ht.
Alas, said she, how may this be, is he slain? I say not so, said Sir
Gawaine, but wit ye well he is grievously wounded, by all manner of
signs, and by men's sight more likelier to be dead than to be alive; and
wit ye well he is the noble knight, Sir Launcelot, for by this shield
I know him. Alas, said the Fair Maiden of Astolat, how may this be, and
what was his hurt? Truly, said Sir Gawaine, the man in the world that
loved him best hurt him so; and I dare say, said Sir Gawaine, an that
knight that hurt him knew the very certainty that he had hurt Sir
Launcelot, it would be the most sorrow that ever came to his heart.

Now fair father, said then Elaine, I require you give me leave to ride
and to seek him, or else I wot well I shall go out of my mind, for I
shall never stint till that I find him and my brother, Sir Lavaine. Do
as it liketh you, said her father, for me sore repenteth of the hurt
of that noble knight. Right so the maid made her ready, and before Sir
Gawaine, making great dole.

Then on the morn Sir Gawaine came to King Arthur, and told him how he
had found Sir Launcelot's shield in the keeping of the Fair Maiden of
Astolat. All that knew I aforehand, said King Arthur, and that caused
me I would not suffer you to have ado at the great jousts, for I espied,
said King Arthur, when he came in till his lodging full late in the
evening in Astolat. But marvel have I, said Arthur, that ever he would
bear any sign of any damosel, for or now I never heard say nor knew
that ever he bare any token of none earthly woman. By my head, said Sir
Gawaine, the Fair Maiden of Astolat loveth him marvellously well; what
it meaneth I cannot say, and she is ridden after to seek him. So the
king and all came to London, and there Sir Gawaine openly disclosed to
all the court that it was Sir Launcelot that jousted best.

CHAPTER XV. Of the sorrow that Sir Bors had for the hurt of Launcelot;
and of the anger that the queen had because Launcelot bare the sleeve.

AND when Sir Bors heard that, wit ye well he was an heavy man, and so
were all his kinsmen. But when Queen Guenever wist that Sir Launcelot
bare the red sleeve of the Fair Maiden of Astolat she was nigh out of
her mind for wrath. And then she sent for Sir Bors de Ganis in all the
haste that might be. So when Sir Bors was come to-fore the queen, then
she said: Ah Sir Bors, have ye heard say how falsely Sir Launcelot hath
betrayed me? Alas madam, said Sir Bors, I a