ng his shield here is a knight of great prowess, but he is
one who hates all ladies, and this is how we repay him for his hatred."

"I think little of such a knight," said Gawaine. "Yet it may be that he
has good cause for his hatred. He must love ladies elsewhere, if not
here, if he be so good a knight as you say. For it is said that the
despiser of ladies is never worthy in arms. What is the name of this
knight?"

"His name is Marhaus. He is the son of the king of Ireland."

"I know him well," said Uwaine. "There is no man of more valor living. I
saw him once at a tournament where no knight could stand before him."

"If this is his shield," said Gawaine, "he will soon be here in person,
and it may not prove so easy for these knights to face him on horseback
as for them to stand by and see his shield befouled. It is not our
quarrel, but we shall stay no longer to see this dishonor."

Before they had withdrawn far, however, they saw the Irish knight riding
towards his shield, and halted to note what would follow. At sight of
him the damsels shrieked with terror, and ran so wildly towards the
turret that some of them fell by the way. But one of the knights
advanced his shield and cried loudly,--

"Sir Marhaus, defend yourself!"

Then he and Marhaus rode fiercely together, the knight breaking his
spear without effect, while Marhaus smote him in return so hard a blow
that he was hurled to the ground with a broken neck. Then the other
knight rode against Marhaus, but with the same ill success, for both
horse and man were smitten so furiously that they fell to the earth
dead.

Then the knight of Ireland rode to his shield, and when he saw how
foully it had been used he cried,--

"This is a foul shame; but I have requited it upon those dastards. For
the love of her who gave me this white shield I shall wear it, and hang
mine where it was."

Thereupon he took the white shield, and left in its place the one he had
just used.

Then, seeing the two errant knights, he asked them what they did there.
They answered that they were from Arthur's court, and had ridden in
search of adventures.

"Then you can have one here," said Marhaus. "I shall be glad to joust
with you."

He rode away from them to the proper range, without waiting for a reply.

"Let him go," said Uwaine. "I fear he is more than our match."

"I care not if he is," said Gawaine. "However good a knight he be, he
shall not challenge us unanswered."