Arthurian Romances (66 page)

‘Sir,' replied Yvain, ‘I want none of your wealth. May God grant me no share here, and may your daughter remain with you. In her the Emperor of Germany would find a good match, were he to win her, for she is beautiful and well-bred.'

‘Enough, dear guest!' said the lord. ‘I don't have to listen to your refusal, for you cannot escape. The knight who can defeat the two demons who are about to attack you must take my town, wed my daughter, and rule over all my lands. The combat cannot be averted or postponed for any reason. But I am convinced that cowardice makes you refuse my daughter's hand: in this way you hope to avoid the combat altogether. Yet you cannot fail to fight, because no knight who has slept here can possibly escape. This is a custom and fixed payment that will last for a long time to come, because my daughter will not be wed until I see them dead or vanquished.'

‘Then I must fight them, though it's against my will; but I would very gladly pass this by, I assure you! So now, though it pains me, I'll do battle, since it cannot be avoided.'

Immediately the two black and hideous demon's sons came forth. Each had a spiked club of cornel wood, which had been covered with copper and wound with brass. They were in armour from their shoulders to their knees, but their heads and faces were left unarmed, and their stocky legs were likewise left uncovered. Armed like this they came, holding over their heads round shields, strong and light for fighting.

The lion began to bristle as soon as it saw them, for it well knew and could see by the arms they carried that they had come to fight its master. The hair on its back stood up and its mane bristled; it shook with rage in its eagerness to fight and struck the earth with its tail, for it was determined to rescue its master before they killed him.

When they saw the lion, they said: ‘Vassal, take your lion away from here! It is threatening us. Either you must admit defeat, or else I swear you must put it somewhere where it cannot undertake to help you or harm us. You must have your sport with us alone, for the lion would be glad to help you if it could.'

‘If you are afraid of it, take it away yourselves,' said my lord Yvain, ‘for I would be quite pleased and satisfied if it did harm you if it could, and I am grateful to have its help.'

‘Upon our oath,' they said, ‘this cannot be, for you must have no help from it! Do the best you can alone, with no help from any other. You must face the two of us alone; if the lion were to join you and attack us, then you wouldn't be alone: it would be two against two. So I swear to you, you must take your lion away from here, though you may soon regret it.'

‘Where do you want it to go?' he asked. ‘Where would it please you for me to put it?'

‘Lock it in there,' they said, showing him a little room.

‘It shall be done as you wish.'

Then he took it and locked it in. At once the people went to fetch Yvain's armour and helped him don it. Next they led out his horse and handed it to him, and he mounted. The two champions charged Yvain to shame and injure him, for they were unafraid of the lion that was now locked within the room. With their maces they struck him such blows that his shield and helmet afforded him little protection, for when they hit his helmet they bludgeoned and knocked it awry, and his shield shattered and dissolved like ice; they made such holes in it that you could put your fist
right through. Both of them were greatly to be feared. And how did he handle the two demons? Sparked by shame and fear, he defended himself with all his strength; he exerted himself and strove to land mighty and powerful blows. He was not sparing in his gifts to them, for he doubled their own generosity.

Now the lion, still locked within the room, had a sad and troubled heart, for it recalled the great kindness shown it by this noble man who now stood in dire need of its aid and service. The lion would return it in full measure and copiously repay his kindness; its payment would not be discounted if it could get out of that room. It searched in every direction, but could find no escape. It heard clearly the blows of the fierce and lethal battle and began to moan so much that it was beside itself with rage. It searched until it discovered that the threshold was rotten near the ground; it scratched until it could squeeze under just up to its haunches. My lord Yvain was by this time hard pressed and bathed in sweat, having found the two louts to be strong, cruel, and persistent. He had suffered many a blow and returned them as best he could, but he had not succeeded in wounding them at all, for they were too skilled in swordplay, and their shields could not be dented by any sword, no matter how sharp or well-tempered.

