" "Which way lies
their path?" "This way, my lord. Here is the path with the
footprints. Then Erec started at a gallop, and told her ro await
him there. The maid commends him to the Lord, and prays God very
fervently that He should give him force by His command to
discomfit those who intend evil toward her lover.
(Vv. 4381-4579.) Erec went off along the trail, spurring his
horse in pursuit of the giants. He followed in pursuit of them
until he caught sight of them before they emerged from the wood;
he saw the knight with bare limbs mounted naked on a nag, his
hands and feet bound as if he were arrested for highway robbery.
The giants had no lances, shields or whetted swords; but they
both had clubs and scourges, with which they were beating him so
cruelly that already they had cut the skin on his back to the
bone. Down his sides and flanks the blood ran, so that the nag
was all covered with blood down to the belly. (32) Erec came
along alone after them. He was very sad and distressed about the
knight whom he saw them treat so spitefully. Between two woods
in an open field he came up with them, and asks: "My lords," says
he, "for what crime do you treat this man so ill and lead him
along like a common thief? You are treating him too cruelly.
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