Knightly Legends of Wales; or, The Boy's Mabinogion / Being the Earliest Welsh Tales of King Arthur in the Famous Red Book of Hergest

by Sidney Lanier

"How knowest thou, hag, that I am Peredur?"

"By destiny, and the foreknowledge that I should suffer harm from thee. And thou shalt take a horse and armor of me, and with me thou shalt go to learn chivalry and the use of thy arms."

Said Peredur, "Thou shalt have mercy, if thou pledge thy faith thou wilt never more injure the dominions of the countess."

And Peredur took surety of this, and with permission of the countess he set forth with the sorceress to the palace of the sorceresses. And there he remained for three weeks, and then he made choice of a horse and arms, and went his way.

And in the evening he entered a valley, and at the head of the valley he came to a hermit's cell, and the hermit welcomed him gladly; and there he spent the night. And in the morning he arose; and when he went forth, behold, a shower of snow had fallen the night before, and a hawk had killed a wild fowl in front of the cell. And the noise of the horse scared the hawk away, and a raven alighted upon the bird. And Peredur stood, and compared the blackness of the raven and the whiteness of the snow and the redness of the blood, to the hair of the lady that best he loved which was blacker than jet, and to her skin which was whiter than the snow, and to the two red spots upon her cheeks which were redder than the blood upon the snow appeared to be.

Now Arthur and his household were in search of Peredur. "Know ye," said Arthur, "who is the knight with the long spear, that stands by the brook up yonder?"

"Lord," said one of them, "I will go and learn who he is." So the youth came to the place where Peredur was, and asked him what he did thus, and who he was. And from the intensity with which he thought upon the lady whom best he loved, he gave him no answer. Then the youth thrust at Peredur with his lance; and Peredur turned upon him, and struck him over his horse's crupper to the ground. And after this, four and twenty youths came to him, and he did not answer one more than another, but gave the same reception to all, bringing them with one single thrust to the ground. And then came Kai, and spoke to Peredur rudely and angrily. And Peredur took him with his lance under the jaw, and cast him from him with a thrust, so that he broke his arm and his shoulder-blade, and he rode over him one and twenty times. And while he lay thus, stunned with the violence of the pain that he had suffered, his horse returned back at a wild and prancing pace. And when the household saw the horse come back without his rider, they rode forth in haste to the place where the encounter had been. And when they first came there they thought that Kai was slain; but they found that if he had a skilful physician he yet might live. And Peredur moved not from his meditation, on seeing the concourse that was around Kai. And Kai was brought to Arthur's tent, and Arthur caused skilful physicians to come to him. And Arthur was grieved that Kai had met with this reverse, for he loved him greatly.

"Then," said Gwalchmai, "it is not fitting that any should disturb an honorable knight from his thought unadvisedly; for either he is pondering some damage that he has sustained, or he is thinking of the lady whom best he loves. And through such ill-advised proceeding perchance this misadventure has befallen him who last met with him. And if it seem well to thee, lord, I will go and see if this knight has changed from his thought; and, if he has, I will ask him courteously to come and visit thee."

Then Kai was wrath, and he spoke angry and spiteful words. "Gwalchmai," said he, "I know that thou wilt bring him because he is fatigued. Little praise and honor, nevertheless, wilt thou have from vanquishing a weary knight who is tired with fighting. Yet thus hast thou gained the advantage over many. And, while thy speech and thy soft words last, a coat of thin linen were armor sufficient for thee, and thou wilt not need to break either lance or sword in fighting with the knight in the state he is in."

Then said Gwalchmai to Kai, "Thou mightest use more pleasant words, wert thou so minded; and it behooves thee not upon me to wreak thy wrath and thy displeasure. Methinks I shall bring the knight hither with me without breaking either my arm or my shoulder."