Chapter 31 [last half]

[How Amadis kept his promise both to Angriote and to the woman Angriote loved.]

[The calendar page for January from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a book of hours created in France in the 1400s.]

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The next morning, the King dressed in his most regal outfit, as was fit for the day, called for the crown that the knight had left him, and ordered the Queen to wear the cloak. The Queen opened the chest where they were stored using the key that she always kept with her, but she found nothing inside. She was shocked and began to cross herself. She sent word to the King, and when he heard it, he felt troubled, but he did not show it nor let anyone know. He went to the Queen, took her aside, and said:

"Madam, how could ye have so badly protected something so important for a day like today?"

"My lord," she said, "I do not know what to say except that I found the chest locked and only I had the key, for I trusted no one with it. But I tell you that last night a damsel seemed to have come and told me to show her the chest, and, as if in a dream, I did. She asked me to give her the key, and I did. She opened the chest and took out the cloak and the crown, then locked it again and put the key where it had been before. She put on the cloak and placed the crown on her head, and she seemed so fine in it that I enjoyed looking at her. She told me, 'Five days from now these shall belong to the man and woman who shall reign in the land that a great power now strives to defend in addition to conquering other lands.' I asked her, 'Who is that?' And she told me, 'At that time ye shall know." And she disappeared from in front of me, taking the crown and the cloak. But I tell you that I cannot understand if this happened to me in a dream or in reality."

The King was astonished and said:

"Let us leave this now, and speak of it to no one."

They both left the tent and went to another accompanied by so many knights, ladies, and damsels that anyone who saw it would have marveled. The King sat on a very beautiful chair and the Queen on one a bit lower, both placed on a platform covered by golden cloth. The knights were placed on the King's side, and the ladies and damsels on the Queen's. Closest to the King were the four knights that he esteemed the most. One was Amadis and the others Galaor, Agrajes, Galvanes the Landless. Behind them was Arban, King of North Wales, fully armed with his sword in hand, along with two hundred other armed knights.

Then, when all were silent and no one spoke, a beautiful and richly-dressed lady stood up, and twelve ladies and damsels stood up with her, all dressed like her, for high-born ladies and noblemen had the custom of bringing their people to such festivities as well-dressed as they themselves were. The beautiful lady went before the King and Queen with her retinue and said:

"My lords, hear me out as I tell you of the obligation I have with a knight who is here."

She pointed to Amadis and began to speak:

"For a long time, I was entreated by Angriote d'Estravaus, who is present here," and she told everything that had happened with him, and why she had made him guard the valley with the pine trees. "And it happened that a knight named Amadis made him leave the valley by armed force. They tell me that they became friends, and Amadis promised to do all in his power so that Angriote would have me. I put guards at my castle at with orders that no unknown knight could enter."

She explained the custom of the castle, as this tale has already recounted. Then she said:

"My lord, a knight was able to get past all those guards that I have told you about, and that knight is here at your feet."

By that she meant Amadis, but she did not know who he was.

"And after this knight had entered my castle, he promised me that he would gladly free Amadis from his promise to Angriote using all his honest power, whether by armed force or by some other means, and then after making that promise, this knight fought in my castle with my uncle, who is here."

She told then why they had fought, and what happened. Many people looked at Garsinan, whom they had not noticed earlier, when they heard that he had dared to fight with Amadis. Then the lady told how the battle had ended and how her uncle was defeated and was at the point of losing his life, and how she had asked the knight for the boon of not killing him.

"And, my lords," she said, "he stopped, due to my request, provided that I come to the first court that ye called, and he would say there what boon he would ask of me. To comply, I have come here to this court, which is the first, and before you I ask him to keep his word, as he promised me, and I shall do what he asks if in any way I can."

Amadis then rose and said:

"My lord, the lady has told the truth about our promises, just as it happened, and before you I swear that I shall free Amadis from what he promised Angriote, and she must give me the boon that she promised."

The lady was made very happy by that and said:

"Now ask for what ye want."

Amadis told her:

"What I want is that ye marry Angriote and love him as he loves you."

