to one side of the road
in a place apart. He brought him his harness and equipment, and then
accoutred him. My lord Yvain made no delay after putting on his arms,
but hastily made his way each day over the mountains and through the
valleys, through the forests long and wide, through strange and wild
country, passing through many gruesome spots, many a danger and many a
strait, until he came directly to the path, which was full of brambles
and dark enough; then he felt he was safe at last, and could not now
lose his way. Whoever may have to pay the cost, he will not stop until
he sees the pine which shades the spring and stone, and the tempest of
hail and rain and thunder and wind. That night, you may be sure, he had
such lodging as he desired, for he found the vavasor to be even more
polite and courteous than he had been told, and in the damsel he
perceived a hundred times more sense and beauty than Calogrenant had
spoken of, for one cannot rehearse the sum of a lady's or a good man's
qualities. The moment such a man devotes himself to virtue, his story
cannot be summed up or told, for no tongue could estimate the honourable
deeds of such a gentleman. My lord Yvain was well content with the
excellent lodging he had that night, and when he entered the clearing
the next day, he met the bulls and the rustic boor who showed him the
way to take. But more than a hundred times he crossed himself at sight
of the monster before him--how Nature had ever been able to form such
a hideous, ugly creature. Then to the spring he made his way, and found
there all that he wished to see. Without hesitation and without sitting
down he poured the basin full of water upon the stone, when straightway
it began to blow and rain, and such a storm was caused as had been
foretold. And when God had appeased the storm, the birds came to perch
upon the pine, and sang their joyous songs up above the perilous spring.
But before their jubilee had ceased there came the knight, more blazing
with wrath than a burning log, and making as much noise as if he were
chasing a lusty stag. As soon as they espied each other they rushed
together and displayed the mortal hate they bore. Each one carried a
stiff, stout lance, with which they dealt such mighty blows that they
pierced the shields about their necks, and cut the meshes of their
hauberks; their lances are splintered and sprung, while the fragments
are cast high in air. Then each attacks the other with his sw