So my lord Yvain had every reason to fear for his life; but he was able to hold his own until the lion clawed beneath the threshold enough to work itself completely free. If now the fiends are not defeated then they will never be, because the lion will allow them no respite as long as it knows them to be alive. It pounces upon one and throws him to the ground like a log. Now the fiends fear for their lives, and there is not a man there whose heart does not rejoice. The demon who was dashed to the earth by the lion will never rise again if he is not rescued by the other. His companion ran over to bring him aid and to save himself, so the lion would not charge him once it had killed the demon it had already thrown to the ground. Indeed he was much more afraid of the lion than of its master.

Once the demon turned his back Yvain, who could now see his bare neck exposed, would be a fool to let him live any longer, for he was fortunate to get such an opportunity. The fiend offered him his exposed neck and head, and Yvain struck him such a blow that he severed head from trunk so swiftly that he never knew it. Then Yvain quickly dismounted to rescue the demon held down by the lion, for he intended to release and spare him. But to no avail: the lion in its wrath had so wounded him in its attack that he was hideously disfigured and was by now so far gone that no doctor could arrive in time to save him. When Yvain drove back the lion, he saw that it
had ripped the demon's shoulder from its place. Yvain had no more reason to fear him, for his club had fallen to the ground and he lay there like a corpse, without moving or twitching.

But he was still able to speak and said with what little strength he had: ‘Please call off your lion, good sir, so he'll harm me no more; from this moment on you may do with me whatever you wish. Only a man without pity would refuse to show mercy to another who's begged and pleaded for it. I will defend myself no longer; since I'll never rise from here by my own strength, I place myself in your power.'

‘Say then,' said Yvain, ‘whether you acknowledge that you are vanquished and defeated?'

‘Sir,' he said, ‘it is obvious: I am vanquished in spite of myself, and I acknowledge that I'm defeated.'

‘Then you have no need to fear either myself or my lion.'

Immediately all the people ran up and gathered around Yvain. Both the lord and lady embraced the knight in their great joy and spoke to him of their daughter, saying: ‘Now you will be lord and master over us all, and our daughter will be your lady, for we shall give her to you to be your wife.'

‘And I,' he replied, ‘return her to you. Let whoever wants her have her! I don't want her, but I am not saying this out of disdain: don't be upset if I don't take her, for I cannot and must not do so. However, if you please, release to me the captives you are holding; you are well aware that it is time for them to be set free.'

‘What you say is true,' the lord answered, ‘and I release them to you, for there is no longer anything to prevent it. But you would be wise also to accept my daughter with all my possessions, for she is beautiful, rich, and sensible. You will never make a better marriage than this one!'

‘Sir,' said Yvain, ‘you are unaware of my difficulties and my duties, and I don't dare explain them to you; but rest assured that, although I refuse what no one would refuse who was able to devote his heart and mind to a fair and lovely maiden, I would gladly take her if I could or should take her or any other. Yet I cannot – and this is the truth – so leave me in peace because this other damsel who came here with me awaits me now. She has kept me company, and I wish now to go with her, no matter what the future may bring me.'

‘You wish to leave, good sir? But how? Unless it meets with my approval and I order it, my gate will never be opened for you; you will remain my prisoner here instead. You are mistaken and arrogant when you disdain my daughter, whom I have begged you to accept.'

‘Disdain, sir? Indeed not, upon my soul; but I cannot marry any woman nor remain here, whatever the penalty. I must follow the damsel who is leading me, for it cannot be otherwise. But, if it please you, with my right hand I will swear, and you must believe me, that if I am able I will return just as you see me here now and take your daughter's hand at whatever time you think appropriate.'

‘Cursed be anyone,' he said, ‘who would require an oath or pledge or promise! If my daughter pleases you, you'll return soon enough; no oath or vow, I believe, would make you come back sooner. Go now, for I absolve you of all pledges and promises. If you are detained by rain and wind, or by nothing at all, it doesn't matter to me! I will never hold my daughter so cheap that I would force her upon you. Now go about your business, for it makes no difference to me whether you return or stay away.'