"Holy Mary, save me!" she said. "What is this that ye say?"

"My good lady," Amadis said, "I tell you to marry the kind of man that a beautiful and high-born lady such as yourself ought to wed."

"Oh, knight," she said, "is this how ye keep your promise?"

"I promised nothing to you that I will not keep," he said, "since what I promised to do is to free Amadis of the promise he made to Angriote. That is what I am doing, for I am Amadis, and I am giving Angriote the boon that I owe him, and thus I keep what I said to you and to him."

The lady was amazed and said to the King:

"My lord, is it true that this good knight is Amadis?"

"Beyond a doubt, he is," the King said.

"Oh, pitiful me," she said, "how I was fooled! Now I see that neither by prudence nor by cunning can anyone avoid the things that please God. I tried as hard as I could do be rid of Angriote, not because I despise him nor because I failed to understand that he in his great valor was worthy to be my lord, but because my aim was to live free of all ties and in complete chastity. When I did the most to be rid of him, then I found myself closer then ever, as ye see."

The King said:

"May God help me, my dear, ye ought to be happy with this situation, for ye are beautiful and of great means, and he is a handsome young knight. And if ye are rich in material goods, he is rich in goodness and virtue, both at arms and in all ways that a noble knight ought to be. So it seems to me that for you to wed him and he to wed you would be very proper, and I think that many in this court would agree."

The lady said:

"And ye, Queen and my lady, as the woman to whom God gave to most prudence and goodness in the world, what do ye say to me?

"I tell you," she said, "that as Angriote is praised and esteemed as one of the best, he deserves to be the lord of great lands and loved by any lady whom he loves."

Amadis told her:

"My good lady, do not think that I made my promise to Angriote by accident or out of friendship, for if I had, I ought to be known more for madness and frivolity instead of virtue. But I came to know of his skill at arms, which cost me dearly to learn, and of the great love that he had for you, and I believed that not just I but all those who know him ought to try to remedy both his great passion for you and your little understanding of him."

"Truly, my lord," she said, "ye have such nobility that ye would not say anything but the truth before so many good people. And since I hold ye so well, as I do the King and Queen my lords, I would be mad not to accept him even if he had no bond over me. By rights I cannot do otherwise. Now see me here and do with me as ye will."

Amadis took her by the hand, called Angriote, and told him in front of the fifteen knights from his family who had come with him:

"My friend, I promised that I would bring you your beloved by any and all means. Tell me if this is she."

"This is my lady," he said, "and I am hers."

"Then I give you her," Amadis said, "and I ask that ye wed, and that ye honor her and love her above all other women in the world."

"Truly, my lord," Angriote said, "I shall do this fully."

The King ordered the Bishop of Salerna to take them to the chapel and give them the blessings of the Holy Church, and so Angriote and the lady and all the members of their families went with the Bishop to the town, where they were solemnly wed.

And we can say that not men but God acted. He saw that Angriote treated the lady with great restraint, for when he had her in his power he would do nothing against her will, even though he could have had what he wanted most in the world. Instead, Angriote put himself in great danger at her command, and Amadis brought him very close to death. God wished that such great willpower, having submitted itself out of love to thoughtlessness, would not fail to receive the reward that it deserved.
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"Get Up Close to Quixote"

The King of Spain honors a radio series about the most famous chivalry novel of our time.

First page of the first edition.

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Don Quixote is in the news again. Actually, Cervantes' book, which was inspired by novels like Amadis de Gaula, rarely escapes notice here in Spain, but three activities merit special attention today.

One. Nieves Conconstrina received the King of Spain International Journalism Prize on April 13 for her series Acércate al Quijote (Get Up Close to Quixote) on Radio Nacional de España. The five-minute episodes in the series offer carefully researched details about the work mixed with her mordant sense of humor.

In the first episode, she explains why the book has so many copyediting errors, and in another episode, how no one knows what "duelos y quebrantos" are, something the book says Don Quixote ate every Saturday. (All the possible recipes suggested for the dish sound pretty awful: eggs scrambled with pork fatback or with lamb brains, for example.) You can find MP3 files of the series here, in Spanish of course.

