to check the blood. When he saw his son slain, he began to blaspheme God and his Mother Holy Mary, saying that he did not so much grieve to die as that he could destroy their monasteries and churches, because they had suffered him and his son to be conquered by one Knight. Beltenebros was then upon his knees returning thanks to God, when he heard the blasphemer, he exclaimed, Accursed of God and of his Blessed Mother! now shalt thou suffer for thy cruelties; pray to thine Idol, that, as thou hast shed so much blood before him, he may stop this blood of thine from flowing out with thy life! The Giant continued to curse God and his Saints; then Beltenebros plucked the boar-spear from the horse's body, and thrust it into the mouth of Famongomadan, and nailed him backward to the earth. He then put on Basagante's helmet that he might not be known, and mounting the other's horse, rode up to the waggon and broke the chains of all who were prisoners therein, and he besought them to carry the bodies of the Giants to King Lisuarte, and say they were sent him by a strange Knight called Beltenebros; and he begged the Princess to permit him to take the black horse of Famongomadan, because it was a strong and handsome horse, and he would ride him in the battle against King Cildadan. The
bodies of the Giants were so huge, that they were obliged to bend their knees to lay them in the waggon. Leonoreta and her Damsels made garlands for their heads, and being right joyful for their deliverance entered London singing in triumph. Much was King Lisuarte astonished at their adventure, and the more for Quadragante had already presented himself on the part of Beltenebros, of whom nothing else was known except what Corisanda had related. I would he were among us, said the King, I would not lose him for any thing that he could ask and I could grant.
CHAPTER 14.
Beltenebros having taken leave of the Princess, returned joyfully to the fountain where the Damsels were. He bade Enil go to London, and get him other arms made the same as those he wore, which were now so battered as to be useless, and he was to buy him another sword, and bring them in eight days to the Fountain of the Three Channels. Enil forthwith departed, and the Damsels also taking their leave, rode on to Miraflores, and there told Oriana and Mabilia what great feats they had seen that day atchieved by a Knight called Beltenebros. He meantime struck into the forest, and rode slowly the same way, till he came to a brook winding among the trees, and there, for it was yet early, he alighted and took off his helmet, and drank of the water, and cleansed himself from the sweat of the battle; and there he remained, musing over his past and present fortunes and the
strange vicissitudes of life, till night approached; then he made for the castle. Durin and Gandalin met him at the garden-wall, and took his horse. Oriana and Mabilia and the Damsel were on the wall: they gave him their hands: presently he was over, and held Oriana in his arms; but who can tell what joy there then was in embracing and kisses, and the mingling of tears? Mabilia roused them as from a dream, and led them into the castle, and there Beltenebros remained eight days with Oriana in joys dearer to him than even Paradise.
Meantime King Lisuarte was preparing for the battle against King Cildadan, which he much doubted, knowing what Giants and mighty Knights would be with his enemy. Florestan and Galaor and Agrayes were returned, and Don Galvanes Lackland had arrived, and many other good Knights. The whole talk was of Beltenebros, and many said his deeds surpassed those of Amadis; whereat Galaor and Florestan were so enraged, that nothing but their promise to undertake no adventure before the battle, withheld them from seeking him and proving him in mortal combat, but of this they only communed with each other. One day there came into the palace an old Squire with two
others, all clad in garments of the same cloth. The old man's beard was shorn, his ears were large, and the hair of his head grey. He, kneeling before the King, addressed him in the Greek language: Sir, the great fame which is gone abroad of the Knights and Dames and Damsels of your court hath brought me hither, to see if I can find among them what for sixty years I have sought through all parts of the world, and reaped no fruit for my labour. Noble King, if you hold it good, permit that a trial may be made here, which shall not be to your injury nor to the shame of any. All who were present, desirous to see what it might be, besought the King's assent, which he, feeling the like curiosity, readily granted. The old Squire then took in his hand a coffer of jasper, three cubits long and a span wide, its sides being fastened with plates of gold; this he opened, and took out a sword, so strange as the like was never seen; the sheath was of bone, yet green like an emerald, and so clear that the blade of the sword could be seen through, and it was unlike other blades, for the one-half was as bright as it could be, and the other burning red like fire; the hilt was of the same green bone, and the belt also, being made of such small pieces fastened together with gold screws, that it could be girt on like a common
belt. This the Squire hung round his neck, and took from the same coffer a head-dress of flowers, the half whereof were as beautiful and fresh as though they had just then been cut from the living stem; the other half so withered and dry, that it seemed they would crumble at a touch. The King asked why those flowers, that all seemed to grow from the same stem, were yet in such different condition, and what was the nature of that strange sword? King, said the old Squire, this sword cannot be drawn from the scabbard, except by the Knight who of all men in the world loveth his Lady best; and as soon as he shall have it in his hand, the half which is now of burning red, shall become clear and bright like the other part, and the whole blade be of one colour; and when this garland of flowers shall be set upon the head of that Lady or Damsel, that with the same surpassing love doth love her husband or friend, the dry flowers shall again become fresh and green. And know, Sir, that I cannot be knighted except by the hands of that true lover, nor take sword except from that loyal Lady; for this, O King, having searched all other courts and parts of the world, I am come hither, after sixty years, hoping that as there is no court of Emperor or King like this, here I may succeed at last. Tell me, said Lisuarte, how is it that the