“Well, damsel, ye may say what ye will, but wheresoever ye go, I will follow you.”
So Beaumains rode with that lady till evening and ever she chid him and would not stop. And they came to a black plain and there was a black hawthorne and thereon hung a black shield and by it stood a black spear, great and long, and a great black horse covered with silk.
HOW BEAUMAINS FOUGHT WITH THE FOUR KNIGHTS
There sat a knight all armed in black armor and his name was the Knight of the Black Lands. And when the damsel came nigh he said, “Damsel, have ye brought this knight of King Arthur [to be your champion]?” “Nay, fair knight,” said she, “this is but a kitchen boy that was fed in King Arthur’s kitchen for alms.”
“Why cometh he,” said the knight, “[in such array]? It is shame that he beareth you company.”
“Sir, I cannot be delivered of him; through mishap I saw him slay two knights at the passage of the water and other deeds he did before right marvelous and by chance.”
“I marvel,” said the Black Knight, “that any man that is of honor will fight with him.”
“They know him not,” said the damsel.
“That may be,” said the knight, “but this much I shall grant you; I shall put him down upon foot, and his horse and his armor he shall leave with me, for it were shame to me to do him any more harm.”
When Sir Beaumains heard him say thus, he said, “Sir Knight, thou art full liberal of my horse and armor. I let thee know it cost thee nought, and horse nor armor gettest thou none of mine unless thou win them with thy hands.”