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[A street in Granadilla leading to its castle. The town, in the province of Cáceres in western Spain, was founded in the 800s and became an important strategic and commercial location in the Middle Ages. Its present castle was built by the Duke of Alba in the 1470s. The town was abandoned in the 1960s after it was surrounded by the water of a new reservoir. Starting in the 1980s, it became a university student architectural rehabilitation workshop, and its former residents and their descendants visit twice a year for fiestas. Photo by Orlacos.]
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So Sir Galaor and Norandel rode for three days, spending pleasant nights in towns, and on the fourth day they reached a town named Alfiad that was a seaport, and they found two ships traveling to Gaul. They boarded the ships and without delay they arrived where King Perion, Amadis, and Florestan were.
So it happened that, as Amadis was in Gaul preparing to go seek adventures to make up for the time he had spent there, during which his honor had been so diminished, each day he continued to ride along the seashore, looking at Great Britain, which held his desires and everything he valued.
One day he was riding with Sir Florestan, and they saw some boats coming, so they went there to learn the news. When they reached the shore, they saw Sir Galaor and Norandel getting into a skiff. Amadis recognized his brother and said:
“Holy Mary, that is our brother, Sir Galaor. May he be very welcome.” And he asked Sir Florestan, “Do ye know the one who is coming with him?”
“Yes,” he said, “that is Norandel, son of King Lisuarte, companion of Sir Galaor. And know that he is a very good knight, as he proved in the battle we had with his father at the Island of Mongaza, but he was not known as his son until after the great battle with the seven kings, when the King was pleased to have had him made known for his great skill.”
Amadis was very happy to have him as the brother of his lady and knew that she loved him, according to what Durin had told him. Then the knights arrived at the shore and came onto land, where they found Amadis and Florestan on foot, who welcomed them and embraced them repeatedly. They gave each of them a palfrey and left to see King Perion, who was riding out to receive them.
When they met, they wished to kiss the King’s hands, but he did not give them to Norandel. Instead, he embraced him and did him great honor, and brought them to the Queen, where they received no less honor.
Amadis, as I told you, was prepared to leave there in four days. The day before, he spoke with the King and his brothers, telling them how he needed to leave and take to the road the next day. The King said:
“My son, God knows the loneliness that I will feel, but not for that shall I keep you from going to gain honor and praise, as ye always do.”
Sir Galaor said:
“My lord brother, if it were not for a quest in which Norandel and I are involved and which we may not rightly set aside, we would give you company. But we must fulfill it or pass a year and a day trying, as is the custom in Great Britain.”
The King asked him:
“My son, what quest is this? May it be told?”
“Yes, my lord,” he said, “for we promised it in public, and it is this: know, my lord, that in the battle we had with the seven island kings, on the side of King Lisuarte there were three knights with the same dragon insignia, but their helmets were different, one white, one purple, and one gold. These knights did such marvelous feats at arms that we were all amazed, especially at the one who wore the gold helmet, whose skill I do not think could be equaled by anyone. In fact, it is believed that without them, King Lisuarte would not have been victorious. When the battle was won, all three left the field with their faces so well hidden that they could not be recognized, and because of what has been said about them, we have promised to find them and learn who they are.”
The King said:
“We have heard about those knights here, and may God give ye good news about them.”
So they spent the day until nightfall. Amadis took his father aside with Sir Florestan, and told them:
“My lord, I wish to leave tomorrow, and it seems to me that after I go, Sir Galaor should be told the truth about that which he seeks because his labor would be in vain without us, for no one else knows it. Show him the arms, which he will easily recognize.”
“Ye speak well,” the King said, “and so it shall be done.”
That night they were with the Queen and her daughter, and with many of their ladies and damsels, relaxing with great pleasure, but they all knew they would greatly miss Amadis, who wished to travel but no one knew where. After he bid farewell to all of them, they went to sleep.
The next day they all heard Mass and left with Amadis, who rode armed on horseback, with Gandalin and his dwarf and no one else to keep him company. The Queen gave Gandalin enough money to suffice for his lord for a year. Sir Florestan asked him very humbly to take him with him, but Amadis would not agree for two reasons: first, to be more free to think about his lady; and the other, because he hoped to achieve great undertakings alone so that he alone would achieve either glory or death.
