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 liij

SOo on a daye la beale Isoud sayd vnto sir Tristram I merueyle me moche said she / that ye remembre not your self how ye be here in a straunge countrey and here be many peryllous knyghtes / and wel ye wote that kyng Marke is ful of treason / and that ye wylle ryde thus to chace and to to hunte vnarmed ye myghte be destroyed /

¶ My fayr lady and my loue I crye you mercy I wille no more doo soo Soo thenne sire Tristram rode dayly on huntynge armed and his men berynge his shelde and his spere / Soo on a day a lytyl afore the monethe of may syre Tristram chaced an hert passynge egerly / and soo the herte passed by a fayr welle / And thenne sir Tristram alyghte and putte of his helme to drynke of that burbley water / Ryght soo he herd and sawe the questynge beest come to the welle / whan syre Tristram sawe that beste / he putte on his helme for he demed he shold here of sir Palomydes / for that beste was his quest /

¶ Ryght so sir Tristram sawe where came a knyghte armed vpon a noble courser / and he salewed hym / and they spake of many thynges / and thys knyghtes name was Breuse saunce pyte / and ryght so with alle there came vnto them the noble knyghte sire Palomydes / and eyther salewed other / and spake fair to other

[leaf 251r] Fair knyghtes said sir Palomydes I canne telle yow tydynges / what is that said tho knyghtes / Syrs wete ye wel that Kynge Marke is put in pryson by his owne knyghtes / and alle was for loue of sire Tristram / for kynge Marke hadde put syre Tristram twyes in pryson / And ones sire Percyuale delyuerd the noble knyghte sire Tristram oute of pryson

¶ And at the laste tyme Quene La beale Isoud delyuerd hym / and wente cleryly aweye with hym in to this reame / & alle this whyle kynge Marke the fals traytour is in pryson / Is this trouthe said Palomydes / Thenne shall we hastely here of sire Tristram / And as for to say that I loue la Beale Isoud peramours I dare make good that I doo / and that she hath my seruyse aboue alle other ladyes / and shalle haue the terme of my lyf / And ryght soo as they stood talkynge / they sawe afore them where came a Knyghte alle armed on a grete hors / and one of his men bare his sheld / and the other his speres / And anone as that Knyght aspyed them he gatte his shelde and his spere / and dressid hym to Iuste

¶ Fair felawes said sire Tristram yonder is a Knyghte wil Iuste with vs / lete see whiche of vs shalle encountre with hym for I see wel he is of the courte of Kynge Arthur

¶ It shalle not be longe or he be mette with alle said sire Palomydes / for I fonde neuer noo knyght in my queste of this Glastynge beest / but and he wold Iuste I neuer refused hym

¶ As wel may I said Breuse saunce pyte folowe that beest as ye / Thenne shalle ye doo bataille with me said Palomydes / Soo syre Palomydes dressid hym vnto that other Knyghte syre Bleoberys that was a ful noble Knyghte nyghe kynne vnto sire Launcelot / And soo they mette soo hard / that syre Palomydes felle to the erthe hors and alle / Thenne sir Bleoberis cryed a lowde and said thus / make the redy thou fals traytour knyghte Breuse saunce pyte / for wete thow certaynly I wille haue adoo with the to the vtteraunce for the noble knyghtes and ladyes that thou hast falsly bitraid

¶ Whanne this false knyght and traitour Breuse saunce pyte herde hym saye soo / he took his hors by the brydel and fledde his waye as faste as euer his hors myghte renne / for sore he was of hym aferd /

¶ Whan syr Bleoberys

[leaf 251v] sawe hym flee he folowed faste after thorugh thycke and thorugh thynne / And by fortune as sir Breuse fledde / he sawe euen afore hym thre knyghtes of the table round / of the whiche tho one hyghte sire Ector de marys / the other hyghte syre Percyuale de galys / the thyrdde hyghte sir Harre de fyse lake a good knyght and an hardy / And as for syr Percyuale he was called that tyme of his tyme one of the best knyghtes of the world and the best assured / when Breuse sawe these knyghtes he rode streyghte vnto them and cryed vnto them & prayd them of rescowes / what nede haue ye said sire Ector / A fayr knyghtes saide syre Breuse here foloweth me the moost traytour knyght and moost coward and moost of vylony / his name is Breuse saunce pyte / and yf he may gete me he wylle slee me withoute mercy and pyte / Abyde with vs said sir percyuale and we shalle waraunt yow / Thenne were they ware of syre Bleoberys that came rydynge alle that he myghte / Thenne sir Ector put hym self forth to Iuste afore them alle / When sire Bleoberis sawe that they were four knyghtes / and he but hym self / he stode in a doubte / whether he wold torne or hold his waye / Thenne he said to hym self I am a knyght of the table round / and rather than I shold shame myn othe & my blood I wille hold my way what soo euer falle therof / And thenne sire Ector dressid his spere and smote either other passynge sore / but sire Ector felle to the erthe / That sawe sir Percyuale and he dressid his hors toward hym all that he myghte dryue / but sir Percyuale had suche a stroke that hors and man felle to the erth /

¶ Whanne sir Harre sawe that they were bothe to the erthe / thenne he said to hym self / neuer was Breuse of suche prowesse / Soo sire Harre dressid his hors / & they mette to gyders soo strongly that bothe the horses and knyghtes felle to the erthe / but sire Bleoberis hors beganne to recouer ageyne / That sawe sire Breuse and he came hurtlyng / & smote hym ouer and ouer and wolde haue slayne hym as he lay on the ground / Thenne syr Harre le fyse lake arose lyghtely and toke the brydel of sir Breuse hors and said /

¶ Fy for shame stryke neuer a Knyght when he is at the erthe / for this Knyght may be called no shameful knyghte of his dedes / for yet as men may see there as he lyeth on the groūd he hath done

[leaf 252r] worshipfully / and putte to the werse passynge good knyghtes Therfore wylle I not lete saide sire Breuse / thow shalte not chese said syr Harre as at this tyme / Thenne whanne sir Bruse sawe that he myghte not chese nor haue his wylle / he spak fayre / Thenne syre Harre lete hym goo / And thenne anone he made his hors to renne ouer syre Bleoberys / and rasshed hym to the erthe lyke yf he wold haue slayne hym / Whanne syre Harre sawe hym doo so vyloynsly / he cryed traytour knyȝt leue of for shame / and as sir Harre wold haue taken his hors to fyghte with sir breuse / thenne sir Breuse ranne vpon hym as he was half vpon his hors and smote hym doune hors & man to the erthe / and had nere slayne syr Harre the good knyght / That sawe sir Percyuale / and thenne he cryed traitour knyghte what dost thou / And whan sire Percyuale was vpon his hors / syr Breuse tooke his hors and fledde all that euer he myght / and syre Percyuale and syre Harre folowed after hym fast / but euer the lenger they chaced the ferther were they behynde / Thenne they torned ageyne and came to syr Ector de marys and to syre Bleoberys / A fayr knyghtes said Bleoberys why haue ye socoured that fals knyght & traitour / why said sire Harre what knyght is he / for wel I wote hit is a fals knyght said sir Harre and a coward and a felonous knyght / Syr sayd Bleoberys he is the moost coward knyghte / and a deuourer of ladyes and a destroyer of good Knyghtes and specyally of Arthurs / what is your name saide sir Ector my name is Syr bleoberys de ganys / Allas fair cosyn sayde Ector / forgyue it me / for I am sir Ector de marys / thenne syre Percyuale and sire Harre made grete ioye that they met with bleoberys / but alle they were heuy that syr breuse was escaped them wherof they made grete dole