ngs of the shield of that captive knight, he wist that it was Sir
Gaheris, the brother of Sir Gawaine, and the nephew of King Arthur, whom
Sir Turquine brought thither in that wise.

At this Sir Launcelot was very wroth; for he could not abide seeing a
fellow-knight of the Round Table treated with such disregard as that which
Sir Gaheris suffered at the hands of Sir Turquine; wherefore Sir Launcelot
rode to meet Sir Turquine, and he cried out: "Sir Knight! put that wounded
man down from his horse, and let him rest for a while, and we two will
prove our strength, the one against the other! For it is a shame for thee
to treat a noble knight of the Round Table with such despite as thou art
treating that knight."

"Sir," said Sir Turquine, "as I treat that knight, so treat I all knights
of the Round Table--and so will I treat thee if thou be of the Round
Table."

"Well," said Sir Launcelot, "as for that, I am indeed of the Round Table,
and I have come hither for no other reason than for to do battle with
thee."

"Sir Knight," said Sir Turquine, "thou speakest very boldly; now I pray
thee to tell me what knight thou art and what is thy name."

"Messire," said Sir Launcelot, "I have no fear to do that. I am called Sir
Launcelot of the Lake, and I am a knight of King Arthur's, who made me
knight with his own hand."

"Ha!" said Sir Turquine, "that is very good news to me, for of all knights
in the world thou art the one I most desire to meet, for I have looked for
thee for a long while with intent to do battle with thee. For it was thou
who didst slay my brother Sir Caradus at Dolorous Gard, who was held to be
the best knight in all the world. Wherefore, because of this, I have the
greatest despite against thee of any man in the world, and it was because
of that despite that I waged particular battle against all the knights of
King Arthur's court. And in despite of thee I now hold five score and eight
knights, who are thy fellows, in the dismallest dungeon of my castle. Also
I have to tell thee that among those knights is thine own brother, Sir
Ector, and thy kinsman, Sir Lionel. For I overthrew Sir Ector and Sir
Lionel only a day or two ago, and now they lie almost naked in the lower
parts of that castle yonder. I will put down this knight as thou biddst me,
and when I have done battle with thee I hope to tie thee on his
saddle-horn in his place."

So Sir Turquine loosed the cords that bound Sir Gaheris and set him from