Repository path: workshop/translations/malory-worship/R06-v1/translation.md · rendered 2026-09-09

T-malory-worship-R06-v1 — Malory, Le Morte Darthur XVIII.xxiv, ME→ModE (single pass)

• Source: Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVIII ch. xxiv, Gutenberg #1252, whole chapter, 821 Middle English words. Stored at ../source-me.txt.
• Pair: Middle English → present-day English. The project's first intralingual translation into English, and its second intralingual pair after genji-yomogiu.
• Regime: R06 v1.0 — lead single pass, source only, no revision. Frozen here before the R04 self-revision was begun, per R04 §Procedure 2a.
• Cost: $0, never ledgered (charter §3, A4).
• Culture-bound-item census frozen before this draft was written, at ../census-frozen.md, commit 6d79d35.

This is a draft, frozen unrevised. The decision log belongs to the R04 artifact.

So this tournament and these jousts went on long, till it was near night, for the knights of the Round Table kept coming up in relief to King Arthur; and the king was angry beyond measure that he and his knights could not prevail that day. Then Sir Gawaine said to the king: I wonder where Sir Bors de Ganis has been all this day, and his company of Sir Launcelot's kin; I wonder that all this day they have not been about you: there is a reason for it, said Sir Gawaine. By my head, said Sir Kay, Sir Bors is over there, and has been all day, on the right hand of this field, and there he and his kin are winning more honour than we are. It may well be, said Sir Gawaine, but I am always afraid of a trick; for on pain of my life, said Sir Gawaine, this knight with the red sleeve of gold is Sir Launcelot himself — I can see it plainly by his riding and by his great strokes; and the other knight in the same colours is that good young knight, Sir Lavaine. And that knight with the green shield is my brother, Sir Gareth, and he has disguised himself, for nothing will ever make him fight against Sir Launcelot, because Sir Launcelot knighted him. By my head, said Arthur, nephew, I believe you; so tell me now what you think best. Sir, said Sir Gawaine, you shall have my advice: have the trumpets blow the retreat to quarters; for if he is Sir Launcelot du Lake, and my brother Sir Gareth with him, and that good young knight Sir Lavaine to help them, trust me truly it will be no use to strive with them unless we fall ten or twelve upon one knight, and that would be no honour, but shame. You say truth, said the king; and to tell the truth, said the king, it would be a shame to us, as many as we are, to set upon them any more; for you may be sure, said King Arthur, they are three good knights, and that knight with the sleeve of gold above all.

So then they blew the retreat to quarters; but at once King Arthur sent word to the four kings and to the mighty duke, and asked them that the knight with the sleeve of gold should not leave them, but that the king might speak with him. Then at once King Arthur dismounted and had his armour taken off, and took a little riding-horse and rode after Sir Launcelot, for he had always kept a watch on him. And so he found him among the four kings and the duke; and there the king asked them all to supper, and they said they would come gladly. And when they had their armour off, then King Arthur knew Sir Launcelot, Sir Lavaine, and Sir Gareth. Ah, Sir Launcelot, said King Arthur, this day you have given me and my knights a hot time of it.

So they went to Arthur's quarters all together, and there was a great feast and great revelry, and the prize was given to Sir Launcelot; and the heralds proclaimed of him that he had struck down fifty knights, and Sir Gareth thirty-five, and Sir Lavaine twenty-four knights. Then Sir Launcelot told the king and the queen how the lady huntress shot him in the forest of Windsor, in the buttock, with a broad arrow, and how the wound of it was at that time six inches deep, and as long. Arthur also blamed Sir Gareth because he had left his own company and held with Sir Launcelot. My lord, said Sir Gareth, he knighted me, and when I saw him so hard pressed, I thought it was my honour to help him, for I saw him doing so much, and so many noble knights against him; and when I understood that he was Sir Launcelot du Lake, I was ashamed to see so many knights against him alone. Truly, said King Arthur to Sir Gareth, you say well, and you have done honourably and won yourself great honour; and all the days of my life, said King Arthur to Sir Gareth, be sure I shall love you, and trust you the better for it. For always, said Arthur, it is an honourable knight's deed to help another honourable knight when he sees him in great danger; for always an honourable man will be loath to see an honourable man shamed; and he that has no honour, and goes about with cowardice, will never show nobility, nor any kind of goodness, where he sees a man in any danger, for then a coward will always show no mercy; and always a good man will do to another man as he would be done by. So then there were great feasts for kings and dukes, and revelry, sport, and play, and every kind of noble conduct was practised; and he that was courteous, true, and faithful to his friend was cherished in that time.