y.

'I cannot hope to find excuse from you,' he said, 'for I cannot and
never will forgive myself. I would as lief have slain my nephew, Sir
Bors, as slay young Sir Gareth whom I loved, and Gaheris his brother.
Sorrow is on me for that! I was mad in my rage and did not see them.
Only I knew that many knights stood between me and the queen, and I
slew all that seemed to bar my passage.'

'Thou liest, false, recreant knight!' cried Sir Gawaine, whose grief by
now had made him mad with the lust for revenge; 'thou slewest them in
thy pride, to despite me and the king, because we had permitted the
queen to go to the stake. Thou coward and traitor! Therefore, wit thee
well, Sir Lancelot, I will not quit this quest until I feel my sword
thrusting into thy evil heart.'

'Sorrow is on me,' said Sir Lancelot, 'to know that thou dost so
hatefully pursue me. If thou didst not, I think my lord the king would
give me his good grace again, and receive back his queen and believe us
innocent.'

'I believe it well, false, recreant knight!' cried Sir Gawaine, full of
rage to know that the king verily wished to have peace; 'but know ye
that while I live, my good uncle will make war upon thee, and at last
we will have thee in spite of thy castle walls and thy skill in battle.
And then I will have thy head.'

'I trust ye for that,' said Sir Lancelot, 'for I see that thy hatred
hath crazed thee. So, if ye may get me, I shall expect no mercy.'

Then, seeing how useless it was to keep up the parley any longer, Sir
Lancelot withdrew. Next day spies brought in word to Sir Lancelot that,
at a council of his chief men, the king had said he would take back his
queen and make peace with Sir Lancelot; but that Sir Gawaine had
fiercely told him that if he did not keep up the war until Sir Lancelot
was taken or slain, he and all the kin of Lot would break away from the
realm and their allegiance. Indeed, it was rumoured that Sir Gawaine
would have made the king prisoner had he not yielded; and so powerful
was Sir Gawaine and the lords that followed him, that none could have
been strong enough to withstand them.

Sir Gawaine, yearning, by reason of his hatred, to get Sir Lancelot out
of his castle to fight with him, now sent knights to cry out shame upon
him under his walls. Thus they marched up and down, calling out
insulting names and charging him with dishonourable deeds.

Until at length the very men-at-arms that kept watch upon Sir
Lancelo