When the tournament was over, Geraint took the prize to Enid, and asked her if she would be his bride, and go to the Queen’s court with him the next day. And Enid was glad, and said she would go.
In the early morning, Enid lay thinking of her journey. ‘I have only my faded silk dress to wear,’ she sighed, and it seemed to her shabbier and more faded than ever, as it hung there in the morning light. ‘If only I had a few days longer, I would weave myself a dress. I would weave it so delicately that when Geraint took me to the Queen, he would be proud of it,’ she thought. For in her heart she was afraid that Geraint would be ashamed of the old faded silk, when they reached the court.
And her thoughts wandered back to the evening before her birthday, three long years ago. She could never forget that evening, for it was then that their home had been sacked. Then she thought of the morning of that day when her mother had brought her a beautiful gift. It was a dress, made all of silk, with beautiful silk flowers woven into it. If only she could have worn that, but the robbers had taken it away.
But what had happened? Enid sat up and rubbed her eyes. For at that moment her mother came into the room, and over her arm was the very dress Enid had been thinking of.
‘The colours are as bright as ever,’ said the mother, touching the silk softly. And she told Enid how last night their scattered treasures had been brought back, and how she had found the dress among them.
‘I will wear it at once,’ said Enid, a glad look in her eyes. And with loving hands her mother helped her to put on the old birthday gift.
Downstairs the Earl was telling Geraint that last night the Sparrow-hawk had sent back all their treasures. ‘Among them is one of Enid’s beautiful dresses. At last you will see her dressed as a Princess,’ said the Earl gladly.
But Geraint remembered that he had first seen and loved Enid in the faded gown, and he thought, ‘I will ask her to wear it again to-day for my sake.’
And Enid loved the Prince so dearly, that when she heard his wish, she took off the beautiful dress she had been so glad to wear, and went down to him in the old silk gown. And when Geraint saw Enid, the gladness in his face made her glad too, and she forgot all about the old dress.
All that day Queen Guinevere sat in a high tower and often glanced out of the window to look for Geraint and his bride. When she saw them riding along the white road, she went down to the gate herself to welcome them. And when the Queen had dressed Enid in soft and shining silk, all the court marvelled at her beauty.