Erec draws near to her,
wishing to see her more closely, and the onlookers go and sit
down under the trees in the orchard. Then behold, there comes a
knight armed with vermilion arms, and he was wondrous tall; and
if he were not so immeasurably tall, under the heavens there
would be none fairer than he; but, as every one averred, he was a
foot taller than any knight he knew. Before Erec caught sight of
him, he cried out: "Vassal, vassal! You are mad, upon my life,
thus to approach my damsel. I should say you are not worthy to
draw near her. You will pay dearly for your presumption, by my
head! Stand back!" And Erec stops and looks at him, and the
other, too, stood still. Neither made advance until Erec had
replied all that he wished to say to him. "Friend," he says,
"one can speak folly as well as good sense. Threaten as much as
you please, and I will keep silence; for in threatening there is
no sense. Do you know why? A man sometimes thinks he has won
the game who afterward loses it. So he is manifestly a fool who
is too presumptuous and who threatens too much. If there are
some who flee there are plenty who chase, but I do not fear you
so much that I am going to run away yet. I am ready to make such
defence, if there is any who wishes to offer me battle, that he
will have to do his uttermost, or otherwise he cannot escape.
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