permitted any mortal to enter the forest for above a twelvemonth.
Behold, here is a little dog belonging to the Empress, which will
rouse the stag, and will chase him towards thee, and the stag will
attack thee." Then the little dog went as a guide to Peredur, and
roused the stag, and brought him towards the place where Peredur was.
And the stag attacked Peredur, and he let him pass by him, and as he
did so, he smote off his head with his sword. And while he was
looking at the head of the stag, he saw a lady on horseback coming
towards him. And she took the little dog in the lappet of her cap,
and the head and the body of the stag lay before her. And around the
stag's neck was a golden collar. "Ha! chieftain," said she,
"uncourteously hast thou acted in slaying the fairest jewel that was
in my dominions." "I was entreated so to do; and is there any way by
which I can obtain thy friendship?" "There is," she replied. "Go
thou forward unto yonder mountain, and there thou wilt find a grove;
and in the grove there is a cromlech; do thou there challenge a man
three times to fight, and thou shalt have my friendship."

So Peredur proceeded onward, and came to the side of the grove, and
challenged any man to fight. And a black man arose from beneath the
cromlech, mounted upon a bony horse, and both he and his horse were
clad in huge rusty armour. And they fought. And as often as Peredur
cast the black man to the earth, he would jump again into his saddle.
And Peredur dismounted, and drew his sword; and thereupon the black
man disappeared with Peredur's horse and his own, so that he could
not gain sight of him a second time. And Peredur went along the
mountain, and on the other side of the mountain he beheld a castle in
the valley, wherein was a river. And he went to the castle; and as
he entered it, he saw a hall, and the door of the hall was open, and
he went in. And there he saw a lame grey-headed man sitting on one