Immediately my lord Yvain turned away and remained no longer in the town. He took away with him the captives who had been released; although the lord delivered them poorly and shabbily garbed to him, it seemed to them now that they were rich. Two by two they all left the town, walking before my lord Yvain; I don't believe they would have expressed any more joy for this world's Creator, had He come from heaven to earth, than they showed for Yvain. All these people who had insulted him before in every way they could imagine now came to beg his forgiveness; they walked beside him pleading for mercy, but he insisted he didn't understand: ‘I don't know what you're talking about,' he said, ‘so I bear no grudge against you, for I cannot remember that you ever said anything that would have hurt me.'

Everyone rejoiced at what they heard, and praised him greatly for his courtliness. When they had accompanied him a long while, they all commended him to God and begged his leave. The damsels, too, took their leave and as they did so they all bowed low before him, praying that God would grant him happiness and health and let him fulfil his desires wherever he might go.

And he, who was troubled by the delay, asked God to watch over them: ‘Go,' he said, ‘and may God bring you safe and happy into your own lands.'

They went on their way at once, rejoicing greatly on their departure.

And my lord Yvain immediately set off in the opposite direction. He did not stop riding hard for all the days of that week, following the lead of the maiden, who knew well the way to the remote place where she had left the disinherited maiden, wretched and woebegone. But when she heard news that the maiden and the Knight with the Lion were approaching, no
happiness could be compared to that she felt in her heart; for now she was convinced that her sister would concede to her a portion of her inheritance, if it pleased her. The maiden had lain sick for a long while and had only recently recovered from her illness, which had gravely weakened her, as was apparent from her face. Yet she was the first to go to meet him, which she did without delay; she greeted him and paid him honour in every way she could. There is no need to speak of the joy that prevailed that night at the hostel: nothing will be told of it, for there would be too much to relate. I omit everything until the moment when they remounted their horses the next day and left.

Then they rode until they saw a town where King Arthur had been residing two weeks or more. There, too, was the damsel who had disinherited her sister; she had kept close to court in expectation of the arrival of her sister, who even now was approaching. But this thought scarcely crossed her mind, for she was convinced that it was impossible for her sister to find a knight to withstand my lord Gawain in combat, and only a single day of the forty set was left. The dispute would be fully settled in her favour by right and by judgement if this one day were to pass. Yet much more was to happen than she anticipated or thought.

Yvain and the younger sister spent that night outside the town in crowded and uncomfortable lodgings, where no one recognized them; for if they had slept in the town everyone would have recognized them, and this they did not desire. At daybreak they stole hurriedly out of the lodging and kept well-concealed until the day was bright and full.

I don't know how many days had passed since my lord Gawain had left court, and no one there had had any news of him with the sole exception of the maiden for whom he had agreed to fight. He had been in hiding some three or four leagues away and arrived at court equipped in such a way that even those who had always known him could not recognize him by the armour he wore. The damsel, whose injustice towards her sister was manifest, presented him at court before everyone, for by his help she intended to win the dispute in which she was in the wrong.

‘My lord,' she said to the king, ‘time is passing; today is the last day and the hour of nones will soon be past. Everyone can clearly see how I am prepared to defend my rights; if my sister were about to return, there would be no choice but to wait for her. Yet, praise God, since she is not going to return it is obvious she cannot improve her situation. So my arrangements have been for naught, though I have been prepared every day right to this very last to defend what is mine. I have won everything
without a battle, so it is quite right that I should go now to rule over my inheritance in peace. I will owe nothing more to my sister as long as I live: she will live wretched and forlorn.'

And the king, who was well aware that the maiden had faithlessly wronged her sister, said: ‘My friend, at royal courts one must wait, by my faith, as long as the king's tribunal is seated in deliberation. You must not attempt to rush things, for I believe that your sister will still arrive in time.'