his shield for weakness, and then he went back a
little and fell down.

Balin also sank to the ground, faint with his wounds, and as he lay he
cried out:

'What knight art thou? for ere now I never found a knight that matched
me.'

The other answered him faintly:

'My name is Balan, brother to the good knight Balin!'

'Alas!' said Balin, 'that ever I should see the day!' And therewith he
fell back in a swoon.

Then Balan crawled on all fours, feet and hands, and put off the helm
of his brother, and might hardly know him by his face, so hewn and
stained it was. Balan wept and kissed his face, and with that Balin
awoke.

'O Balan, my brother, thou hast slain me and I thee!'

'Alas!' said Balan, 'but I knew thee not, my brother. Hadst thou had
thine own shield, I would have known thy device of the two swords.'

'Ah, 'twas part of the evil hap that hath followed me,' cried Balin. 'I
know not why.'

Then they both swooned, and the lady of the castle came and would have
had them taken to a chamber. But Balan awoke and said:

'Let be! let be! No leech can mend us. And I would not live more, for I
have slain my dear brother and he me!'

Balin woke up therewith, and put his hand forth, and his brother
clasped it in his, very eagerly.

'Little brother,' said Balin, 'I cannot come to thee--kiss me!' When
they had kissed, they swooned again, and in a little while Balin died,
but Balan did not pass until midnight.

'Alas! alas!' cried the lady, weeping for very pity, 'that ever this
should be. Two brothers that have played together about their mother's
knees to slay each other unwittingly!'

On the morrow came Merlin, and made them be buried richly in the green
place where they had fought, and on their tomb he caused to be written
in letters of gold, deep and thick, these words: 'Here lie Sir Balin
and his brother Sir Balan, who, unwittingly, did most pitifully slay
each other: and this Sir Balin was, moreover, he that smote the
dolorous stroke. Whereof the end is not yet.'

III

HOW LANCELOT WAS MADE A KNIGHT. THE FOUR WITCH QUEENS, AND THE
ADVENTURES AT THE CHAPEL PERILOUS

When King Arthur was arrived at the age of twenty-five, his knights and
barons counselled that he should take a queen, and his choice fell upon
Gwenevere, the daughter of King Leodegrance, of the land of Cameliard.
This damsel was the most beautiful and the most gracious in all the
realm of Britain.

When the marriage was arra