deeds of him with
the red painted arms that what the others did seemed to him pale in
comparison. And the herald cheered up again, as he shouted aloud so
that all could hear: "Here there has one come who will take the measure!
To-day you shall see what he can do. To-day his prowess shall appear."
Then the knight directs his steed and makes a very skilful thrust
against a certain knight, whom he strikes so hard that he carries him a
hundred feet or more from his horse. His feats with sword and lance are
so well performed that there is none of the onlookers who does not find
pleasure in watching him. Many even of those who bear arms find pleasure
and satisfaction in what he does, for it is great sport to see how he
makes horses and knights tumble and fall. He encounters hardly a single
knight who is able to keep his seat, and he gives the horses he wins to
those who want them. Then those who had been making game of him said:
"Now we are disgraced and mortified. It was a great mistake for us to
deride and vilify this man, for he is surely worth a thousand such as
we are on this field; for he has defeated and outdone all the knights
in the world, so that there is no one now that opposes him." And the
damsels, who amazed were watching him, all said that he might take them
to wife; but they did not dare to trust in their beauty or wealth, or
power or highness, for not for her beauty or wealth would this peerless
knight deign to choose any one of them. Yet, most of them are so
enamoured of him that they say that, unless they marry him, they will
not be bestowed upon any man this year. And the Queen, who hears them
boast, laughs to herself and enjoy the fun, for well she knows that if
all the gold of Arabia should be set before him, yet he who is beloved
by them all would not select the best, the fairest, or the most charming
of the group. One wish is common to them all--each wishes to have him as
her spouse. One is jealous of another, as if she were already his wife;
and all this is because they see him so adroit that in their opinion no
mortal man could perform such deeds as he had done. He did so well that
when the time came to leave the list, they admitted freely on both sides
that no one had equalled the knight with the vermilion shield. All said
this, and it was true. But when he left, he allowed his shield and lance
and trappings to fall where he saw the thickest press, then he rode off
hastily with such secrecy that no o