CHAPTER XXII
 
 How Sir Gawaine came to the Lady Ettard, and how
 Sir Pelleas found them sleeping.
 
 AND therewith Sir Gawaine plight his troth unto Sir Pelleas to be
 true and faithful unto him; so each one plight their troth to
 other, and so they changed horses and harness, and Sir Gawaine
 departed, and came to the castle whereas stood the pavilions of
 this lady without the gate.  And as soon as Ettard had espied Sir
 Gawaine she fled in toward the castle.  Sir Gawaine spake on
 high, and bade her abide, for he was not Sir Pelleas; I am
 another knight that have slain Sir Pelleas.  Do off your helm,
 said the Lady Ettard, that I may see your visage.  And so when
 she saw that it was not Sir Pelleas, she bade him alight and led
 him unto her castle, and asked him faithfully whether he had
 slain Sir Pelleas.  And he said her yea, and told her his name
 was Sir Gawaine of the court of King Arthur, and his sister's
 son.  Truly, said she, that is great pity, for he was a passing
 good knight of his body, but of all men alive I hated him most,
 for I could never be quit of him; and for ye have slain him I
 shall be your woman, and to do anything that might please you. 
 So she made Sir Gawaine good cheer.  Then Sir Gawaine said that
 he loved a lady and by no means she would love him.  She is to
 blame, said Ettard, an she will not love you, for ye that be so
 well born a man, and such a man of prowess, there is no lady in
 the world too good for you.  Will ye, said Sir Gawaine, promise
 me to do all that ye may, by the faith of your body, to get me
 the love of my lady?  Yea, sir, said she, and that I promise you
 by the <138>faith of my body.  Now, said Sir Gawaine, it is
 yourself that I love so well, therefore I pray you hold your
 promise.  I may not choose, said the Lady Ettard, but if I should
 be forsworn; and so she granted him to fulfil all his desire.
 
 So it was then in the month of May that she and Sir Gawaine went
 out of the castle and supped in a pavilion, and there was made a
 bed, and there Sir Gawaine and the Lady Ettard went to bed
 together, and in another pavilion she laid her damosels, and in
 the third pavilion she laid part of her knights, for then she had
 no dread of Sir Pelleas.  And there Sir Gawaine lay with her in
 that pavilion two days and two nights.  And on the third day, in
 the morning early, Sir Pelleas armed him, for he had never slept
 since Sir Gawaine departed from him; for Sir Gawaine had promised
 him by the faith of his body, to come to him unto his pavilion by
 that priory within the space of a day and a night.
 
 Then Sir Pelleas mounted upon horseback, and came to the
 pavilions that stood without the castle, and found in the first
 pavilion three knights in three beds, and three squires lying at
 their feet.  Then went he to the second pavilion and found four
 gentlewomen lying in four beds.  And then he yede to the third
 pavilion and found Sir Gawaine lying in bed with his Lady Ettard,
 and either clipping other in arms, and when he saw that his heart
 well-nigh brast for sorrow, and said:  Alas! that ever a knight
 should be found so false; and then he took his horse and might
 not abide no longer for pure sorrow.  And when he had ridden nigh
 half a mile he turned again and thought to slay them both; and
 when he saw them both so lie sleeping fast, unnethe he might hold
 him on horseback for sorrow, and said thus to himself, Though
 this knight be never so false, I will never slay him sleeping,
 for I will never destroy the high order of knighthood; and
 therewith he departed again.  And or he had ridden half a mile he
 returned again, and thought then to slay them both, making the
 greatest sorrow that ever man made.  And when he came to the
 pavilions, he tied his <139>horse unto a tree, and pulled out his
 sword naked in his hand, and went to them thereas they lay, and
 yet he thought it were shame to slay them sleeping, and laid the
 naked sword overthwart both their throats, and so took his horse
 and rode his way.
 
 And when Sir Pelleas came to his pavilions he told his knights
 and his squires how he had sped, and said thus to them, For your
 true and good service ye have done me I shall give you all my
 goods, for I will go unto my bed and never arise until I am dead. 
 And when that I am dead I charge you that ye take the heart out
 of my body and bear it her betwixt two silver dishes, and tell
 her how I saw her lie with the false knight Sir Gawaine.  Right
 so Sir Pelleas unarmed himself, and went unto his bed making
 marvellous dole and sorrow.
 
 When Sir Gawaine and Ettard awoke of their sleep, and found the
 naked sword overthwart their throats, then she knew well it was
 Sir Pelleas' sword.  Alas! said she to Sir Gawaine, ye have
 betrayed me and Sir Pelleas both, for ye told me ye had slain
 him, and now I know well it is not so, he is alive.  And if Sir
 Pelleas had been as uncourteous to you as ye have been to him ye
 had been a dead knight; but ye have deceived me and betrayed me
 falsely, that all ladies and damosels may beware by you and me. 
 And therewith Sir Gawaine made him ready, and went into the
 forest.  So it happed then that the Damosel of the Lake, Nimue,
 met with a knight of Sir Pelleas, that went on his foot in the
 forest making great dole, and she asked him the cause.  And so
 the woful knight told her how his master and lord was betrayed
 through a knight and lady, and how he will never arise out of his
 bed till he be dead.  Bring me to him, said she anon, and I will
 warrant his life he shall not die for love, and she that hath
 caused him so to love, she shall be in as evil plight as he is or
 it be long to, for it is no joy of such a proud lady that will
 have no mercy of such a valiant knight.  Anon that knight brought
 her unto him, and when she saw him lie in his bed, she thought
 she saw never so likely a knight; and therewith she threw an
 enchantment upon <140>him, and he fell asleep.  And therewhile
 she rode unto the Lady Ettard, and charged no man to awake him
 till she came again.  So within two hours she brought the Lady
 Ettard thither, and both ladies found him asleep:  Lo, said the
 Damosel of the Lake, ye ought to be ashamed for to murder such a
 knight.  And therewith she threw such an enchantment upon her
 that she loved him sore, that well-nigh she was out of her mind. 
 O Lord Jesu, said the Lady Ettard, how is it befallen unto me
 that I love now him that I have most hated of any man alive? 
 That is the righteous judgment of God, said the damosel.  And
 then anon Sir Pelleas awaked and looked upon Ettard; and when he
 saw her he knew her, and then he hated her more than any woman
 alive, and said:  Away, traitress, come never in my sight.  And
 when she heard him say so, she wept and made great sorrow out of
 measure.