King Arthur and His Knights - Maude L. Radford (free ebook novel .TXT) 📗
- Author: Maude L. Radford
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"This is a kitchen boy, and I will not sit by him."
The lord looked surprised. He took Gareth to another table and sat beside him. After they had eaten, he said:
"You may be a kitchen boy, or the damsel may be out of her mind, but whichever is the case, you are a good fighter and you have saved my life."
The next morning Gareth and the damsel set forth. They rode for a while in silence, and then she said:
"Sir Kitchen Boy, although you are so low, I would like to save your life. Soon we are coming to one who will overthrow you; so turn back."
But Gareth refused. In a little while they came to the first circle of the river. The passing-place was spanned by a bridge. On the farther side of the bridge was a beautiful pavilion, draped in silk of gold and crimson colors. In front of it passed a warrior without armor.
"Damsel," he cried, "is this the knight you have brought from Arthur's Court to fight with me?"
"Ah!" she said, "the king scorns you so much that he has sent a kitchen boy to fight with you. Take care that he does not fall on you before you are armed, for he is a knave."
"Gareth rode at him fiercely"
The warrior went inside his tent for his armor, and the damsel said to Gareth:
"Are you afraid?"
"Damsel," he said, "I am not afraid. I would rather fight twenty times than hear you speak so unkindly of me. Yet your cruel words have put strength into my arm. I shall fight well."
Then the knight came forth all in armor, and he said:
"Youth, you are a kitchen boy. Go back to your king; you are not fit to fight with me."
Gareth rode at him fiercely, saying:
"I am of nobler blood than you."
He fought so well that soon his enemy was overcome. Then Gareth said:
"Go to Arthur's Court and say that his kitchen boy sent you."
When the knight had departed, Gareth rode on, with the damsel in advance. After a little while she stopped her horse, and when he had caught up with her, she said:
"Youth, I do not smell the kitchen grease so much as I did."
Then she galloped off, laughing over her shoulder, while Gareth followed her, a little more slowly.
When they reached the second circle of the river, the damsel said:
"Here is the brother of the knight you overthrew. He is stronger than the first. You had better go home, kitchen boy."
Gareth answered nothing. Out of the tent by the bridge which crossed the second circle of water, came a knight, clad in armor which glowed like the sun. Lynette shouted to him:
"I bring a kitchen boy who has overthrown your brother."
"Ah!" shouted the knight, and rode fiercely at Sir Gareth.
The two fought for a long time. The warrior was strong, but Sir Gareth was stronger, and at last overthrew him, and sent him back to Arthur's Court.
The damsel Lynette had ridden far ahead of him. When he came near her, she said:
"The knight's horse slipped, and that is why you overcame him. And now are you ready to fight with the third knight, for there he stands?"
At the third and innermost circle of the river stood the third knight, clad not in armor, but in hardened skins. Sir Gareth saw that he was more powerful than his brothers. The two at once began to fight on the bridge, but Sir Gareth's sword could not pierce the hard skins. Again and again he tried and failed. He grew tired, and began to fear that he should be conquered. But all at once, when his strokes were becoming feeble, Lynette cried out to him:
"Well done, good knight! You are no kitchen boy, but a brave lord. Strike for me! Do not lose. You are worthy to be a Knight of the Round Table."
When Sir Gareth heard this, he was so encouraged that he made a final great effort and threw his enemy over the bridge into the water. Then he turned to Lynette, saying:
"Lead; I follow."
But Lynette, proud now of her valiant escort, and humbled and ashamed at her misjudging of him, said:
"No, we shall ride side by side. I am very sorry I called you a kitchen boy, for I know that you are a noble knight."
They rode happily side by side till dusk, when they came in sight of Castle Perilous. Just as they were about to cross the moat, a knight overtook them. It was Sir Lancelot, who had been delayed because he had stopped to help Sir Kay after Sir Gareth had thrown him from his horse.
The great knight, as he rode up to the two in the twilight, seeing only the shields which Sir Gareth had taken from the three knights, thought the young man was an enemy, and attacked him. Sir Lancelot was so strong that he soon overcame the youth.
As he fell, Lynette cried out in shame and sorrow, and Sir Gareth said:
"Oh, I am thrown."
Sir Lancelot knew Sir Gareth's voice, and raised him up, saying:
"I am Lancelot, and I am sorry to have overthrown you, my friend."
Sir Gareth said that it was no dishonor to be beaten by Sir Lancelot. Then the three rode into the castle, and there they met the fourth knight, who was all covered with black armor.
Sir Lancelot wished to fight with him, but Sir Gareth would not permit it.
"This must be my adventure," he said.
