at she was the Lady
of the Lake herself; for so she appeared to King Arthur and so she
appeared to several others, as you may read of if it should please you
in those volumes of this history that were written before this volume.

So the Lady of the Lake came forward to meet Sir Gawaine, and she beheld
Sir Gawaine how that he was bewitched into the guise of a dwarf as
aforetold. And the lady said: "Certes, Messire, this is a great
misfortune that hath befallen thee. Now I prithee come with me until I
make an end of thy enchantment."

So the Lady of the Lake took the horse of Sir Gawaine by the bridle, and
she led the horse through those flowers for some little distance, and so
brought him to the margin of the waters of the lake. And when they had
come there the Lady of the Lake stooped and dipped up some of the water
of the lake into her hand; and she flung the water upon Sir Gawaine,
crying out in a high and piercing voice: "Cease from thy present shape,
and assume that shape that is thine own!"

[Sidenote: _The Lady of the Lake healeth Sir Gawaine of his
enchantment._]

Therewith, upon an instant, the enchantment that had rested upon Sir
Gawaine was released from him and he became himself again, resuming his
own knightly appearance instead of that semblance of a misshapen dwarf
into which the enchantment of the Lady Vivien had cast him.

Then Sir Gawaine leaped down from off the back of that poor palfrey upon
which he had been riding, and he kneeled down before that fair and
gentle Lady of the Lake, and he set the palms of his hands together and
gave her words of pure gratitude beyond stint that she had removed that
enchantment from him. And ever the Lady of the Lake looked down upon Sir
Gawaine and smiled very kindly upon him. And she said: "Messire, abide
this night in yonder pavilion, for it hath been prepared for thee to
rest in. To-morrow, after thou hast thus rested and refreshed thyself,
then thou shalt go forward upon thy way again."

[Sidenote: _The Lady of the Lake departeth._]

Then the Lady of the Lake gave her hand to Sir Gawaine and he took it
and kissed it. And after that she turned and approached the lake, and at
that time the sky was all golden both with the glory of the fading day
and with that other glory, the strange magic light that embalmed that
wonderful lake as aforetold. And Sir Gawaine, still kneeling upon the
strand of the lake, beheld that the Lady of the Lake reached the water,
and