At the end of that time King Arthur, who had grown very uneasy because of Ewaines protracted absence, set out with many knights to the Valley of the Fountain to find what had become of him. They were all entertained as nobly as Ewaine himself had been by the knight who dwelt in the stately castle with the twenty-four damsels. The next day they went forward to the place of the fountain; and there Sir Kay, with the king’s permission; undertook the adventure, and threw the water on the marble slab. After the thunder and the hail-storm, came a knight in black armour, who encountered Sir Kay and easily overthrew him. Then Arthur and his company encamped on the plain, and the next day Sir Kay, who was not satisfied with his first repulse, again challenged the knight, who this time not only unhorsed him, but wounded him severely. Thereafter all the knights the king had brought with him, except Sir Gawaine, successively encountered the black knight, and were all overthrown one after another. Then at last Gawaine met him, but he did not carry his own shield. For two days the two met and fought on horseback with spears, and neither could gain the advantage. On the third day they fought with increased fury, and both were unseated. Then they fell to with their swords, and struck many terrible blows. At last a blow from Ewaine turned Sir Gawaines helm on one side, so that his face could be seen. “Ah!” cried Ewaine, “I knew thee not for my cousin, because thou hadst not thine own shield. Take my sword, for thou hast conquered.” But Gawaine said that Ewaine was the victor, and they disputed this till the king decided that neither had vanquished the other. Then they embraced, and Arthur and his knights were exceedingly rejoiced to see Sir Ewaine once more. He led them all to the Castle of the Fountain, where they were splendidly entertained for three months.
After that King Arthur returned to his own dominions, and he entreated the countess to permit Ewaine to go with him for three months. She assented, though it was very painful to her. But when Ewaine was once more among his kindred and friends, he forgot all about his lady and his territory, and remained about three years instead of three months!
Now one day, as Ewaine was sitting in the hall of the king’s palace at Caerleon, there came in a damsel riding on a bay horse; and she dismounted and went up to him, and took the ring off his finger. “Thus,” said she, “should be treated the deceiver, the traitor, the faithless, the disgraced.” Then she got on her horse again and departed. But Ewaine suddenly remembered the countess, and how he had deserted her; and his mind was so filled with shame and sorrow that he well-nigh lost his reason. He wandered away from Caerleon into wild and desert places, and remained there till his apparel wore out, and his hair and beard grew long, and his body was sore wasted. And as he wandered, he came to a fair park belonging to the countess whom he had deserted. There he lay down by a small lake; and he was so weak that he became insensible. It happened that the countess came forth with her maidens to walk in the park, and they saw him lying there. They saw that life was still in him; and the countess went back to her palace, and gave to one of her maidens a flask containing precious ointment. “Go,” said she, “with this balsam and a horse and clothing to that man who lieth in the park, and anoint him with the balsam near the heart. If there is life in him, he will arise; and then watch what he will do.”
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The maiden obeyed, and poured the whole of the balsam upon Ewaine; then she withdrew a little-and watched. Soon he rose up and looked at his person, and became ashamed of the unseemliness of his appearance; so he clothed himself, and with some difficulty mounted on the horse. Then the damsel saluted him; and he asked her what land that was. “Truly,” she said, “it belongs to a widowed countess. At the death of her husband she had two earldoms, but now this park and castle are all that are left to her, the rest having been taken from her by a young earl, her neighbour, because she refused to become his wife.”
“That is pity,” said Ewaine. Then she led him to the castle, and took him to a pleasant chamber, where she waited on him till he was quite recovered; and in three months he had become more mighty and more comely than ever he was before. One day he heard a great tumult outside the castle walls, and he asked the maiden what was the cause.
“The earl of whom I spoke to thee,” she said, “has come before the castle with a numerous army to subdue the countess.” Then Ewaine asked her to obtain for him from the countess the loan of a horse and arms; and when he had got them he went forth, and penetrated the hostile army till he came to the earl himself, whom he dragged out of his saddle, and carried him off, in spite of all the efforts of his knights, to the castle. Then he took him to the countess, and threw him down before her, and said, “Behold, here is a gift in requital for thy precious balsam.”