me, I shall find you\njousting enough. Sir, said Palomides, I said it not\nbecause I would joust with you, but meseemeth that ye have\novermuch on hand. And therefore, an ye were gentle,\nsaid the Knight with the Red Shield, ye should not proffer\nme shame; therefore I require you to joust with me, and\nye shall find that I am not weary. Sith ye require me,\nsaid Sir Palomides, take keep to yourself. Then they two\nknights came together as fast as their horses might run,\nand the knight smote Sir Palomides sore on the shield\nthat the spear went into his side a great wound, and\na perilous. And therewithal Sir Palomides avoided his\nsaddle. And that knight turned unto Sir Dinadan; and\nwhen he saw him coming he cried aloud, and said: Sir,\nI will not have ado with you; but for that he let it not,\nbut came straight upon him. So Sir Dinadan for shame\nput forth his spear and all to-shivered it upon the knight.\nBut he smote Sir Dinadan again so hard that he smote\nhim clean from his saddle; but their horses he would not\nsuffer his squires to meddle with, and because they were\nknights-errant.\nThen he dressed him again to the castle, and jousted\nwith seven knights more, and there was none of them\nmight withstand him, but he bare him to the earth. And\nof these twelve knights he slew in plain jousts four. And\nthe eight knights he made them to swear on the cross of\na sword that they should never use the evil customs of the\ncastle. And when he had made them to swear that oath\nhe let them pass. And ever stood the lords and the\nladies on the castle walls crying and saying: Knight with\nthe Red Shield, ye have marvellously well done as ever\nwe saw knight do. And therewith came a knight out of\nthe castle unarmed, and said: Knight with the Red Shield,\novermuch damage hast thou done to us this day, therefore\nreturn whither thou wilt, for here are no more will have\nado with thee; for we repent sore that ever thou camest\nhere, for by thee is fordone the old custom of this castle.\nAnd with that word he turned again into the castle, and\nshut the gates. Then the Knight with the Red Shield\nturned and called his squires, and so passed forth on his\nway, and rode a great pace.\nAnd when he was past Sir Palomides went to Sir\nDinadan, and said: I had never such a shame of one\nknight that ever I met; and therefore I cast me to\nride after him, and to be revenged with my sword, for\na-horseback I deem I shall get no worship of him. Sir\nPalomides, said Dinadan, ye shall not meddle with him\nby my counsel, for ye shall get no worship of him; and\nfor this cause, ye have seen him this day have had\novermuch to do, and overmuch travailed. By almighty\nJesu, said Palomides, I shall never be at ease till that I\nhave had ado with him. Sir, said Dinadan, I shall give\nyou my beholding. Well, said Palomides, then shall ye\nsee how we shall redress our mights. So they took their\nhorses of their varlets, and rode after the Knight with the\nRed Shield; and down in a valley beside a fountain they\nwere ware where he was alighted to repose him, and had\ndone off his helm for to drink at the well.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK X CHAPTER XVIII","type":"page"}