As the lady still stood there, he roused himself and tried to speak. But because he was bewildered by her beauty, he stammered and answered foolishly.
The Lady Ettarde turned to the merry lords and ladies who had followed her. ‘The knight cannot speak, though he is so strong and good-looking,’ she said scornfully.
But Sir Pelleas was wide-awake at last. He sprang to his feet, and told the Lady Ettarde that he had been dreaming, and that she had seemed to him a part of his dream. ‘But I too am going to Carleon,’ he added, ‘and I will show you the way.’
And as they rode through the forest Sir Pelleas was always at his lady’s side. When the branches were in her way he pushed them aside, when the path was rough he guided her horse. In the evening when the Lady Ettarde dismounted, Pelleas was there to help her, and in the morning again it was Pelleas who brought her horse and helped her to mount.
Now the Lady Ettarde was a great lady in her own land; knights who had fought many battles and won great fame had served her, and she cared nothing for the young untried knight’s love and service.
‘Still he looks so strong, that I will pretend to care for him,’ she thought, ‘and then perhaps he will try to win the golden circlet for me, and I shall be called the “Queen of Beauty.”’ For the Lady Ettarde was a cruel and vain lady, and cared more for the golden circlet and to be called the ‘Queen of Beauty,’ than for the happiness of the young knight Pelleas. And so for many days the Lady Ettarde was kind to Sir Pelleas, and at last she told him that she would love him if he would win the golden circlet for her.
‘The lady of my dreams will love me,’ the knight murmured. And aloud he said proudly that if there were any strength in his right arm, he would win the prize for the Lady Ettarde.
Then the lords and ladies that were with Ettarde pitied the young knight, for they knew their lady only mocked him.
At last they all reached Carleon, and the next morning the tournament began.
And the Lady Ettarde watched her knight merrily, as each day he overcame and threw from their horses twenty men.