And to please
him she ate a little, but Geraint was so hungry that he finished
all the reapers' dinner.

'I will reward you,' said Geraint, for the lad was dismayed to find
nothing left for the reapers to eat. And he told him to take one
of the horses, with the suit of armour bound round it.

Then the boy was full of glee, and thought himself a knight, as he
led the horse away.

Geraint and Enid then went to the little village near the
cornfields, and lodged there for one night.

The country they were in belonged to a cruel Earl. He had once
wanted to marry Enid. When he heard that she was in his country, he
made up his mind to kill Geraint, and make Enid marry him after
all.

'I will go to the inn while they are still asleep,' thought the
Earl, 'and kill the knight and take Enid away.'

But Geraint and Enid had got up very early that morning, and had
left the five horses and the five suits of armour with the
landlord, to pay him for their food and shelter.

By the time the Earl reached the inn Geraint and Enid had ridden a
long way into a wild country.

Then the wicked Earl galloped after them, and Enid heard the sound
of horse's hoofs coming nearer and nearer. As the horseman dashed
down upon Geraint, Enid hid her face, and asked God to spare her
dear lord's life once more.

The fight was long and fierce, but at last Geraint overthrew the
Earl, and left him lying half-dead in the dust.

Still a little in front, Enid rode silently on, and Geraint
followed, but he had been wounded in the fight with the Earl,
though he did not tell Enid. And the wound bled inside his armour,
till Geraint felt very faint, and suddenly everything seemed black
in front of him. He reeled and fell from his horse on to a bank of
grass.

Enid heard the crash of his armour as he fell, and in a moment she
was beside him. She unbuckled the armour and took off his helmet
Then she took her veil of faded silk and bound up his wound. But
Geraint lay quite still.

Enid's horse wandered into a forest and was lost, but Geraint's
noble war-horse kept watch with Enid, as if he understood.

About noon, the Earl, in whose country they now were, passed along
with his followers. He saw the two by the wayside, and shouted to
Enid, 'Is he dead?'

'No, no, not dead; he cannot be dead. Let him be carried out of the
sun,' she entreated.

And Enid's great sorrow, and her great beauty, made the Earl a
little less rough, and he told his men to c