_How king Arthur’s sword that he fought with brake, and how he
recovered of Accolon his own sword Excalibur, and overcame his enemy._
Then Sir Accolon began with words of treason, and said, Knight, thou
art overcome, and mayest not endure, and also thou art weaponless, and
thou hast lost much of thy blood, and I am full loth to slay thee,
therefore yield thee to me as recreant. Nay, said Sir Arthur, I may not
so, for I have promised to do the battle to the uttermost by the faith
of my body while me lasteth the life, and therefore I had lever to die
with honour than to live with shame; and if it were possible for me to
die an hundred times I had lever to die so oft than yield me to thee;
for though I lack weapon I shall lack no worship, and if thou slay me
weaponless that shall be thy shame. Well, said Accolon, as for the
shame I will not spare: now keep thee from me, for thou art but a dead
man. And therewith Accolon gave him such a stroke that he fell nigh to
the earth, and would have had Arthur to have cried him mercy. But Sir
Arthur pressed unto Accolon with his shield, and gave him with the
pommel in his hand such a buffet that he went three strides aback. When
the damsel of the lake beheld Arthur, how full of prowess his body was,
and the false treason that was wrought for him to have had him slain,
she had great pity that so good a knight and such a man of worship
should be destroyed. And at the next stroke Sir Accolon struck him such
a stroke, that by the damsel’s enchantment the sword Excalibur fell out
of Accolon’s hand to the earth; and therewithal Sir Arthur lightly
leapt to it, and got it in his hand, and forthwithal he knew that it
was his sword Excalibur, and said, Thou hast been from me all too long,
and much damage hast thou done me. And therewith he espied the scabbard
hanging by his side, and suddenly he start to him, and pulled the
scabbard from him, and anon threw it from him as far as he might throw
it. O knight, said Arthur, this day hast thou done me great damage with
this sword; now are ye come unto your death, for I shall not warrant
you but ye shall as well be rewarded with this sword or ever we depart,
as thou hast rewarded me, for much pain have ye made me to endure, and
much blood have I lost. And therewith Sir Arthur rushed on him with all
his might and pulled him to the earth, and then rushed off his helm,
and gave him such a buffet on the head that the blood came out at his
ears, his nose, and his mouth. Now will I slay thee, said Arthur. Slay
me ye may well, said Accolon, and it please you, for ye are the best
knight that ever I found, and I see well that God is with you: but for
I promised to do this battle to the uttermost, said Accolon, and never
to be recreant while I lived, therefore shall I never yield me with my
mouth, but God do with my body what he will. Then Sir Arthur remembered
him, and thought he should have seen this knight. Now tell me, said
Arthur, or I will slay thee, of what country art thou, and of what
court? Sir knight, said Sir Accolon, I am of the court of king Arthur,
and my name is Accolon of Gaul. Then was Arthur more dismayed than he
was beforehand; for then he remembered him of his sister Morgan le Fay,
and of the enchantment of the ship. O Sir knight, said he, I pray you
tell me who gave you this sword, and by whom ye had it.