CHAPTER X
 
 How King Arthur's sword that he fought with brake, and
 how he recovered of Accolon his own sword Excalibur,
 and overcame his enemy.
 
 THEN Sir Accolon began with words of treason, and said, Knight,
 thou art overcome, and mayst not endure, and <117>also thou art
 weaponless, and thou hast lost much of thy blood, and I am full
 loath to slay thee, therefore yield thee to me as recreant.  Nay,
 said Sir Arthur, I may not so, for I have promised to do the
 battle to the uttermost by the faith of my body, while me lasteth
 the life, and therefore I had liefer to die with honour than to
 live with shame; and if it were possible for me to die an hundred
 times, I had liefer to die so oft than yield me to thee; for
 though I lack weapon, I shall lack no worship, and if thou slay
 me weaponless that shall be thy shame.  Well, said Accolon, as
 for the shame I will not spare, now keep thee from me, for thou
 art but a dead man.  And therewith Accolon gave him such a stroke
 that he fell nigh to the earth, and would have had Arthur to have
 cried him mercy.  But Sir Arthur pressed unto Accolon with his
 shield, and gave him with the pommel in his hand such a buffet
 that he went three strides aback.
 
 When the Damosel of the Lake beheld Arthur, how full of prowess
 his body was, and the false treason that was wrought for him to
 have had him slain, she had great pity that so good a knight and
 such a man of worship should so be destroyed.  And at the next
 stroke Sir Accolon struck him such a stroke that by the damosel's
 enchantment the sword Excalibur fell out of Accolon's hand to the
 earth.  And therewithal Sir Arthur lightly leapt to it, and gat
 it in his hand, and forthwithal he knew that it was his sword
 Excalibur, and said, Thou hast been from me all too long, and
 much damage hast thou done me; and therewith he espied the
 scabbard hanging by his side, and suddenly he sterte to him and
 pulled the scabbard from him, and threw it from him as far as he
 might throw it.  O knight, said Arthur, this day hast thou done
 me great damage with this sword; now are ye come unto your death,
 for I shall not warrant you but ye shall as well be rewarded with
 this sword, or ever we depart, as thou hast rewarded me; for much
 pain have ye made me to endure, and much blood have I lost.  And
 therewith Sir Arthur rushed on him with all his might and pulled
 him to the earth, and then rushed off <118>his helm, and gave him
 such a buffet on the head that the blood came out at his ears,
 his nose, and his mouth.  Now will I slay thee, said Arthur. 
 Slay me ye may well, said Accolon, an it please you, for ye are
 the best knight that ever I found, and I see well that God is
 with you.  But for I promised to do this battle, said Accolon, to
 the uttermost, and never to be recreant while I lived, therefore
 shall I never yield me with my mouth, but God do with my body
 what he will.  Then Sir Arthur remembered him, and thought he
 should have seen this knight.  Now tell me, said Arthur, or I
 will slay thee, of what country art thou, and of what court?  Sir
 Knight, said Sir Accolon, I am of the court of King Arthur, and
 my name is Accolon of Gaul.  Then was Arthur more dismayed than
 he was beforehand; for then he remembered him of his sister
 Morgan le Fay, and of the enchantment of the ship.  O sir knight,
 said he, I pray you tell me who gave you this sword, and by whom
 ye had it.