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 xviij

THenne forthe with alle came a knyght oute of the castel with a shelde bended with blak and with whyte /

¶ And anone the knyghte with the reede shelde and

[leaf 221v] And he encountred soo hard / that he smote the Knyght of the Castel thorou the bented shelde and thurgh the body / and brake the hors bak / Faire Knyghte said syr Palomydes ye haue ouer moche on hand / therfor I praye you lete me Iuste / for ye had nede to be reposed / Why sir said the knyght / seme ye that I am weyke and feble / and sir me thynketh ye profer me wrong and to me shame whan I doo wel ynough / I telle yow now as I told you erst / for and they were twenty knyȝtes I shal bete them / And yf I be beten or slayne thenne may ye reuenge me / And yf ye thynke that I be wery / and ye haue an appetyte to Iuste with me / I shalle fynde you Iustynge ynough / Syr said Palomydes I said it not by cause I wold Iuste with you / but me semeth that ye haue ouer moche on hand / & therfor and ye were gentyl said the Knyght with the reed sheld ye shold not profer me shame / therfor I requyre you to Iuste with me / and ye shalle fynde that I am not wery / Syth ye requyre me said sir palomydes / take kepe to your self /

¶ Thenne they two Knyȝtes came to gyders as fast as their horses myght renne / and the Knyght smote sir Palomydes so sore on the shelde that the spere wente in to his syde a grete wounde and a perillous / And there with alle sir Palomydes auoyded his sadel / And that Knyght torned vnto sir Dynadan / And when he sawe hym comynge / he cryed a loude and said / syr I wyll not haue ado with you / but for that he lete it not / but cam streyghte vpon hym / Soo sire Dynadan for shame put forthe hys spere and alle to sheuerd hit vpon the Knyght / But he smote syr Dynadan ageyne soo hard that he smote hym clene from his sadel / but their horses he wold not suffre his squyers to medle with / and by cause they were knyghtes erraunt / Thenne he dressid hym ageyne to the castel and Iusted with feuen knyȝtes moo / and there was none of hem myght withstande hym / but bare hym to the erthe / And of these twelue Knyghtes he slewe in playne Iustes four / And the eyght knyghtes he made them to swere on the crosse of a suerd / that they shold neuer vse the euylle custommes of the castel / And whan he had made them to swere that othe / he lete them passe / And euer stode the lordes and the ladyes on the Castel walles cryeng and sayenge / knyghte with the reed shelde ye haue merueyllously

[leaf 222r] wel done as euer we sawe Knyght doo / And therwith came a knyght oute of the Castel vnarmed and said / Knyghte with the reed sheld ouer moche dammage hast thou done to vs this day / therfor retorne whyther thou wilt / for here ar no moo wille haue adoo with the / for we repente sore tha euer thow camest here / for by the is fordone the old customme of this castel / And with that word he tourned ageyne in to the Castel / and shytte the yates / Thenne the Knyght with the reede sheld torned and called his squyers / and so past forth on his waye and rode a grete paas / And whanne he was past sire Palomydes wente to sir Dynadan and said I had neuer suche a shame of one Knyght that euer I met / And therfore I caste me to ryde after hym / and to be reuenged with my swerd / for on horsbak I deme I shalle gete no worship of hym / Syre Palomydes said Dynadan ye shalle not medle with hym by my counceil for ye shal gete to worship of hym / and for this cause / ye haue sene hym this day haue had ouer moche to done & ouer moche trauailed / By almyȝty Ihesu said Palomydes I shall neuer be at ease tyl that I haue had adoo with hym / Syr said Dynadan I shalle gyue you my beholdynge / wel said Palomydes / thenne shall ye see how we shalle redresse our myghtes Soo they took their horses of their varlets / and rode after the Knyght with the reed shelde / & doune in a valey besyde a fontayne they were ware where he was alyghte to repose hym / and had done of his helme / for to drynke at the welle