n
that had opened the door to him cried:

'Be not vexed, Sir Lancelot, for I wot well you would rather go with
the king than nurse that wound of thine. Come down, then, and let me
advise thee.'

Sir Lancelot, thinking this would be the chief disciple or pupil of
Morgan Todd, dismounted, and followed the man that had spoken, who was
old and thin and gnarled, with beady black eyes. When he had examined
Sir Lancelot's wound, the old man smiled strangely, and said:

'If ye take but common care of thy wound, 'twill not break out again,
but your heart was ever bigger than thy wit, sir knight. Thou wilt do
more than any other knight, and in thy strength ye may well maim
yourself.'

'Then I may go to Camelot, to the jousting?' asked Sir Lancelot.

'Ay, ye may go,' said the leech. 'But hearken. Stay not on thy way at
Astolat. If ye do so, ye shall leave so great a wound there on one that
will not harm thee, that the ill shall cause thee woe out of all
measure.'

'Keep thy counsel, good leech,' said Sir Lancelot with a laugh. 'I hurt
none that desire not my hurt. And, for the rest, I will take the
adventure that God will send me.'

Sir Lancelot set out forthwith, thinking naught of what the leech had
said. By eventide he came to Astolat, and, looking about for a lodging,
he suddenly remembered the words of the leech.

'I will beg a lodging outside the town,' he said, gravely smiling. 'So
I do not stay in the town, I may escape the ill which the old croaker
spoke of.'

He saw the manor-house of a baron beside the way, and begged a lodging
there for the night, which was freely and most courteously granted unto
him. The baron was an old man, of reverend aspect, named Sir Bernard,
and he welcomed Sir Lancelot warmly, though he knew him not.

At meat they were all very merry, and with Sir Bernard were his two
sons, handsome youths, but lately made knights. There was also a young
damsel, named Elaine the Fair, the daughter of Sir Bernard; but Sir
Lancelot, though he saw how sweet and gentle she was, noted her not
overmuch. Neither she nor Sir Lavaine, the younger son, could bear to
take their eyes from the face of Sir Lancelot; for there was so
magnificent yet gentle an air about the great knight, that they deemed
he must be some very brave and noble warrior.

Sir Lancelot told them it was in his mind to go to the jousts at
Camelot. Laughingly he turned to Sir Bernard, and said:

'Fair sir, I would pray you to lend me a