herd. So take ye him away and
let him herd my swine."

[Sidenote: Sir Lamorack turns swineherd] So they led Sir Lamorack away,
and he became swineherd to Sir Nabon surnamed le Noir, and presently in a
little while he grew so rough and shaggy that his own mother would hardly
have known him had she beheld him.

So endeth this adventure of Sir Lamorack. And now it shall be told how it
befel with Sir Tristram after Sir Lamorack had left Tintagel as aforetold.

[Illustration: Sir Tristram cometh to ye castle of Sir Nabon]

Chapter Second

_How Sir Tristram started to go to Camelot, and how he stayed by the way to
do battle with Sir Nabon le Noir._

Now after Sir Lamorack had quit the court of King Mark of Cornwall as
aforetold, Sir Tristram was very sad at heart for a long while.
Nevertheless, he tried to comfort himself by saying: "Well, it was not by
my will that I did battle with my friend and brother-in-arms, for I had no
choice as to that which I was compelled to do." So he spake to himself, and
took what comfort he was able from such considerations, and that comfort
was not very great.

[Sidenote: Sir Launcelot sends a letter to Sir Tristram] Then one day
there came from Sir Launcelot of the Lake a letter in which Sir Launcelot
said that he had heard that Sir Tristram had assailed Sir Lamorack when
that knight was weary and spent with battle. And in that letter Sir
Launcelot further said: "It is very strange to me, Messire, that such
things should be said of you, and that by several mouths. Now, I pray you,
set this matter at right, for I do not choose to have such a thing said of
you; that you would wait until a knight was weary with fighting before you
would do battle with him. Moreover, Sir Lamorack is your sworn
brother-at-arms, and a fellow-knight of the Round Table, and is, besides,
one of the noblest and gentlest knights in Christendom. Wherefore I beseech
you to set this matter right, so that those who accuse you of
unknightliness may be brought to confusion."

So wrote Sir Launcelot, and at those words Sir Tristram was cast into a
great deal of pain and trouble of spirit; for he wist not how to answer
that letter of Sir Launcelot's so as to make the matter clear to that
knight. Wherefore he said: "I will straightway go to Camelot and to Sir
Launcelot and will speak to him by word of mouth, and so will make him
understand why I did that which I had to do."

[Sidenote: Sir Tristram rides to Cam