'Sir,' said he, 'if ye will give me the order of knighthood, I shall do battle to the uttermost with Sir Marhaus of Ireland.'
King Mark looked the young man up and down, and saw that though he was young of age, yet he was passing well made of body, with broad shoulders and of big limbs. The heart of King Mark became light.
'Fair son,' he said, and his barons marvelled at his soft words, 'what are ye and whence come ye?'
'Sir,' said the youth, 'I come from King Talloch, Prince of Lyones, and I am a gentleman's son.'
'And your name and birthplace—what are they?'
'My name is Tristram, sir, and I was born in Lyones.'
'Young sir,' said the king, 'I like your manner, and I think ye should be a good man of your hands. Therefore will I make you knight if ye will fight with Sir Marhaus.'
'That is why I have come,' said Tristram.
Eagerly the king bade a baron give him his sword, and commanded Tristram to kneel, and then and there he tapped his shoulder with the flat of the sword and bade him rise, 'Sir Tristram of Lyones.'
The king commanded his scrivener to come to him, and on the low wall overlooking the sea the man of inkhorn and goosequill laid his parchment, and wrote a letter to Sir Marhaus at the king's dictation, saying that a knight would battle with him in the morning. A messenger was sent therewith without delay, and the king went into supper, snapping his fingers and joking with his barons in great glee.