no carpenter smotte never soo well in wood as Reynawde dyde vpon the helmes 1of stele1 [1—1 omitted, F. orig. p. iv. back.] and vpon the sheldes of the frenshe men / And whan the frenshemen sawe that the dyscomfyture tourned vpon theym, they beganne to calle Rowlande / and sayd to hym / 'Ha, Rowlande, what doo ye / whi come ye not and helpe your folke / For they ben deed, but yf ye socoure theym.' Whan Rowlande vnderstode that worde, wherof he was wrothe / 2and ryght sory2 [2—2omitted, F. orig. p. iv.] / And whan he sawe his folke soo sore handeled / He beganne to crye 'Mountioye saynte Denys.' And after spored his horse, and entered in to the medlee; And wente here and there, cryenge, 'Reynawd, where be you goon / See me here; I am all redy for to doo the bataylle, my body agenste yours, that ye aske of me.' Whan Reynawde herde Rowlande, that called thus after hym / He put flamberd [son espee, F. orig. p. iv.] in to his sheeth; And [et prent une lance courte et grosse, F. orig. p. iv.] toke a spere in his hande, and cam there as Rowlande was, & sayd [folio S.vi.b] to hym / 'Where are ye, Rowlande? be ye a ferde of me, that ye have taryed soo longe for / Beware your self from me!' 'And you of me,' sayd Rowlande. And thenne they spored theyr horses, [des esperons, F. orig. p. v. back.] and dyde iouste the one agenste the other. And whan the frenshemen and the gascoyns saw that, thei withdrewe theym selfe from eche other, for to beholde the ioustynge of the two worthy knyghtes / For, to saye the trouth, there were not two other suche in all the worlde /
Whan Salamon of Bretayne / and Ector, the sone of Oedon, sawe that the ioustynge of Reynawde and of Rowlande was begon, they set theym selfe to wepe full tendrely; and came to the duke Naymes, to the bysshop Turpin, and to Olyver, and sayd to theym / 'How, lordes, may ye suffre that one