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 xix

THenne Palomydes rode faste tyl he came nyghe hym / And then̄e he said Knyght remembre ye of the shame ye dyd to me ryght now at the Castel / therfore dresse the / for I will haue adoo with the / Fair knyȝt said he to Palomydes of me ye wynne no worship / for ye haue sene this daye that I haue ben trauailed sore / As for that said Palomydes I wille not lete / for wete ye wel I wil be reuenged / wel said the knyght I may happen to endure you / And there with all he moūted vpon his hors and took a grete spere in his hand redy for

[leaf 222v] to Iuste / Nay said palomydes I wille not Iuste / for I am sure at Iustynge I gete no pryce / Fair knyght said that Knyghte It wold biseme a knyght to Iuste and fyghte on horsbak ye shalle see what I wille doo said Palomydes / and therwith he alyghte doune vpon foote / and dressid his shelde afore hym and pulled oute his swerd / Thenne the knyghte with the reed sheld descended doune from his hors / and dressid his sheld afore hym / and soo he drewe oute his suerd / And thenne they came to gyders a softe paas / and wonderly they lasshed to gyders passyng thyck the moūtenaunce of an houre / or euer they brethed / Thenne they tracyd and trauercyd and waxed wonderly wrothe / and eyther behyght other dethe / they hewe so fast with their suerdes that they cutte in doune half theire swerdes / and mayles that the bare flesshe in some place stode aboue theyr harneis /

¶ And whan sir Palomydes beheld his felawes swerd ouer hylled with his blood / hit greued hym sore / some whyle they fayned / some whyle they strake as wyld men / But at the last sir Palomydes waxed faynte by cause of his first wounde that he had atte castel with a spere / for that wound greued hym wonderly sore / Faire knyght said Palomydes me semeth we haue assayed eyther other passyng sore / and yf hit may please the / I requyre the of thy knyghthode telle me thy name / Sir said the knyȝt to Palomydes / that is me loth to doo / for thou hast done me wronge / and no knyghthode to profer me bataille / consyderynge my grete trauaylle /

¶ But and thou wolt telle me thy name / I wille telle the myn / Syr said he wete thou wel my name is palomydes / A syr ye shall vnderstande my name is sir Lamorak de galys / sone and heyre vnto the good knyghte and kynge / kynge Pellenore / and syr Tor the good knyght is my half broder / Whanne sire Palomydes herd hym saye soo he kneled doune and asked mercy for oultragously haue I done to you this daye / consyderyng the grete dedes of armes I haue sene you done / shamefully and vnknyghtely I haue requyred you to doo bataile / A syre Palomydes said sir Lamorak / ouer moche haue ye done and sayd to me / And ther with he enbraced hym with his both handes / and said Palomydes the worthy knyght in alle this land is noo better than ye nor more of prowesse / and me repentyd sore that

[leaf 223r] we shold syghte to gyders / So it doth not me said sir Palomydes / and yet am I sorer wounded than ye ben /

¶ But as for that I shalle soone therof be hole / But certaynly I wold not for the fayrest castel in this land / but yf thou and I had met for I shalle loue you the dayes of my lyfe afore al other knyghtes excepte my broder sir Safere / I saye the same said syre Lamorak excepte my broder sir Tor / Thenne came sire Dynadan / and he made grete ioye of sir Lamorak /

¶ Thenne theire squyers dressid bothe their sheldes and their harneis / and stopped their woundes / And there by at a pryory they rested them alle nyghte /