She received the award from King Juan Carlos II himself, and she praised Miguel de Cervantes as "a great chronicler of his time" who ought to have worked for Radio Nacional de España.

Two. Cervantes was interred on April 23, 1616, the same date as William Shakespeare died (but on a different day, since the two countries used different calendars), so April 23 is UNESCO's World Book Day. Madrid's celebrations will include 500 activities at bookstores, libraries, cultural institutions, theaters, and restaurants, plus free tapas at certain bars for patrons with fresh receipts from bookstores.

Three. To celebrate the day, the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid will host the 14th annual Continuous Reading of Quixote. Since it takes 48 hours to read the whole book out loud, the reading actually starts today, April 22, and ends on April 24. Celebrities, students, and volunteers off the street each proclaim a few paragraphs in the reading relay marathon.
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Chapter 31 [first half]

How King Lisuarte held court in the city of London.

[Illustration from the Manesse Codex, a book created between 1305 and 1340 in Zurich for the Manesse family. It contains love songs in Middle High German by important poets.]

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God in His mercy made King Lisuarte the king of Great Britain at the death of his brother, King Falangris, when Lisuarte was a prince without inheritance. In addition, since all things are made possible and guided by Him, He caused a great many knights and princesses from other kingdoms, as well as many other people of great means and high nobility, to come to Lisuarte eager to serve him, for they could not feel satisfied unless they were called the King's own.

Yet, due to our weakness, such grandeur attracts great pride and with it surpassing ingratitude and disregard for that which the Lord gives us. Thus He permitted Lisuarte such fortune that he would soon face difficulties that could dim his otherwise bright glory unless he rendered his heart gentle and soft, serving the Giver of rewards rather than the harmful appetites engendered by pride. Thus he would be able to maintain his grandeur and even increase it. Were he to do the contrary, he would be tormented with a terrible fall from grace.

With the assent of Amadis and Galaor and Agrajes and other esteemed knights, the King had planned to have the whole world to take note of the excellence of his royal estate. He ordered all the nobles of his reign to go to his court in London, a city that soared like an eagle above all Christendom. At that court, he meant to conduct the affairs of knighthood so that his house could continue to sustain and improve its excellence above that of any other emperor or king.

And while he thought that the whole world would kneel before him, there the first reversals of fortune overtook him and put him in danger of losing his reign, as now shall be told to you.

King Lisuarte left Windsor with all his knights, and the Queen with her ladies and damsels, to go to the court that would be held in the city of London: in all so many people that it would be a wonder to relate. Among them were many young knights richly armed and dressed, and many princesses and other damsels of great estate, who were much loved by those knights; thus many great jousts and feasts were held along the way. The King had ordered that tents and all necessities be brought because they would not all fit in any town, so they camped on the meadows near the many rivers and springs that those lands had.

Thus, in every way it seemed to be the happiest and most enjoyable life that they had ever known, but such pleasure would provide an even more hard and cruel contrast with the anguish and sorrow that they would soon feel.

When they finally arrived at the great city of London, so many people were there that it seemed the entire world had been brought together. The King and Queen and all their retinue dismounted in their palaces, where they ordered Amadis and Galaor and Agrajes and Sir Galvanes and the rest of the most highly esteemed knights to be lodged. Other good men and women were sent to stay in fine households that had previously offered themselves in royal service.

They relaxed that night and the next two days, and many dances and games were held in the palace and in the city, at which Amadis and Galaor were watched by all. So many people wanted to seem them and came to where they were that all the streets were so crowded that they often chose not to leave their lodgings.

To this court that ye are hearing of, a great lord came, greater in his estate and domain than in his dignity and virtue, named Barsinan, lord of Saxony. He came not because he was a vassal of Lisuarte nor his friend nor even acquainted with him, but for the reason that ye shall now hear. Know that while Barsinan was in his lands, Arcalaus the Sorcerer arrived there and told him:

"Barsinan, my lord, if thou wishest, I shall arrange it so that thou shalt be king without thee having to make any great effort or trouble for it."

