He had received many a blow, and
repaid it as best he could, but without doing them any harm, for
they were well skilled in fencing, and their shields were not of
a kind to be hacked by any sword, however sharp and well tempered
it might be. So my lord Yvain had good reason to fear his death,
yet he managed to hold his own until the lion extricated himself
by continued scratching beneath the threshold. If the rascals
are not killed now, surely they will never be. For so long as
the lion knows them to be alive, they can never obtain truce or
peace with him. He seizes one of them, and pulls him down to
earth like a tree-trunk. The wretches are terrified, and there
is not a man present who does not rejoice. For he whom the lion
has dragged down will never be able to rise again, unless the
other succours him. He runs up to bring him aid, and at the same
time to protect himself, lest the lion should attack him as soon
as he had despatched the one whom he had thrown down; he was more
afraid of the lion than of his master. But my lord Yvain will be
foolish now if he allows him longer life, when he sees him turn
his back, and sees his neck bare and exposed; this chance turned
out well for him. When the rascal exposed to him his bare head
and neck, he dealt him such a blow that he smote his head from
his shoulders so quietly that the fellow never knew a word about
it.
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