Chapter 9
The season of summer had set in. Queen Guinevere was fond of flowers. As it was the month of May, the gardens were blooming with beautiful flowers like rose, marigold, lotus, water-lily, sunflower, bougainvillea, etc. The queen desired to go to the gardens and enjoy the scenic beauty and fragrance of flowers. One morning she called her knights and said to them, “O knights of the Round Table! Today I along with my maids desire to go to the gardens to feel the beautiful fragrance of the flowers. There, we shall enjoy the atmosphere and spend some time plucking the flowers. You all will accompany us to give us protection from the enemy.”
The ten knights nodded their heads in agreement. A beautiful carriage was decorated for the queen to sit on it. On its both sides, five soldiers each stood guard. Thus the queen’s carriage made its way to the gardens where different flowers were in full bloom.
Reaching the garden, the queen got busy in plucking daisies, primroses, roses and marigolds. The queen was very happy that day. The ten knights were following the queen like her shadow. They didn’t leave the queen alone even for a minute. Cuckoos, robins and larks were singing melodiously from the trees. Everyone was enjoying himself or herself. Evening had approached. Now it was time to go back to the palace. The queen said to the knights, “It is getting dark now. Let us move back to the palace. King Arthur must be waiting for me. We must hurry up.”
As soon as they got ready for their return journey, twenty men in armour and more than a hundred archers came out of the bushes. Their leader, whose name was Sir Meligrance, cried out, “Stop short! If anybody dares to move even a little bit, he/she will lose his/her life. All my archers are skilful. They aim at all of you.”
In fact, Sir Meligrance loved Queen Guinevere from the bottom of his heart. Somehow, he could not make her his queen. So, he had a grudge against King Arthur. Now he wanted to outrage the modesty of the queen. So, he wanted to take her away to his castle. Seeing the malafide intention of Sir Meligrance the queen spoke out thus, “Fie! Shame on you! How dare you block our way? King Arthur made you a knight. How can you behave like this with his queen? Aren’t you afraid of King Arthur? Don’t you know how strong he is? You had better not to incur his wrath. Be off my eyes at once, otherwise you will have to face dire consequences.”
But Sir Meligrance was a mean fellow. He uttered, “I care a fig for King Arthur. I am not afraid of him, however mighty and powerful he is. I have always loved you from the core of my heart. Now the time has come when I shall take you away to my castle and marry you. None can stop my way today.”
Hearing the words of Sir Meligrance the ten knights spoke out in a body, “Bridle your tongue, Sir Meligrance. Until and unless we are alive, we won’t let you succeed in your nefarious act. We shall fight to our last breath. Though we are unarmed and without any armour yet we are ready to face your archers. So what if they have weapons and armour? We have will power and physical strength.”
Thereupon Sir Meligrance ordered his archers to shoot their deadly arrows at the knights of the queen. The men of Sir Maligrance let loose their arrows at the unarmed knights of the queen. All the knight lay badly wounded. They were no match for the nighty archers of Sir Meligrance.
Sir Meligrance’s archers were wearing armour and carrying spears. They would have killed all the knights of the queen had she not cried out, “I can’t see my knights killed before my very eyes. Please stop this bloodshed. I am ready to accompany you to your palace provided you allow me to carry all these wounded knights of mine there as well. In this way, I can take care of their wounds. These knights are like my sons to me. They are very close to my heart. You can’t kill them.”
Hearing the words of the queen Sir Meligrance ordered his archers to stop shooting at the knights. Thereupon he agreed to the condition of the queen who felt very happy. Thus the wounded soldiers were put onto their horses. Now all of them along with the queen headed for the palace of Sir Meligrance.
On their way, the queen stealthily managed to call her page boy to her side. Then she whispered in his ear, “Go and inform Sir Lancelot of our trouble. Ask him to come over here quickly and save us from the clutches of this evil man.”
In a trice, the page boy slipped away from there without being noticed by Sir Meligrance or any of his archers. But fate had something else in store for the queen. As the page boy hurried out, he struck against a stone. This made a loud noise which Sir Meligrance heard. He ordered his archers to run after the page boy, as he knew that the queen had sent him for help. However fast the archers ran after the page boy, they could not catch him. Sir Meligrance ordered his archers, “Wait in ambush for anyone who comes here to rescue the queen. As soon as you see someone, shoot at him instantly.”
Sir Meligrance quickly reached his castle. On reaching there he had his drawbridge pulled up and the castle door shut completely.
The page boy rode on, and on and finally reached the house of Sir Lancelot. He delivered the entire message of the queen to Sir Lancelot. No sooner did Sir Lancelot hear the message than he flew into a rage. He rode on his horse and marched towards the castle of Sir Maligrance. Soon his horse ran with the speed of the wind. On the way, Sir Lancelot thought, ‘I had better go through the forest. Sir Meligrance must have appointed soldiers on either side of the road to attack me in ambush.’ Thinking so, Sir Lancelot reached the castle of Sir Meligrance through the forest road. Soon he hid himself in the cart loaded with wood. The cart was going inside the castle. Thus Sir Lancelot without being noticed reached inside the castle. Thereby, he started searching for Sir Meligrance here, there and everywhere.
Sir Meligrance came to learn of the presence of Sir Lancelot inside the castle. He was utterly terrified. He knew none of his soldiers had the guts to face the onslaught of Sir Lancelot. He himself was very scared of Sir Lancelot. So, he hit upon a plan. He went to the queen at once and lay prostrate at her feet. He observed, “Please forgive me for my guilt. I have done really wrong with you. I must carry you back to Camelot with great honour and safety.”
