‘She does it to find out if I love her truly,’ thought Sir Pelleas again, as he struggled back to his tent below the castle.
Another ten lords were sent to fight the faithful knight, and again Pelleas overthrew them, and again he let himself be bound and carried before the Lady Ettarde.
But when she spoke to him even more unkindly than before, and mocked at his love for her, Sir Pelleas turned away. ‘If she were good as she is beautiful, she could not be so cruel,’ he thought sadly.
And he told her that though he would always love her, he would not try to see her any more.
Now one of King Arthur’s knights, called Sir Gawaine, had been riding past the castle when the ten lords attacked Sir Pelleas.
And Sir Gawaine had looked on in dismay. He had seen the knight overthrow the ten lords, and stand there quietly while the conquered men got to their feet. He had seen them bind him hand and foot, and carry him into the castle.
‘To-morrow I will look for him, and offer him my help,’ thought Sir Gawaine, for he was sorry for the brave young knight.
The next morning he found Sir Pelleas in his tent, looking very sad. And when Sir Gawaine asked the knight why he was so sad, Sir Pelleas told him of his love for the Lady Ettarde and of her unkindness. ‘I would rather die a hundred times than be bound by her lords,’ he said, ‘if it were not that they take me into her presence.’
Then Sir Gawaine cheered Sir Pelleas and offered to help him, for he too was one of Arthur’s knights.
And Sir Pelleas trusted him, for had not all King Arthur’s knights taken the vows of brotherhood and truth?