Le Morte Darthur / by Syr Thomas Malory ; the original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an introduction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer ; with an essay on Malory's prose style by Andrew Lang

¶ Capitulum sextum

THenne the kynge dyd doo calle syre Gawayne / syre Borce / syr Lyonel and syre Bedewere / and commaunded them to goo strayte to syre Lucius / and saye ye to hym that hastely he remeue oute of my land / And yf he wil not / bydde hym make hym redy to bataylle and not distresse the poure peple / Thenne anone these noble knyghtes dressyd them to horsbak / And whanne they came to the grene wood / they sawe many pauelions sette in a medowe of sylke of dyuerse colours besyde a ryuer / And themperours pauelione was in the myddle with an egle displayed aboue / To the whiche tente our knyghtes rode toward / and ordeyned syr Gawayn and syre Bors to doo the message / And lefte in a busshement syre Lyonel / and syre Bedwere / And thenne syre Gawayn and syr Borce dyd their message / and commaunded Lucius in Arthurs name to auoyde his lond / or shortly to adresse hym to bataylle / To whome Lucius ansuerde and sayd ye shalle retorne to your lord and saye ye to hym that I shall subdue hym and alle his londes / Thenne syre Gawayn was wrothe and sayde I hadde leuer than alle Fraunce fyghte ageynst the / and soo hadde I saide syr Borce leuer than alle Bretayne or burgoyne

¶ Thenne a knyght named syre Gaynus nyghe cosyn to the Emperour sayde / loo how these Bretons ben ful of pryde and boost / and they bragge as though they bare up alle the worlde / Thenne syre Gawayne was sore greued

[leaf 85v] with these wordes / and pulled oute his swerd and smote of his hede / And therwith torned theyr horses and rode ouer waters and thurgh woodes tyl they came to theyre busshement / where as syr Lyonel and syr Bedeuer were houyng / The romayns folowed fast after on horsbak and on foote ouer a chāpayn vnto a wood / thenne syre Boors torned his hors / and sawe a knyghte come fast on / whome he smote thurgh the body with a spere that he fylle dede doune to the erthe / thenne cam Callyburne one of the strengest of pauye and smote doun many of Arthurs knyghtes / And whan syr Bors sawe hym do soo moche harme he adressyd toward hym & smote hym thurȝ the brest that he fylle doune dede to the erthe / Thenne syr Feldenak thought to reuenge the dethe of gaynus vpon syre Gawayn / but syre gawayn was ware therof and smote hym on the hede / whiche stroke stynted not tyl it came to his breste / And thenne he retorned and came to his felawes in the busshement / And there was a recountre / for the busshement brake on the Romayns / and slewe and hewe doune the Romayns and forced the Romayns to flee and retorne / whome the noble knyghtes chaced vnto theyr tentes / Thenne the Romayns gadred more peple / and also foote men cam on / and ther was a newe bataille and soo moche peple that syr Bors and syr Berel were taken / but whan syre gawayn sawe that / he tooke with hym syre Idrus the good knyght and sayd he wold neuer see kynge Arthur but yf he rescued them / and pulled out galatyn his good swerd / and folowed them that ledde tho ij knyghtes awaye / and he smote hym that lad syre Bors / and took syr Bors fro hym and delyuerd hym to his felawes / And syre Idrus in lyke wyse rescowed syre Berel / thenne beganne the bataill to be grete that oure knyȝtes were in grete Ieopardy / wherfore syre Gawayn sente to kyng Arthur for socour and that he hye hym for I am sore wounded / and that oure prysoners may paye good oute of nombre / And the messager came to the kyng and told hym his message / And anon the kynge dyd doo assemble his armye / but anone or he departed the prysoners were comen / and syre gawayn and his felawes gate the felde and put the Romayns to flyght / and after retorned and came with their felauship in suche wyse / that

[leaf 86r] no man of worship was loste of them / sauf that syr Gawayn was sore hurte / Thenne the kynge dyd do ransake his woundes and comforted hym / And thus was the begynnyng of the fyrst iourney of the brytons and Romayns / and ther were slayne of the Romayns moo than ten thousand / and grete ioye and myrthe was made that nyghte in the hoost of kynge Arthur / And on the morne he sente alle the prysoners in to parys vnder the garde of syre launcelot with many knyghtes & of syr Cador