Her name was Elaine. But she was so fair that her father called her ‘Elaine the Fair,’ and she was so lovable that her brothers called her ‘Elaine the Lovable,’ and that was the name she liked best of all.
The country people, who lived round about the castle of Astolat, which was Elaine’s home, had another and a very beautiful name for her. As she passed their windows in her white frock, they looked at the white lilies growing in their gardens, and they said, ‘She is tall and graceful and pure as these,’ and they called her the ‘Lily Maid of Astolat.’
Elaine lived in the castle alone with her father and her two brothers, and an old dumb servant who had waited on her since she was a baby.
To her father Elaine seemed always a bright and winsome child, though she was growing up now. He would watch her serious face as she listened to Sir Torre, the grave elder brother, while he told her that wise maidens stayed at home to cook and sew. And he would laugh as he saw her, when Sir Torre turned away, run off wilfully to the woods.
Elaine spent long happy days out of doors with her younger brother Lavaine. When they grew tired of chasing the butterflies and gathering the wildflowers, they would sit under the pine-trees and speak of Arthur’s knights and their noble deeds, and they longed to see the heroes of whom they talked.
‘And the tournament will be held at Camelot this year,’ Lavaine reminded his sister. ‘If some of the knights ride past Astolat, we may see them as they pass.’ And Elaine and Lavaine counted the days till the tournament would begin.
Now Arthur had offered the prize of a large diamond to the knight who fought most bravely at the tournament.
But the knights murmured to each other, ‘We need not hope to win the prize, for Sir Lancelot will be on the field, and who can stand before the greatest knight of Arthur’s court?’
And the Queen heard what the knights said to each other, and she told Lancelot how they lost courage and hope when he came on to the field. ‘They begin to think some magic is at work when they see you, and they cannot fight their best. But I have a plan. You must go to the tournament at Camelot in disguise. And though the knights do not know with whom they fight, they will still fall before the strength of Lancelot’s arm,’ added the Queen, smiling up to him.
Then Lancelot disguised himself, and left the court and rode towards Camelot. But when he was near Astolat he lost his way, and wandered into the old castle grounds, where Elaine stood, with her father and brothers.