{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart461.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart461.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart461.htm","text":"CHAPTER VII\nHow Sir Launcelot answered for the queen, and waged battle\nagainst Sir Meliagrance; and how Sir Launcelot was\ntaken in a trap\nWHAT array is this? said Sir Launcelot. Then Sir Meliagrance\ntold them what he had found, and showed them\nthe queen's bed. Truly, said Sir Launcelot, ye did not\nyour part nor knightly, to touch a queen's bed while it\nwas drawn, and she lying therein; for I dare say my lord\nArthur himself would not have displayed her curtains, she\nbeing within her bed, unless that it had pleased him to\nhave lain down by her; and therefore ye have done\nunworshipfully and shamefully to yourself. I wot not\nwhat ye mean, said Sir Meliagrance, but well I am sure\nthere hath one of her wounded knights lain by her this\nnight, and therefore I will prove with my hands that she\nis a traitress unto my lord Arthur. Beware what ye do,\nsaid Launcelot, for an ye say so, an ye will prove it, it\nwill be taken at your hands.\nMy lord, Sir Launcelot, said Sir Meliagrance, I rede\nyou beware what ye do; for though ye are never so good\na knight, as ye wot well ye are renowned the best knight\nof the world, yet should ye be advised to do battle in a\nwrong quarrel, for God will have a stroke in every battle.\nAs for that, said Sir Launcelot, God is to be dread; but\nas to that I say nay plainly, that this night there lay none\nof these ten wounded knights with my lady Queen\nGuenever, and that will I prove with my hands, that ye\nsay untruly in that now. Hold, said Sir Meliagrance,\nhere is my glove that she is traitress unto my lord,\nKing Arthur, and that this night one of the wounded\nknights lay with her. And I receive your glove, said Sir\nLauncelot. And so they were sealed with their signets,\nand delivered unto the ten knights. At what day shall\nwe do battle together? said Sir Launcelot. This day\night days, said Sir Meliagrance, in the field beside\nWestminster. I am agreed, said Sir Launcelot. But now, said\nSir Meliagrance, sithen it is so that we must fight together,\nI pray you, as ye be a noble knight, await me with no\ntreason, nor none villainy the meanwhile, nor none for\nyou. So God me help, said Sir Launcelot, ye shall right\nwell wit I was never of no such conditions, for I report\nme to all knights that ever have known me, I fared never\nwith no treason, nor I loved never the fellowship of no\nman that fared with treason. Then let us go to dinner,\nsaid Meliagrance, and after dinner ye and the queen and\nye may ride all to Westminster. I will well, said Sir\nLauncelot.\nThen Sir Meliagrance said to Sir Launcelot: Pleaseth\nit you to see the estures of this castle? With a good\nwill, said Sir Launcelot. And then they went together\nfrom chamber to chamber, for Sir Launcelot dread no\nperils; for ever a man of worship and of prowess dreadeth\nleast always perils, for they ween every man be as they\nbe; but ever he that fareth with treason putteth oft a man\nin great danger. So it befell upon Sir Launcelot that no\nperil dread, as he went with Sir Meliagrance he trod on\na trap and the board rolled, and there Sir Launcelot fell\ndown more than ten fathom into a cave full of straw;\nand then Sir Meliagrance departed and made no fare as\nthat he nist where he was.\nAnd when Sir Launcelot was thus missed they marvelled\nwhere he was become; and then the queen and many of\nthem deemed that he was departed as he was wont to do\nsuddenly. For Sir Meliagrance made suddenly to put\naway aside Sir Lavaine's horse, that they might all\nunderstand that Sir Launcelot was departed suddenly. So it\npassed on till after dinner; and then Sir Lavaine would\nnot stint until that he ordained litters for the wounded\nknights, that they might be laid in them; and so with the\nqueen and them all, both ladies and gentlewomen and other,\nwent unto Westminster; and there the knights told King\nArthur how Meliagrance had appealed the queen of high\ntreason, and how Sir Launcelot had received the glove of\nhim: And this day eight days they shall do battle afore\nyou. By my head, said King Arthur, I am afeard Sir\nMeliagrance hath taken upon him a great charge; but\nwhere is Sir Launcelot? said the king. Sir, said they all,\nwe wot not where he is, but we deem he is ridden to some\nadventures, as he is ofttimes wont to do, for he hath Sir\nLavaine's horse. Let him be, said the king, he will be\nfounden, but if he be trapped with some treason.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIX CHAPTER VII","type":"page"}