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They arrived at the lady’s palace, where she gave him a very fine room to stay in as was fitting for the house of such a lady, and had him disarm and wash the dust from his hands and face, and gave him a cape of rosy scarlet to wear. When Grasinda saw him thus, she was amazed by how handsome he was, more than she had thought any human man could be. She had a doctor come immediately to care for his wounds, the best and wisest that could be found in the area. He examined the injury to his throat and said:
“Knight, ye are wounded in a dangerous place, and ye must rest. If not, ye shall find yourself in great trouble.”
“Master doctor,” he said, “by the faith ye owe to God and to your lady who is here, as soon as I am able to ride, let me know, because I wish no rest or repose until God in His mercy sends me to the place where my heart is.”
As he said this, such anguish arose in him that he could not keep tears from coming to his eyes, which made him very embarrassed, and he quickly wiped them away and tried to look happy. The doctor dressed his wound and had him eat what was suitable, and Grasinda told him:
“My lord, rest and sleep, and we shall go to eat. We shall see you again when it is time. And order your squire to ask for everything ye need without hesitation.” With that she bid farewell.
He remained in his bed thinking hard about his lady Oriana, for there was all his joy and happiness mixed with storms and passions battling one another, and as he was tired, he slept.
Of Grasinda I tell ye that, after she had eaten, she retired to her room and lay on her bed and began to think about how handsome the Knight of the Green Sword was and the great deeds he had done. And since she was very rich and beautiful, and of such lineage that she was the niece of King Tafinor of Bohemia, and had been married to a great knight who had lived only one year, without engendering any children, she decided to take him as a husband, although he seemed to be nothing more than a knight-errant.
Wondering how she could do this, she remembered that she had seen him weep, and she thought that it had to have been over a woman whom he loved and could not have. This made her decide to wait until she could learn more about his situation. When she knew he was awake, she took her ladies and damsels and went to his room to honor him and to enjoy the great pleasure that she would feel to see him and speak with him. And it was no less pleasurable for him, although his thoughts were far from hers.
The lady spent time with him, doing everything for his pleasure that she could. But one day, she could suffer no more, and she took Gandalin off to the side and said:
“Good squire, may God help you and bless you, tell me something if ye know it, for I wish to ask you about a concern that I promise I shall never tell anyone else. And it is whether ye know that your lord is deeply and truly in love with another woman.”
“My lady,” Gandalin said, “I have spent little time with him, as has this dwarf, and we came into his service for the great things we had heard about him. He told us not to ask about his name or his affairs, and if we did, we would have to leave for our own fates. Since we have been with him, we have seen many of his great deeds and acts of courage that put terror in us, as he is without a doubt, my lady, the best knight in the world. And of him I know no more.”
The lady lowered her face and eyes and was lost in thought. When Gandalin saw this, he realized she was in love with his lord, and he wished to put an end to that because in no way would she get what she sought, so he told her:
“My lady, I have often seen him weep with such great anguish in his heart that I am amazed that he can sustain his life. And given his great valor, confronting with ease all brave and fearful things, I believe these tears can only come from some extreme and deep love for a woman, because this is the kind of illness where neither valor nor discretion can be of any use.”
“May God help me,” she said, “I believe what ye say, and I thank you for it. Go to him, and may God give him remedy for his cares.”
She went to her ladies having decided not to continue with what she had planned, having seen him so sure in what he did and said that she thought she would not change his mind.
And so as ye hear, the Knight of the Green Sword remained in the house of the great, rich, and beautiful lady Grasinda while his wounds healed, where he received so much honor and pleasure it was as if rather than being a poor knight-errant she had found out he was the son of a very noble king, which he was, of the noble King Perion of Gaul, his father.
When he found himself able to bear arms, he ordered Gandalin to prepare everything that was necessary for the road. He replied that everything was ready. As they were speaking, Grasinda entered with four of her damsels, and he took her by the hand. Then she sat on an estrado covered by a silk cloth embroidered with gold. He told her:
“My lady, I am ready to take to the road, and the honors that I have received from you have given me great concern about how I may serve you. For that reason, my lady, if I may undertake anything in your service, I would put all my will in that work.”
