ns and sinews. And therewithal Sir Gareth
smote him upon the helm such a buffet that he fell grovelling; and then
he leapt over him and unlaced his helm, and smote off his head from the
body. And then he bled so fast that he might not stand, but so he laid
him down upon his bed, and there he swooned and lay as he had been dead.

Then Dame Lionesse cried aloud, that her brother Sir Gringamore heard,
and came down. And when he saw Sir Gareth so shamefully wounded he was
sore displeased, and said: I am shamed that this noble knight is thus
honoured. Sir, said Sir Gringamore, how may this be, that ye be here,
and this noble knight wounded? Brother, she said, I can not tell you,
for it was not done by me, nor by mine assent. For he is my lord and I
am his, and he must be mine husband; therefore, my brother, I will that
ye wit I shame me not to be with him, nor to do him all the pleasure
that I can. Sister, said Sir Gringamore, and I will that ye wit it, and
Sir Gareth both, that it was never done by me, nor by my assent that
this unhappy deed was done. And there they staunched his bleeding
as well as they might, and great sorrow made Sir Gringamore and Dame
Lionesse.

And forthwithal came Dame Linet, and took up the head in the sight of
them all, and anointed it with an ointment thereas it was smitten off;
and in the same wise she did to the other part thereas the head stuck,
and then she set it together, and it stuck as fast as ever it did.
And the knight arose lightly up, and the damosel Linet put him in her
chamber. All this saw Sir Gringamore and Dame Lionesse, and so did Sir
Gareth; and well he espied that it was the damosel Linet, that rode with
him through the perilous passages. Ah well, damosel, said Sir Gareth,
I weened ye would not have done as ye have done. My lord Gareth, said
Linet, all that I have done I will avow, and all that I have done shall
be for your honour and worship, and to us all. And so within a while Sir
Gareth was nigh whole, and waxed light and jocund, and sang, danced, and
gamed; and he and Dame Lionesse were so hot in burning love that they
made their covenant at the tenth night after, that she should come to
his bed. And because he was wounded afore, he laid his armour and his
sword nigh his bed's side.

CHAPTER XXIII. How the said knight came again the next night and was
beheaded again, and how at the feast of Pentecost all the knights that
Sir Gareth had overcome came and yielded the