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[Illustration for Chapter LXV from the 1531 edition printed by Juan Cromberger in Seville.]
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They continued to travel, as ye hear, until they left that strait and entered the high sea, speaking of many things as those who love each other without reserve. Amadis told them how he had fallen into discord with King Lisuarte, and how all his friends and family who were in the court had joined his side, and why. He told them about the marriage between Sir Galvanes and the very beautiful Madasima, and how the couple had left with a great fleet to go to the island of Mongaza to take it, since it was her inheritance; and he told them about all the knights who had gone with them, and their great desire to help them.
When Sir Galaor heard this, he was very sad over the news and felt grief in his heart, for he understood that those troubles could only grow. He suffered great sorrow because although his brother Amadis, whom he loved so much and owed so much, was on one side, his heart could not join him and instead was given to serve King Lisuarte, with whom he would lodge, as shall be told further on.
Thinking about this and how Amadis had left the King for Firm Island, he took him to one end of the ship and said:
“My lord brother, what grave and great thing could have happened between you two that was larger than the debt and love between us? You seem to have hidden something from me.”
“Good brother,” Amadis said, “since its cause held sufficient force to break the strong ties of debt and love as ye said, ye may well believe that it is more dangerous than death itself, and I beg you not to try to find out what it was.”
Galaor’s face had been somewhat angry, but he made it look happier since Amadis still wished to keep secrets, let the matter drop, and spoke to him of other things.
And so they sailed for four days, then they docked in a town in Gaul named Mostrol, where at that time their father King Perion and their mother the Queen were because it was the closest port to Great Britain and where they could best learn news about their sons. When they saw the galley approaching, they send to learn who was coming. When the messenger arrived, Amadis ordered him be told that King Cildadan and Sir Bruneo of Bonamar were coming, but to say nothing about himself or his brother because he did not want anyone to know.
When King Perion was informed, he was very happy because King Cildadan would give him news about Sir Galaor, for Amadis had let him know that both had been in the house of Urganda. He ordered all his company to mount and went to receive them, for he loved Sir Bruneo deeply because he had been in his court several times and he knew that he had spent time with his sons.
Amadis and Sir Galaor mounted their horses, splendidly dressed, and went by another way to the palace of the Queen, and when they arrived, they told the gatekeeper:
“Tell the Queen that two knights from her family are here who wish to speak with her.”
The Queen ordered them to enter, and when she saw them, she recognized Amadis and Sir Galaor because of Amadis, since they resembled each other so much, although she had not seen Galaor since the giant had taken him, and she called out:
“Oh, my lady Virgin Mary! What is this? Do I see my two sons before me?”
As she said the final word, she fell onto the estrado as if senseless. They knelt to kiss her hands very humbly, and the Queen descended from the estrado and took them in her arms and held them tight, and kissed one and the other so many times they could not speak until their sister Melicia entered. The Queen let them go so they could talk to her, of whose great beauty they were very amazed.
Who could recount the pleasure of this noble Queen in seeing before her those knights, such handsome sons, after all the anguish and pain that had always tormented her spirit knowing the dangers that stalked Amadis, waiting for news of life or death to arrive at any time, and having lost Sir Galaor to fate when the giant took him – and now they had returned with such honor and fame? Truly, no one could say enough who was not she or someone in a similar state.
Amadis told the Queen:
“My lady, we are bringing Sir Bruneo of Bonamar here badly injured. Order that he be done honor as one of the best knights in the world.”
“My son,” she said, “so it shall be done because you wish it and because he has served you so well, and when I cannot attend him, your sister Melicia shall.”
“Do so, my lady and sister,” Sir Galaor said, “since you are a damsel, for you and all damsels owe him honor as one who serves and honors you more than any other. And whomever he loves is fortunate because he easily passed beneath the enchanted arch of loyal lovers, which is a sure sign that he has never strayed.”
When Melicia heard this, her heart trembled, because she knew well that he had done so because of her. Responding as one who was very discrete, she said:
“My lord, I shall do the best I can for him, and may God do His will. I shall do this because ye order it, and because they tell me that he is a good knight who loves you dearly.”
And while the Queen was with her children as ye hear, King Perion and King Cildadan arrived. When Amadis and Galaor saw their father, they came to him and knelt. Each kissed one of his hands, and he kissed them, tears filling his eyes from the pleasure that he felt.
King Cildadan told them:
“My good friends, remember Sir Bruneo.”
Then, after King Cildadan had spoken with the Queen and her daughter, they all went to see Sir Bruneo, whom knights were carrying from the galley in their arms as ordered by King Perion. They put him into an exceedingly rich bed in a room in the Queen’s chambers with a window overlooking a garden with many roses and other flowers. The Queen and her daughter went to see him, and the Queen showed great compassion for his injury, which he accepted with many thanks.
After they were there a while, she told him:
“Sir Bruneo, I shall see you as often as I can, and when something keeps me from you, Melicia shall be with you as your friend and shall care for your wound.”
He kissed her hands for that, and the Queen left, and Melicia and the damsels who attended her remained there. She sat in front of the bed where he could see her beautiful face easily, which made him so happy that if he could, he would not wish to be well, because that sight cured him of a different form of suffering even more cruel and dangerous to his life.
She uncovered the wound and saw that it was large but clean on both sides, so she hoped it would heal quickly and she said:
“Sir Bruneo, I shall take care of this wound for you, but it is necessary for you to follow my orders without fail, because otherwise ye may be in great danger again.”
