dead; for he still
recalls the mocking words which my lord Kay had addressed to him. He
had not yet carried out the pledge which he had given to his cousin;
nor will they believe his word unless he returns with the evidence. The
knight led him a rapid chase to the gate of his town, where they entered
in; but finding no man or woman in the streets through which they
passed, they both rode swiftly on till they came to the palace-gate.

(Vv. 907-1054.) The gate was very high and wide, yet it had such a
narrow entrance-way that two men or two horses could scarcely enter
abreast or pass without interference or great difficulty; for it was
constructed just like a trap which is set for the rat on mischief bent,
and which has a blade above ready to fall and strike and catch, and
which is suddenly released whenever anything, however gently, comes in
contact with the spring. In like fashion, beneath the gate there were
two springs connected with a portcullis up above, edged with iron and
very sharp. If anything stepped upon this contrivance the gate descended
from above, and whoever below was struck by the gate was caught and
mangled. Precisely in the middle the passage lay as narrow as if it were
a beaten track. Straight through it exactly the knight rushed on, with
my lord Yvain madly following him apace, and so close to him that he
held him by the saddle-bow behind. It was well for him that he was
stretched forward, for had it not been for this piece of luck he would
have been cut quite through; for his horse stepped upon the wooden
spring which kept the portcullis in place. Like a hellish devil the gate
dropped down, catching the saddle and the horse's haunches, which it cut
off clean. But, thank God, my lord Yvain was only slightly touched when
it grazed his back so closely that it cut both his spurs off even with
his heels. And while he thus fell in dismay, the other with his mortal
wound escaped him, as you now shall see. Farther on there was another
gate just like the one they had just passed; through this the knight
made his escape, and the gate descended behind him. Thus my lord Yvain
was caught, very much concerned and discomfited as he finds himself
shut in this hallway, which was all studded with gilded nails, and whose
walls were cunningly decorated with precious paints. [310] But about
nothing was he so worried as not to know what had become of the knight.
While he was in this narrow place, he heard open the door of