Arthur to Gwalchmai, "Thou speakest like a wise
and a prudent man; go and take enough of armour about thee, and choose
thy horse." And Gwalchmai accoutred himself, and rode forward hastily to
the place where Peredur was.

And Peredur was resting on the shaft of his spear, pondering the same
thought, and Gwalchmai came to him without any signs of hostility, and
said to him, "If I thought that it would be as agreeable to thee as it
would be to me, I would converse with thee. I have also a message from
Arthur unto thee, to pray thee to come and visit him. And two men have
been before on this errand." "That is true," said Peredur, "and
uncourteously they came. They attacked me, and I was annoyed thereat,
for it was not pleasing to me to be drawn from the thought that I was in,
for I was thinking of the lady whom best I love; and thus was she brought
to my mind,--I was looking upon the snow, and upon the raven, and upon
the drops of the blood of the bird that the hawk had killed upon the
snow. And I bethought me that her whiteness was like that of the snow,
and that the blackness of her hair and her eyebrows was like that of the
raven, and that the two red spots upon her cheeks were like the two drops
of blood." Said Gwalchmai, "This was not an ungentle thought, and I
should marvel if it were pleasant to thee to be drawn from it." "Tell
me," said Peredur, "is Kai in Arthur's Court?" "He is," said he, "and
behold he is the knight that fought with thee last; and it would have
been better for him had he not come, for his arm and his shoulder blade
were broken with the fall which he had from thy spear." "Verily," said
Peredur, "I am not sorry to have thus begun to avenge the insult to the
dwarf and dwarfess." Then Gwalchmai marvelled to hear him speak of the
dwarf and the dwarfess; and he approached him, and threw his arms around
his neck, and asked him what was his name. "Peredur the son of Evrawc am
I called," said he, "and thou? Who art thou?" "I am called Gwalchmai,"
he replied. "I am right glad to meet with thee," said Peredur, "for in
every country where I have been, I have heard of thy fame for prowess and
uprightness, and I solicit thy fellowship." "Thou shall have it, by my
faith, and grant me thine," said he. "Gladly will I do so," answered
Peredur.

So they rode forth together joyfully towards the place where Arthur was;
and when Kai saw them coming, he said, "I knew that Gwalchmai needed not
to fig