there came by him a knight well armed on horseback;
and he alighted, and tied his horse until a tree, and set
him down by the brink of the fountain; and there he
made great languor and dole, and made the dolefullest
complaint of love that ever man heard; and all this while
was he not ware of King Mark. And this was a great
part of his complaint: he cried and wept, saying: O fair
Queen of Orkney, King Lot's wife, and mother of Sir
Gawaine, and to Sir Gaheris, and mother to many other,
for thy love I am in great pains. Then King Mark arose
and went near him and said: Fair knight, ye have made
a piteous complaint. Truly, said the knight, it is an
hundred part more ruefuller than my heart can utter. I
require you, said King Mark, tell me your name. Sir,
said he, as for my name I will not hide it from no knight
that beareth a shield, and my name is Sir Lamorak de
Galis. But when Sir Lamorak heard King Mark speak,
then wist he well by his speech that he was a Cornish
knight. Sir, said Sir Lamorak, I understand by your
tongue ye be of Cornwall, wherein there dwelleth the
shamefullest king that is now living, for he is a great
enemy to all good knights; and that proveth well, for he
hath chased out of that country Sir Tristram, that is the
worshipfullest knight that now is living, and all knights
speak of him worship; and for jealousness of his queen
he hath chased him out of his country. It is pity, said
Sir Lamorak, that ever any such false knight-coward as
King Mark is, should be matched with such a fair lady
and good as La Beale Isoud is, for all the world of him
speaketh shame, and of her worship that any queen may