But ask
Guivret to remain here too a request in which I would fain join."
The King prays him to remain, and he consents to stay. So they
both stay: the King kept them with him, and held them dear and
honoured them.
(Vv. 6510-6712.) Erec stayed at court, together with Guivret and
Enide, until the death of his father, the king, who was an old
man and full of years. The messengers then started out: the
nobles who went to seek him, and who were the greatest men of the
land, sought and searched for him until they found him at
Tintagel three weeks before Christmas; they told him the truth
what had happened to his old, white-haired father, and how he now
was dead and gone. This grieved Erec much more than he showed
before the people. But sorrow is not seemly in a king, nor does
it become a king to mourn. There at Tintagel where he was, he
caused vigils for the dead and Masses to be sung; he promised and
kept his promises, as he had vowed to the religious houses and
churches; he did well all that he ought to do: he chose out more
than one hundred and sixty-nine of the wretched poor, and clothed
them all in new garments. To the poor clerks and priors he gave,
as was right, black copes and warm linings to wear beneath. For
God's sake he did great good to all: to those who were in need he
distributed more than a barrel of small coins.
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