"Truly," Barsinan said, "I would gladly accept anything ye could do to make me be king."

"Thou hast responded wisely," Arcalaus said, "and I shall make thee one if thou wouldst trust me and promise to make me thy chief steward for the rest of my life."

"I shall do so gladly," Barsinan said. "Tell me how it will be done."

"I shall tell you," Arcalaus said. "Go to the first court that King Lisuarte holds, and take with you a great company of knights. I shall seize the King in such a way that none of his men can help him. On that day I shall take his daughter Oriana and give her to you for a wife, and within five days I shall behead the King and send his head to the court. Then fight to take the crown, which will be yours to inherit since the King will be dead and his daughter, who is the rightful heir, will be under your lordship, and no one will be able to oppose you."

"Truly," Barsinan said, "if ye do this, I shall make you the richest and most powerful man of all those that I have."

"I shall do what I say," Arcalaus told him.

Because of this, as ye have heard, the great lord of Saxony, Barsinan, came to the court. The King came with many of his men to receive him, believing that he came for good and wholesome reasons. He ordered lodging for him and his company, and provided everything that they needed.

But I tell you that when Barsinan saw the King's many knights, knowing their loyalty to Lisuarte, he regretted having begun this effort and realized that no harm could befall such a great man. However, since it was underway, he decided to wait to see how it ended, because often when something seems impossible, an unexpected opportunity makes it happen much faster than it could have been imagined.

He said:

"King, I heard tell that you had called a great court, and I come here to do you honor, though I have no lands of yours, only those that God gave freely to my ancestors and to me."

"My friend," the King said, "I deeply thank you, and I shall give you what ye merit as I have it, for truly I am very happy to see such a great man as yourself. And although I have many noblemen of great means, I would prefer to hear your opinions rather than theirs. I know the goodwill with which ye left your lands to visit me, so I shall take your advice for my betterment and honor."

"Ye can be sure of that to the extent that I can do so," Barsinan said, "and ye shall have my counsel in accordance with the purpose and intent by which I came."

What he said was true, but the King, who heard it another way, thanked him very much for it.

Then the King ordered tents to be set up for himself and for the Queen outside of the town in a great field, leaving his apartments for Barsinan to stay in, and spoke with him of the many things that he intended to do at that court, especially in regard to the art of chivalry. He praised all his knights and their great skills, and above all he spoke of Amadis and his brother Sir Galaor as the two best knights that could then be found in all the world.

He left Barsinan in the palace and went to his tents, where the Queen already was. He sent word to his nobles that the next day he would meet with all of them to tell them why he had called them together.

Barsinan and all his men were well supplied with everything that they might need, but I tell you that he did not sleep peacefully that night, thinking of the madness he had committed to believe that such a good man as the King with all the power that he had could be harmed by the astuteness of Arcalaus or by anything else in the world.
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Summary, Chapters 24 to 30

The road back to Windsor Palace is not fast or easy for Amadis, Galaor, and Balais.

Castillo de la Mota (Castle on the Hill) in Medina del Campo, home town of Garcí Rodríguez del Montalvo, who created the only existing version of Amadís de Gaula. The castle was built on the site of a previous fortification in 1433. Its moat made it nearly impenetrable.

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In Chapter 17, Amadis goes off in search of his long-lost brother, Galaor, and after several exciting adventures, they finally meet. Amadis is the best knight in the world; his brother may be the second-best; and neither can be surpassed in courage. Both are young, extremely handsome, and look almost alike: Amadis is a bit more husky and has curly blond hair.

However, Amadis is intelligent and moderate, while his brother is impetuous and a bit dense. Amadis loves Princess Oriana with his heart and soul, while Galaor has the habit of bedding the damsels whom he rescues. In short, Amadis serves as the paragon of knighthood, and Galaor as comic relief.

You can find a synopsis of earlier chapters and major characters at the website:
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com

Chapter 24
Amadis, Galaor, and their friend, a knight named Balais, take the road to the court of King Lisuarte in Windsor, but they find dead knight with a lance in his neck mysteriously laid out on a bier under a tree at a crossroads. Galaor declares he will find out how the knight was killed and, if necessary, avenge his death. Amadis, who is eager to return to Windsor and see Oriana, cannot talk him out of it.

