Gareth woke up on that morning, thinking, ‘Now at last I can be one of King Arthur’s knights; now at last I am free.’
In the dining-room he sprang eagerly to the King’s side. ‘A boon, King Arthur, grant me this boon,’ he cried, ‘that I serve you no longer as a kitchen-page, but as a knight.’
Arthur loved the noble-looking lad, and was pleased with his eagerness. ‘I make you my knight, to win glory and honour for our land,’ said the King. But the secret of Gareth’s knighthood was to be kept from all but Sir Lancelot, till the new knight, Sir Gareth, had won for himself great fame.
‘You shall begin at once,’ said the King. And he promised Gareth that he should be the first of all his knights to leave his court that day.
As he spoke, a beautiful lady called Lynette came into the hall, in great haste. ‘A knight to rescue my sister, King Arthur,’ she cried.
‘Who is your sister, and why does she need a knight?’ asked the King.
And Lynette told Arthur that her sister was called the Lady Lyonors, and that Lyonors was rich and had many castles of her own, but a cruel knight, called the Red Knight, had shut her up in one of her own castles. The name of the castle in which she was a prisoner was Castle Dangerous. And the Red Knight said he would keep Lady Lyonors there, till he had fought King Arthur’s bravest knight. Then he would make Lyonors his wife. ‘But,’ said Lynette, ‘my sister will never be the bride of the Red Knight, for she does not love him.’
Then Arthur, looking round his knights, saw Gareth’s eyes growing bright, and heard Gareth’s voice ringing out, ‘Your promise, King.’
And the King said to Gareth, ‘Go and rescue the Lady Lyonors from the Red Knight.’
‘A kitchen-page go to rescue the Lady Lyonors!’ shouted Sir Kay in scorn.