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 xxvj

[As listed in the table of contents, chapters xxv and xxvj are joined in chapter xxvj, and there is no chapter break between them.]

SOo thenne the kyng and they wente to mete / and were serued in the best manere / And as they satte at the mete / ther came in the quene of Orkeney with ladyes & knyȝtes a grete nombre / And thenne syr Gawayn / syr Agrauayn and Gaherys arose / and wente to her / and salewed her vpon their knees / and asked her blyssyng / For in xv yere they had not sene her / Thenne she spak on hyghe to her broder kynge Arthur / where haue ye done my yong sone syr Gareth / he was here amongst you a twelue moneth / & ye made a kechyn knaue of hym / the whiche is shame to you all / Allas where haue ye done my dere sone that was my Ioye and blysse / O dere moder said syr Gawayn I knewe hym not / Nor I said the kynge that now me repenteth / but thanked be god he is preued a worshipful knyghte as ony is now lyuyng of his yeres / & I shal neuer be glad tyl I may fynde hym / A broder sayd the quene vnto kyng Arthur and vnto syr Gawayne and to alle her sones / ye dyd your self grete shame whan ye amongst you kepte my sone in the kechyn and fedde hym lyke a poure hog / Fayr sister said kyng Arthur ye shall ryghte wel wete / I knewe hym not / nor nomore dyd syre Gawayn / nor his

[leaf 127r] bretheren / but sythen it is soo said the kyng that he is thus gone from vs alle / we must shape a remedy to fynde hym / Also syster me semeth ye myght haue done me to wete of his comynge / And thenne and I had not done wel to hym / ye myȝt haue blamed me / For whan he cam to this courte he came lenyng vpon two mens sholders as though he myght not haue gone / And thenne he asked me thre yeftes / and one he asked the same day / that was that I wold gyue hym mete ynough that twelue moneth / and the other two yeftes he asked that day a twelue moneth / and that was that he myghte haue thaduenture of the damoysel Lynet / and the thyrd was that syre Launcelot shold make hym knyght whan he desyred hym / And soo I graunted hym alle his desyre / and many in this Courte merueilled that he desyred his sustenaunce for a twelf monethe / And there by we demed many of vs that he was not come of a noble hous / Syre said the Quene of Orkeney vnto kynge Arthur her broder / wete ye wel that I sente hym vnto you ryghte wel armed and horsed and worshipfully bysene his body / and gold and syluer plente to spend / it may be said the kynge / but therof sawe we none / sauf that same daye as he departed from vs / knyghtes told me that ther came a dwerf hyder sodenly and broughte hym armour and a good hors ful wel and rychely bysene / and there at we al had merueille / fro whens that rychesse came / that we demed al that he was come of men or worship / Broder said the Quene alle that ye saye I byleue / for euer sythen he was growen / he was merueillously wytted / and euer he was feythful & true of his promesse / But I merueille said she that syre kay dyd mocke hym and scorne hym / and gaf hym that name Beaumayns / yet syr kay said the quene named hym more ryghteuously than he wende / For I dare saye and he be on lyue / he is as fair an handed man and wel disposed as ony is lyuynge / Syre said Arthurle te this langage be stylle / and by the grace of god he shal be founde / and he be within these seuen royames / and lete alle this passe and be mery / for he is proued to be a man of worship / and that is my Ioye