"

The lord looked surprised. He took Gareth to another table and
sat beside him. After they had eaten, he said:

"You may be a kitchen boy, or the damsel may be out of her mind,
but whichever is the case, you are a good fighter and you have
saved my life."

The next morning Gareth and the damsel set forth. They rode for a
while in silence, and then she said:

"Sir Kitchen Boy, although you are so low, I would like to save
your life. Soon we are coming to one who will overthrow you; so
turn back."

But Gareth refused. In a little while they came to the first
circle of the river. The passing-place was spanned by a bridge.
On the farther side of the bridge was a beautiful pavilion,
draped in silk of gold and crimson colors. In front of it passed
a warrior without armor.

"Damsel," he cried, "is this the knight you have brought from
Arthur's Court to fight with me?"

"Ah!" she said, "the king scorns you so much that he has sent a
kitchen boy to fight with you. Take care that he does not fall on
you before you are armed, for he is a knave."

[Illustration: _"Gareth rode at him fiercely"_]

The warrior went inside his tent for his armor, and the damsel
said to Gareth:

"Are you afraid?"

"Damsel," he said, "I am not afraid. I would rather fight twenty
times than hear you speak so unkindly of me. Yet your cruel words
have put strength into my arm. I shall fight well."

Then the knight came forth all in armor, and he said:

"Youth, you are a kitchen boy. Go back to your king; you are not
fit to fight with me."

Gareth rode at him fiercely, saying:

"I am of nobler blood than you."

He fought so well that soon his enemy was overcome. Then Gareth
said:

"Go to Arthur's Court and say that his kitchen boy sent you."

When the knight had departed, Gareth rode on, with the damsel in
advance. After a little while she stopped her horse, and when he
had caught up with her, she said:

"Youth, I do not smell the kitchen grease so much as I did."

Then she galloped off, laughing over her shoulder, while Gareth
followed her, a little more slowly.

When they reached the second circle of the river, the damsel
said:

"Here is the brother of the knight you overthrew. He is stronger
than the first. You had better go home, kitchen boy."

Gareth answered nothing. Out of the tent by the bridge which
crossed the second circle of water, came a knight, clad in armor
which glowed like the sun. Lynette shouted to him: