from him as far as he might
throw it. O knight, said Arthur, this day hast thou done me great
damage with this sword; now are ye come unto your death, for I shall not
warrant you but ye shall as well be rewarded with this sword, or ever
we depart, as thou hast rewarded me; for much pain have ye made me to
endure, and much blood have I lost. And therewith Sir Arthur rushed on
him with all his might and pulled him to the earth, and then rushed off
his helm, and gave him such a buffet on the head that the blood came out
at his ears, his nose, and his mouth. Now will I slay thee, said Arthur.
Slay me ye may well, said Accolon, an it please you, for ye are the best
knight that ever I found, and I see well that God is with you. But for I
promised to do this battle, said Accolon, to the uttermost, and never
to be recreant while I lived, therefore shall I never yield me with my
mouth, but God do with my body what he will. Then Sir Arthur remembered
him, and thought he should have seen this knight. Now tell me, said
Arthur, or I will slay thee, of what country art thou, and of what
court? Sir Knight, said Sir Accolon, I am of the court of King Arthur,
and my name is Accolon of Gaul. Then was Arthur more dismayed than he
was beforehand; for then he remembered him of his sister Morgan le Fay,
and of the enchantment of the ship. O sir knight, said he, I pray you
tell me who gave you this sword, and by whom ye had it.

CHAPTER XI. How Accolon confessed the treason of Morgan le Fay, King
Arthur's sister, and how she would have done slay him.

THEN Sir Accolon bethought him, and said, Woe worth this sword, for by
it have I got my death. It may well be, said the king. Now, sir, said
Accolon, I will tell you; this sword hath been in my keeping the most
part of this twelvemonth; and Morgan le Fay, King Uriens' wife, sent it
me yesterday by a dwarf, to this intent, that I should slay King Arthur,
her brother. For ye shall understand King Arthur is the man in the world
that she most hateth, because he is most of worship and of prowess of
any of her blood; also she loveth me out of measure as paramour, and I
her again; and if she might bring about to slay Arthur by her crafts,
she would slay her husband King Uriens lightly, and then had she me
devised to be king in this land, and so to reign, and she to be my
queen; but that is now done, said Accolon, for I am sure of my death.
Well, said Sir Arthur, I feel by you ye would have been kin