Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur. Sir Thomas Malory
that it was a wonder he was still standing, so quickly was his blood rushing to the ground.
When Arthur saw the ground so covered in blood he was dismayed; and then he thought that treason had been committed and his sword had been switched, for it did not bite steel as it usually did. For this reason he feared that he might die, because it seemed to him that the sword in Accolon’s hand was Excalibur, as every blow Accolon struck drew much blood from Arthur.
“Now knight,” said Accolon to Arthur, “defend yourself against me!” Arthur did not respond, but gave him such a buffet on the helmet that he was knocked down, almost falling to the earth. Then Sir Accolon withdrew a little, and then came at him with Excalibur held high, smiting Arthur with such a buffet that he almost fell to the earth.
They were both angry out of measure, and gave each other many serious blows. Arthur lost so much blood that it was a marvel he was still standing, but he was so full of knighthood that he endured the pain. Sir Accolon lost very little blood; thus, he was still full of energy while Arthur was growing feeble and seemed likely to be killed. Still, he put up a good front, acting as if he could fight long and holding off Accolon as long as he was able. Accolon was made bold by his possession of Excalibur, and was strong and confident.
All the men who watched them said that they had never seen a knight fight as well as Arthur did, considering the blood he had lost; and all the people watching were sorry that these two fellows could not come to some accord.
So they continued to fight together as fierce knights, and finally King Arthur withdrew a little to rest himself. Sir Accolon called to him to return to the battle and said, “There is no time for me to allow you to rest,” and came at King Arthur fiercely.
Arthur was furious at the amount of blood he had lost, and struck Accolon high up on the helmet so that he almost fell to the earth; then Arthur’s sword broke at the hilt and fell on the bloody grass, and he was left holding the pommel and handles in his hand. When King Arthur saw that, he was in great fear for his life, but he continued to use his shield and gave up no ground.
Then Sir Accolon began to speak with words of treason, saying, “Knight, you are overcome! You may not endure, and you are weaponless; you have also lost a great deal of blood. I do not wish to slay you, so yield to me as overcome.”
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“Nay,” said Sir Arthur, “I may not do so, for I promised by the faith of my body to do this battle to the uttermost as long as my life lasts. Therefore, I would rather die with honor than to live with shame; if it were possible for me to die a hundred times, I would rather die that often than yield to you. For though I lack a weapon, I shall never lack honor; if you slay me while I am weaponless, that will great shame to you.”
“Well,” said Accolon, “I will not refrain from incurring that shame. Defend yourself, for you are as good as dead!” Then Accolon gave him such a blow that he fell almost to the earth, and he wished to make Arthur cry for mercy from him. But King Arthur pressed against Accolon with his shield and gave him such a buffet with the pommel in his hand that he reeled back three full strides.
When the Damsel of the Lake beheld Arthur, and saw how full of prowess his body was, and the false treason that had been put in motion in order to cause him to be slain, she had great pity that so good a knight and such a man of worship would be destroyed. At the next blow that Accolon struck, the damsel caused Excalibur to fall out of Accolon’s hand by enchantment. Then Arthur quickly leapt to it and took it in his hand; he immediately knew it was his sword Excalibur.
“Ah,” said Arthur, “you have been away from me too long, and much damage have you caused me.” Then he saw the false scabbard at his side. He grabbed it and threw it as far away as he could. “Ah, sir knight,” said King Arthur, “this day you caused me great damage with this sword. Now you have come to the time of your death, for I warrant that you shall be well rewarded by this sword before we part as you have rewarded me, for you have made me endure much pain and lose much blood.”
Then Sir Arthur raced toward him with all his might and pulled him to the earth; then he took off his helmet and gave him such a buffet on the head that blood came out of his ears, nose and mouth. “Now I will slay you!” said King Arthur.
“You may very well slay me,” said Sir Accolon, “if it pleases you, for you are the best knight that I have ever encountered, and I can see well that God is with you. But I promised,” said Accolon, “to do this battle to the utter end, and never to give in as long as I lived; therefore, I will never yield with my mouth, but God may do with my body whatever he wishes.”
Then King Arthur thought that he recognized this knight. “Now tell me,” said Arthur, “or I will kill you, from what country you come and to what court you belong.”
“Sir knight,” said Sir Accolon, “I am of the royal court of King Arthur, and my name is Accolon of Gaul.” Then Arthur was even more dismayed than he had been earlier, for he thought of his sister Morgan le Fay and the enchantment of the ship.
“Ah, sir knight, I pray you, who gave you this sword, by whom did you have it?”
Then Sir Accolon thought for a moment and said, “This is a sword of woe! For by it, I will have my death.”
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“That may very well be,” said the king.
“Now, sir,” said Accolon, “I will tell you. This sword has been in my possession for most of this year. Morgan le Fay, King Uriens’ wife, sent it to me yesterday by a dwarf with the intent that I should slay King Arthur, her brother. You must understand that King Arthur is the man whom she hates most in all the world because he is of greater honor and prowess than any other of her blood. Also, she loves me out of measure as her paramour, and I her as well. If she might bring it about to slay Arthur through her magic, she would then quickly slay her husband King Uriens. So she has planned to make me king in this land, and reign beside me as my queen. But that is now over,” said Accolon, “as I am sure to die.”
“Well,” said King Arthur, “I can tell that you wished to be king of this land, but it would have been a great wrong to have destroyed your lord.”
“That is the truth,” said Accolon, “but now that I have told you the truth, I pray you, tell me from whence you come and to what court you belong.”
“Ah, Accolon!” said King Arthur, “now you must know that I am King Arthur, to whom you have done great damage.”
When Accolon heard that he cried out, “Fair sweet lord, have mercy on me, for I knew you not!”
“Ah, Sir Accolon,” said King Arthur, “you shall have mercy because I feel by what you have said just now that you did not know me; but I feel also from what you have just said that you have agreed to the death of my person, therefore, you are a traitor! But I blame you less than my sister, Morgan le Fay, who by her false crafts has made you agree to her base desires. But I shall be sorely avenged upon her, so that all Christendom shall speak of it! God knows that I have honored her and worshipped her more than any of my kin, and I have trusted her more than even my wife and all my kin combined!”
Then King Arthur called the keepers of the field of battle and said, “Sirs, come here, for here we two knights have fought so that we are both seriously wounded; it is likely that one of us would have slain the other. But if each of us had known the other, there would have been no battle, nor no blows struck.”
Then Accolon cried aloud to all the knights and men who were there, saying: “Ah, lords! This knight whom I have fought is the greatest man of prowess and worship in all the world, for it is King Arthur himself, our liege lord. Through mishap and misadventure I have fought this battle with the lord and king to whom I am beholden.” Then all the people fell down on their knees and asked King Arthur for mercy.
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“You shall have mercy,” said Arthur. “Here you may see what unfortunate adventures may befall knights-errant: I have fought with my own knight, to his great damage and mine! But sirs, because I am seriously hurt and he is too, I feel that there