hard that the Queen consented. The Lady, however, told him that
unless the armor she had brought would serve him he could not
succeed. But when he put the armor on "he seemed the goodliest
man in all that company, and was well liked of that Lady. And
eftsoons taking on him knighthood, and mounting on that strange
courser, he went forth with her on that adventure, where
beginneth the first book, viz.:

"'A gentle Knight was pricking on the plain,' etc."

The story goes on to tell how the Knight, who is the Red Cross
Knight St. George, and the Lady, who is called Una, rode on
followed by the Dwarf. At length in the wide forest they lost
their way and came upon the lair of a terrible She-Dragon. "Fly,
fly," quoth then the fearful Dwarf, "this is no place for living
men."

"But full of fire and greedy hardiment,
The youthful Knight could not for ought be stayed;
But forth unto the darksome hole he went,
And looked in: his glistering armour made
A little glooming light, much like a shade,
By which he saw the ugly monster plain,
Half like a serpent horribly displayed,
But th'other half did woman's shape retain,
Most loathsome, filthy, foul, and full of vile disdain."

There was a fearful fight between the Knight and the Dragon,
whose name is Error, but at length the Knight conquered. The
terrible beast lay dead "reft of her baleful head," and the