Then he dressed his shield, and drew out his sword,
and Bors smote him so hard that it went through his shield and
habergeon on the left shoulder. And through great strength he beat
him down to the earth, and at the pulling of Bors' spear there he
swooned. Then came Bors to the maid and said: How seemeth it to you of
this knight ye be delivered at this time? Now sir, said she, I pray
you lead me there as this knight had me. So shall I do gladly: and
took the horse of the wounded knight, and set the gentlewoman upon
him, and so brought her as she desired. Sir knight, said she, ye have
better sped than ye weened, for an I had lost my maidenhead, five
hundred men should have died for it. What knight was he that had you
in the forest? By my faith, said she, he is my cousin. So wot I never
with what engyn the fiend enchafed him, for yesterday he took me from
my father privily: for I nor none of my father's men mistrusted him
not, and if he had had my maidenhead he should have died for the sin,
and his body shamed and dishonored for ever. Thus as...."

At this point, the truth behind the sense of _deja vu_ that Mallory
had experienced the first time he had heard the tale hit him so hard
between the eyes that he jerked back his head. When he did so, his
helmet came into contact with the cave wall and scraped against the
stone. The rohorse and its two riders were directly across the stream
now. "_Shhh!_" Mallory I whispered.

Rowena I gasped. "It were best that I thanked ye now for thy great
kindness, fair knight," she said, "for anon we be no longer on live."

"Nonsense!" Mallory I said. "If this fiend of yours is anywhere in the
vicinity, he's probably more afraid of us than we are of him."

"Per ... peradventure he hath already had meat," Rowena I said
hopefully. "The tale saith that an the fiend be filled he becomes
aweary and besets not them the which do pass him by in peace."

"I'll keep my sword handy just in case he changes his mind," Mallory I
said. "Meanwhile, get on with your autobiography--only for Pete's
sake, cut it short, will you?"

"An it please, fair sir. Thus as the fair gentlewoman stood talking
with Sir Bors there came twelve knights seeking after her, and
anon...."

For a long while after the voices faded away, Mallory IV could not
move. Hearing the story the second time and, more important, hearing
it from the standpoint of an observer, he had been able to identify it
for what it really was--an ex