As they wait alongside the corpse, a knight rides past beating a damsel with his lance, and Amadis, sworn protector of all ladies and damsels, charges off to save her.

Soon afterwards, a knight arrives with a tale of woe that makes Galaor and Balais laugh at him, so he attacks Galaor's horse. It runs away, and Balais mounts his horse to pursue the knight.

Galaor waits, night falls, eventually he naps, and while he is asleep the dead knight disappears. He hikes down the road and finds the knight laid out in the courtyard of a castle. He learns that the knight, named Antebon, had been murdered by a knight named Palingues, who also kidnaped Antebon's daughter. Galaor swears to his widow that he will avenge his death.

Chapter 25

Galaor borrows a horse and rides to Palingues's castle, where he meets clumsy resistance. (Unlike Amadis, whose fights are always perilous and whose opponents are always skilled and cunning, Galaor's fights are comic.) Galaor kills Palingues and rescues Antebon's beautiful daughter, then they jump into bed.

Chapter 26

Meanwhile, Amadis catches up with the knight and the damsel and defeats him despite his dishonorable conduct in battle, killing Amadis's horse. Amadis appropriates the now-dead knight's horse, and he and the damsel ride off. But it is late at night, and they soon pause to rest. While they sleep, another knight comes and takes the damsel away.

After a long search, Amadis finds that knight at his castle, but no one will not let him enter to talk to the damsel until morning, and then only after Amadis defeats a series of knights, each battle more perilous than the last.

Chapter 27

Eventually, Amadis fights the knight who had stolen the damsel and defeats him, but the lady of the castle pleads for his life. Amadis assents and gets to talk to the damsel and learns that she is content to stay with the knight, since he loves her so much that he would fight Amadis for her.

But Amadis has also learned that the lady of the castle is the woman his friend Sir Angriote loves, though she disdains Angriote. Amadis, who had promised Angriote to help him win the lady, makes her promise to go to Windsor, where he knows Angriote is.

Chapter 28

While Balais is pursuing the knight who had attacked Galaor's horse, he comes upon a band of five thieves who want to rape a damsel, so of course he rescues her, though the thieves kill his horse in the process. Balais and the damsel ride off together on her palfrey, and they find the knight Balais was seeking. Balais defeats him, breaks his sword, and takes his horse.

Thus Balais, Amadis, and Galaor arrive back at the tree at the crossroads, each riding a different horse than the one he started with, and each having rescued a damsel in distress.

Chapter 29

Back at Windsor Palace, a well-dressed damsel arrives and makes the King promise he will prove to her that he is worthy to reign over Great Britain at the court he will hold soon in London.

Three knights arrive, and one shows the King a golden crown and the Queen a richly worked cloak, which they want. The knight says he must go, but he leaves the cloak and crown with the King and Queen, and they promise to pay him for them at the court in London.

Chapter 30

Amadis, Galaor, and Balais arrive at Windsor Palace and are received with joy and celebration. Galaor becomes the King's vassal. Amadis talks with Oriana and confesses the urgency of his sexual desires. She says she feels the same way and promises to find a means of relief as soon as possible.
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Chapter 30

How Amadis, Galaor, and Balais arrived at the castle of King Lisuarte, and what happen to them next.

[Illustration for Chapter XXX from the 1526 edition of Amadís de Guala, published in Seville by Jacobo and Juan Cromberger.]

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Amadis and Galaor left the castle of the damsel with Balais, and they rode without incident until they arrived at the house of King Lisuarte, where they were received with more joy and honors than any other knights anytime anywhere by the King and Queen and everyone at the court:

Galaor because they had never seen him but they had heard of his great deeds at arms; and Amadis because they had previously heard news of his death. He was beloved by all and they had not expected to see him alive again.

