ors, shall ye not do my will? Madam, said Bors,
there is no lady in the world whose will I will fulfill as of this
thing, for my brother lieth dead which was slain right late. Ah Bors,
said she, I have loved you long for the great beauty I have seen in
you, and the great hardiness that I have heard of you, that needs ye
must lie by me this night, and therefore I pray you grant it me.
Truly, said he, I shall not do it in no manner wise. Then she made him
such sorrow as though she would have died. Well Bors, said she, unto
this have ye brought me, nigh to mine end. And therewith she took him
by the hand, and bad him behold her. And ye shall see how I shall die
for your love. Ah, said then he, that shall I never see. Then she
departed and went up into an high battlement, and led with her twelve
gentlewomen; and when they were above, one of the gentlewomen cried,
and said: Ah, Sir Bors, gentle knight have mercy on us all, and suffer
my lady to have her will, and if ye do not we must suffer death with
our lady, for to fall down off this high tower, and if ye suffer us
thus to die for so little a thing all ladies and gentlewomen will say
of you dishonour. Then looked he upward, they seemed all ladies of
great estate, and richly and well bisene. Then had he of them great
pity; not for that he was uncounselled in himself that lever he had
they all had lost their souls than he his, and with that they fell
adown all at once unto the earth. And when he saw that, he was all
abashed, and had thereof great marvel. With that he blessed his body
and his visage. And anon he heard a great noise and a great cry, as
though all the fiends of hell had been about him; and therewith he saw
neither tower nor lady, nor gentlewoman, nor no chapel where he
brought his brother to. Then held he up both his hands to the heaven,
and said: Fair Father God, I am grievously escaped; and then he took
his arms and his horse and rode on his way. Then he heard a clock
smite on his right hand; and thither he came to an Abbey on his right
hand, closed with high walls, and there was let in. Then they supposed
that he was one of the quest of the Sangreal, so they led him into a
chamber and unarmed him. Sirs, said Sir Bors, if there be any holy man
in this house I pray you let me speak with him. Then one of them led
him unto the Abbot, which was in a Chapel. And then Sir Bors saluted
him, and he him again. Sir, said Bors, I am a knight errant; and told
him all the