Then,at night,the queen commanded that Dame Elaine should sleep in a chamber nigh her chamber,and all under one roof;and so it was done as the queen commanded.Then the queen sent for Sir Launcelot and bade him come to her chamber that night:Or else I am sure,said the queen,that ye will go to your lady's bed,Dame Elaine,by whom ye gat Galahad.Ah,madam,said Sir Launcelot,never say ye so,for that I did was against my will.Then,said the queen,look that ye come to me when I send for you.Madam,said Launcelot,I shall not fail you,but I shall be ready at your commandment.This bargain was soon done and made between them,but Dame Brisen knew it by her crafts,and told it to her lady,Dame Elaine.Alas,said she,how shall I do?Let me deal,said Dame Brisen,for Ishall bring him by the hand even to your bed,and he shall ween that I am Queen Guenever's messenger.Now well is me,said Dame Elaine,for all the world I love not so much as I do Sir Launcelot.
CHAPTER VIII
How Dame Brisen by enchantment brought Sir Launcelot to Dame Elaine's bed,and how Queen Guenever rebuked him.
SO when time came that all folks were abed,Dame Brisen came to Sir Launcelot's bed's side and said:Sir Launcelot du Lake,sleep you?My lady,Queen Guenever,lieth and awaiteth upon you.O my fair lady,said Sir Launcelot,I am ready to go with you where ye will have me.So Sir Launcelot threw upon him a long gown,and his sword in his hand;and then Dame Brisen took him by the finger and led him to her lady's bed,Dame Elaine;and then she departed and left them in bed together.Wit you well the lady was glad,and so was Sir Launcelot,for he weened that he had had another in his arms.
Now leave we them kissing and clipping,as was kindly thing;and now speak we of Queen Guenever that sent one of her women unto Sir Launcelot's bed;and when she came there she found the bed cold,and he was away;so she came to the queen and told her all.Alas,said the queen,where is that false knight become?Then the queen was nigh out of her wit,and then she writhed and weltered as a mad woman,and might not sleep a four or five hours.Then Sir Launcelot had a condition that he used of custom,he would clatter in his sleep,and speak oft of his lady,Queen Guenever.So as Sir Launcelot had waked as long as it had pleased him,then by course of kind he slept,and Dame Elaine both.And in his sleep he talked and clattered as a jay,of the love that had been betwixt Queen Guenever and him.And so as he talked so loud the queen heard him thereas she lay in her chamber;and when she heard him so clatter she was nigh wood and out of her mind,and for anger and pain wist not what to do.And then she coughed so loud that Sir Launcelot awaked,and he knew her hemming.And then he knew well that he lay not by the queen;and therewith he leapt out of his bed as he had been a wood man,in his shirt,and the queen met him in the floor;and thus she said:False traitor knight that thou art,look thou never abide in my court,and avoid my chamber,and not so hardy,thou false traitor knight that thou art,that ever thou come in my sight.Alas,said Sir Launcelot;and therewith he took such an heartly sorrow at her words that he fell down to the floor in a swoon.And therewithal Queen Guenever departed.And when Sir Launcelot awoke of his swoon,he leapt out at a bay window into a garden,and there with thorns he was all to-scratched in his visage and his body;and so he ran forth he wist not whither,and was wild wood as ever was man;and so he ran two year,and never man might have grace to know him.
CHAPTER IX
How Dame Elaine was commanded by Queen Guenever to avoid the court,and how Sir Launcelot became mad.
NOW turn we unto Queen Guenever and to the fair Lady Elaine,that when Dame Elaine heard the queen so to rebuke Sir Launcelot,and also she saw how he swooned,and how he leaped out at a bay window,then she said unto Queen Guenever:Madam,ye are greatly to blame for Sir Launcelot,for now have ye lost him,for I saw and heard by his countenance that he is mad for ever.Alas,madam,ye do great sin,and to yourself great dishonour,for ye have a lord of your own,and therefore it is your part to love him;for there is no queen in this world hath such another king as ye have.And,if ye were not,I might have the love of my lord Sir Launcelot;and cause I have to love him for he had my maidenhood,and by him I have borne a fair son,and his name is Galahad,and he shall be in his time the best knight of the world.Dame Elaine,said the queen,when it is daylight I charge you and command you to avoid my court;and for the love ye owe unto Sir Launcelot discover not his counsel,for an ye do,it will be his death.As for that,said Dame Elaine,I dare undertake he is marred for ever,and that have ye made;for ye,nor I,are like to rejoice him;for he made the most piteous groans when he leapt out at yonder bay window that ever I heard man make.Alas,said fair Elaine,and alas,said the Queen Guenever,for now I wot well we have lost him for ever.