Thus so many people came out to see them that the three knights could hardly pass through the streets and enter the palace. The King met them and had them disarm in a chamber, and when the people saw them disarmed, so handsome, well-built, and young, they cursed Arcalaus for trying to kill the two brothers, since one would not live without the other.

The King sent a page to tell the Queen to properly receive the two knights, Amadis and Galaor, who were coming to see her. Then he went with them, as did Agrajes, who put an arm around each one as they walked together, and he could not have been happier.

The King went with them to the chamber of the Queen along with Sir Galvanes and King Arban, and when they came through the door, Amadis saw his lady Oriana. His heart shook with pleasure, and she had no less pleasure in him, and anyone who would have looked at them could have very clearly seen it.

In spite of all the news she had heard about him, Oriana had still suspected he was not alive. When she saw him healthy and happy, she remembered the pain and mourning she had felt over him, and tears came to her eyes against her will. She paused on her way toward the Queen to wipe her eyes, but no one noticed, for everyone could only think to look at the knights.

Amadis knelt before the Queen, took Galaor by the hand, and said:

"My lady, ye see here the knight whom ye sent me to find."

"I am very happy for it," she said. And she raised Amadis up by the hand and embraced him, and then Sir Galaor.

The King told her:

"Madam, I wish ye to give something to me."

"What?" she said.

"I want you to give me Galaor," he said, "since Amadis is yours."

"Surely, my lord," she said, "ye ask for no small thing, since such a great gift has never been given in Great Britain, but it is lawful, for ye are the best king who has reigned in it." And she said to Galaor, "My friend, what do ye think I should do, for the King my lord asks for you?"

"My lady," he said, "it seems to me that all things that such a great lord asks for should be given to him if it can be done, and ye have me to serve you in this and in everything, as long as it is the will of my brother and lord Amadis, for I shall not do it unless he orders me to."

"I shall be pleased to command your brother," the Queen said, "for thus I shall have part of you, since he is mine."

Amadis told him:

"My lord brother, do what the Queen orders, for I also ask it of you, and thus ye shall please me."

Then Galaor said to the Queen:

"My lady, since I am freed from his will, which had such power over me, now I place myself at your mercy to do with me what most pleases you."

She took him by the hand and said to the King:

"My lord, I now give you Sir Galaor, as ye asked, and I tell ye to love him as is fit for his goodness, which is no small thing."

"May God help me," the King said, "I believe it would be hard for anyone to love another as much as his goodness deserves."

When Amadis heard this word, his thoughts were held by his lady. He sighed and heard not another word of what the King said, believing that the love he had for his lady was greater than his own goodness or of anyone who carried arms.

So, as ye have heard, at that point Galaor became the King's vassal, and despite all that later came to pass between Amadis and the King, his loyalty never ceased, as we shall recount farther on.

The King sat next to the Queen and called Galaor to come before them to speak with him. Amadis remained with his cousin Agrajes. Oriana, Mabilia, and Olinda stood apart from the rest because they were the most honorable and worthy ladies. Mabilia said to Agrajes:

"My lord brother, bring us this knight whom we have so much wished to see."

They approached the ladies, and Mabilia, who knew well which medicine could cure each heart, put herself between the two other women, then Amadis at her side next to Oriana, and Agrajes between herself and Olinda. She said:

"Now I am among the four persons whom I love most in this world."

When Amadis saw himself before his lady, his heart leapt from side to side, guiding his eyes to look at the thing that he loved most in the world, and he came to her with great humility. She greeted him, reached from beneath the edges of her cloak, put her hands in his, grasped them tight as a sign of embrace, and told him:

"My friend, what anguish and pain that traitor made me suffer when he brought news of your death! Know that no woman was in such danger as I was. Truly, my lord and friend, this was right and good, for never would anyone have lost such a great person as I would have by losing you, and just as I am more loved than all other women, my good fortune has let the love be from he who is more worthy than all others."

When Amadis heard the praises of his lady, he gazed upon the ground, for he did not dare even look at her. She seemed so beautiful that he was dazed. The words died in his mouth, and he could not respond. Oriana, whose eyes were cleaved to him, recognized it immediately and said:

"Oh, my friend and lord, how could I not love you more than anyone else, since all who know you love and esteem you? And being I she whom you most love and esteem, so I ought to hold you higher than all others."

