" But the others
reply: "We do not know how that may be; but as we have taken you,
you must return with us to court." The rumour, which swiftly
flies and runs, reaches the king, that his men have seized
Lancelot and put him to death. When the king hears it, he is
sorely grieved and swears angrily by his head that they who have
killed him shall surely die for the deed; and that, if he can
seize or catch them, it shall be their fate to be hanged, burned,
or drowned. And if they attempt to deny their deed, he will not
believe what they say, for they have brought him such grief and
shame that he would be disgraced were vengeance not to be exacted
from them; but he will be avenged without a doubt. The news of
this spread until it reached the Queen, who was sitting at meat.
She almost killed herself on hearing the false report about
Lancelot, but she supposes it to be true, and therefore she is in
such dismay that she almost loses the power to speak; but,
because of those present, she forces herself to say: "In truth, I
am sorry for his death, and it is no wonder that I grieve, for he
came into this country for my sake, and therefore I should mourn
for him." Then she says to herself, so that the others should
not hear, that no one need ask her to drink or eat, if it is true
that he is dead, in whose life she found her own.
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