sooth he was in evil case, for he had more than ten wounds, and from the
least of them a man might scarce recover; he came in such guise that his
weapons and his vesture and his steed, which was fair and tall, were
all dyed red with his own blood. The knight was sad at heart and sorely
wounded, yet he greeted, as best he might, all the lords then in the
hall; but more he might not speak, for the pain of his wounds.

Then my lord, Sir Gawain, who did full many a courtesy (for such was his
wont all his life long), so soon as he saw the knight, sprang up with no
delay, and lifted him from the saddle and set him upon the ground, but
he might neither sit, nor walk, nor so much as stand upon his feet, but
fell upon the earth.

Then Sir Gawain bade them carry him softly on a couch to the side of the
hall in the sight of the chief guests, that they might hear his tale.
But since he might scarce speak he made him to be disarmed, and stripped
to the skin, and wrapped in warm coverings and gave him a sop
steeped in clear wine.

Then Sir Gawain began to search his wounds, for in those days, so far
as God suffered the sun to shine might no man find one so skilled in
leech-craft, for that man whom he took in his care, were the life but
left in him, would neither lack healing nor die of any wound.

Then spake the knight who lay there: "Woe is me, for I may neither eat
nor drink; my heart beginneth to sink, mine eyes fail me, methinks I am
about to die! Yet might I live, and would God grant to me that all ye
who sit here beside me might hear my words, I had fain spoken with the
king, whom I sought as best I might, in that I would not be forsworn;
needs must I come hither!"