When they had traveled a league, Amadis bid them farewell and took to the road, and the King and his sons returned to the town, where he spoke privately with his son Galaor and with Norandel, and told them:
“Ye are involved in a quest that if not here, then no where else in the world will ye find the answer, for which I give thanks to God for guiding you here to release you from great labor without success. Know now that the three knights with the dragon insignia whom ye seek are myself and Amadis and Sir Florestan. I wore the white helmet, Sir Florestan wore the purple one, and Amadis wore the gold one and did such great and extraordinary deeds as ye saw.”
He told them how they had agreed to go fight, and how Urganda sent them the arms. “And so ye may fully believe this and hold your adventure to be finished, come with me.”
He took them to another chamber, the armory, and showed them the arms with the dragon insignia damaged in many places by great blows, which they immediately recognized because they had seen them often in the battle, sometimes coming to their aid, and other times they had felt great envy over what their wearers were doing.
Sir Galaor said:
“My lord, God has done us a great mercy, as have ye, to save us from this quest because our concern was that with all our effort to look for the knights with these insignia, we might fall into a situation in which we could not escape from their anger without great shame and would have to engage them in a fight to the death and make them known to all. Although they did more in public than all others in the battle, in private they would be judged differently or die for it.”
“God has done better by His mercy,” the King said.
Norandel asked repeatedly for those arms, and with much more solemnity the King gave them to him. Then the King told the two how they had been imprisoned by Arcalaus, and by what fate they were able to get out. Tears came to Galaor’s eyes for his grief at such great danger, and he told what had happened with him and Norandel with Arcalaus, and how he had called himself Granfiles and escaped from them, and everything that happened with Dinarda, and how she remained in the castle, and what took place with Ambades, the host.
They spent fourteen days there relaxing, and, after saying goodbye to the King and Queen, they got on a ship, taking the arms with the dragon insignia, and with good weather sailed to Great Britain. They arrived at the town where King Lisuarte and the Queen were, disarmed in their lodging, and went to the palace to show him that their quest had been fulfilled, bringing him the arms with the dragon insignia on their surcoats.
They were well received by the King and everyone in court. Galaor told the King:
“My lord, if it pleases you, have us heard before the Queen.”
“Yes,” he said.
They immediately went to her chamber, and everyone followed to see what they brought. The Queen was pleased with their arrival, and they kissed her hands. Galaor said:
“My lords, ye know how Norandel and I left here on a quest to look for the three knights with the arms with the dragon insignia, who were in your battle and at your service. And God be praised, without effort we have found them, as Norandel shall show you.”
Then Norandel took the white helmet in his hands and said:
“My lord, do ye recognize this helmet?”
“Yes,” the King said. “Many times I saw it where I wished it would be.”
“This was worn on the head of King Perion, who loves you dearly.”
Then he took the purple one and said:
“Ye see here the one worn by Sir Florestan.”
He took the gold one and said:
“Ye see, my lord, this one, who did in your service what none other could do, and it was worn by Amadis. And of whether or not I am speaking the truth, ye are the best witness, for many times ye found yourself among them, they enjoying the fame and ye the victory.”
And he told them how King Perion and his sons came to the battle secretly, and why they had left afterwards without being recognized, and how they were imprisoned by Arcalaus and how they left, burning the castle, and how he and Sir Galaor found Arcalaus in the stretcher, and how he escaped calling himself Granfiles, cousin of Sir Grumedan, at which they all laughed, including Sir Grumedan, who was there, saying that he was very happy to find himself in such a debt he had not known about.
The King asked many questions about King Perion, and Norandel told him:
“Believe, my lord, that in the whole world there is no king with as much land who is his equal.”
“And nothing shall be lost,” Sir Grumedan said, “with such sons.”
The King was quiet so as not to praise Galaor, who was present, or the others with whom he was still not pleased, but he ordered the arms put in a glass case in his palace where the arms of other famous men were kept.
Sir Galaor and Norandel spoke with Oriana and Mabilia, and gave them the greetings and courtesies of Queen Elisena and her daughter, which were received by them with great affection, since they loved each other dearly. They felt great sorrow when they were told that Amadis had left alone to go to foreign lands of diverse languages to seek the most mighty and dangerous adventures. Then they went to their lodgings and the King remained speaking with his knights about many things.
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