monstrous lie. I think Kay the seneschal is courteous and loyal
enough not to commit such a deed, and besides, I do not expose my body
in the market-place, nor offer it of my own free will. Surely, Kay
is not the man to make an insulting proposal to me, and I have never
desired and shall never desire to do such a thing myself." "Sire, I
shall be much obliged to you," says Meleagant to his father, "if Kay
shall be made to atone for this outrage, and the Queen's shame thus
be exposed. It devolves upon you to see that justice is done, and this
justice I now request and claim. Kay has betrayed King Arthur, his lord,
who had such confidence in him that he entrusted to him what he loved
most in the world." "Let me answer, sire," says Kay, "and I shall
exonerate myself. May God have no mercy upon my soul when I leave this
world, if I ever lay with my lady! Indeed, I should rather be dead than
ever do my lord such an ugly wrong, and may God never grant me better
health than I have now but rather kill me on the spot, if such a thought
ever entered my mind! But I know that my wounds bled profusely last
night, and that is the reason why my sheets are stained with blood. That
is why your son suspects me, but surely he has no right to do so."
And Meleagant answers him: "So help me God, the devils and demons have
betrayed you. You grew too heated last night and, as a result of your
exertions, your wounds have doubtless bled afresh. There is no use in
your denying it; we can see it, and it is perfectly evident. It is
right that he should atone for his crime, who is so plainly taken in his
guilt. Never did a knight with so fair a name commit such iniquities
as this, and yours is the shame for it." "Sire, sire," says Kay to the
king, "I will defend the Queen and myself against the accusation of your
son. He harasses and distresses me, though he has no ground to treat me
so." "You cannot fight," the king replies, "you are too ill." "Sire, if
you will allow it, I will fight with him, ill as I am, and will show
him that I am not guilty of the crime which he imputes to me." But the
Queen, having secretly sent word to Lancelot, tells the king that she
will present a knight who will defend the seneschal, if Meleagant dares
to urge this charge. Then Meleagant said at once: "There is no knight
without exception, even were he a giant, whom I will not fight until one
of us is defeated." Then Lancelot came in, and with him such a rout
of knights tha