She responded:
“Truly, Knight of the Green Sword, my lord, I believe what ye say, and since there has been some satisfaction and pleasure in how ye were served here, I shall ask for your service, and at that time without any hesitation or shame something about me shall be revealed that up until now no one has known. But for now I ask ye to tell me where it is your will to go.”
“To Greece,” he said, “if God is so disposed, to see how Greeks live and to see their Emperor, of whom I have heard good things.”
“Then,” she said, “I wish to help you with your travels, and to do that I shall give you a very good ship with a crew who shall be under your command, and enough provisions to last a year. And I must give you the doctor who treated you, who is named Elisabad, for it would be hard to find anywhere someone as good at him at his work. I shall do this on the condition that if ye can, ye must be in this town with me within a year.”
He was very happy for the help, which he badly needed and had been very concerned about where he would find it, and told her:
“My lady, if I did not offer some recompense for these gifts that ye give me, I would count myself as the most unfortunate knight in the world, and I would hold myself as such if by shyness or shame ye were fail to ask what ye may.”
“My lord,” she said, “when God brings you back from this trip, I shall ask for what my heart has desired for a long time, and it shall be to increase your honor, although with some risk.”
“So be it,” he said, “and I trust that in your great prudence ye shall not ask of me anything but what I ought rightly to grant.”
“Then rest here five days,” Grasinda said, “while the things necessary for the trip are prepared.”
He agreed, although he had hoped to leave the next day. In that passage of time the ship was stocked with everything it needed to carry. The Knight of the Green Sword got on board with the doctor Elisabad, in whom, after God, he placed his health. After he said farewell to the beautiful lady, the sails were raised and the oars were employed, and he went on his trip, not directly to Constantinople, where the Emperor was, but to the islands of Romania he had not visited and others in the Kingdom of Greece. There the Knight of the Green Sword spent some time doing great feats at arms fighting with foreign men, some for the great purpose of correcting their arrogance, and others who having heard of his great fame had come to test their strength against his.
Thus he underwent many encounters of great danger and suffered many injuries, achieving victory and honor in all of them which brought him glory, and his wounds were healed by the great doctor that he brought with him.
As he traveled from one to another of these great battles, sailing from one island to another, and from there to others, the sailors became very tired and complained about it to the captain. He told that to the Knight of the Dwarf, reminding him that although his plans had been to visit all those islands, it was growing tiresome, and he should go straight to Constantinople. In the trip there and back, if God did not intervene, they would arrive to see Grasinda at the end of the year as promised. With that agreement and to the pleasure of everyone on the ship, they turned toward Constantinople with a good and direct wind.
In the second book we told you how Patin was a knight without land, but he expected to have it after the death of his brother Suidan, who was emperor of Rome and who had no son to inherit the empire. He had heard of the great fame of the knights in Great Britain in service to King Lisuarte at that time, and decided to go there to test himself against them.
Although he was very much in love with Sardamira, queen of Sardinia, for whom he undertook the trip, when he arrived at the court of King Lisuarte, where he was well received due to his high lineage, he saw the very beautiful Oriana, the King’s daughter, who had no equal to her beauty in the world. He was so taken by her that he forgot his old love in favor of this new one and asked her father for her hand in marriage. While the answer allowed Patin some hope, the King’s will was very much against that union, but Patin thought he had achieved what he wanted and wished to show off his strength, believing that this would make his lady love him more. He traveled through the land looking for knights-errant with whom to fight.
His misfortune guided him to the forest where Amadis at that time was desperate over his lady, weeping painfully. After Patin first praised love and Amadis then complained about it, they fought, and Patin went to the ground in the joust. Afterwards, back on his horse, by a single blow of a sword on his head he was so badly injured that he almost died several times.
As a result, without resolving the issue of his wedding with Oriana, he returned to Rome, where his brother the Emperor soon died, and he became Emperor. He did not forget the passion that Oriana had placed in his heart, and believing that with his higher position he could take her more easily, he decided to ask again for her in marriage from King Lisuarte.
To do that, he sent his cousin Salustanquidio, Prince of Calabria and a knight with fame at arms, and with him sent his principal majordomo, Brondajel de Roca, and the Archbishop of Talancia, along with three hundred men, and the beautiful Queen Sardamira with an abundant number of ladies and damsels to escort Oriana when they brought her. As it was the will of the Emperor, they began to prepare what they would need for the trip, which farther on and in more detail shall be recounted.
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