Amadis, who had tamed some of his anxiety, told her:

"My lady, for whom I suffer painful death every day, I hope that if ye were to die before me, I would die also and quickly when I heard the news, for that would be a great relief and consolation. As it is, my lady, this sad heart, which is sustained by its great desire to serve you, can hardly resist the many bitter tears I weep. They come with such force that they could consume and undo it utterly, and yet my heart resists because it has not known the satisfaction of its mortal desires and been at least left with that memory as consolation, although it urgently requires this, which is far beyond what it deserves, to be sustained and restored. But if this mercy does not come soon, then soon will be its final cruel collapse."

As Amadis said these words, tears streamed down his cheeks, and he could not stop them. He was suffering so much that if the true love which made him so disconsolate had not held hope for comfort from those trials which it often imposes, it would have been no surprise if his soul had left him at that moment in the presence of his lady.

"Oh, my friend," she said, "by God, do not speak to me of your death, for my heart would fail me, as she who hopes to live not an hour longer than you, and if I savor the world, it is because you live in it. That which ye say without doubt is true for me as well, and I am in the same state as you, and if your suffering seems greater than mine, it is not due to desire, since that is the same in me as in you, but because I lack the power ye have to bring about that which our hearts so greatly desire, and so love and pain strikes you harder than me. But whatever happens, if fortune or some means of relief does not reveal itself to us, my poor courage shall find it. Should it result in any danger, let it be the anger of my father or mother or of others. If not, our overwhelming love, filling each day with grave and cruel desires, will grow and overcome us both."

Amadis, when he heard this, sighed from the depth of his heart, and he tried to speak, but he could not. She, seeing him now completely transformed, took him by the hand and pulled him towards her, saying:

"My lord and friend, do not be troubled, for I shall make true the promise that I have made to you, and meanwhile, attend the court that my father the King has called, which he and the Queen will ask you to do, for they know how much more honorable and praiseworthy it will be with you there."

At this moment, as ye hear, the Queen called Amadis and had him sit next to Sir Galaor, and the ladies and damsels looked at them and said how well God had worked to make both more handsome than all other knights and better in other ways as well, and how they were so much alike it was hard to tell them apart. Galaor was a little more fair, while Amadis had curly blond hair, a ruddier face, and was a little more strongly built.

They spoke with the Queen for a while until Oriana and Mabilia motioned for the Queen to send them Sir Galaor. The Queen took him by the hand and said:

"These damsels whom you do not know wish to speak to you. Know that one is my daughter and the other your first cousin."

He went to them, and when he saw how beautiful Oriana was, he was surprised, for he had not thought that anyone could approach such perfection. He had seen his brother Amadis's goodness and his eagerness to live in the royal house rather than anywhere else, and he suspected this was because Amadis more than any other man would be likely to love one of the most outstanding women in the world.

The women greeted him and received him very graciously, and said:

"Sir Galaor, ye are very welcome."

"Truly, my ladies, I would not have come here for five years if it were not for he who makes all those who bear arms come here, whether for his might or his goodwill, for he has more of each than anyone else alive today."

Oriana raised her eyes, gazed on Amadis, and sighed. Galaor, who was watching her, knew that his suspicion was more true than he had thought, but not because of anything he felt, rather because it seemed to him more reasonable that his brother would be loved by her than by anyone else.

As he spoke with them of many things, the King came to speak and laugh with them happily, so that all could take take part in his pleasure. He took them with him to a great hall where many noblemen and knights of great acclaim were waiting. He had the tables set, and they all sat down to eat.

The King ordered Amadis, Galaor, Galvanes the Landless, and Agrajes to sit at one table, so that the four knights could eat together because they shared a deep kinship and love, just as later they would be together when they went to many places where they underwent great danger and armed combat. Although Sir Galaor was not related to Agrajes, Amadis and Galaor always called him uncle, and he called them nephews. They were the chief reason that his honor and esteem increased, as shall be told further on.
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