It was near nightfall now, and it
seemed good to him to spend the night there, and strip from the
deer as much as he cared to eat. Beginning to carve it he splits
the skin along the rib, and taking a steak from the loin he
strikes from a flint a spark, which he catches in some dry brush-
wood; then he quickly puts his steak upon a roasting spit to cook
before the fire, and roasts it until it is quite cooked through.
But there was no pleasure in the meal, for there was no bread, or
wine, or salt, or cloth, or knife, or anything else. While he
was eating, the lion lay at his feet; nor a movement did he make,
but watched him steadily until he had eaten all that he could eat
of the steak. What remained of the deer the lion devoured, even
to the bones. And while all night his master laid his head upon
his shield to gain such rest as that afforded, the lion showed
such intelligence that he kept awake, and was careful to guard
the horse as it fed upon the grass, which yielded some slight
nourishment.
(Vv. 3485-3562.) In the morning they go off together, and the
same sort of existence, it seems, as they had led that night,
they two continued to lead all the ensuing week, until chance
brought them to the spring beneath the pine-tree. There my lord
Yvain almost lost his wits a second time, as he approached the
spring, with its stone and the chapel that stood close by.
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