yx, or she tells Graelent plainly that
should he reach its opposite bank he is as good as dead. Fairyland in
early Celtic lore may be a place of delight, but it is none the less
one of death and remoteness.

_The Lay of the Dolorous Knight_

Once more the scene is laid in Nantes, and "some harpers," says Marie,
"call it the Lay of the Four Sorrows." In this city of Brittany dwelt
a lady on whom four barons of great worship had set their love. They
were not singular in this respect, as the damsel's bright eyes had set
fire to the hearts of all the youths of the ancient town. She smiled
upon them all, but favoured no one more than another. Out of this
great company, however, the four noblemen in question had constituted
themselves her particular squires. They vied with one another in the
most earnest manner to gain her esteem; but she was equally gracious
to all and it was impossible to say that she favoured any.

It was not surprising, then, that each one of the four nobles believed
that the lady preferred him to the others. Each of them had received
gifts from her, and each cried her name at tournaments. On the
occasion of a great jousting, held without the walls of Nantes, the
four lovers held the lists, and from all the surrounding realms and
duchies came hardy knights to break a spear for the sake of chivalry.

From matins to vespers the friendly strife raged fiercely, and against
the four champions of Nantes four foreign knights especially pitted
themselves. Two of these were of Hainault, and the other two were
Flemings. The two companies charged each other so desperately that the
horses of all eight men were overthrown. The four knights of Nantes
rose lightly from the ground, but the four stranger knights lay still.
Their friends, however, rushed to their rescue, and soon the
challengers were lost in a sea of steel.

Now the lady in whose honour the lists were defended by these four
brave brethren in arms sat beholding their prowess in the keenest
anxiety. Soon the knights of Nantes were reinforced by their friends,
and the strife waxed furiously, sword to sword and lance to lance.
First one company and then the other gained the advantage, but, urged
on by rashness, the four challenging champions charged boldly in front
of their comrades and became separated from them, with the dire result
that three of them were killed and the fourth was so grievously
wounded that he was borne from the press in a condition