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 ij

SOo the dwerf rode fast / and he came ageyne / and broughte syr Selyuaunt with hym / and syxe men with

[leaf 298r] an hors lytter / and soo they took vp the fether bedde with syre launcelot / and soo caryed alle awey with hem vnto the Castel Blank / and he neuer awaked tyl he was within the Castel / And thenne they bounde his handes & his feet / and gafe hym good metes and good drynkes / and broughte hym ageyne to his strengthe and his fayrenesse / but in his wytte they coude not brynge hym ageyn / nor to knowe hym self / Thus was syr launcelot there more than a yere and a half honestly arayed and fayre farne with alle / Thenne vpon a day this Lord of that Castel syr Blyaunt took his armes on horsbak with a spere to seke aduentures / And as he rode in a forest ther met hym two knyghtes aduenturous / the one was Breuse saunce pyte / and his broder syr Bertelot / & these two ranne both attones vpon syr Blyaunt / and brake their speres vpon his body And thenne they drewe oute swerdes & made grete bataill / & fought long to gyders / But at the last syr Blyaunt was sore wounded / and felte hym self faynte / and thenne he fled on horsbak toward his castel / And as they cam hurlyng vnder the Castel where as sir launcelot lay in wyndowe / & sawe how two knyghtes layd vpon syr Blyaunt with their swerdes / And whanne sir launcelot sawe that yet as woode as he was he was sory for his lord syr Blyaunt / And thenne sir launcelot brake the chaynes fro his legges and of his armes / & in the brekyng he hurte his handes sore / & so sir launcelot ran out at a posterne / and there he mett with the two knyȝtes that chaced sir Blyaunt / & there he pulled doun sir Bertelot with his bare handes from his hors / & there with all he wrothe hys suerd out of his hand / & so he lepte vnto syr Bruse / & gaf hym suche a buffet vpon the hede that he tumbled bakward ouer his hors croupe / And whan sir Bertolet sawe there his broder haue suche a falle / he gat a spere in his hand / & wold haue ronne syr launcelot thurgh / that sawe sir Blyaunt / and strake of the hand of syr Bertelot / And thenne syr bruse and sir bertelot gat theyr horses and fled away / whan syre Selyuaunt came and sawe what syr launcelot had done for his brother / thenne he thanked god and so dyd his broder that euer they dyd hym ony good

¶ But whanne sire blyaunt sawe that syr launcelot was hurte with the brekyng

[leaf 298v] of his yrons / thēne was he heuy that euer bound hym / bynde hym no more said syr Selyuaunt / for he is happy & gracyous Thenne they made grete Ioye of syr launcelot / and they bound hym no more / & soo he abode there an half yere and more / and on the morne erly syr launcelot was ware where came a grete bore with many houndes nyghe hym / But the bore was so byg ther myghte no houndes tere hym / and the hunters came after blowyng their hornes bothe vpon horsbak & some vpon foote / & thenne sir launcelot was ware where one alyght and teyed his hors to a tree . and lened his spere ageynste the tree /