Then Gareth unbound the knight. And the knight was very grateful, and said, ‘Come and stay at my castle to-night, and to-morrow I will reward you.’
‘I want no reward,’ said Gareth. ‘And besides, I must follow this lady.’ But when he rode up to Lynette, she said, ‘Ride further off, for still you smell of the kitchen.’ ‘You are no knight, though you killed the robbers.’
Then the knight who had been set free rode up, and asked Lynette to come to his castle, and as it was getting dark in the forest, she was glad to stay with him that night.
At supper-time, the knight put a chair for Gareth beside Lynette.
‘Sir Knight, you are wrong to put a kitchen-knave beside me,’ said the lady, ‘for I am of noble birth.’
‘The noble-looking knight a kitchen-knave! What does the lady mean!’ But he took Gareth to another table, and sat there himself with him.
The next morning Gareth and Lynette thanked the knight, and rode on, till they came to another great forest, and at the end of the forest they reached a broad river. There was only one place where the river was narrow and could be crossed, and this passage was guarded by two knights.
‘Will you fight two knights,’ mocked Lynette, ‘or will you turn back again?’
‘Six knights would not make me turn back,’ said Gareth, as he rushed into the river. One knight rushed in from the further side, and Gareth and he fought with their swords in the middle of the stream. At last Gareth smote him on the helmet so violently that he fell down into the water and was drowned.
Then Gareth spurred his horse up the bank where the other knight stood waiting for him, and this knight fought so fiercely that he broke Gareth’s spear. Then they both drew their swords, and fought for a long time, till in the end Gareth won the victory.