ook
counsel together, and after a while the leader came forward and said
that they had decided that it was best, for the peace and safety of all,
that she should choose a husband for herself. Thereupon Owen was
summoned to her presence, and he accepted with joy the hand that she
offered him, and they were married forthwith, and the men of the earldom
did him homage.

From that day Owen defended the fountain as the earl before him had
done, and every knight that came by was overthrown by him, and his
ransom divided among his barons. In this way three years passed, and no
man in the world was more beloved than Owen.

* * * * *

Now at the end of the three years it happened that Gwalchmai the knight
was with Arthur, and he perceived the king to be very sad.

'My lord, has anything befallen thee?' he asked.

'Oh, Gwalchmai, I am grieved concerning Owen, whom I have lost these
three years, and if a fourth year passes without him I can live no
longer. And sure am I that the tale told by Kynon the son of Clydno
caused me to lose him. I will go myself with the men of my household to
avenge him if he is dead, to free him if he is in prison, to bring him
back if he is alive.'

Then Arthur and three thousand men of his household set out in quest of
Owen, and took Kynon for their guide. When Arthur reached the castle,
the youths were shooting in the same place, and the same yellow man was
standing by, and as soon as he beheld Arthur he greeted him and invited
him in, and they entered together. So vast was the castle that the
king's three thousand men were of no more account than if they had been
twenty.

At sunrise Arthur departed thence, with Kynon for his guide, and reached
the black man first, and afterwards the top of the wooded hill, with the
fountain and the bowl and the tree.

'My lord,' said Kai, 'let me throw the water on the slab and receive the
first adventure that may befall.'

'Thou mayest do so,' answered Arthur, and Kai threw the water.

Immediately all happened as before; the thunder and the shower of hail
which killed many of Arthur's men; the song of the birds and the
appearance of the black knight. And Kai met him and fought him, and was
overthrown by him. Then the knight rode away, and Arthur and his men
encamped where they stood.

In the morning Kai again asked leave to meet the knight and to try to
overcome him, which Arthur granted. But once more he was unhorsed, a