n all his life,
but at last it came to an end. A whole year had passed, and another
of the King's great feast-days had begun.

Gareth woke up on that morning, thinking, 'Now at last I can be one
of King Arthur's knights; now at last I am free.'

In the dining-room he sprang eagerly to the King's side. 'A boon,
King Arthur, grant me this boon,' he cried, 'that I serve you no
longer as a kitchen-page, but as a knight.'

Arthur loved the noble-looking lad, and was pleased with his
eagerness. 'I make you my knight, to win glory and honour for our
land,' said the King. But the secret of Gareth's knighthood was to
be kept from all but Sir Lancelot, till the new knight, Sir Gareth,
had won for himself great fame.

'You shall begin at once,' said the King. And he promised Gareth
that he should be the first of all his knights to leave his court
that day.

As he spoke, a beautiful lady called Lynette came into the hall, in
great haste. 'A knight to rescue my sister, King Arthur,' she
cried.

'Who is your sister, and why does she need a knight?' asked the
King.

And Lynette told Arthur that her sister was called the Lady
Lyonors, and that Lyonors was rich and had many castles of her own,
but a cruel knight, called the Red Knight, had shut her up in one
of her own castles. The name of the castle in which she was a
prisoner was Castle Dangerous. And the Red Knight said he would
keep Lady Lyonors there, till he had fought King Arthur's bravest
knight. Then he would make Lyonors his wife. 'But,' said Lynette,
'my sister will never be the bride of the Red Knight, for she does
not love him.'

Then Arthur, looking round his knights, saw Gareth's eyes growing
bright, and heard Gareth's voice ringing out, 'Your promise, King.'

And the King said to Gareth, 'Go and rescue the Lady Lyonors from
the Red Knight.'

'A kitchen-page go to rescue the Lady Lyonors!' shouted Sir Kay in
scorn.

When Lynette heard that, she was angry, and said, 'I came for Sir
Lancelot, the greatest of all your knights, and you give me a
kitchen-boy.' In her anger, she walked out of the palace gates, and
rode quickly down the streets. She neither looked nor waited to see
if Gareth followed.

'I will wait for nothing,' thought the new knight, and he hurried
after Lynette to the palace gates, but there he was stopped.

Gareth's mother had not forgotten that a year had passed since her
boy had left her. In her quiet castle she had been busy planning a