Sir Gareth rode at the knight, expecting to meet a very strong man, but he easily unhorsed him. His enemy cried:
"Oh spare my life; I am not a knight."
Then he took off his helmet and showed the face of a young boy.
"My three brothers made me pretend to be a fierce knight," he explained. "They thought it would make people more afraid if they believed we were four strong knights."
Sir Lancelot and Sir Gareth laughed heartily, and so did Lynette. They took the boy into the castle, where Lynette's sister, Lyonors, who was now freed from her money-loving captors, greeted them with much joy. She put before them a great feast, and this time Sir Gareth and Lynette sat side by side. Afterwards a marriage was made between them, and they went to live with King Arthur in Camelot.
Among Arthur's Knights of the Round Table was one who was a mixture of good and bad, as indeed most people are. His name was Sir Ivaine; brave, kind-hearted, and merry; but at the same time fickle, sometimes forgetful of his promises, and inclined to make light of serious things.
One night, in the early spring, the knights and ladies of Arthur's Court were sitting in the dining-hall. The king and Guinevere had withdrawn, but were expected to return. Supper had been served, and the last course, consisting of pomegranate seeds and dates, had just been carried off. A fire had been built in the deep hearth, and the four bronze pillars in front were lighted by the flames. Four little pages in blue and white velvet kirtles sat on stools watching the fire, and perhaps dreaming of the days when they, too, should be warriors and have adventures.
Sir Ivaine was telling of his experience with the Black Knight.
"It was when I was very young," he said; "indeed, I had just been made a knight. Some one told me of the wicked Black Knight who lived, and still lives, in a wood a long way from here. Knowing that he did much evil, I determined to kill him. I rode to the wood where he lived, and in which I found a marble platform. In the middle of it was a sunken space holding a fountain. I walked to this, and following the directions of some writing which was on the stone, picked up a cup that lay at hand, and filling it with water, poured it into the fountain.
"Then a great storm of wind and rain arose, and when it was at its height the Black Knight rode up and began to attack me. We fought for a little while, but he easily overthrew me. Thinking me dead, he rode back, leaving me on the ground. But after a time I was able to mount my horse, and went back to my mother's castle."
At this moment the king and the queen entered, unperceived by any one except Sir Ivaine. The young man, who was always polite, sprang to his feet; then the other knights rose. Sir Kay, who was not always sweet-tempered, said to Sir Ivaine:
"We all know that you are very polite, but you have more courtesy than bravery."
At that Sir Ivaine said:
"I was almost a boy when the Black Knight overthrew me, but I could conquer him now."
"It is very easy to say that after you have eaten," said Sir Kay. "Almost any knight feels brave and self-satisfied when he has had a good supper of venison."
The king asked what the conversation was about, and Sir Ivaine repeated the story of his adventure, adding:
"And, Sir King, I crave your permission to set forth to-morrow to slay this Black Knight who is a pest in the land."
"I have heard of this man," said the king, "and have often thought of sending some one to punish him. But he lives far away, and it has been necessary heretofore to right first the wrongs nearest home. Yet now his evil deeds and persecutions must cease. To-morrow a company of us will set forth and conquer him and all his people."
The king named some half-dozen of his knights, Sir Ivaine among them, who were to undertake this adventure.
Sir Ivaine was displeased; he thought that the adventure should be his alone. So he rose in the middle of the night and stole away unattended, determined to go in advance of the others and kill the Black Knight. It did not occur to him that in proving himself brave, he was also proving himself disobedient.
He rode forth in the darkness, humming merrily to himself. At daybreak he reached a valley, and as he went through it, saw a great serpent fighting with a lion. Sir Ivaine stopped to watch this curious combat. At first the two fighters seemed evenly matched, but soon the huge serpent wrapped all its folds about the lion and began squeezing it to death. When Sir Ivaine saw this, he drew his sword and killed the serpent.
When the lion was free, it bounded up to Sir Ivaine, and he was afraid that it meant to kill him; but it fawned at his feet like a spaniel. He stroked it, and put his arms about its neck. When he mounted his horse, the beast followed him, refusing to go away. Then Sir Ivaine made up his mind that they were to be companions.
For many days the two kept close together, and at night Sir Ivaine would go to sleep with his head on the lion's neck. One day, as they came to a square castle set in a meadow, some people who stood on the castle walls began to shoot arrows at the lion, but Sir Ivaine stopped them, telling them that the animal was tame.
Then they told him that it was their rule that no one should pass by that castle without doing battle with their lord. Sir Ivaine told them that he was quite willing to obey their rule; so they opened the castle gate. They said he must make his lion stay outside, but Sir Ivaine refused to do
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