The knight was puzzled. Was this a test of his love too, or did the lady for whom he had won the golden circlet indeed not care for him? But that he would not believe. "She will grow kinder if I am faithful," he thought, and he lived in a tent beneath the castle walls for many days.

The Lady Ettarde heard that Pelleas still lingered near the castle, and in her anger she said, "I will send ten of my lords to fight this knight, and then I shall never see his face again."

But when Pelleas saw the ten lords coming towards him, he armed himself, and fought so bravely that he overthrew each of them.

But after he had overthrown them, he allowed them to get up and to bind him hand and foot, and carry him into the castle.

"For they will carry me into the presence of the Lady Ettarde," he thought.

But when she saw Pelleas, the Lady Ettarde mocked him, and told her lords to tie him to the tail of a horse and turn him out of the castle.

"She does it to find out if I love her truly," thought Sir Pelleas again, as he struggled back to his tent below the castle.

Another ten lords were sent to fight the faithful knight, and again Pelleas overthrew them, and again he let himself be bound and carried before the Lady Ettarde.

But when she spoke to him even more unkindly than before, and mocked at his love for her, Sir Pelleas turned away. "If she were good as she is beautiful, she could not be so cruel," he thought sadly.

And he told her that though he would always love her, he would not try to see her any more.

Now one of King Arthur's knights, called Sir Gawaine, had been riding past the castle when the ten lords attacked Sir Pelleas.

And Sir Gawaine had looked on in dismay. He had seen the knight overthrow the ten lords, and stand there quietly while the conquered men got to their feet. He had seen them bind him hand and foot, and carry him into the castle.

"To-morrow I will look for him, and offer him my help," thought Sir Gawaine, for he was sorry for the brave young knight.

The next morning he found Sir Pelleas in his tent, looking very sad. And when Sir Gawaine asked the knight why he was so sad, Sir Pelleas told him of his love for the Lady Ettarde and of her unkindness. "I would rather die a hundred times than be bound by her lords," he said, "if it were not that they take me into her presence."

Then Sir Gawaine cheered Sir Pelleas and offered to help him, for he too was one of Arthur's knights.

And Sir Pelleas trusted him, for had not all King Arthur's knights taken the vows of brotherhood and truth?

"Give me your horse and armour," said Sir Gawaine. "I will go to the castle with them, and tell the Lady Ettarde that I have slain you. Then she will ask me to come in, and I will talk of your great love and strength, till she learns to love you."

And Sir Gawaine rode away, wearing the armour and helmet of Sir Pelleas, and promising to come back in three days.

The Lady Ettarde was walking up and down outside the castle, when she saw the knight approaching. "Sir Pelleas again," she thought angrily, and turned to go into the castle.

But Sir Gawaine called to her to stay. "I am not Sir Pelleas, but a knight who has slain him."

"Take off your helmet that I may see your face," said the Lady Ettarde, as she turned to look at him.

When she saw that it was really a strange knight, she took him into her castle. "Because you have slain Sir Pelleas, whom I hated, I will love you," said the cruel Lady Ettarde.

Sir Gawaine saw how beautiful the lady was, and he forgot her unkindness to Sir Pelleas, and he loved her. And because he was not a true knight, Sir Gawaine did not think of Pelleas, who waited so anxiously for his return.

Three days passed, but he did not go back, and in the castle all was joy and merriment.

Six days passed, and still Sir Gawaine stayed with the beautiful Lady Ettarde.

At last Sir Pelleas could bear his loneliness no longer. That night he went up to the castle, and swam across the river. When he reached the front of the castle, he saw a great many tents. And all the lords and ladies were asleep in their tents, and Sir Gawaine was there too.

"He has forgotten me, and will stay here always with the Lady Ettarde," muttered Sir Pelleas in scorn, and he drew the sword he had won at the tournament, to slay the false knight Sir Gawaine.

Then, all at once, he remembered the vows he had taken, when the great King had knighted him, and slowly he sheathed his sword, and went gloomily down to the river.

But Sir Pelleas could not make up his mind to go away, and again he turned and went back to the tent, where Sir Gawaine lay, still asleep.

Once more Sir Pelleas drew his sword, and laid it across the false knight's bare neck.

When Sir Gawaine woke in the morning, he felt the cold steel, and putting up his hand, he found the sword that Sir Pelleas had left.

Sir Gawaine did not know how the sword had come there, but when he told the Lady Ettarde what had happened, and showed her the sword, she knew it was the one that Sir Pelleas had won at the tournament, when he had given her the golden circlet.

"You have not slain the knight who loved me," cried the Lady Ettarde, "for he has been here, and left his sword across your throat." And then she hated Gawaine because he had told her a lie, and she drove him from her castle."

And the Lady Ettarde thought of her true knight Sir Pelleas, and at last she loved him with all her heart.

But when he had left his sword across Sir Gawaine's throat, Pelleas had gone sadly back to his tent, and taking off his armour, had lain down to die.

Then the knight's servant was in great distress, because his master would neither eat nor sleep, but lay in his tent getting more pale and more thin day by day. And the servant was wandering; sadly along the bank of the river, wondering how he could help his master, when he met a beautiful maiden called the "Lady of the Lake."

The maiden asked why he looked so sad, and, won by her gentleness, he told her how his master had been hated by the Lady Ettarde, and betrayed by the false knight Sir Gawaine.

"Bring me to your master," said the Lady of the Lake.

And when she had come to the tent and saw Sir Pelleas, she loved him.

"I will send him to sleep," she murmured, "and when he wakes he will be well." And she threw an enchantment over him, and he slept.

When Sir Pelleas awoke, he felt strong once more, and at last he knew that the cruel Lady Ettarde had never been the lady of his dreams, and he loved her no longer.

But when the Lady Ettarde knew that Sir Pelleas loved her no more, she wept sorrowfully, and died of her grief.

Then the gentle Lady of the Lake asked Pelleas to come with her to her own beautiful Lake-land. And as they rode together, her simple kindness made the knight happy again, and he learned to love the Lady of the Lake, and they lived together and loved each other all their lives long.