{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart455.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart455.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart455.htm","text":"CHAPTER I\nHow Queen Guenever rode a-Maying with certain knights of\nthe Round Table and clad all in green.\nSO it befell in the month of May, Queen Guenever called\nunto her knights of the Table Round; and she gave them\nwarning that early upon the morrow she would ride a-Maying\ninto woods and fields beside Westminster. And I\nwarn you that there be none of you but that he be well\nhorsed, and that ye all be clothed in green, outher in silk\nouther in cloth; and I shall bring with me ten ladies, and\nevery knight shall have a lady behind him, and every\nknight shall have a squire and two yeomen; and I will\nthat ye all be well horsed. So they made them ready in\nthe freshest manner. And these were the names of the\nknights: Sir Kay le Seneschal, Sir Agravaine, Sir Brandiles,\nSir Sagramore le Desirous, Sir Dodinas le Savage, Sir\nOzanna le Cure Hardy, Sir Ladinas of the Forest Savage,\nSir Persant of Inde, Sir Ironside, that was called the Knight\nof the Red Launds, and Sir Pelleas, the lover; and these\nten knights made them ready in the freshest manner to ride\nwith the queen. And so upon the morn they took their\nhorses with the queen, and rode a-Maying in woods and\nmeadows as it pleased them, in great joy and delights; for\nthe queen had cast to have been again with King Arthur\nat the furthest by ten of the clock, and so was that time\nher purpose.\nThen there was a knight that hight Meliagrance, and\nhe was son unto King Bagdemagus, and this knight had at\nthat time a castle of the gift of King Arthur within seven\nmile of Westminster. And this knight, Sir Meliagrance,\nloved passing well Queen Guenever, and so had he done\nlong and many years. And the book saith he had lain in\nawait for to steal away the queen, but evermore he forbare\nfor because of Sir Launcelot; for in no wise he would\nmeddle with the queen an Sir Launcelot were in her company,\nouther else an he were near-hand her. And that\ntime was such a custom, the queen rode never without a\ngreat fellowship of men of arms about her, and they were\nmany good knights, and the most part were young men\nthat would have worship; and they were called the Queen's\nKnights, and never in no battle, tournament, nor jousts,\nthey bare none of them no manner of knowledging of their\nown arms, but plain white shields, and thereby they were\ncalled the Queen's Knights. And then when it happed\nany of them to be of great worship by his noble deeds,\nthen at the next Feast of Pentecost, if there were any slain\nor dead, as there was none year that there failed but some\nwere dead, then was there chosen in his stead that was\ndead the most men of worship, that were called the Queen's\nKnights. And thus they came up all first, or they were\nrenowned men of worship, both Sir Launcelot and all the\nremnant of them.\nBut this knight, Sir Meliagrance, had espied the queen\nwell and her purpose, and how Sir Launcelot was not with\nher, and how she had no men of arms with her but the ten\nnoble knights all arrayed in green for Maying. Then he\npurveyed him a twenty men of arms and an hundred\narchers for to destroy the queen and her knights, for he\nthought that time was best season to take the queen.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIX CHAPTER I","type":"page"}