Hearing the words of Sir Meligrance the queen was filled with emotion. She didn’t know that Sir Meligrance had seen Sir Lancelot in the castle. She innocently forgave Sir Meligrance for his bad deed. In the meantime, Sir Lancelot reached there and lifted his sword to kill Sir Meligrance. But the queen interrupted saying that she had forgotten him and now it was her duty to save him from any attack. But Sir Lancelot stated, “O queen! Don’t come to the rescue of this mean fellow. He is not a good human being. He is a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.”
But the queen didn’t budge an inch from her stand. Now Sir Meligrance knew that Sir Lancelot was very much angry with him in his heart of hearts. So he desired a plan to get rid of Sir Lancelot. At night, a delicious dinner was prepared for the queen and Sir Lancelot. After the dinner, the queen went back to her room to rest. Sir Meligrance asked Sir Lancelot to come along so that he might take him on a round to his castle. Sir Lancelot agreed to take a round, unaware of the nefarious design of Sir Meligrance.
Sir Meligrance took Sir Lancelot from room to room. At last he took him to the armour room. There inside the room a trap was laid. Hardly had Sir Lancelot entered the room when one of his feet got entangled in the trap. Soon, the floor of the room cracked open and Sir Lancelot fell into a dungeon which was very, very dark. Soon the floor shut completely. Thereafter, he returned to the queen and said, “Sir Lancelot has gone back to Camelot. He does not want to stay here any longer.”
In the meantime he hid Sir Lancelot’s horse on his stable. So, the queen could not know about the reality. After returning to Camelot the queen appeared in front of King Arthur. Seeing the queen and Sir Meligrance together the King was surprised. He said to the queen, “O dear! Did this Sir Meligrance abduct you and take you to his castle. What is the matter? Tell me in detail.”
Hearing the words of the King Sir Meligrance lied to the King thus, “Your Majesty! This is all nonsense. I don’t have the impudence to do so. I was just playing a joke on the queen. You see the queen has come back, safe and sound.”
Then he went near the King and whispered in his ear, “I suspect Sir Lancelot and the queen are in love with each other.”
Hearing the nonsensical words of Sir Meligrance the King burst out saying, “You mean fellow! How low can you go? Sir Lancelot when he comes to learn of this nonsense, will not spare your life. Just hold your tongue and stop right now any more of your absurdity.”
There in the dungeon, Sir Lancelot was trying every means to get out of there. But all his efforts proved an exercise in futility. A day after he had been put in the dungeon, a girl came there and opened the window door to let he food platter slide in. But Sir Lancelot didn’t touch the food. Next day again, the girl came there and again opened the window door to let the food platter in. Sir Lancelot again didn’t touch the food. On the third day, the girl again came there. She took pity on Sir Lancelot. She said to him, “O brave Knight! You have been here for the last two days and you have been suffering seriously. Tell me one thing. If I make you free from this dungeon, what will you give me in exchange for you freedom?”
Sir Lancelot thought for a while. Then he uttered, “A lady loves gold and diamonds best of all. So, I shall present you gold, silver, diamonds, clothing and what not. I can give you what you can’t dream of.”
The girl thought for a while and then uttered, “I want nothing. What I want is a gentle kiss on my forehead from a brave warrior, like you, O Sir Lancelot.”
Hearing the words of the girl Sir Lancelot was a bit surprised. The girl could have asked for something better and Sir Lancelot would have given in to her. But kissing a lady on the forehead was a simple task. Sir Lancelot replied, “O dear, so be it!” Saying these words he gently kissed the girl’s forehead.
The moment Sir Lancelot kissed the girl’s forehead, she opened the door of the dungeon. Out came the brave warrior, Sir Lancelot. After coming out of the dungeon on the third day, he felt relieved a lot. He thanked the girl for her kind act and uttered, “Dear! I owe you a debt of gratitude. If ever in life you need something else, please remember me. I shall be with you in an instant.”
The girl too was overwhelmed with grief. She observed, “O great warrior! I have never seen such a handsome warrior as you are in my life before. I love you from the core of my heart.”
Thus Sir Lancelot found his horse which was tethered to a pole in the stable of Sir Meligrance. He rode on his horse and hurried towards Camelot. There in Camelot, Sir Meligrance had made King Arthur realize that Sir Lancelot was a cheat and he himself was a well-wisher of the King. Sir Lancelot reached the palace where King Arthur along with the queen and Sir Meligrance was sitting in a relaxed mood. No sooner did Sir Lancelot see Sir Meligrance than he flew into a rage. He went near him and caught him by the collar. He said to him in a roaring voice, “O mean and untruthful fellow! What are you doing here? You took away the queen to your castle. Later on, the queen forgave you as you pretended to be innocent. You played a dirty trick on me. You locked me in the dungeon because you wanted me to be your prisoner for life. Last time, I spared your life as the queen insisted on leaving you. But this time, I am not going to spare your life. You will have to meet with your nemesis. I am the strongest of all the warriors of the Round Table. None has the courage to stand before me.”
Before King Arthur or Sir Meligrance could say anything, Sir Lancelot took out his sword and pierced it through the chest of Sir Meligrance. All of them standing there were rendered speechless. Sir Meligrance fell down dead there and then.
