ere are haply
many in the world with no more wits than I possess, yet there are few so
honest as I to confess that they are fools."

At these words those swineherds laughed very loudly. "Well," quoth one, "if
King Arthur hath his fool, so have we, and yonder he is," and therewith he
pointed to where Sir Tristram lay in the shade of the trees some distance
away and beside a deep well of the forest.

Upon that Sir Dagonet must needs go to where Sir Tristram lay, nearly
naked, upon the ground. And when he had come there he said, "Arise, fool."
Whereunto Sir Tristram replied: "Why should I arise? Lo! I am weary."

Then Sir Dagonet said: "It is not fitting that thou, who art the fool of
swineherds shouldst lie upon the grass, whilst I who am the fool of a king
stand upright upon my shanks. So, fool, I bid thee bestir thyself and
arise."

But Sir Tristram said, "I will not arise." And therewith Sir Dagonet took
his sword and pricked the thigh of Sir Tristram with the point thereof with
intent to make him bestir himself.

[Sidenote: Sir Tristram souses Sir Dagonet in the well] Now when Sir
Tristram felt the prick of Sir Dagonet's sword, a certain part of his
memory of knighthood came back to him and he was seized with a sudden fury
against Sir Dagonet. So he arose and ran at Sir Dagonet and catched him in
his arms, and lifted Sir Dagonet off his feet and he soused him in the well
four or five times so that he was like to have drowned him.

As for those swineherds, when they saw what their fool did to that other
fool, they roared with laughter so that some of them rolled down upon the
ground and lay grovelling there for pure mirth. But others of them called
out to Sir Tristram, "Let be, or thou wilt drown that man"; and therewith
Sir Tristram let Sir Dagonet go, and Sir Dagonet ran away.

Nor did Sir Dagonet cease to run until he came to his party under the shade
of the trees. But when Sir Kay perceived what a sorry plight it was in
which Sir Dagonet appeared, he said, "What hath befallen thee?"

To this Sir Dagonet replied as follows: "Messire, I, who am a fool, went
into the forest and met another fool. I fool would have a jest with he
fool, but he fool catched I fool and soused I fool in a well of cold water.
So it came about that while I fool had the jest, he fool had the sport of
the jest."

[Sidenote: Sir Kay seeks to avenge Sir Dagonet] Then Sir Kay understood in
some manner what had befallen, and he was very an