" The
maiden was not slow in bearing back this message, for she thinks
it will greatly please and delight the Queen. She made her way
as directly as possible to the stand, where the Queen rose and
started to meet her, however, she did not go down, but waited for
her at the top of the steps. And the damsel came happy in the
message she had to bear. When she had climbed the steps and
reached her side, she said: "Lady, I never saw so courteous g
knight, for he is more than ready to obey every command you send
to him, for, if the truth be known, he accepts good and evil with
the same countenance. "Indeed," says the Queen, "that may well
be so." Then she returns to the balcony to watch the knights.
And Lancelot without delay seizes his shield by the leather
straps, for he is kindled and consumed by the desire to show his
prowess. Guiding his horse's head, he lets him run between two
lines. All those mistaken and deluded men, who have spent a
large part of the day and night in heaping him with ridicule,
will soon be disconcerted. For a long time they have had their
sport and joke and fun. The son of the King of Ireland held his
shield closely gripped by the leather straps, as he spurs
fiercely to meet him from the opposite direction. They come
together with such violence that the son of the Irish king having
broken and splintered his lance, wishes no more of the
tournament; for it was not moss he struck, but hard, dry boards.
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