except by the King, who neither looked at them nor received them as he was wont. Amadis did not conceive that this proceeded from any ill will, but that traitor Gandandel came up to him, and embracing him, said with a smile, people are sometimes not believed when they tell the truth. Amadis made him no answer, and he seeing how Angriote and Don Bruneo were offended that Lisuarte did not notice them, went up to the King and said, so that no one could hear him, Do you not see Sir how those Knights look towards you? Lisuarte did not reply, and Amadis then, who suspected no evil, came up with Galvanes and Agrayes and said courteously, Sir, if it please you we would speak with you, and let whom you will be present; the King said, Gandandel and Brocadan; thereat was Amadis well pleased, for he believed them to be his true friends. Then they went together into a garden, where the King seated himself under a tree, and they round about him, and Amadis said, Sir, it has not been my fortune to serve you according to my good will, yet though I may not have deserved it, relying upon your virtue and great nobleness, I venture to ask a boon, which shall be to your service, and wherein you shall show great courtesy and do what is right. Certes, said Gandandel, if it be as you say you ask a fair boon,
but let the King know what you would have. Sir, replied Amadis, what I and Agrayes and Galvanes, who have served you also, now request, is the Island of Mongaza, that reserving to yourself the Lordship you would give it with Madasima in marriage to Don Galvanes, wherein you will show favour to him who is of such lineage and hath no lands, and will gain a good vassal for yourself, and also deal courteously with Madasima, who by us hath been disherited. Gandandel and Brocadan hearing this looked at the King, and made signs to him that he should not grant it; but he remained silent for awhile, calling to mind the great worth of Galvanes, and the services which he had received from him, and how Amadis had won that Island with the extreme peril of his life, and knowing also that what they asked was a reasonable and becoming thing, and just. But because his will was perverted he answered as one who had no inclination to consent, He is not wise who asks for what he cannot have. I say this with respect to you, for you ask that which five days ago I promised the Queen for her daughter Leonoreta; this answer he made to excuse himself, not because it was true. At this Gandandel and Brocadan were well pleased, and made signs to him that he had said well, but Agrayes, whose heart was warm,
when he heard with how little courtesy the King had refused them would not keep silence. You make us feel Sir, quoth he, that our services will profit us little here; if my advice be taken, our lives shall be differently employed. Nephew, exclaimed Galvanes, services are worth little when they are done to those who know not how to reward them: men should look where they bestow them. Sirs, quoth Amadis, do not complain that the King cannot give you what he hath already promised to another. I will ask the King to give you Madasima and let him keep the land, and I will give you the Firm Island till the King shall have something else to bestow upon you. The King answered, Madasima is in my prison in hostage for her lands, and if they be not surrendered I will have her head cut off. Then Amadis replied, of a truth Sir you should have answered us more courteously, and you would not have committed this wrong if you had known us better. If I do not know you, said Lisuarte, the world is wide enough; go through it, and look for those who may know you better. Certes Sir, quoth Amadis, till now I thought there was no King in the world who had wisdom such as yours; but seeing how strangely different you are from what I believed, since you are in this new mood we must seek a
new way of life. Lisuarte answered, Do your own will as I shall mine, and he rose angrily and went to the Queen.
Gandandel and Brocadan commended him much for what he had done in thus dismissing such dangerous enemies, and he told Brisena all that had passed, and how he rejoiced thereat. But she told him that what he rejoiced at was to her cause for sorrow, for Amadis and his friends had ever served him faithfully and well; and that other Knights seeing how they were recompensed would have great reason to seek one who would know and reward them better. Say no more, cried he, I know what I am doing, and remember to say what I tell you, that you asked that Island for Leonoreta, and that I have given it her. I will do as you command me, replied Brisena, but God grant that it come to good!
Amadis returned to his lodging in a more melancholy mood than he was wont, he would say nothing to the Knights of his company till he had spoken with Oriana, so calling Durin aside he bade him tell Mabilia that he must see Oriana that night, and that they should expect him by the water course in the garden. Then he ate and regaled with the Knights as he used to do, and he desired
them to assemble there on the morrow for he had something to impart to them. When day was gone and night was come, after they had retired and all were at rest, he went with Gandalin to the water course, and having entered it went forthwith to the chamber of Oriana, where she with as true love expected him; and being in her arms she asked him why he had sent that message by Durin, and he told her all that had past. Now Lady mine, said he, since it is so that for my honour I must depart I beseech you do not command me otherwise, for I am more yours than my own, and if I am shamed the shame will be yours also. But Oriana, though she felt as though her heart were breaking, took courage as she could and answered, True friend, with little reason can you complain of my father, for it is not him but me whom you have served, for my sake you abode here, and for my sake have done so many great actions, and from me you have had your guerdon, and shall have while I live; yet should not my father have done thus, seeing what you have been to him. Howbeit, though your absence will be like as if my heart were breaking, I will regard reason more than my unbounded love. Do as you think best! my father will find when you are gone that all that is left will be to him cause of sorrow and evil! Amadis
kissed her hands; my own true Lady many and great kindnesses have I received from you which have saved me from death, but for this I thank you above all, inasmuch as honour is above all delights. Thus past they that night mingling tears with their love, thinking of the long solitude that was to come, and towards day-break Amadis rose; that dear cousin Mabilia and the Damsel of Denmark went out with him, and he embraced them, and commended Oriana to their consolations, and so they parted weeping.
Amadis went to his lodging and slept the remainder of the night and some part of the morning, but when it was time he arose, and the Knights assembled, they heard mass and rode forth, and being assembled in the field he addressed them after this guise:—It is notorious to you good Sirs and honourable Knights, whether the affairs of King Lisuarte have prospered or declined since I and my brethren and friends for my sake came to Great Britain. I may therefore be excused from recalling what is past to your memory, this only I ought to say, that ye as well as myself might reasonably have expected great recompence; but either that Fortune hath been using her accustomed inconstancy, or by the influence of evil counsellors, or
perhaps because age hath altered the conditions of the King, we have found him different from what we expected; for when I myself and Agrayes, and Don Galvanes besought him that he would give Madasima to Don Galvanes in marriage, and with her her lands in vassallage, he nothing regarding the worth of this Knight nor his high lineage, not only would not grant us the boon, but denied it in terms so discourteous and dishonourable, that because they proceeded from a tongue so true, and from a judgment so sound, I would not willingly repeat them were not things at this extremity that it cannot be excused. Know then Sirs that towards the end of our talk, when we said to him that he did not know our services, he replied, the world was wide enough and we might seek those who would know them better. So therefore as we have hitherto obeyed him in concord and friendship, now must we in discord and enmity, fulfilling that which he thinks fitting; it seemed right to me that you should know this, because it not only concerns us in particular but all in general.