's death, for I had great need of you both, and have
much dread of passing the forest.' 'Fear nothing,' answered the Green
Knight, 'for this evening you shall lodge in my house, and to-morrow I
will show you the way through the forest.' And they went with the
Green Knight. But the damsel did not mend her ways with Beaumains, and
ever more reviled him, till the Green Knight rebuked her, saying
Beaumains was the noblest Knight that held a spear, and that in the
end she would find he had sprung from some great King. And the Green
Knight summoned the thirty Knights who did him service, and bade them
henceforth do service to Beaumains, and keep him from treachery, and
when he had need of them they would be ready to obey his orders. So
they bade each other farewell, and Beaumains and the damsel rode forth
anew. In like manner did Sir Beaumains overcome the Red Knight, who
was the third brother, and the Red Knight cried for mercy, and offered
to bring sixty Knights to do him service, and Beaumains spared his
life at the request of the damsel, and likewise it so happened to Sir
Persant of Inde.

And this time the damsel prayed Beaumains to give up the fight,
saying, 'Sir, I wonder who you are and of what kindred you have come.
Boldly you speak, and boldly you have done; therefore I pray you to
depart and save yourself while you may, for both you and your horse
have suffered great fatigues, and I fear we delay too long, for the
besieged castle is but seven miles from this place, and all the perils
are past save this one only. I dread sorely lest you should get some
hurt; yet this Sir Persant of Inde is nothing in might to the Knight
who has laid siege to my lady.' But Sir Beaumains would not listen to
her words, and vowed that by two hours after noon he would have
overthrown him, and that it would still be daylight when they reached
the castle. 'What sort of a man can you be?' answered the damsel,
looking at him in wonder, 'for never did a woman treat a Knight as ill
and shamefully as I have done you, while you have always been gentle
and courteous to me, and no one bears himself like that save he who is
of noble blood.' 'Damsel,' replied Beaumains, 'your hard words only
drove me to strike the harder, and though I ate in King Arthur's
kitchen, perhaps I might have had as much food as I wanted elsewhere.
But all I have done was to make proof of my friends, and whether I am
a gentleman or not, fair damsel, I have done you gentlema