ll die if I
draw it forth."

"I shall die if you leave it," said Sir Lancelot.

So Sir Lavaine drew it forth quickly, causing Sir Lancelot to
faint from the pain. Then a hermit who lived near by came to
them, and bore the wounded knight into his hut, where for many a
week Sir Lancelot lay between life and death.

When Arthur found that the unknown knight had gone, no one knew
whither, he was sorry. He called the light-hearted Sir Gawain and
said to him:

"Go forth, take this diamond and seek the stranger knight. Do
not cease from your search till you have left the diamond in his
hand."

Then Arthur went to the queen. She had been ill and had not
attended the tournament. When the king told her all that had
happened, she cried:

"A stranger knight! My lord, my lord! That was our dear Sir
Lancelot. He was fighting in disguise."

"Alas! he is hurt," said the king. "Perhaps he is dying. He said
that he would not fight. He should have told me that he meant to
fight in disguise. The truth, my queen, is always best."

"Yes, my good lord, I know it," she said. "If I had but let our
Lancelot tell the truth, perhaps he would not have been wounded.
You would have called on his kinsmen to cease."

For many days the king and Guinevere waited in deep anxiety for
news of Sir Lancelot. Meantime, Sir Gawain rode forth and sought
for the great knight in vain. At last he came to the castle of
Astolat, where he was welcomed by the lord and Sir Torre and the
fair Elaine. He told them the result of the tournament, and how
the stranger knight had won. They showed him Sir Lancelot's
shield.

"Ah!" said Elaine, when he had told them the name of the unknown
knight, "I knew that he must be great."

Sir Gawain guessed by the expression of her beautiful face that
she loved Sir Lancelot. So he said:

"Fair maiden, when he returns here for his shield, give him this
diamond, which is the prize he won. Perhaps he will prize it the
more because you put it into his hand."

Then Sir Gawain bade them farewell and rode off, lightly singing.
When he told Arthur what he had done, the king said:

"You should have done as I bade you, Gawain. Sir Lancelot
deceived me about his disguise, and you have disobeyed me. The
kingdom will surely fail if the king and his rules are not
honored. Obedience is the courtesy due to kings."

Meanwhile the fair Elaine went to her father and said:

"Dear father, let me go and seek the wounded Sir Lancelot an