mbroidered with pearls had
won the prize, and he called him to come to take the diamond.

But no one came, and the knight with the red sleeve was nowhere to
be seen. For Sir Lancelot had been wounded in his last fight, and
when it was over, had ridden hastily from the field, calling
Lavaine to follow. And when they had ridden a little way into the
wood, Sir Lancelot fell from his horse. 'The head of the spear is
still in my side,' he moaned; 'draw it out, Lavaine.'

At first Lavaine was afraid, for he thought of the pain it would
give the knight, and he was afraid too that the wound would bleed
till his knight bled to death. But because Sir Lancelot was in
great suffering, Lavaine at last took courage, and pulled the head
of the spear out of Lancelot's side. Then he, with great
difficulty, helped the knight on to his horse, and slowly and
painfully they rode towards the hermitage.

They reached it at last, and the hermit came out and called two of
his servants to carry the knight into his cell; and they unarmed
him and put him to bed. Then the hermit dressed the knight's wound
and gave him wine to drink.

When King Arthur found the strange knight had disappeared, and
heard that he was wounded, he said that the prize should be sent to
so gallant a victor. 'He was tired and wounded, and cannot have
ridden far,' said the King. And turning to Sir Gawaine, he gave him
the diamond, and told him to go and find the knight and give him
the prize he had won so bravely.

But Sir Gawaine did not want to obey the King. He did not want to
leave the feasting and merriment that followed the tournament. Yet
since all Arthur's knights had taken a vow of obedience, Gawaine
was ashamed not to go, so sulkily, like no true knight, he left the
feast.

And Sir Gawaine rode through the wood and past the hermitage where
the wounded knight lay; and because he was thinking only of his own
disappointment, his search was careless, and he did not see the
shelter Sir Lancelot had found. He rode on till he came to
Astolat. And when Elaine and her father and her brother Sir Torre
saw the knight, they called to him to come in and tell them about
the tournament, and who had won the prize.

Then Sir Gawaine told how the knight with the red sleeve
embroidered with white pearls had gained the prize, but how, being
wounded, he had ridden away without claiming it. He told too how
the King had sent him to find the unknown knight and to give him
the d