{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart403.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart403.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart403.htm","text":"CHAPTER XIV\nHow Sir Bors met with his brother Sir Lionel, and how\nSir Lionel would have slain Sir Bors.\nTHEN went Sir Bors from thence and commended the\nAbbot unto God. And then he rode all that day, and\nharboured with an old lady. And on the morn he rode\nto a castle in a valley, and there he met with a yeoman\ngoing a great pace toward a forest. Say me, said Sir Bors,\ncanst thou tell me of any adventure? Sir, said he, here\nshall be under this castle a great and a marvellous\ntournament. Of what folks shall it be? said Sir Bors. The\nEarl of Plains shall be in the one party, and the lady's\nnephew of Hervin on the other party. Then Bors\nthought to be there if he might meet with his brother\nSir Lionel, or any other of his fellowship, which were in\nthe quest of the Sangreal. And then he turned to an\nhermitage that was in the entry of the forest.\nAnd when he was come thither he found there Sir\nLionel, his brother, which sat all armed at the entry of\nthe chapel door for to abide there harbour till on the\nmorn that the tournament shall be. And when Sir Bors\nsaw him he had great joy of him, that it were marvel to\ntell of his joy. And then he alighted off his horse, and\nsaid: Fair sweet brother, when came ye hither? Anon\nas Lionel saw him he said: Ah Bors, ye may not make\nnone avaunt, but as for you I might have been slain;\nwhen ye saw two knights leading me away beating me,\nye left me for to succour a gentlewoman, and suffered me\nin peril of death; for never erst ne did no brother to\nanother so great an untruth. And for that misdeed now\nI ensure you but death, for well have ye deserved it;\ntherefore keep thee from henceforward, and that shall ye\nfind as soon as I am armed. When Sir Bors understood\nhis brother's wrath he kneeled down to the earth and cried\nhim mercy, holding up both his hands, and prayed him to\nforgive him his evil will. Nay, said Lionel, that shall\nnever be an I may have the higher hand, that I make\nmine avow to God, thou shalt have death for it, for it\nwere pity ye lived any longer.\nRight so he went in and took his harness, and mounted\nupon his horse, and came to-fore him and said: Bors,\nkeep thee from me, for I shall do to thee as I would to a\nfelon or a traitor, for ye be the untruest knight that ever\ncame out of so worthy an house as was King Bors de\nGanis which was our father, therefore start upon thy\nhorse, and so shall ye be most at your advantage. And\nbut if ye will I will run upon you thereas ye stand upon\nfoot, and so the shame shall be mine and the harm yours,\nbut of that shame ne reck I nought.\nWhen Sir Bors saw that he must fight with his brother\nor else to die, he nist what to do; then his heart counselled\nhim not thereto, inasmuch as Lionel was born or he,\nwherefore he ought to bear him reverence; yet kneeled\nhe down afore Lionel's horse's feet, and said: Fair sweet\nbrother, have mercy upon me and slay me not, and have\nin remembrance the great love which ought to be between\nus twain. What Sir Bors said to Lionel he rought not,\nfor the fiend had brought him in such a will that he should\nslay him. Then when Lionel saw he would none other,\nand that he would not have risen to give him battle, he\nrashed over him so that he smote Bors with his horse,\nfeet upward, to the earth, and hurt him so sore that he\nswooned of distress, the which he felt in himself to have\ndied without confession. So when Lionel saw this, he\nalighted off his horse to have smitten off his head. And\nso he took him by the helm, and would have rent it from\nhis head. Then came the hermit running unto him,\nwhich was a good man and of great age, and well had\nheard all the words that were between them, and so fell\ndown upon Sir Bors.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XVI CHAPTER XIV","type":"page"}