‘Give me your horse and armour,’ said Sir Gawaine. ‘I will go to the castle with them, and tell the Lady Ettarde that I have slain you. Then she will ask me to come in, and I will talk of your great love and strength, till she learns to love you.’
And Sir Gawaine rode away, wearing the armour and helmet of Sir Pelleas, and promising to come back in three days.
The Lady Ettarde was walking up and down outside the castle, when she saw the knight approaching. ‘Sir Pelleas again,’ she thought angrily, and turned to go into the castle.
But Sir Gawaine called to her to stay. ‘I am not Sir Pelleas, but a knight who has slain him.’
‘Take off your helmet that I may see your face,’ said the Lady Ettarde, as she turned to look at him.
When she saw that it was really a strange knight, she took him into her castle. ‘Because you have slain Sir Pelleas, whom I hated, I will love you,’ said the cruel Lady Ettarde.
Sir Gawaine saw how beautiful the lady was, and he forgot her unkindness to Sir Pelleas, and he loved her. And because he was not a true knight, Sir Gawaine did not think of Pelleas, who waited so anxiously for his return.
Three days passed, but he did not go back, and in the castle all was joy and merriment.
Six days passed, and still Sir Gawaine stayed with the beautiful Lady Ettarde.
At last Sir Pelleas could bear his loneliness no longer. That night he went up to the castle, and swam across the river. When he reached the front of the castle, he saw a great many tents. And all the lords and ladies were asleep in their tents, and Sir Gawaine was there too.