“My lady,” Sir Bruneo said, “I hope by God to never disobey you, for I am certain that if I were to do so, no one else could help me.”
She understood the intent of these words better than any of the damsels that were there. Then she put an unguent on his leg and in the wound that relieved all its pain and swelling, fed him with her beautiful hands, and told him:
“Rest now, and when it is time, I shall see you.”
As she left the room she met Lasindo, Sir Bruneo’s squire, who knew his circumstances and how he loved her. Melicia told him:
“Lasindo, ye know him best, and ask for whatever your lord may need.”
“My lady,” he said, “may it please God for a time to come when he may repay you for your kindness.”
Coming closer to her, so no one else could hear, he said:
“My lady, whoever wishes to cure someone must help him with the most dangerous wound that could befall him, from which he suffers great distress. By God, my lady, have mercy on him, which he needs so much, not for what he suffers from the injury but for what he suffers and bears so cruelly for you.”
When Melicia heard this, she said:
“My friend, I shall remedy what I can see if I can, but as for the other, I know nothing.”
“My lady,” he said, “ye already know of the mortal danger and pain he suffered so deeply for you that he faced the statues of Apolidon and Grimanesa.”
“Lasindo,” she said, “many times it comes to pass that people are cured of such suffering as this which thou sayest that thy lord has with the passage of time and without need for any other remedy, and this may happen to thy lord. For that reason it is not necessary to ask for a remedy for him from someone who cannot give it.”
She left him and went to her mother. And although Lasindo gave this answer to Sir Bruneo, he was not upset, for he believed she meant the opposite. Instead, he often blessed the giantess Andandona for injuring him because due to the injury he enjoyed the pleasure that in its lack the world was nothing but sorrow and loneliness.
And so, as ye hear, King Cildadan and Amadis and Galaor were in Gaul with King Perion, all of them enjoying great pleasure and delight, and Sir Bruneo was being waited on by the lady that he loved so much. And it happened one day that Sir Galaor took aside his father the King and King Cildadan and his brother Amadis, and told them:
“I believe, my lords, that although I were to try, I could not find three others who loved me so much and wished me honor like you. And for that reason, I wish you to advise me about something of which only the soul is more important. It is that ye, my lord and brother Amadis, brought me to King Lisuarte and ordered me with great affection to be his knight. And now, seeing how ye and he have severed your relationship but I have not been dismissed from his house, I find myself truly tormented. If I were to help you, my honor would be greatly lessened, and if I were to help him, it would be as ruinous for me as death to think of opposing you. And so, my good lords, give the solution to me that ye yourselves would do, and think more about my honor than the satisfaction of your wills.”
King Perion told him:
“My son, ye could not err in following your brother against a King so ungrateful and unreasonable. If ye were to stay with him, it would be without regard to the wishes of Amadis, and with just cause ye may leave him, since he has declared himself our enemy and seeks the destruction of your family, which has served him so well.”
Sir Galaor said:
“My lord, I place my hopes in God and your mercy, but where I place my honor, not for anything in this world would I, in a time of such troubles when the King needs my service, depart from him without having been dismissed.”
“My good brother,” Amadis said, “although we are obliged to obey the orders of our father and lord, knowing his wisdom is much greater than our ability to understand whatever he may order, I appeal to his mercy to say that ye should not be separated or dismissed from the King now except for a reason for which no one could blame him. In what happened between him and me there can be no knights on his side so strong, no matter how strong they may be, equal to the Lord on High Who knows the great services I did for King Lisuarte and the bad reward he gave that I did not deserve. And since God is the judge, I fully believe that He shall give each one what he deserves.”
Note the explanation with two meanings: one refers to God in Whom all power is. The other recognizes the importance of his brother’s desire to be in King Lisuarte’s service.
After they had all agreed that Galaor should go to King Lisuarte, King Cildadan immediately told Amadis and Sir Galaor:
“My good friends, ye know well the outcome of my battle with King Lisuarte in which I was defeated by your skill, taking from me the glory that I and my people might have achieved. And ye also know, my lords, about the agreements and loyalty I have promised, which were that the defeated party would serve the other in specified ways. Since my sad fate was to be defeated by you, I must fulfill my promises, although to my sorrow throughout all the days of my life. The ache and pain in my heart shall make it forever broken. But as we do all things for honor, and honor means denying one’s own will to do that which a man must, I am forced to help that king with as many knights as I promised as long as God wishes. I want to depart with Sir Galaor, for today, as I left Mass, the King’s letter arrived calling on me to help him as I must.”
And thus Sir Galaor and King Cildadan ended their discussion with farewells, and the next day, having said goodbye to the Queen and her daughter Melicia, they got on a ship to go to Great Britain, where they arrived without delay. After landing, they went directly to where they knew King Lisuarte was, who was very angry about what had happened to his men on the island of Mongaza and the great losses inflicted on them. He decided not to wait for the many men he had sent for and instead to go with the knights he could find most quickly.
Three days before he boarded the ships, he told the Queen to bring their daughter Oriana and ladies and damsels because he wished to go hunting in the forest and relax with them. She did so, and the next day, bringing tents and everything necessary, they left with great pleasure and went to stay in a wide field shaded by trees in the forest.
There the King rested that day and took a great many deer and other kinds of game, with which everyone made a great feast. In fact, although he was there, his heart and thoughts were centered on the harm that his men were suffering on the island. When the hunting and feasting was over, he had all the necessary things prepared for his trip.
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