than the enemy, and because, if he were conquered, the land of his Lady Oriana would be lost. On the morrow Amadis went with his brother to King Perion, and desiring all others to withdraw, said to him, Sir, I have not slept this night thinking of the battle which is to be between Lisuarte and the Kings of the Isles; for so famous will it be, that all Knights who follow arms ought to be there; and because, I having remained so long without exercising my person, have gained so ill a fame as you my brother know, I have resolved to be present, and on Lisuarte's side; not for any love to him, but for two reasons, because he is the weaker, whom all good Knights therefore ought to succour, and because my intention is to die, or to do my utmost; and if I should be against him, there would be with him Galaor and Quadragante, and Don Brian of Monjaste, all with a like determination, and as they could not avoid encountering me their deaths or mine would needs ensue, but my going shall be secret. King Perion answered, Son, I am the friend of the good, and knowing this King to be one of the good, it was always my will to aid him when I could, and if I have refrained from it it has been because of your difference. Since this is your intention I will go also, and sorry am I that it is so
soon that I cannot carry the aid I should wish. Sirs, said Florestan, when I remember the cruelty of that King, how he would have let us die upon the field if it had not been for Don Galaor, and of his enmity against us without cause, there is nothing in the world should make me consent to help him; but now, because you will go, and because I cannot serve against him during the truce which Don Galvanes has made, I will go with you, and serve him against my will. Full glad was Amadis at this. Your person and ourselves Sir, said he, may well be accounted for many, and if you took forces our going could not be secret; now then let us provide arms whereby we may know each other and yet not be known by others. Come into my armoury, replied Perion, and let us chuse the most forgotten and remarkable that we can find.
They went out into a court where there were trees, and there came up a Damsel richly clad on a goodly palfrey, and three Squires with her, and a horse with a bundle. She came up to the King, who received her well, and asked her if she came to the Queen. No, said she, I come to you, and these two Knights from the Dame of the Undiscovered Island, from whom I bring you gifts;
send away all your people, and you shall see them. The King bade them withdraw. Then she made her Squires open the bundle, and she took out three shields, bearing gold serpents in a field azure, so strangely fashioned that they seemed alive, and the rims were of fine gold and precious stones. She then took out three coat-armours of the same device, and three helmets, but they were all different; the one white, which she gave with one suit to King Perion, and one of purple for Florestan, and one which was gilt to Amadis. And she said, Sir Amadis, my Mistress sends you these, and desires you will do better in them than you have done, since you entered this land. Amadis feared she would reveal the cause, and said, Damsel, tell your Lady that I value this counsel more than the arms, good as they are, and with all my strength will endeavour to obey her. Sirs, said she, my Mistress sends you these that you may know and succour each other in the battle. How knew she, quoth King Perion, that we should be there when we knew it not ourselves? I cannot tell, replied the Damsel, only she told me I should find you all here in this place, and give you the arms. The King then bade them give the Damsel food and entreat her honourably, and after she had eaten she departed
for Great Britain, whither also she was sent. When Amadis saw the arms ready he was impatient to be gone, lest they should not arrive in time for the battle; so the King ordered a ship to be ready in secret, and on pretence that they went to hunt the mountain, they departed and crossed over to that part of Great Britain where they knew that the seven Kings were arrived.
They entered a thick wood where these men had pitched tents, and from thence sent a Squire to bring tidings of the seven Kings, and when the battle should be; and they sent another messenger to King Lisuarte's camp with a letter to Don Galaor, as if from Gaul, beseeching him to send them tidings of the battle as soon as it was ended: this did they for the greater secrecy. The Squire returned on the next evening, and said, that the army of the seven Kings was without number, and that there were strange people among them, and divers languages, and that they were besieging a Castle of certain Damsels, who were sorely distressed, albeit that the place was strong. He had also seen Arcalaus the Enchanter with two of the Kings, and heard him say, that the battle ought to be within six days, for it would be hard to find food for so many. So these three
remained pleasantly in the wood, killing birds with their arrows, who came to a fountain near them, and also beasts of venery. On the fourth day the other messenger returned, and told them how he had left Don Galaor well and in good courage, so that the rest took confidence in him. When I told him your bidding Sir, said he, and how you all three abode in Gaul, the tears came into his eyes, and he sighed and said, O Lord, if it pleased thee that these were in this battle on the King's side as they used to be, I should have no fear! And he bade me say, that if he escaped with life he would inform you without delay of all that had passed. God preserve him! said they; now tell us of King Lisuarte's forces.—He has a good company Sirs, and of good and well known Knights; but they say that it is little against his enemies, and he will within two days come up to succour the Damsels who are besieged. And so it was, for King Lisuarte came and encamped upon a mountain, half a league from the plain where were the enemies, so that the armies were in sight of each other; but the army of the seven Kings were twice as many. That night they prepared their arms and their horses for the battle on the morrow. Now you are to know that the six Kings and the other Chiefs did homage to King Aravigo that
night, that they would hold him for their chief in this battle, and obey his commands, and he swore to take no greater share of the kingdom than each of them, only he required the honour. Presently he made the people cross a river that ran between them and King Lisuarte, and thus placed themselves near his army.
Early on the morrow they armed and appeared before King Aravigo, so great a multitude, and so well armed, that they esteemed the others as nothing, and said, that since the King ventured to give them battle, Great Britain was their own. King Aravigo divided his army into nine battalions, each of a thousand Knights, but in his own he had fifteen hundred; and he gave them to the Kings and the other Chiefs, and placed them in close array. King Lisuarte appointed Don Grumedan, and Don Galaor, and Don Quadragante, and Angriote of Estravaus, to appoint the order of his battle, for they were well skilled in all matters of arms. Presently he went down the side of the mountain into the plain, and as it was now at that hour when the sun was rising, it shone upon their arms, and they appeared so well disposed, that their enemies, who had before held them as nothing, now thought of them otherwise.
These Knights, whom I have named, made five battalions of their people. Don Brian of Monjaste had the first with one thousand Knights of Spain, whom the King his father had sent to Lisuarte. King Cildadan had the second with his own people and other troops which were appointed for him. Don Galvanes had the third; and Gavarte, his nephew, who had come there more for love of him and his friends than for the sake of the King's service. In the fourth went Giontes, the King's nephew, with enough good Knights. King Lisuarte led the fifth, in which were two thousand Knights, and he besought Don Galaor and Quadragante, and Angriote of Estravaus, and Gavarte of the Perilous Valley, and Grimon the Brave, to look to him and defend him, for the which cause he had appointed them no command. In this array which you have heard they moved slowly over the field one against the other.